Your self-esteem depends in part on your internal “sociometer,” or how socially accepted you feel. To test the importance of social acceptance within romantic relationships (i.e., a “mating sociometer”), researchers measured participants’ … [Read more...] about Your Self-Perceived Relationship Desirability Influences Your Self-Esteem
Quickies
How Having Couple Friends Helps You Feel the Love
We know that being friends with other couples increases closeness in your own relationship (read more about this here). To see if these friendships also boost feelings of love, researchers had couples engage in a “fast friends” self-disclosure task during which they answered … [Read more...] about How Having Couple Friends Helps You Feel the Love
Got a Cold? Think Hugs, Not Drugs
Getting sick isn’t fun. To see if social support helps combat illness, researchers interviewed 406 healthy adults each day for two weeks about whether they were hugged that day. Researchers then exposed participants to the common cold and assessed participants’ mucus … [Read more...] about Got a Cold? Think Hugs, Not Drugs
An Unexpected Key To Kids’ Popularity
To better understand what makes kids popular, researchers measured 144 3rd through 8th grade students’ prosocial behaviors (i.e., doing good things for others) and physical/verbal aggression. As you’d expect, kids nominated as popular were more likely to exhibit … [Read more...] about An Unexpected Key To Kids’ Popularity
Stronger Impulses or Less Control? Why Men Succumb to Sexual Temptations
Research suggests that men tend to surrender to sexual temptations, like cheating, more than women. Is this because men have stronger sexual urges, or because they can’t control themselves? Across two studies, participants indicated the strength of their sexual impulses and … [Read more...] about Stronger Impulses or Less Control? Why Men Succumb to Sexual Temptations
