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Many studies investigating stereotypes about the poor overlook the historical fact that the poor have been viewed with disgust due to unsanitary working and living conditions. In four experiments using three different methods, we showed that the poor were viewed as dirty and disgusting, and were avoided in close contact. Experiments 1a and 1b showed that attributes related to disease and uncleanliness were ascribed to the poor compared to the nonpoor and to the rich. Experiment 2 showed that the poor were avoided in close contact, regardless of their race. Experiment 3 revealed a strong implicit poor-dirty/disease and rich-clean/healthy bias. Our results emphasize that disease avoidance is an important dimension in the social perception of the poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objective: Only few studies investigated social cognition in Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD). However, brain dystrophin deficiency could be a neural substrate for cognitive, emotional, and neuropsychological features in BMD. Methods: We compared interoceptive accuracy and interpersonal comfort distance in two brothers with BMD presenting with the same genetic deletion and a healthy control. When possible, we collected neuropsychological and psychopathological assessments. Results: Our BMD patients were significantly different in interoceptive accuracy, with patient 1 being extremely accurate and patient 2 being significantly less accurate than his brother but more accurate than the control. Interestingly, they presented opposite patterns of interpersonal distance. Patient 1 was comfortable with very short interpersonal distance (≤50 cm from the confederate/object) vs the control and patient 2. By contrast, patient 2 preferred larger distance vs the control and patient 1. Patient 1 also presented difficulties in social and emotional skills on the psychopathological assessment. Conclusions: We are aware this is a small sample; nonetheless, this is also the first description of such aspects in BMD and the first report ever of such divergent behavioral pattern. As impaired social cognition affects the quality of life and social relationship, further studies are needed for a closer understanding of involved mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Two monozygotic twins with genetically confirmed myotonic dystrophy type-1. • Voxel-based morphometry has been used to assess grey and white matter atrophy. • Genetic and environmental factors impact differently on brain volumes. • Different social cognition deficits observed in twins. • Cognitive reserve hypothesis has been provided. We report on genetic and environmental modulation of social cognition abilities and brain volume correlates in two monozygotic twins (Twin1 and Twin2) with genetically confirmed myotonic dystrophy-type1 who grew up in different environmental settings. They both underwent neuropsychological assessment (i.e., Intelligent Quotient [IQ], theory of mind, emotion recognition tests), and MRI scanning to evaluate regional brain volumetrics compared to 10 gender and sex-matched healthy controls. Against a normal IQ level in both patients, Twin1 was more impaired in emotional processing and Twin2 in cognitive aspects of social cognition. Both patients showed grey matter (GM) atrophy in Brodmann Areas 23/31 (BA23/31) and BA7 bilaterally, while Twin2 showed additional GM loss in right BA46. Both patients showed a similar pattern of white matter atrophy involving the thalamus, basal ganglia, and uncinate fasciculus. White matter atrophy appeared to be mostly driven by genetics, while grey matter volumes appeared associated with different impairments in social cognition and possibly modulated by environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current longitudinal study (n = 98) utilized a developmental cognitive neuroscience approach to examine whether and how variability in social perception is linked to social behavior in early human development. Cortical responses to processing dynamic faces were investigated using functional near-infrared spectroscopy at 7 months. Individual differences in sociability were measured using the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire at 18 months. Confirming previous work with infants and adults, functional near-infrared spectroscopy results show that viewing changing faces recruited superior temporal cortices in 7-month-old infants, adding to the view that this brain system is specialized in social perception from early in ontogeny. Our longitudinal results show that greater engagement of the right superior temporal cortex at 7 months predicts higher levels of sociability at 18 months. This suggests that early variability in social perception is linked to later differences in overtly displayed social behavior, providing novel longitudinal evidence for a social brain–behavior association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Picking up nuances of facial expression is a crucial part of frontline employee–guest interaction, yet little is known about its neurocognitive mechanism. We use a neuroimaging approach to explore the individual differences in cognitive processing style of front-of-house (FoH) employees by comparing their brain structures with those back-of-house (BoH). A voxel-based morphometry analysis of 63 senior hotel executives' brain images reveals that the grey matter volume in the occipital and fusiform face areas of FoH employees is greater than that of BoH employees and does not depend on the length of frontline experience. These regions have been implicated in facial expression recognition that is critical to the success in frontline roles. Our findings support the social brain hypothesis. To support sophisticated social cognition, resources are diverted to brain development associated with facial expression recognition. This development trajectory follows deferred adaptation, rather than conditional adaptation, proposed in developmental evolutionary psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyber-sexual violence is a prevalent and harmful form of aggression committed against women, yet little attention has been paid to the attitudes about cyber-sexual violence. This research therefore aimed to explore the negative attitudes or myths that serve to justify, minimize, and deny the experiences of cyber-sexual violence disclosed by women on Twitter. Using a thematic analysis, we analyzed 4,048 replies to 18 experiences reported on Twitter around the time of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. After the data were cleaned and coded, the results revealed 18 myths about cyber-sexual violence, grouped into four main themes: (1) minimization/conceptualization, (2) victim blaming, (3) factors related to the diffusion context, and (4) exonerating the perpetrator's responsibility. This study constitutes the first attempt to analyze the myths surrounding cyber-sexual violence on Twitter, including content areas not yet addressed in the literature, such as contextual factors. Strikingly, most of the analyzed reactions appeared to deny and downplay the importance of sexually aggressive behaviors perpetrated against women online, suggesting that these beliefs could influence the underreporting of cyber-sexual violence. Based on these data, it was concluded that while Twitter can serve as a useful "loudspeaker" for victims, it is also a mechanism by which myths about cyber-sexual violence can be supported and disseminated. Finally, it highlights the importance to consider the influence of online cultural frame on the social perception of cyber-sexual violence and point out the specific beliefs that educators, researches and psychologist could work though psychoeducational programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hate speech can increase stereotyped thinking and social distancing in a society. However, there is still a lack of variety in the social groups under study and research into possible solutions to the problem. Thus, our aim is to (1) study effects of hate speech against Chinese people and transgender people and (2) to investigate if counter speech can offset the detrimental effects of hate speech. We conducted a pre-registered online experiment with a 2 × 3 between-subject design, varying the attacked group (Chinese people/transgender people) and the type of comments (neutral/hate speech/hate speech and counter speech) for an Austrian sample (n = 1285). Findings reveal no effect of hate speech on the dependent variables, indicating that citizens might not be as vulnerable to hate speech after all. However, counter speech has a polarizing effect: attitudinal gaps and differences for social distancing increase between left-wing and right-wing participants if hate speech is countered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: While the cognitive‐behavioral characteristics of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients carrying C9orf72 pathological repeat expansion have been extensively studied, our understanding of those carrying SOD1 variants is mostly based on case reports. The aim of this paper is to extensively explore the cognitive‐behavioral characteristics of a cohort of ALS patients carrying pathogenetic variants of SOD1 gene, comparing them to patients without pathogenetic variants of 46 ALS‐related genes (wild‐type [WT]‐ALS) and healthy controls. Methods: All ALS patients seen at the Turin ALS expert center in the 2009–2021 period who underwent both cognitive/behavioral and extensive genetic testing were eligible to be included in the study. Only patients with SOD1 pathogenetic variants (n = 28) (SOD1‐ALS) and WT‐ALS (n = 829) were enrolled in the study. A series of 129 controls was also included. Results: Among the 28 SOD1‐ALS patients, 16 (57.1%) had normal cognitive function, 5 (17.9%) isolated cognitive impairment (ALSci) (17.9%), 6 (21.4%) isolated behavioral impairment (ALSbi), 1 (3.6%) cognitive and behavioral impairment (ALScbi), and no one ALS‐FTD. SOD1‐ALS performed worse than controls in all explored domains, in particular Social Cognition and Language domains. SOD1‐ALS patients had similar scores in all tests compared to WT‐ALS, except the Story‐based Empathy Task (SET), where they performed worse. Interpretation: Cognitive‐behavioral impairment is much more common in SOD1 patients than previously assumed. SOD1‐ALS are characterized by a more frequent impairment of Social Cognition and, less markedly, of Language domains. These findings have relevant implication both in the clinical and in the research setting, also considering recently approved treatment for SOD1‐ALS. ANN NEUROL 2024;96:150–158 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social cognitive functions make it possible to correctly recognize and interpret the emotions and mental states of others in the social environment, to understand their intentions correctly and to react accordingly. Therefore, these functions arecritical for healthy social interactions and professional success in human life. Social cognitive functions are impaired in many psychiatric and neurological diseases and this impairment negatively affects almost all areas of patients' lives, albeit in different dimensions. According to research findings revealing the relationship between social cognition and social functioning, social cognition should be one of the treatment targets for many diseases. Recently, there has been increasing interest in interventions that target the improvement of these functions. In this article, these training programs, research findings and assessment tools used in these studies are discussed in the specific case of schizophrenia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper argues that learning analytics as a research field can benefit from a theory‐informed shared language to describe sensemaking of learning and teaching data. To make the case for such shared language, first, I critically review prominent sensemaking theories to then demonstrate how studies in learning analytics do not use coherent descriptions of sensemaking, eclectically combining the paradigms that have underlying differences. I then propose a conceptualization of sensemaking that overcomes the differences between these theories and explains how the concepts of activity system, the definition of the situation and affordances can be used to capture individual differences in sensemaking. The paper concludes with a preliminary framework and examples demonstrating its utility in raising new theoretical questions, informing design principles and providing shared language for researchers in learning analytics.Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topicSensemaking happens when individuals try to explain unknown situations.Learning analytics uses sensemaking as a lens to understand dashboard use.Systematic analysis of sensemaking is essential for learning analytics.What this paper addsThe paper notes that noticing and perceiving are commonly examined in learning analytics on dashboard use.The paper suggests a revision of fundamental assumptions in sensemaking.A paper proposes a toy model of sensemaking that includes operationalization of the definition of the situation, activity where sensemaking happens and processes of noticing and perceiving affordances.Implications for practice and/or policyLearning analytics must examine sensemaking of data about teaching and learning in a systematic manner.Internal perceptions of the social environment and activity that are informed by the data need to be considered in evaluating dashboard use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We hypothesized that dissimilar mate preferences would augment friendship attraction in zero-acquaintance interactions whereas similar mate preferences would hinder friendship attraction. Heterosexual participants completed an online survey to assess their mate preferences. They also rated the attractiveness of opposite-sex photos. Next, they attended a 3-hr speed-friending session in which they interacted with same-sex others for 3-min each. After each interaction, they completed a 2-min assessment about the person they just met. Two sessions were held, one for women (N = 20) and one for men (N = 18). The social relations model was used to regress unique feelings of friendship attraction on similarity in terms of mate preferences while controlling for perceiver and target variance. Our hypothesis was supported among men: Interactions in which two people differed in mate preferences were rated more positively than those in which participants had similar mate preferences. These results are consistent with Parental Investment Theory and highlight the importance of mate preferences in friendship attraction among men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In four experiments, we tested the boundary conditions of gaze cueing with reference to the resistance to suppression criterion of automaticity. Participants were asked to respond to peripheral targets preceded by a central gaze stimulus. Under one condition, gaze direction was random and uninformative with respect to target location (intermixed condition), as in the typical paradigm. Under another condition, gaze direction was uninformative and, crucially, it was also kept constant throughout the sequence of trials (blocked condition). In so doing, we aimed at maximally reducing the informative value of the gaze stimulus because gaze would not only be task-irrelevant but would also provide no sudden and unpredictable information. Across the four experiments, the results showed a strong gaze-cueing effect. More specifically, a comparable gaze cueing emerged under the blocked and intermixed conditions. These findings are consistent with the idea that gaze cueing is resistant to suppression and are discussed in relation to current views of the automaticity of gaze cueing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractPublic attitudes are essential for technology promotion and policy formulation. The present study investigated the Chinese public’s knowledge of ChatGPT, as well as examined the roles played by Big-Five personality traits, social perception, and AI anxiety in shaping the public’s attitudes toward ChatGPT using the questionnaire method. Results showed that: (1) Nearly, 1/3 of teachers surveyed did not know ChatGPT at all, and all of them were primary and secondary school teachers. (2) The level of knowledge about ChatGPT was significantly related to gender, educational level, teaching stage (in teacher samples), and major (in student samples). (3) The public’s positive attitude is higher significantly than the negative attitude. (4) Social perception positively predicted positive attitudes and negatively predicted negative attitudes. Moreover, a notably higher predictive power for positive attitudes compared to negative attitudes was demonstrated by social perception. There is an equally predictive effect of competence perception and warmth perception on attitudes, without any domain effect observed. (5) AI anxiety only positively predicted negative attitudes but did not impact positive attitudes. In explaining negative attitudes, AI anxiety exhibited a higher explanatory power compared to the Big-Five personality traits, primarily correlating with neuroticism. The findings indicate that it’s inappropriate to consider attitude evaluation toward AI as a single dimension. There are relatively independent components for positive and negative attitudes toward AI. The roles played by other predictive variables in attitudes are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The rapid development of the telecommunications industry in the post-COVID-19 era has brought tremendous pressure to employees making them a high-risk group for job burnout. However, prior research paid less attention to the burnout of employees. Furthermore, social support and gender have separate effects on job burnout. This study explores the mechanism of stress perception on job burnout and examines the roles of social support and gender amid it. Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted from June 2023 to August 2023 in mainland China. A total of 39,507 were recruited by random sampling and online questionnaires, and 28,204 valid questionnaires were retained. SPSS (version 26.0) and PROCESS (Model 4 & 7) were used for correlation analysis, mediation analysis, and mediated moderation analysis. Result: Stress perception can positively predict the level of job burnout of employees in the telecommunications industry, and social support plays a partial mediating role, accounts for 8.01% of the total effect, gender moderates the first half of the path in this mediation model. At the same pressure level, female can perceive more social support than male. Conclusions: Under high pressure background, employees' job burnout varies depending on gender and the perception of social support. Therefore, telecommunications industry managers should adopt decompression measures and targeted social support resources for different groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Difficulties in reasoning about others' mental states (i.e., mentalising/Theory of Mind) are highly prevalent among disorders featuring dopamine dysfunctions (e.g., Parkinson's disease) and significantly affect individuals' quality of life. However, due to multiple confounding factors inherent to existing patient studies, currently little is known about whether these sociocognitive symptoms originate from aberrant dopamine signalling or from psychosocial changes unrelated to dopamine. The present study, therefore, investigated the role of dopamine in modulating mentalising in a sample of healthy volunteers. We used a double-blind, placebo-controlled procedure to test the effect of the D2/D3 antagonist haloperidol on mental state attribution, using an adaptation of the Heider and Simmel (1944) animations task. On 2 separate days, once after receiving 2.5 mg haloperidol and once after receiving placebo, 33 healthy adult participants viewed and labelled short videos of 2 triangles depicting mental state (involving mentalistic interaction wherein 1 triangle intends to cause or act upon a particular mental state in the other, e.g., surprising) and non-mental state (involving reciprocal interaction without the intention to cause/act upon the other triangle's mental state, e.g., following) interactions. Using Bayesian mixed effects models, we observed that haloperidol decreased accuracy in labelling both mental and non-mental state animations. Our secondary analyses suggest that dopamine modulates inference from mental and non-mental state animations via independent mechanisms, pointing towards 2 putative pathways underlying the dopaminergic modulation of mental state attribution: action representation and a shared mechanism supporting mentalising and emotion recognition. We conclude that dopaminergic pathways impact Theory of Mind, at least indirectly. Our results have implications for the neurochemical basis of sociocognitive difficulties in patients with dopamine dysfunctions and generate new hypotheses about the specific dopamine-mediated mechanisms underlying social cognition. Difficulties in reasoning about others' mental states ("Theory of Mind") are highly prevalent among disorders featuring dopamine dysfunctions, but it is not clear if these difficulties are a direct consequence of aberrant dopamine signaling. This psychopharmacology study provides insights into the role of dopamine in Theory of Mind, showing that the D2-receptor antagonist haloperidiol reduces the accuracy with which healthy adults attribute mental states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do the nonverbal signals used to make social judgements differ depending on the type of judgement being made and what other nonverbal signals are visible? Experiment 1 investigated how nonverbal signals across three channels (face: angry/fearful, posture: expanded/contracted, lean: forward/backward), when viewed together, were used for judgements of emotion, threat, and status. Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1 and explored how use of the body channels differed in making social judgements when the face channel was obscured. Both experiments found facial anger linked to high anger, threat, and status ratings; facial fear was linked to low ratings. Expanded body posture increased threat and status judgements, while backward lean decreased anger and threat. With the face channel blocked (Experiment 2B), the influence of body posture increased across emotion, threat, and status judgements, while body lean was more consistent. Findings demonstrate that despite the face’s importance across types of social judgements, the body channels differentially contribute to judgements of emotion, threat and status. Further, they are differentially affected by the absence of facial information. How much face and body-related channels are used in social judgements is moderated by the type of judgement being made and the availability of other (particularly facial) channel information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Object and scene perception are intertwined. When objects are expected to appear within a particular scene, they are detected and categorised with greater speed and accuracy. This study examined whether such context effects also moderate the perception of social objects such as faces. Female and male faces were embedded in scenes with a stereotypical female or male context. Semantic congruency of these scene contexts influenced the categorisation of faces (Experiment 1). These effects were bi-directional, such that face sex also affected scene categorisation (Experiment 2), suggesting concurrent automatic processing of both levels. In contrast, the more elementary task of face detection was not affected by semantic scene congruency (Experiment 3), even when scenes were previewed prior to face presentation (Experiment 4). This pattern of results indicates that semantic scene context can affect categorisation of faces. However, the earlier perceptual stage of detection appears to be encapsulated from the cognitive processes that give rise to this contextual interference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis work analyzes the educational proposals designed by 130 future secondary school teachers (FTs) to address socioecological problems -in this case, the presence of microplastics in the environment-, and the relationship with their own perceptions and commitments regarding these problems. The research design was mixed, with both qualitative and quantitative analysis of the data. Results showed that systemic thinking regarding the problems, with a comprehensive ecological but also social perception, was correlated with proposals which were aimed at promoting critical thinking and reflection among pupils. Likewise, committed FTs -who show a greater willingness to reduce their plastics consumption and who, above all, assume greater personal responsibility- tend significantly towards action-oriented approaches. Nevertheless, these approaches continue to be scarce. This leads us to discuss the need for greater emphasis on instructional practices in education for sustainability in teacher training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe an approach aimed at helping artificial intelligence develop theory of mind of their human teammates to support team interactions. We show how this can be supported through the provision of quantifiable, machine-readable, a priori information about the human team members to an agent. We first show how our profiling approach can capture individual team member characteristic profiles that can be constructed from sparse data and provided to agents to support the development of artificial theory of mind. We then show how it captures features of team composition that may influence team performance. We document this through an experiment examining factors influencing the performance of ad-hoc teams executing a complex team coordination task when paired with an artificial social intelligence (ASI) teammate. We report the relationship between the individual and team characteristics and measures related to task performance and self-reported perceptions of the ASI. The results show that individual and emergent team profiles were able to characterize features of the team that predicted behavior and explain differences in perceptions of ASI. Further, the features of these profiles may interact differently when teams work with human versus ASI advisors. Most strikingly, our analyses showed that ASI advisors had a strong positive impact on low potential teams such that they improved the performance of those teams across mission outcome measures. We discuss these findings in the context of developing intelligent technologies capable of social cognition and engage in collaborative behaviors that improve team effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a powerful social signal, a body, face, or gaze facing toward oneself holds an individual's attention. We asked whether, going beyond an egocentric stance, facingness between others has a similar effect and why. In a preferential-looking time paradigm, human adults showed spontaneous preference to look at two bodies facing toward (vs. away from) each other (Experiment 1a, N = 24). Moreover, facing dyads were rated higher on social semantic dimensions, showing that facingness adds social value to stimuli (Experiment 1b, N = 138). The same visual preference was found in juvenile macaque monkeys (Experiment 2, N = 21). Finally, on the human development timescale, this preference emerged by 5 years, although young infants by 7 months of age already discriminate visual scenes on the basis of body positioning (Experiment 3, N = 120). We discuss how the preference for facing dyads—shared by human adults, young children, and macaques—can signal a new milestone in social cognition development, supporting processing and learning from third-party social interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PEERS® for Young Adults is an evidence-based program aimed at teaching social skills needed to establish and maintain close relationships, including friendship and romantic relationships. The study investigated the effects of the Polish adaptation of the curriculum on the social functioning of adults on the autism spectrum. Fifteen young adults (aged 18–32, M = 23.5) were randomly allocated to an immediate or delayed (control) treatment condition. By self and parent report, individuals who participated in the PEERS® program showed significant improvements in social skills, social cognition, and social knowledge, but limited gains in social engagement. The effects were maintained over six months after the treatment. The intervention was well-accepted and deemed feasible by young adults, their parents, and peers involved in the program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study investigates gender differences in the effect of parents' deaths on sibling tension among bereaved adult children. Background: Previous scholarship on adult sibling relations following the deaths of parents presents inconsistent results. These disparate findings may stem from past studies not taking into consideration the gender of both the deceased parent and the bereaved child. Method: Analyses are based on three harmonized waves of quantitative and qualitative data collected from 654 adult children nested within 303 families as part of the Within-Family Differences Study. Results: Multilevel models revealed that for daughters, but not sons, mothers' deaths in the past 5 years were associated with increases in sibling tension, whereas fathers' deaths did not predict changes in either sons' or daughters' sibling tension, regardless of timing. Qualitative analyses showed marked differences by child's gender in perceptions of patterns of shared work and support surrounding parents' deaths. Typically, sons expressed solidarity with siblings when mothers died and felt that the division of caregiving prior to mothers' deaths and arrangements following their deaths were fair. In contrast, daughters expressed increased solidarity with sisters surrounding mothers' deaths and disdain toward brothers who failed to contribute caregiving, support, or instrumental tasks. Conclusion: These findings underscore how gender of both parents and adult children differentially shape changes in adult children's relationships with their siblings in the face parental deaths, much as they do in other contexts across the life course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perceiving partner emotions accurately is relevant for relationship functioning and may relate to perceivers' attachment orientations. Here we tested whether attachment anxiety and avoidance affect the perception of a hard and a flat partner emotion which can signal a relationship threat, that is, irritation and indifference towards the partner, and of general affective valence. We assessed whether individuals (1) over‐ or underestimate (directional bias) and (2) track changes (tracking accuracy) in their partner's emotions. Ninety‐four couples reported on their own emotions and their perception of their partner's emotions multiple times per day during 1 week. Results revealed that more avoidantly attached men less accurately tracked changes in partner irritation and more anxiously attached men less accurately tracked changes in partner affective valence. No other significant associations of attachment with tracking accuracy nor with directional bias were found. Overall, the findings suggest no robust relation between attachment insecurity and perception of partner irritation, indifference and affective valence in everyday life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored how children's perceptions of social group differences relate to attitudes and behaviour towards real‐world outgroups. We examined Arab‐Christian children living in Israel (N = 231, 52% female, average age 9.8 years) and randomly presented them with either Arab‐Muslim or Jewish outgroup targets. The children performed tasks measuring attitudes and prosocial behaviour towards the outgroup. Additionally, they were asked to describe the differences between their ingroup and the outgroup target. We found that children favoured the Arab‐Muslim outgroup over the Jewish outgroup, and perceived it as having fewer dimensions of difference from their ingroup. Fewer perceived dimensions of difference correlated with more positive attitudes. By the age of 12, however, perceiving more dimensions of difference was linked to increased compensatory prosocial behaviour towards the Jewish outgroup. The findings emphasize the dynamic interplay between cognitive development and intergroup experiences in understanding children's prosocial behaviour towards different outgroups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Postulating a negative bias towards social ambiguity, we conducted cross‐cultural online research to assess whether categorical discrepancies in the perception of androgynous faces were associated with the uncanny feeling and inferences of different morality. Across four studies, we found that androgynous faces were harder to classify into a binary sex category than sex‐typical faces, but this difficulty did not influence social judgements of androgynous targets in a negative fashion. In Study 1 (Spanish‐speaking sample, N = 76), we found that androgynous faces were rated as more trustworthy, less creepy, and less morally different than sex‐typical faces. Study 2 replicated most of the findings from Study 1 in an Italian sample (N = 45). Positive bias towards androgyny was not replicated with a different set of stimuli featuring faces of diverse ethnic backgrounds (Study 3, Spanish‐speaking sample, N = 140). However, results revealed a main effect of ethnicity in participants' responses. When controlling for the effect of morphing procedures in stimuli selection, an overall positive bias towards androgynous targets arose, especially when compared to masculine targets (Study 4, Spanish‐speaking sample, N = 85). These findings suggest that, at least in certain conditions, a positive social bias towards androgynous faces may emerge that does not depend on categorical uncertainty and facial attractiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peripersonal space (PPS) is a construct referring to the portion of space immediately surrounding our bodies, where most of the interactions between the subject and the environment, including other individuals, take place. Decades of animal and human neuroscience research have revealed that the brain holds a separate representation of this region of space: this distinct spatial representation has evolved to ensure proper relevance to stimuli that are close to the body and prompt an appropriate behavioral response. The neural underpinnings of such construct have been thoroughly investigated by different generations of studies involving anatomical and electrophysiological investigations in animal models, and, recently, neuroimaging experiments in human subjects. Here, we provide a comprehensive anatomical overview of the anatomical circuitry underlying PPS representation in the human brain. Gathering evidence from multiple areas of research, we identified cortical and subcortical regions that are involved in specific aspects of PPS encoding. We show how these regions are part of segregated, yet integrated functional networks within the brain, which are in turn involved in higher-order integration of information. This wide-scale circuitry accounts for the relevance of PPS encoding in multiple brain functions, including not only motor planning and visuospatial attention but also emotional and social cognitive aspects. A complete characterization of these circuits may clarify the derangements of PPS representation observed in different neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research suggests that reading and viewing fiction (compared with expository nonfiction) may enhance social cognition. The purpose of this research was threefold: we tested whether this effect (here operationalized as persons vs, objects) extended to writing, we contrasted the effect of fictionality (real vs. imaginary) versus social content, and we delved into mechanism by examining the degree to which any effects found were mediated by the linguistic content of the writings that participants produced. Results confirmed that writing about persons versus objects has a similar effect as reading or viewing. At the same time, we found no effect of fictionality. Importantly, the person/object manipulation had a direct effect on both social and nonsocial language in the writings produced, with person-focused texts relying more on emotional language and object-focused texts containing more analytical and causal language. Writing about persons had an indirect effect on social cognition via emotional content, which did not depend on fictionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is well‐documented evidence that trauma exposure can disrupt relationships. However, limited research has examined whether posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) moderate interpersonal processes in daily life. To this end, undergraduates (N = 98) completed a measure of PTSS at baseline. They then completed smartphone‐based surveys after every interpersonal interaction that lasted longer than 3 min. for 10 days. These surveys assessed perceptions of self and other agency and communion as well as feelings of rejection, neglect, abandonment, worthlessness, emptiness, guilt, and shame. Results of multilevel modeling suggest that interpersonal perception and PTSS predicted 10%–26% of the variance in outcomes. Regarding agency, more agentic participants reported higher levels of negative attributions, γs =.47–.56. Participants also reported higher rejection and guilt when they experienced their interaction partner as more agentic than usual, γs =.07, and PTSS did not moderate these associations. For communal perceptions, participants who experienced themselves and others as warmer than other participants reported fewer negative outcomes, γs = −.44–−.58. Individuals also reported more negative outcomes when they experienced themselves and others as warmer than they usually did, γs = −.10–−.28, and PTSS moderated these associations. The negative associations between self‐ and other communion ratings and feelings of neglect, abandonment, and shame were stronger in individuals with higher PTSS scores. Together, these findings support continued efforts to understand the ways in which trauma exposure and PTSS disrupt interpersonal dynamics in daily life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Refugees' effect on domestic terrorism is conditioned by host-country social perception (attitude about living next-door to foreigners) and economic competition. These hypotheses are tested cross-nationally from 1995-2014 leveraging data from the World Values Survey. The results show social perception matters. When refugee flow to a country increases from the mean to 75th percentile, it does not statistically alter domestic terrorism risk. But when a host-country's preference to not live next-door to foreigners is accounted for and changes from the mean (20.9%) to 75th percentile (30.3%), the change in refugee flow increases the risk of domestic terrorism by 40%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research suggests that reactions to research on sex differences are often less positive when the findings put men in a better light than women, especially when the lead researcher is a man. The factors underlying this effect, however, are not yet fully understood. The present study aimed to provide the first experimental test of the hypothesis that the key variable is perceived harm to women. Participants (214 men and 219 women) evaluated a bogus popular‐science article reporting fictional research finding either a female‐ or a male‐favouring sex difference in intelligence, attributed to either a female or a male lead researcher. To examine the effects of perceived harm, the introduction to the task highlighted either the potential benefits or potential drawbacks of sex‐differences research in general. Consistent with past research, participants reacted less positively to the male‐favouring difference, especially for male‐led research. Consistent with the harm hypothesis, the effect was stronger after highlighting the potential drawbacks of sex‐differences research than after highlighting the potential benefits. Our findings suggest that perceptions of harm to women underpin the aversion to male‐favouring findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dynamic face stimuli are increasingly used in face perception research, as increasing evidence shows they are perceived differently from static photographs. One popular method for creating dynamic faces is the dynamic morph, which can animate the transition between expressions by blending two photographs together. Although morphs offer increased experimental control, their unnatural motion differs from the biological facial motion captured in video recordings. This study aimed to compare ratings of emotion intensity and genuineness in video recordings, dynamic morphs, and static photographs of happy, sad, fearful, and angry expressions. We found that video recordings were perceived to have greater emotional intensity than dynamic morphs, and video recordings of happy expressions were perceived as more genuine compared to happy dynamic morphs. Unexpectedly, static photographs and video recordings had similar ratings for genuineness and intensity. Overall, these results suggest that dynamic morphs may be an inappropriate substitute for video recordings, as they may elicit misleading dynamic effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the historical context of South Africa, fathers are largely considered the breadwinner, an ideology linked to financial affordability. The breadwinner title may be a masculine boost for some but denotes a sense of disempowerment for those without financial muscle. This is especially true for young black South African fathers who are still confronting socio-historical challenges including continued high levels of unemployment. This qualitative study sought to explore how young black fathers perceive and understand fatherhood based on their individual experiences and given their socio-historical and cultural challenges. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Eight participants were selected through non-probability purposive sampling. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data with the foundation of a family systems theoretical framework. Findings indicated that the perception of fatherhood is constructed through (a) financial insecurity, (b) (un)expectancy and psychological distress, (c) shared responsibility, (d) cultural dynamics and (e) a renewed sense of self meaning. The study has added value in ensuring that the voices of young black fathers are captured through their lived experiences. The findings suggest that much investment is still required to understand the different angles and dynamics of young black fathers in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines whether there is a relation between assigned skin tone and parental racial socialization of their young children (ages 5–8). The concurrent mixed methods design combined quantitative and qualitative findings to explore the complexity and role skin tones play in Black parents' messages to their children. In the quantitative strand, 178 Black parents completed a survey and questionnaire. The qualitative strand consisted of a one-on-one interview with 10 parents from the quantitative sample. Quantitative findings revealed that parents who assigned a light skin tone to their children engaged in more specific types of racial socialization than those who assigned a darker skin tone to their children. Analysis of qualitative interviews revealed parents' unique messages based on assigned skin tones. Data from the two strands were integrated using a weaving approach that compared findings from both strands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theory of mind (ToM) is an essential social cognitive process encompassing abilities to represent and understand others' mental states. Although previous reports linked childhood trauma to social cognitive deficits, how characteristics of trauma exposure, such as subtype or timing, affect ToM remains unaddressed. Using data from a diverse adult sample (n = 2200), we tested whether exposure type and first exposure timing of common childhood trauma associated with ToM. Neither interpersonal loss (β = − 0.25, p = 0.170, [− 0.61, 0.10]) nor child maltreatment (β = − 0.21, p = 0.369, [− 0.66, 0.25]) was associated with lower ToM. There was no effect of timing of age at which trauma was experienced (F = 2.19, p = 0.087). While we did not identify age-dependent effects, future studies should examine links between timing or chronicity of prospectively reported childhood trauma and social cognition. Understanding of how childhood experiences shape ToM could reveal mechanisms underlying social cognition development and inform prevention efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This longitudinal study applied the integrated model of self-determination theory (SDT) and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to explain COVID-19 preventive behaviours among parents of young children in the United States. The study adopted a two-wave longitudinal study design. Parents (N = 681) completed self-report questionnaires related to measures of SDT and the TPB constructs and behavioural adherence at baseline and after one month. We used standardised residual change scores to test the structural relationships of the integrated model. The parameter estimates of the model (CFI >.96, TLI >.86, RMSEA =.05, SRMR =.03) fit acceptably well to the data. Psychological need support was positively and significantly linked to autonomous and controlled motivation and amotivation. Autonomous motivation was positively and significantly correlated with TPB factors, and intention. Intention was a significant and positive predictor of behavioural adherence. The integrated model of SDT and the TPB appeared to be applicable to the explanation of COVID-19 prevention among the U.S. parents. Longitudinal data showed that a psychological need supportive social environment was related to favourable motivation, social cognition beliefs, intention and behavioural adherence to the preventive behaviours of parents protecting their young children from COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Giving is a unique attribute of human sharing. In this review, we discuss evidence attesting to our species' preparedness to recognize interactions based on this behavior. We show that infants and adults require minimal cues of resource transfer to relate the participants of a giving event in an interactive unit (A gives X to B) and that such an interpretation does not systematically generalize to superficially similar taking events, which may be interpreted in nonsocial terms (A takes X). We argue that this asymmetry, echoed in language, reveals the operations of a mechanism of event construction where participant roles are encoded only when they are crucial to rendering an action teleologically well-formed. We show that such a representation of giving allows people to monitor the direction (who gave to whom) and kind (what was given) of resource transfer within a dyad, suggesting that giving may be interpreted as indicative of a relationship based on long-term balance. As this research suggests, advancing the study of the prelinguistic representation of giving has implications for cognitive linguistics, by clarifying the relation between event participants and syntactic arguments, as well as social cognition, by identifying which kinds of relational inferences people draw from attending to acts of sharing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wearing face masks to prevent the spread of respiratory illnesses such as COVID-19 has the potential to impact social perception. In the present research, we explore differential consequences of wearing face masks for evaluations of Asian and Black faces. Drawing on theories of prejudice and differing stereotype content for Asian and Black people in the United States, we hypothesized that being depicted wearing a face mask would mitigate evaluations of threat more for Asian faces than for Black faces. Results of a 2 (mask status: face mask vs. no mask) × 3 (face race: Asian vs. Black vs. White) within-subjects design (n = 365) generally supported hypotheses. Additional analyses using normed ratings of face stimuli from the Chicago Face Database showed that Asian faces showed the greatest increase in threat evaluations compared to norming data. These results highlight the unique impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related preventative health behavior on prejudice towards members of different racial groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theory of mind (ToM) and empathy are considered key components of social cognition that are often impaired in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, it remains unclear whether individuals with high levels of autistic traits exhibit similar impairments in these two functions. This study examined the affective and cognitive domains of ToM and empathy in individuals with high levels of autistic traits. We recruited 84 participants with high levels and 78 participants with low levels of autistic traits to complete a set of self‐reported checklists and performance‐based tasks capturing affective and cognitive components of ToM and empathy. The results showed that participants with high levels of autistic traits exhibited significant impairments in cognitive but not in affective ToM and empathy compared with their counterparts with low levels of autistic traits. We also found that empathy impairments in people with high levels of autistic traits were confounded by alexithymia and depressive traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Face recognition is important for both visual and social cognition. While prosopagnosia or face blindness has been known for seven decades and face-specific neurons for half a century, the molecular genetic mechanism is not clear. Here we report results after 17 years of research with classic genetics and modern genomics. From a large family with 18 congenital prosopagnosia (CP) members with obvious difficulties in face recognition in daily life, we uncovered a fully cosegregating private mutation in the MCTP2 gene which encodes a calcium binding transmembrane protein expressed in the brain. After screening through cohorts of 6589, we found more CPs and their families, allowing detection of more CP associated mutations in MCTP2. Face recognition differences were detected between 14 carriers with the frameshift mutation S80fs in MCTP2 and 19 noncarrying volunteers. Six families including one with 10 members showed the S80fs-CP correlation. Functional magnetic resonance imaging found association of impaired recognition of individual faces by MCTP2 mutant CPs with reduced repetition suppression to repeated facial identities in the right fusiform face area. Our results have revealed genetic predisposition of MCTP2 mutations in CP, 76 years after the initial report of prosopagnosia and 47 years after the report of the first CP. This is the first time a gene required for a higher form of visual social cognition was found in humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As adults, we might understand that beliefs often spread because people are strongly influenced by their friends, family, and other social connections. However, do we think those influences are strong enough to overrule direct evidence of a friend's unreliability? And do preschoolers expect people to show such biases toward friends and to privilege friendship over reliability? Across three experiments, we explored whether friendship influences the evaluations of trust when others learn labels for novel objects as well as personal opinions. After watching scenes involving a main character, her best friend, and a stranger, preschoolers and adults judged who would be trusted for information from the main character's perspective (third person) as well as their own (first person). Adults (n = 128, 55 female, recruited online from across the United States) expected the main character to trust information from her friend even if she had been previously inaccurate, while basing their own first-person judgments on accuracy. In contrast, 4- and 5-year-olds (n = 128, 62 female, from the United States) thought that the main character would be like themselves and prioritize accuracy over friendship. Further, preschoolers expected the main character to trust her (inaccurate) friend and (accurate) stranger equally when forming personal opinions. Thus, young children, unlike adults, do not expect others' epistemic trust to privilege friendship with the speaker over accuracy information. Public Significance Statement: Children have stable and often enduring friendships from a young age, but how much do they favor a friend's words in learning contexts? The present study suggests that the U.S. American adults expected others to trust a friend over a stranger when learning new information, even if the friend had been previously inaccurate. By contrast, 4- and 5-year-old children did not expect others to show such learning biases toward a friend. These findings suggest that unlike adults, young children considered the prior accuracy of the speaker a more important factor than the friendship between the speaker and the addressee. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When deciding whether to trust someone's claims, how do children combine—over multiple interactions—information about that person's general behavioral tendencies (traits) with that person's ongoing (and changing) rate of providing accurate claims? Children aged 4–8 played 11 rounds of a find-the-sticker game. For each round, an informant looked into two cups and made a claim about which cup held a sticker. Children guessed the sticker's location and the sticker's actual location was revealed. Prior to the game, children received information that the informant was either honest or dishonest. In Study 1 (N = 201, 105 female, 96 male), the informant provided inaccurate information on the first five trials and then provided accurate information for the remaining trials (55% overall accuracy). In Study 2 (N = 144, 89 female, 55 male), the informant produced a less predictable pattern of (in)accuracy, but remained 55% accurate overall. The trait information children initially received about the informant's honesty strongly influenced their epistemic trust when they lacked additional information about the informant's reliability (the earliest trials). When children's first-hand experiences with the informant prevented them from making strong predictions about the informant's future behavior, only children approximately 7 years and older utilized trait information to guide their epistemic trust. These results demonstrate some similarities in children's causal reasoning about the physical world and their social reasoning. The results also demonstrate developmental patterns in how children weigh different types of social information at different junctures in social interaction. Public Significance Statement: When deciding whether to trust what someone told them, 4-year-olds relied on information about an informant's traits (honesty/dishonesty) when they had limited first-hand experience with that informant. By 7 years, children also relied on trait information when a person's future behavior was more nuanced or inconsistent with past behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure to narratives may have beneficial effects on children's social‐cognitive development because narratives provide information about the social world and often require social understanding for story comprehension. In the current study, we examined the influence of narratives presented via different media (books, audiobooks, TV/films) on theory‐of‐mind performance and mental verb comprehension in a sample of 114 three‐ to six‐year‐old preschool children. Parents' reports on the number of (children's) books at home, the overall duration of TV/film and audio media exposure, the frequency of shared book reading, watching children's TV/films and audiobook listening, and parent–child discussions about media content were collected. Children's theory‐of‐mind performance and mental verb comprehension were measured as dependent variables. When gender, age, language skills and parental education were controlled, only the number of children's books, shared book reading frequency, audio‐media exposure and audiobook usage significantly predicted children's theory‐of‐mind scores. None of the media exposure or the parent–child discussion variables had significant incremental effects above the family and child characteristics on mental verb comprehension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the previous psychoeducational literature, many theorists have argued that creativity and originality require the ability to make predictions and assumptions regarding other individuals' ideas. Thus, it has been widely hypothesized that social cognition and theory of mind (ToM) might be a fundamental component or even a prerequisite of creativity. Despite their common grounds, the empirical evidence examining the potential link between ToM and creative thinking throughout their development seems to be indirect, limited, and fragmented. In this respect, this scoping review aimed to collect and synthesize the existing knowledge about the relationship between ToM and creativity at different ages to identify significant literature gaps and generate updated research questions that might guide future research. The search process led to the inclusion, analysis, and collation of 6 relevant studies only, indicating that this research topic has been poorly investigated. Results demonstrated that ToM and creativity are strongly correlated even after partialling out significant mediators, such as age and intelligence. Such a strong association should be further investigated and explained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant number of borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms are manifested in the interpersonal context. This can be explained by the difficulties in attributing the mental states of oneself and others, which constitutes social cognition. Errors in social cognition are interrelated with the affective, cognitive, impulsive, and interpersonal areas of the person with BPD. The aims of this study was to analyze social cognition in women with BPD compared with a control group and to analyze social cognition in BPD based on BPD symptoms and its severity. To assess social cognition, we used a full range of social cognition categories provided by the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC): correct theory of mind (ToM); attribution of mental states (thoughts, emotions, or intentions); errors of mentalization; types of ToM; and attribution of mental states through perceptive or cognitive cues and through hot or cold emotions. The MASC has high ecological validity and has been validated in Spanish. The sample comprised 79 women, including 47 women with BPD and 32 healthy women. Worse social cognition performance was observed in women with BPD. More severe borderline symptoms were related to worse functioning in the correct ToM and to errors of no mentalization. Involvement of the cognitive area in borderline symptoms was associated with worse functioning in correct ToM and worse social cognition in cognitive areas as well as with hypermentalization. This is the first study that uses all the MASC categories and considers BPD heterogeneity and its severity to study social cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study revealed determinants that influence motive inference toward helpers who engage in lifesaving. The costly signalling theory contends that higher costs associated with helping behaviour will promote one's inference of altruistic motives toward a helper. We examined how costs affect third parties' motive inference when controlling for benefits to recipients. In addition, in terms of projection theory, we predicted that the stronger the third parties' praise‐seeking need, the more likely it is they will infer self‐presentational motives toward a helper. We also examined if the praise‐seeking need would moderate the effect of cost on motive inference. Two vignette studies using hypothetical scenarios were conducted. In Study 1 (N = 140) and Study 2 (N = 100), the main effect of costs was found to be significant, indicating that the larger the cost, the more likely it is that a third party inferred altruistic motives toward a helper. Moreover, the main effect (but not the moderation effect) of the praise‐seeking need was also significant, as predicted above. This study provides stronger support for the costly signalling theory and reveals an individual‐difference factor that determines motive inference toward a helper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Dysfunctions in the oxytocin system have been reported in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Deficits could be related to interpersonal hypersensitivity, which has been previously associated with failures in social cognition (SC) in this disorder, especially in Theory of Mind (ToM) skills. The aim of this work is to study the links between the oxytocin system and SC impairments in patients with BPD. Method: Plasma oxytocin levels (OXT) and protein expression of oxytocin receptors in blood mononuclear cells (OXTR) were examined in 33 patients with a diagnosis of BPD (age: M 28.85, DT = 8.83). Social cognition was assessed using the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC). Statistical associations between biochemical factors and different response errors in MASC were analyzed through generalized linear regression controlling for relevant clinical factors. Results: Generalized linear regression showed a significant relationship between lower OXTR and overmentalization in BPD patients (OR = 0.90). Conclusions: This work supports the relationship between alterations in the oxytocin system and ToM impairments observed in BPD patients, enhancing the search for endophenotypes related to the phenotypic features of the disorder to improve current clinical knowledge and address more specific therapeutic targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the growing interest on how Tourette syndrome (TS) affects social cognition skills, this field remains to date relatively under‐explored. Here, we aim to advance knowledge on the topic by studying moral decision‐making and moral reasoning in a group of adolescents with TS and a group of healthy controls. Overall, we found higher endorsement (i.e. a greater 'yes' response rate) for utilitarian solutions of incidental and instrumental moral dilemmas in TS compared to controls. By contrast, we reported an overall higher tendency of TS individuals to apply principles described in the moral foundation questionnaire to establish whether something is morally right or wrong. Our results document intact moral reasoning in TS and suggest that a deficit in suppressing inappropriate behaviours and/or altered sense of agency might be responsible for their higher utilitarian moral decision‐making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facial emotion recognition (FER) is a crucial component of social cognition and is essential in social‐interpersonal behaviour regulation. Although FER impairment is well‐established in advanced PD, data about FER at the time of diagnosis and its relationship with social behavioural problems in daily life are lacking. The aim was to examine FER at the time of PD diagnosis compared to a matched healthy control (HC) group and to associate FER with indices of social behavioural problems. In total, 142 de novo, treatment‐naïve PD patients and 142 HC were included. FER was assessed by the Ekman 60 faces test (EFT). Behavioural problems in PD patients were assessed using the Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX‐self and DEX‐proxy) and the Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES‐self). PD patients had significantly lower EFT‐total scores (p =.001) compared to HC, with worse recognition of Disgust (p =.001) and Sadness (p =.016). Correlational analyses yielded significant correlations between AES‐self and both EFT‐total (rs =.28) and Fear (rs =.22). Significant negative correlations were found between DEX‐proxy and both EFT‐total (rs = −.28) and Anger (rs = −.26). Analyses of DEX‐subscales showed that proxy ratings were significantly higher than patient‐ratings for the Social Conventions subscale (p =.047). This DEX‐proxy subscale had the strongest correlation with EFT‐total (rs = −.29). Results show that de novo PD patients already show impaired FER compared to HC. In addition, lower FER is linked to self‐reported apathy and proxy‐reported social‐behavioural problems, especially concerning social conventions. These findings validate the importance of the inclusion of social cognition measures in the neuropsychological assessment even in early PD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many mobile robotics applications require robots to navigate around humans who may interpret the robot's motion in terms of social attitudes and intentions. It is essential to understand which aspects of the robot's motion are related to such perceptions so that we may design appropriate navigation algorithms. Current works in social navigation tend to strive towards a single ideal style of motion defined with respect to concepts such as comfort, naturalness, or legibility. These algorithms cannot be configured to alter trajectory features to control the social interpretations made by humans. In this work, we firstly present logistic regression models based on perception experiments linking human perceptions to a corpus of linear velocity profiles, establishing that various trajectory features impact human social perception of the robot. Secondly, we formulate a trajectory planning problem in the form of a constrained optimization, using novel constraints that can be selectively applied to shape the trajectory such that it generates the desired social perception. We demonstrate the ability of the proposed algorithm to accurately change each of the features of the generated trajectories based on the selected constraints, enabling subtle variations in the robot's motion to be consistently applied. By controlling the trajectories to induce different social perceptions, we provide a tool to better tailor the robot's actions to its role and deployment context to enhance acceptability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Social prescribing (SP) is a non-clinical approach, most commonly based in healthcare units, that aims to address non-medical health-related social needs by connecting individuals with community-based services. This qualitative study explores the perception of Portuguese older adults regarding the benefits of SP and their willingness to participate in SP initiatives. Methods: Three face-to-face focus group sessions were conducted with 23 participants in different cities in Portugal. Open and semi-open questions were used to guide the discussions and thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Results: The participants recognized the potential benefits of SP for older adults, including diversifying leisure activities, improving mental health, and complementing existing support systems. They highlighted the need for external support, usually in the form of link workers, to facilitate personalized referrals and consider individual characteristics and preferences. While some participants expressed reluctance to engage in SP due to their existing busy schedules and a perceived sense of imposition, others showed openness to having new experiences and recognized the potential value of SP in promoting activity. Barriers to participation, including resistance to change, mobility issues, and family responsibilities, were identified. Conclusions: The study emphasizes the importance of a person-centered and co-designed approach to SP, involving older adults in the planning and implementation of interventions. The findings provide valuable insights for the development of SP programs tailored to the unique needs and aspirations of older adults in Portugal, ultimately promoting active and healthy aging. Future research should consider the perspectives of family doctors and include a broader representation of older adults from diverse geographic areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]