Making friends
The Status Signals Paradox
Stephen Garcia, Kimberlee Weaver & Patricia Chen
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Making friends is critical to well-being. We also live in a society where the display of status is ubiquitous and billions of dollars are spent on high-status consumer goods. In the present analysis, we introduce the Status Signals Paradox: When making new friends, people tend to think that displaying high-status markers of themselves (e.g., a BMW, a Tag Heuer watch) will make them more attractive to others than neutral markers (e.g., a Honda, a generic brand watch); however, from the perspective of would-be friends, individuals who display high-status markers are found to be less attractive as new friends than those with neutral status markers. Six studies provide converging evidence of the status signals paradox.
The Value of Community: Evidence from the CARES Program
Andrew Hanson, Zackary Hawley & Geoffrey Turnbull
Journal of Housing Economics, September 2018, Pages 218-226
Abstract:
Renters of multi-unit housing structures report weaker ties to their community than other renters and owner occupants. In response to the lack of a sense of community in multi-unit rental structures, owners and managers of these properties have implemented planned programs to establish stronger community ties for residents. We examine the effect of one such program, the CARES (Community Activities and REsident Services) program, on the rental price of apartments using both a standard hedonic approach as well as matching techniques designed to limit unobservable differences between treated and comparison units. Our results using propensity score matching to identify comparison units, suggest that monthly rents are between 5.7 and 9.3 percent higher for apartment units that offer the CARES program. We also find the effect of the CARES program to be stronger in larger apartment complexes, suggesting that renters are willing to pay a premium for a sense of community rather than just the increased services from the program.
A meaner, more callous digital world for youth? The relationship between violent digital games, motivation, bullying, and civic behavior among children
Christopher Ferguson & John Colwell
Psychology of Popular Media Culture, July 2018, Pages 202-215
Abstract:
The relationship between violent digital games and youth behavior remains contested in the scholarly literature. To date considerable scholarship has focused on university students, with fewer studies of adolescents or children. The current study examines correlational relationships between violent game exposure and bullying behaviors, antisocial attitudes, civic attitudes, and civic behaviors in a sample of 304 children from the United Kingdom (Mean age = 12.81). The paper also considered motivational influences on use of violent digital games. Results indicated that violent game exposure did not correlate meaningfully with either antisocial or civic behaviors or attitudes. These results are discussed in a motivational and developmental context.
Food loves company: Risky eating with friends increases interpersonal closeness
Jenna Cummings & Janet Tomiyama
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Risky eating — that is, indulging in ultra-processed, high-calorie foods including sweets, salty snacks, and/or fried foods — harms physical health. Yet, risky eating is pervasive with many people unwilling to give it up. Why do people engage in risky eating despite known risks? The current research tests a novel hypothesis that engaging in risky eating with friends increases feelings of interpersonal closeness. In Study 1, participants (N = 385) reported how often they engaged in risky eating in three non-romantic/non-familial relationships with varying degrees of interpersonal closeness. Individuals more frequently engaged in risky eating in their closer relationships than in their less close ones. In Study 2, participants (N = 100) were randomly assigned to perceive they were engaging in high-risk versus low-risk eating behavior with a friend. They then reported feelings of interpersonal closeness as well as chose how close to sit to their friend. Individuals who were randomly assigned to perceive they were engaging in high-risk eating behavior with a friend reported increased feelings of interpersonal closeness. Also, restrained eaters in the high-risk eating behavior condition reported greater feelings of interpersonal closeness while eating, which was mediated by increased feelings of activated positive affect (e.g., excited, alert). No effect on how close participants sat to their friend was observed. Overall, the current research highlights a previously unstudied pathway from risky eating to excitement to feelings of interpersonal closeness. This provides insight into one psychosocial process that may undermine personal and public health efforts.
The association between fetal testosterone and violent behavior: Additional evidence using the 2D:4D digit ratio
Anthony Hoskin & Ryan Charles Meldrum
Personality and Individual Differences, November 2018, Pages 293-297
Abstract:
Recent meta-analyses on the relationship between prenatal testosterone — measured by the 2D:4D digit ratio — and aggression and analogous traits have reported an overall weak association. Fewer studies, however, have focused specifically on violent behavior. Yet, many of these studies have relied on small samples of incarcerated men and limited their focus to intimate partner violence. Less is known about whether the link between the 2D:4D ratio and violence holds for non-incarcerated populations, for females as well as males, and for general measures of violence. To address these issues, original data were collected on a sample of young adults to estimate the association between the 2D:4D ratio and self-reported violence. The study yielded two important findings. First, the 2D:4D ratio was associated with a majority of the individual violent behaviors examined, as well as multi-item measures of violence, in both bivariate and multivariate models. Second, the 2D:4D ratio was associated with violent behavior among separate samples of men and women, though associations were frequently non-statistically significant for females.
Valuing time over money is associated with greater social connection
Ashley Whillans & Elizabeth Dunn
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, forthcoming
Abstract:
Can the trade-offs that people make between time and money shape our social relationships? Across three studies, utilizing self-report (N = 127; N = 249) and behavioral outcomes (N = 358), we provide the first evidence that the chronic orientation to prioritize time over money encourages greater investment in daily social interactions. For example, in Study 2, respondents who valued time spent 18% longer socializing with a new peer than respondents who valued money. These findings could not be explained by extraversion (Study 1) or by demographic characteristics such as age, gender, or socioeconomic status (Studies 1 to 3). Together, these studies suggest that valuing time over money facilitates social connection.
You’re like me and I like you: Mediators of the similarity–liking link assessed before and after a getting-acquainted social interaction
Adam Hampton, Amanda Fisher Boyd & Susan Sprecher
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, forthcoming
Abstract:
Several mediators of the similarity–liking link were examined in a laboratory study that involved previously unacquainted individuals interacting to become acquainted and that also included a preinteraction manipulation of bogus similarity. In addition to replicating the robust finding of a positive association between similarity and liking in both a bogus stranger paradigm and a social interaction paradigm, we tested the roles of five potential mediators of the similarity–liking association: consensual validation, cognitive evaluation, certainty of being liked, fun and enjoyment, and self-expansion opportunity. The results indicated certainty of being liked to be the strongest mediator prior to a live interaction and fun and enjoyment to be the strongest mediator postinteraction. Consensual validation was also found to be a strong mediator postinteraction.