Can teddy bears help us cope with rejection?
ere is little empirical research to date that looks at how the deleterious effects of social exclusion can be mitigated. We examined how touching an inanimate object—a teddy bear—might impact the effect of social exclusion on prosocial behavior. Across two studies, we found that socially excluded individuals who touched a teddy bear acted more prosocially as compared to socially excluded individuals who just viewed the teddy bear from a distance. This effect was only observed for socially excluded participants and…
1 min read
Are long distance relationships more stable?
ople in long distance relationships "evidence greater relational stability than partners in geographically close dating relationships..." Two studies explore the seeming paradox reported in prior research on long-distance dating relationships (LDDRs): Despite limited interaction, LDDR partners evidence greater relational stability than partners in geographically close dating relationships (GCDRs). We investigate speculations that romantic idealization may be a key component in LDDR stability. Idealization (i.e., idealistic distortion, romantic love, relational reminiscence, perceived agreement) and satisfaction with communication was more pronounced in…
1 min read
The Secret To Staying Young
king yourself look young helps you stay young: Environmental cues that signal aging may directly and indirectly prime diminished capacity. Similarly, the absence of these cues may prime improved health. The authors investigated the effects of age cues on health and longevity in five very different settings. The findings include the following: First, women who think they look younger after having their hair colored/cut show a decrease in blood pressure and appear younger in photographs (in which their hair is cropped…
2 minutes
Does self-control increase or decrease relationship quality?
at combination of partners' trait self-control levels produces the best relationship outcomes? The authors tested three hypotheses—complementarity (large difference in trait self-control scores), similarity (small difference in self-control scores), and totality (large sum of self-control scores)—in three diverse samples: friends, dating partners, and married couples living in the United States and the Netherlands who were tracked cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Results consistently favored the totality model: the more total self-control, the better the relationship fared. Multiple benefits were found for having…
1 min read
Do flowers really increase romantic feelings?
r millennia flowers have been used to convey romance, yet their effect on human romantic behavior has not been explicitly tested. In two experiments we show that women's perception of male attractiveness and their potential mating behavior are positively affected by simple exposure to flowers. In Study 1 women who were exposed to flowers while they watched a video of a man perceived the man to be more attractive and sexier. They also reported being more inclined to accept a…
1 min read
Is babytalk a good or bad thing in a romantic relationship?
is suggested that while babytalk plays a role in mother–child bonding, it can also express and facilitate intimate psychological connection in a variety of relationships. Literature is reviewed to show that an association between babytalk and intimate attachment makes sense. A questionnaire study is presented which explores this association among 95 female and 31 male 17–49 yr olds. Self-reported features and examples of the speech register (as spoken in a particular romance) verified it as babytalk. Individuals who had…
1 min read
What can we tell about someone’s personality from their handshake?
examined whether handshakes improved the accuracy with which participants judged a set of targets. Handshakes are interpersonally coordinated behaviors that require motivation and practice to perform well. Therefore conscientiousness may predict how well handshakes are executed. If so, a person's conscientiousness may be more accurately perceived at zero-acquaintance through a handshake. Individual female and male participants rated the personality of five, same-gender targets after each had introduced herself or himself. Half of the targets offered and shook hands with…
1 min read
Another way to improve your relationships:
om Eurekalert: Each student was asked to get a friend to participate in the study with them. Then each of the participants individually filled out an online survey. This included a list of "triggers"—descriptions of behaviors that someone might find annoying. One example was the word "skepticism" which was described as when someone is overly disbelieving of information that he/she receives, when he/she questions things that are generally accepted, or when he/she is very hard to convince of something. The…
1 min read
