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Croijmans I, Beetsma D, Aarts H, Gortemaker I, Smeets M. The role of fragrance and self-esteem in perception of body odors and impressions of others. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0258773. [PMID: 34780484 PMCID: PMC8592444 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258773] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2020] [Accepted: 10/05/2021] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Human sweat odor serves as social communication signal for a person’s traits and emotional states. This study explored whether body odors can also communicate information about one’s self-esteem, and the role of applied fragrance in this relationship. Female participants were asked to rate self-esteem and attractiveness of different male contestants of a dating show, while being exposed to male participant’s body odors differing in self-esteem. High self-esteem sweat was rated more pleasant and less intense than low self-esteem sweat. However, there was no difference in perceived self-esteem and attractiveness of male contestants in videos, hence explicit differences in body odor did not transfer to judgments of related person characteristics. When the body odor was fragranced using a fragranced body spray, male contestants were rated as having higher self-esteem and being more attractive. The finding that body odors from male participants differing in self-esteem are rated differently and can be discriminated suggests self-esteem has distinct perceivable olfactory features, but the remaining findings imply that only fragrance affect the psychological impression someone makes. These findings are discussed in the context of the role of body odor and fragrance in human perception and social communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilja Croijmans
- Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- * E-mail:
| | - Daniel Beetsma
- Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Henk Aarts
- Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Ilse Gortemaker
- UNILEVER R&D Beauty & Personal Care Science & Technology, Consumer Science, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
- ABN AMRO Bank N.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Monique Smeets
- Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- UNILEVER R&D Beauty & Personal Care Science & Technology, Consumer Science, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
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Perpetration and Victimization in Offline and Cyber Contexts: A Variable- and Person-Oriented Examination of Associations and Differences Regarding Domain-Specific Self-Esteem and School Adjustment. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2021; 18:ijerph181910429. [PMID: 34639731 PMCID: PMC8508291 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph181910429] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2021] [Revised: 09/29/2021] [Accepted: 09/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Self-esteem has been identified as a predictor of bullying perpetration and victimization, which, in turn, may lead to school adjustment problems. However, findings regarding the direction and strength of these associations have been inconclusive. This study aimed to resolve this by differentiating between offline and cyber contexts and various self-esteem domains. An online sample of 459 adolescents retrospectively completed measures of self-esteem domains and offline/cyber perpetration and victimization, and a subsample of 194 adolescents also completed measures of loneliness and school adjustment. A mediation analysis of bullying-related variables on the effect of self-esteem domains on school adjustment indicated that offline victimization was the only significant mediator. Positive indirect effects were found for social and emotional self-esteem, and negative indirect effects were found for school performance-related self-esteem. Furthermore, person-oriented analyses examined differences in bullying-related roles regarding self-esteem domains, loneliness, and school adjustment. Victim groups showed lower self-esteem in many domains, but cyber victims showed higher body-related self-esteem. Bullies showed lower school performance-related but higher social self-esteem. Both bullies and victims showed lower school adjustment and more loneliness. Implications for theory and practice are discussed, as the findings are relevant for teachers and could be used to develop and deploy more effective anti-bullying programs.
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Lou Y, Lei Y, Mei Y, Leppänen PHT, Li H. Review of Abnormal Self-Knowledge in Major Depressive Disorder. Front Psychiatry 2019; 10:130. [PMID: 30984035 PMCID: PMC6447699 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00130] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2018] [Accepted: 02/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is an affective disorder that is harmful to both physical and mental health. Abnormal self-knowledge, which refers to abnormal judgments about oneself, is a core symptom of depression. However, little research has summarized how and why patients with MDD differ from healthy individuals in terms of self-knowledge. Objective: To gain a better understanding of MDD, we reviewed previous studies that focused on the behavioral and neurological changes of self-knowledge in this illness. Main Findings: On the behavioral level, depressed individuals exhibited negative self-knowledge in an explicit way, while more heterogeneous patterns were reported in implicit results. On the neurological level, depressed individuals, as compared with non-depressed controls, showed abnormal self-referential processing in both early perception and higher cognitive processing phases during the Self-Referential Encoding Task. Furthermore, fMRI studies have reported aberrant activity in the medial prefrontal cortex area for negative self-related items in depression. These results revealed several behavioral features and brain mechanisms underlying abnormal self-knowledge in depression. Future Studies: The neural mechanism of implicit self-knowledge in MDD remains unclear. Future research should examine the importance of others' attitudes on the self-concept of individuals with MDD, and whether abnormal self-views may be modified through cognitive or pharmacological approaches. In addition, differences in abnormal self-knowledge due to genetic variation between depressed and non-depressed populations remain unconfirmed. Importantly, it remains unknown whether abnormal self-knowledge could be used as a specific marker to distinguish healthy individuals from those with MDD. Conclusion: This review extends our understanding of the relationship between self-knowledge and depression by indicating several abnormalities among individuals with MDD and those who are at risk for this illness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yixue Lou
- College of Psychology and Sociology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.,Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.,Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen, China
| | - Yi Lei
- College of Psychology and Sociology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.,Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen, China
| | - Ying Mei
- College of Psychology and Sociology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.,Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen, China
| | - Paavo H T Leppänen
- Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - Hong Li
- College of Psychology and Sociology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.,Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen, China
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Pietschnig J, Gittler G, Stieger S, Forster M, Gadek N, Gartus A, Kocsis-Bogar K, Kubicek B, Lüftenegger M, Olsen J, Prem R, Ruiz N, Serfas BG, Voracek M. Indirect (implicit) and direct (explicit) self-esteem measures are virtually unrelated: A meta-analysis of the initial preference task. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0202873. [PMID: 30188907 PMCID: PMC6126831 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202873] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2017] [Accepted: 08/11/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The initial preference task (IPT) is an implicit measure that has featured prominently in the literature and enjoys high popularity because it offers to provide an unobtrusive and objective assessment of self-esteem that is easy to administer. However, its use for self-esteem assessment may be limited because of weak associations with direct personality measures. Moreover, moderator effects of sample- and study-related variables need investigation to determine the value of IPT-based assessments of self-esteem. Methods Conventional and grey-literature database searches, as well as screening of reference lists of obtained articles, yielded a total of 105 independent healthy adult samples (N = 17,777) originating from 60 studies. Summary effect estimates and subgroup analyses for potential effect moderators (e.g., administration order, algorithm, rating type) were calculated by means of meta-analytic random- and mixed-effects models. Moreover, we accounted for potential influences of publication year, publication status (published vs. not), and participant sex in a weighted stepwise hierarchical multiple meta-regression. We tested for dissemination bias through six methods. Results There was no noteworthy correlation between IPT-based implicit and explicit self-esteem (r = .102), indicating conceptual independence of these two constructs. Effects were stronger when the B-algorithm was used for calculation of IPT-scores and the IPT was administered only once, whilst all other moderators did not show significant influences. Regression analyses revealed a somewhat stronger (albeit non-significant) effect for men. Moreover, there was no evidence for dissemination bias or a decline effect, although effects from published studies were numerically somewhat stronger than unpublished effects. Discussion We show that there is no noteworthy association between IPT-based implicit and explicit self-esteem, which is broadly consistent with dual-process models of implicit and explicit evaluations on the one hand, but also casts doubt on the suitability of the IPT for the assessment of implicit self-esteem on the other hand.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jakob Pietschnig
- Department of Applied Psychology: Health, Development, Enhancement and Intervention, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- * E-mail:
| | - Georg Gittler
- Department of Applied Psychology: Health, Development, Enhancement and Intervention, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Stefan Stieger
- Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences, Krems, Austria
| | - Michael Forster
- Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Natalia Gadek
- Department of Applied Psychology: Health, Development, Enhancement and Intervention, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Andreas Gartus
- Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Krisztina Kocsis-Bogar
- Department of Applied Psychology: Health, Development, Enhancement and Intervention, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Bettina Kubicek
- Department of Applied Psychology: Work, Education and Economy, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Marko Lüftenegger
- Department of Applied Psychology: Work, Education and Economy, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Jerome Olsen
- Department of Applied Psychology: Work, Education and Economy, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Roman Prem
- Department of Applied Psychology: Work, Education and Economy, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Nina Ruiz
- Department of Applied Psychology: Health, Development, Enhancement and Intervention, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Benjamin G. Serfas
- Department of Applied Psychology: Work, Education and Economy, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Martin Voracek
- Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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Stieger S, Kandler C, Tran US, Pietschnig J, Voracek M. Genetic and Environmental Sources of Implicit and Explicit Self-Esteem and Affect: Results from a Genetically Sensitive Multi-group Design. Behav Genet 2017; 47:175-192. [PMID: 28083723 DOI: 10.1007/s10519-016-9829-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2016] [Accepted: 11/03/2016] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
In today's world, researchers frequently utilize indirect measures of implicit (i.e., automatic, spontaneous) evaluations. The results of several studies have supported the usefulness of these measures in predicting behavior, as compared to utilizing direct measures of explicit (i.e., purposeful, deliberate) evaluations. A current, under-debate issue concerns the origin of these implicit evaluations. The present genetically sensitive multi-group study analyzed data from 223 twin pairs and 222 biological core families to estimate possible genetic and environmental sources of individual differences in implicit and explicit self-esteem and affect. The results show that implicit self-esteem and affect maintain a substantial genetic basis, but demonstrate little influence from the shared environment by siblings (e.g., shared familial socialization in childhood). A bivariate analysis found that implicit and explicit evaluations of the same construct share a common genetic core which aligns with the motivation and opportunity as determinants (MODE) model.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan Stieger
- Research Methods, Assessment, and iScience, Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, 78464, Constance, Germany. .,Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, School of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
| | | | - Ulrich S Tran
- Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, School of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Jakob Pietschnig
- Department of Applied Psychology: Health, Development, Enhancement and Intervention, School of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Martin Voracek
- Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, School of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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Hoorens V. What’s really in a Name-Letter Effect? Name-letter preferences as indirect measures of self-esteem. EUROPEAN REVIEW OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2014. [DOI: 10.1080/10463283.2014.980085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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Stieger S, Burger C, Schiller FR, Schulze EK, Voracek M. Measuring implicit gender-role orientation: the gender initial preference task. J Pers Assess 2013; 96:358-67. [PMID: 23980799 DOI: 10.1080/00223891.2013.825622] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Individuals prefer their name letters over nonname letters, which is known as the name-letter effect (NLE). This research aimed to examine a possible NLE for gender-role orientation (GRO) by rating letters for their gender-typicality in an initial preference task (Gender-IPT). Indeed, a clear NLE appeared: Men rated their initials as more male-typical, whereas women rated them as more female-typical. The Gender-IPT showed good convergent validity with other direct and indirect (Gender Implicit Association Test) measures of GRO as well as predictive validity with sensation seeking and gender-typical everyday life behaviors. The Gender-IPT seems to be a useful and practical indirect measure to assess GRO in a short, convenient, and computer-independent way, complementing other indirect measures of GRO.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan Stieger
- a Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods , University of Vienna , Austria
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