Witnessing an awe-inspiring event like an eclipse could make us more prosocial

People used more prosocial language on social media during an eclipse - but it's unclear whether this translates to changes in behaviour.


By Emily Reynolds


Astronomical events such as solar eclipses have mesmerised humanity throughout history. And while we now understand the science behind these occurrences far better than we did hundreds or thousands of years ago, and are far less likely to draw religious or mystical connotations from them, they still act as communal events of excitement and awe.

A new paper in Psychological Science from Sean Goldy and colleagues at the University of California, Irvine,explores these feelings in the wake of the 2017 solar eclipse. It finds that those who witnessed the eclipse expressed more awe and more prosocial language than those who did not, and argues that astronomical events could motivate more collective attitudes.

In the first study, the team analysed a dataset containing over 8 million tweets about the 2017 solar eclipse, which was visible across the United States. To explore the impact of the event, the team compared tweets from the day of the eclipse made by users who were in its path with tweets made by those who were not in the path and were therefore not able to see it in person.

To capture experiences of awe, the researchers developed an ‘awe dictionary’, containing words like ‘awe’, ‘sublime’, ‘transcendental’ or ‘mind blowing’. Each tweet in the set was also coded for prosocial words such as ‘care’ or ‘volunteer’, as well as for words indicating social connection, such as ‘ally’, ‘friend’, or ‘togetherness’. Uses of first-person singular (I, me) and first-person plural pronouns (we, us) were also noted.

The results showed that those in the path of the eclipse were more likely to use words relating to awe, indicating (unsurprisingly) that it was an awe-inspiring thing to witness. Those in the eclipse’s path were also more likely to use prosocial language and language related to social connection, and also used more ‘we’ words and fewer ‘I’ words than those not in its path. Further analysis suggested that awe explained the relationship between being in the eclipse’s path and levels of social language: that is, experiencing awe was the factor that motivated the use of collective and prosocial language.

In the second study the team looked at tweets written before, during and after the eclipse in order to understand whether feelings of awe and sociality shifted over the course of the event. To do this, the team analysed the language in tweets from accounts based in specific American cities in the path of the eclipse.

The researchers identified three groups of people: those who expressed increased awe tweets on the day of the eclipse, those who expressed fewer awe tweets during the event, and those who expressed very low levels of awe throughout.

People whose expressions of awe increased during the eclipse also showed an increase in the use of prosocial, collectively-focused and humble language, while the other two groups did not. This suggests, as the first study did, that feeling awe during an eclipse is connected to collectivity and prosocial attitudes towards others.

So, overall, the 2017 eclipse was associated with increased levels of awe, and increased prosocial and collectivist language. The team suggest that awe-inspiring events “can arouse tendencies – from greater attention to one’s groups to motivations for care for and affiliate with others – vital to collective life”.

However, whether people actually changed their behaviour due to the eclipse is unknown; similarly, eclipses, whilst awe-inspiring and exciting, are fairly brief and intangible events, meaning that active changes in prosocial or collectivist behaviour are unlikely to be more than ephemeral. Future research could focus on the impact of such events in offline life.

SOURCE:

https://www.bps.org.uk/research-digest/witnessing-awe-inspiring-event-eclipse-could-make-us-more-prosocial(accessed 29.8.22)

Awkwardness

This time on the podcast Meg-John interviewed Elsie Whittington. Elsie is a researcher at Manchester Met Uni who did her PhD on consent and studies youth sexuality.

For the podcast episode Elsie and MJ decided to focus on awkwardness because this was such a big theme in Elsie’s research that it ended up being a whole chapter of her thesis.

How is awkwardness relevant to sex and consent?

Pretty much every one of the young people who Elsie spoke to for her research said that a huge thing they feared during sex was awkwardness, and this was a major barrier to having conversations about consent, or to pausing or stopping what they were doing if it wasn’t feeling good.

Don’t miss out on episodes and blogs! Every other podcast is for Patrons only. Sign up to our Patreon from just $1 per month.

The sex educators and advisors that Elsie spoke with also said that awkwardness was a big barrier to talking about sex openly in schools and youth groups – and evidence suggests that medics, therapists, and other professionsal feel similarly awkward about bringing up issues of sex and consent.
What is awkwardness?

Most of the participants in Elsie’s research said it was a sense of embarrassment or having got something wrong. They felt awkward that they might be exposed as being inept at sex in some way if they brought up consent, or talked about what they wanted, for example. They were scared of losing face and looking stupid.

Interestingly the word awkward – from the Latin – means wrong (awk) and direction (ward – like backward and forward). So it’s literally about a fear of going in the wrong direction. On the podcast we linked this to the sexual script that is taught in media, sex advice, sex ed, etc. Part of why there is awkwardness around sex is that there is a sense of the ‘right direction’ that we could (intentionally or unintentially) deviate from. Even worse, there’s often a sense that trying to do it consensually will risk us going in the wrong direction.
What do we generally do about awkwardness?

In all aspects of life we’re taught pretty thoroughly to avoid awkwardness – perhaps particularly if we’re from cultural backgrounds which have a horror of embarrassment and where saving face is important. We might struggle with restaurants or shops or other unfamiliar environments if we sense that we don’t know the script – and therefore risk being awkward.

As with so many difficult feelings our default may be to assume that the presence of awkwardness is a bad thing, and that avoiding it is a good thing, at whatever cost.
Why is this risky?

When it comes to sex – which feels like such a loaded, vulnerable situation with potential for awkwardness – people may even prefer to risk unwanted or non-consensual sex than facing an awkward pause, silence, or conversation. Awkwardness is also a reason often given for struggling to suggest contraception.

Sex advice and media – including much advice around consent – is largely to blame for people preferring risky non-awkwardness to consensual awkwardness. It presents a script for sex, with everyone telepathatically knowing what to do without communication, and no awkwardness. Even consent ed often presents consent conversations as straightforward and not awkward. We need to see more realistic images and examples of people navigating awkwardness around sex and consent. It simply isn’t possible to get to that point without a lot of practise (including plenty of awkwardness).
How could we approach awkwardness differently?

We spoke about the importance of staying with feelings: learning how to be with awkwardness, recognising that it’s possible to feel and won’t destroy us. The most we can practise being okay with awkward feelings, the more we’ll be okay when those happen during sex.

Naming awkwardness can really take the sting out of it. Saying ‘oh that’s awkward’ or referencing the awkward turtle meme helps to make it a bonding, perhaps funny, moment rather than something that feels terrible.

It can be great to model the capacity to be awkward and it be okay for other people – if it’s something you can do. You can bring in cultures with friends where you see anybody feeling awkward as a great sign that a conversation would be helpful. Naming awkwardness and asking how others are doing can be helpful for social dynamics, and good practise again for when this comes up in relation to sex (whether sex itself or conversations about it).

© Meg-John Barker and Justin Hancock, 2020

SOURCE:

https://megjohnandjustin.com/sex/awkwardness/(accessed 26.8.22)

Trans and GRA

This week we spent the podcast talking about trans and the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) given that this is in the news so much at the moment.




We talked about the current moral panic about trans which is playing out in popular culture and the mainstream media, and the devastating impact that has on young trans and gender diverse people particularly.

We covered the most recent event in this long running panic: the trans exclusionary radical feminists who disrupted the London Pride march, and why trans rights are a vital part of feminism, not in opposition to it.

We explained that much of the current frenzy has been whipped up by media and others in response to the government consultation on the Gender Recognition Act. We overviewed what this Act does – and doesn’t do. While there is fearmongering around who has access to safe spaces and toilets, and how young gender diverse people will be treated, the act really only deals with the process that a person has to go through to have their identity legally recognised, and whether non-binary people will be included in that process as well as men and women.

Please check out the Stonewall and Ge
ndered Intelligence information, and then complete the consultation. It’s easy to take part as each page has drop-down menus to explain what is being asked of you.
© Meg-John Barker and Justin HancockPosted in Gender and tagged GRA, trans.

SOURCE:

https://megjohnandjustin.com/gender/trans-and-gra/(accessed 26.8.22)

Έρευνα: Η άσκηση κερδίζει και τον κορωνοϊό

Δυόμισι ώρες άσκησης την εβδομάδα αρκούν για να μειωθεί ο κίνδυνος νόσησης και θανάτου από COVID-19




Η τακτική σωματική άσκηση συνδέεται με μικρότερο κίνδυνο CΟVID-19, είτε απλής λοίμωξης είτε σοβαρής που χρειάζεται νοσηλεία και μπορεί να οδηγήσει σε θάνατο, δείχνει μια νέα ισπανική μελέτη που έλαβε υπόψη της στοιχεία από πολλές χώρες.


Αρκούν 150 λεπτά άσκησης μέτριας έντασης μέσα στην εβδομάδα ή 75 λεπτά άσκησης μεγάλης έντασης, για να μειωθεί σε ένα βαθμό ο κίνδυνος του κορωνοϊού.

Οι ερευνητές, με επικεφαλής τον δρα Αντόνιο Γκαρθία-Χερμόζο του Πανεπιστημίου και του Πανεπιστημιακού Νοσοκομείου της Ναβάρα, οι οποίοι έκαναν τη σχετική δημοσίευση στο βρετανικό αθλητιατρικό περιοδικό «British Journal of Sports Medicine». Αξιολόγησαν 16 έρευνες της περιόδου Νοεμβρίου 2019-Μαρτίου 2022, οι οποίες αφορούσαν συνολικά περίπου 1,85 εκατομμύρια ενήλικες με μέση ηλικία 53 ετών.

Σύμφωνα με τη μελέτη (συστηματική ανασκόπηση και μετα-ανάλυση), οι τακτικά ασκούμενοι είχαν κατά μέσο όρο 11% μικρότερο κίνδυνο να αρρωστήσουν με Covid-19, 36% μικρότερο κίνδυνο για εισαγωγή στο νοσοκομείο, 44% μικρότερο κίνδυνο βαριάς νόσου Covid-19 και 43% μικρότερο κίνδυνο θανάτου, σε σχέση με τους ανθρώπους που είναι σωματικά αδρανείς.


Προηγούμενες μελέτες έχουν δείξει ότι η σωματική άσκηση μπορεί γενικότερα να μειώσει τον κίνδυνο και τη σοβαρότητα των διαφόρων αναπνευστικών λοιμώξεων, επειδή ενισχύει τη δράση του ανοσοποιητικού συστήματος και την αντιφλεγμονώδη απόκριση του οργανισμού, καθώς επίσης την καρδιοαναπνευστική, τη μεταβολική και τη μυϊκή φυσική κατάσταση.

Πηγή:

https://www.kathimerini.gr/life/health/562009330/ereyna-i-askisi-kerdizei-kai-ton-koronoio/(accessed 25.8.22)

We underestimate how enjoyable it can be to just sit and think

We may be avoiding spending time alone with our thoughts because we mistakenly feel it will be aversive.



By Emily Reynolds


It can be hard to find the time to ‘just think’ - to daydream, let your mind wander, or immerse yourself deeply in your internal world. This is despite the fact that there is a multitude of research suggesting that letting your mind wander is good for wellbeing.

A new study suggests another reason we may prefer to keep busy rather than take a moment to stop and think. Writing in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, the team finds that we consistently underestimate how enjoyable and how engaging just thinking can be.

In the first study, participants were told they were taking part in an experiment measuring their cognitive processing during waiting, before being told to sit in a room for twenty minutes without any external stimulation. Before the task they predicted how much they would enjoy and engage with their time spent waiting, and how interested or bored they would feel. They then rated their actual experience after the twenty minutes was over. The results showed that participants felt more enjoyment, engagement and interest in waiting, and less boredom, than they had predicted. Further studies replicated these results in different environments and for different lengths of waiting.

To explore the real world impact of this underestimation effect, in a subsequent study participants were told that they would be assigned to one of two conditions: the ‘thinking only’ condition and the ‘news checking’ condition, which allowed them to browse news sites online. Participants rated their predicted feelings for both conditions, and then were told they could choose one of two lotteries to determine which they would be placed into. The first lottery had a 70% chance of their being assigned to the thinking only condition, and the other a 70% chance of assigning them to the news checking condition. In reality, their condition had been predetermined.

As anticipated, participants predicted that the news-checking condition would be more enjoyable and engaging than the thinking-only condition, and were more likely to choose the lottery with a higher chance of landing in the former condition. However, participants in the thinking only condition again enjoyed it more than they expected, while those in the news-checking condition did not show significant differences in their predicted and actual enjoyment. The fact that the vast majority of participants in this final study chose the lottery that was likely to place them in the news reading condition suggests that we may be avoiding spending time alone with our thoughts due to a vast overestimation of how boring or unenjoyable it will be. Future research could explore the actual experience of just thinking – although the studies show that just thinking is more enjoyable than we might anticipate, it does not tell us much about how it feels more generally.

It may also be fruitful to understand why we don’t want to be alone with our thoughts. Is it just that we don’t realise that it will be enjoyable? Do we fear being bored? Or worry about it inducing anxiety or unwanted intrusive thoughts? Further exploration of the mechanism behind our desire to avoid just thinking could provide further insights.

SOURCE:

https://www.bps.org.uk/research-digest/we-underestimate-how-enjoyable-it-can-be-just-sit-and-think(accessed 25.8.22)