Perceptions Of Traits Research Articles

Into the Animal Mind: Perceptions of Emotive and Cognitive Traits in Animals

ABSTRACT As incidences of human–wildlife interaction escalate, it is useful to increase understanding of the perceptions that might underpin these interactions or explain human behavior so associated. This study sought to identify public perceptions of the animal mind across wildlife species and to examine how states or qualities such as conscious thinking and feeling are perceived. We also aimed to evaluate whether people anthropomorphize species as readily as is often postulated. Using an online survey of 2,342 participants from the United States, we characterized perceptions of 36 wildlife species. In doing so, we also sought to stabilize inconsistent terminology in previous animal mind studies, by characterizing and measuring attributions of two specific traits, which we categorized as “cognitive” and “emotive.” We found that people differentiate between cognitive traits (intellectual traits) and emotive traits (experiential, emotional states). Contrary to some past studies as well as popular assumptions, cognitive traits were ascribed more frequently than emotive traits for all animals. In addition, different animal classes were perceived as having varying levels of capacity of both traits. Mammals were ranked highest on qualities that defined both traits, followed by birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. The ranges within class also varied. Our findings provide new insights on how the public view the mental capabilities of wildlife species. The study further suggests that perceptions regarding the cognitive ability of animals may be higher than previously believed and that emotive traits may not be as notable as traditionally assumed. Elucidating these points may contribute to further progress in wildlife discussions and conservation strategies.

Saúde mental em estudantes universitários durante a pandemia de COVID-19

Este é um estudo transversal, realizado no início de 2020, que teve como objetivo investigar a saúde mental (ansiedade, depressão e estresse) em estudantes universitários durante o estágio inicial da quarentena no Brasil. Os participantes responderam uma pesquisa online sobre a percepção da COVID-19, quarentena, traços de personalidade, ideação suicida e saúde mental (Escala de Depressão, Ansiedade e Estresse). Os dados foram analisados pelo algoritmo CART. Participaram 1957 estudantes (1418 mulheres, 72,30%) com idade entre 18 e 40 anos (Média = 26,40; DP = 5,58). Pontuações de saúde mental mais baixas foram associadas a um pior impacto do COVID-19 na vida do entrevistado, maior neuroticismo e maior ideação suicida, com 48,43% de variância explicada na amostra de treinamento. Esses achados mostram que a saúde mental de estudantes universitários pode estar relacionada à interação de vários fatores anteriores à pandemia, bem como da COVID-19.

СВЯЗЬ ВОСПРИНИМАЕМОЙ АСИММЕТРИИ ЛИЦА С ПРИПИСЫВАЕМЫМИ ЧЕРТАМИ ЛИЧНОСТИ

Abstract. Although phrenology and physiognomy have been considered a pseudoscience, most people make consistent judgments based on faces. Though their knowledge may not be expressed in words, it involves stereotypes widespread across a given culture. Aim: to determine the relationships between perception of facial asymmetry and personality traits associated with stereotypical judgements. Materials and methods: 151 volunteers were recruited – 71% female (mean age 25.4 years, SD = 6.98) and 29% male (mean age 25.9 years, SD = 8.29). A new assessment method has been proposed: participants in addition to classifying 21 Caucasian male gray-scale facial images and their mirror images into one of three categories (symmetric, right asymmetric or left asymmetric) were asked to rate on a one to seven scale 19 polar opposite personality traits. Chi-squared test, ANOVA, independent t-tests, rank correlations were analyzed with SPSS Statistics Version 27. Results: Statistically significant differences were found among left asymmetry, right asymmetry, and symmetry classifications in the patterns of assessed personality traits; between the personality traits of the unaltered faces and their mirror images; faces judged as asymmetric and faces judged as symmetric; faces judged as asymmetric and symmetric by females; extreme right asymmetric faces and extreme left asymmetric faces. Significantly greater statistical differences were found for attributed personality traits of honest, calm, athletic, sociable, and distinctive. Conclusion: The detection that most of the socially desirable traits were found in the top five faces perceived as extremely right asymmetric rather than the top five extremely left asymmetric is most intriguing and warrants further research.

Farmers\u2019 perceptions of navy bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) production constraints, preferred traits and farming systems and their implications on bean breeding: a case study from South East Lowveld region of Zimbabwe

BackgroundNavy bean is an important legume crop in Zimbabwe. Although its production in Zimbabwe is limited by multiple constraints including biotic, abiotic and socio-economic, there is no documented evidence. Thus, this study aimed at identifying farmers’ production constraints, preferred traits and cultivars of navy bean, and strategies used to mitigate some of these constraints.MethodsA Participatory Rural Appraisal approach involving transect walks, focus group discussions (FGDs), and formal surveys with semi-structured questionnaires was conducted in four villages of the Lowveld region of Zimbabwe. In each of the four villages, two FGDs (one for men and one for women) were conducted. A total of 176 (75 males and 101 females) navy bean-growing households were interviewed. Data from household interviews and FGDs was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Scientists computer package.ResultsThe most important constraints to navy bean production were drought stress (Females—86%, Males—73%), heat stress (Females—58%, Males—55%), power outages (Females—46%, Males—54%), poor soil fertility (Females—32%; Males—33%) and susceptibility to pod shattering (Females—32%, Males—43%). Mitigation strategies included mulching (18%), ridges (12%), reduced acreage (11%), and cultivating to retain more soil moisture (11%) for drought stress, while irrigating at night (32%), and adjusting planting dates (29%) were used to manage heat stress. Farmer-preferred traits included tolerance to drought and heat, early maturing varieties and disease resistance. Marketing constraints included non-payment for produce in hard currency, lack of diversity in terms of off-takers, high inflation, low grain producer price, delayed payment and breach of contract by contractors.ConclusionThere will be increased adoption of improved navy bean cultivars if breeding programs address the aforementioned constraints and consider farmer-preferred traits when developing new cultivars. Breeders should work closely with extension officers to ensure that cultivars released are cultivated with appropriate agronomic packages for increased productivity and high adoption.

STUDENTS’ ATTITUDE AND PERSONALITY TRAITS TOWARD ENGLISH LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS

There are some factors that may influence students English learning achievements. They may be internal and external factors. This study focuses on internal factors of students which assumed affecting their English learning achievements; they are students’ attitude and personality traits. To find out the influence of students’ attitude and personality traits towards their English learning achievement, some theories and previous related research have been carried out. Based on the theories, people’ attitudes influence on how they behave, think, and respond to something. Besides, students’ personality traits are also assumed has influence to their English learning achievements. Goldberg (2001) proposes International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) to assess partcipants’ perception of personality traits. This study adopted questionnaires of IPIP about personality traits and provided another questionnaire about attitudes. Design of this study is a correlational research design which used simple and multiple regression analysis. The finding shows that there is significant influence of students’ attitude and personality traits towards their English learning achievements.
 Keywords: attitudes, personality traits, English achievements.

Ichiro the Public Diplomat: Professional Sport as Cultural Intermediary in Configuring US-Japan Relations

Summary This study examines the confluence of sport and soft power within public diplomacy. It analyses professional baseball player Ichiro Suzuki’s role in the United States as a sporting ambassador from Japan — potentially catalysing goodwill, cultural interest, perceptions of national personality traits and even views of policy issues such as international trade and country relations. In doing so, this research draws from non-state public diplomacy, which considers the transnational impacts of non-traditional communication vehicles such as cultural and sporting exchanges. It measures US public sentiment towards Japan through quantitative analysis of survey responses collected by Pew Research Center in conjunction with the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. The success of Japan’s cultural and sporting exports highlights their potential and realised role in binding national ties. Furthermore, Tokyo’s hosting of the Summer Olympiad emphasises the role of sport not only as a vehicle for competition and entertainment but also its utility in global engagement.

"Best Things": Parents Describe Their Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Over Time.

This study examined parental perceptions of the character traits of children with autism from early childhood to age 11. Parents (n = 153) provided descriptions of the "best things" about their children on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) at ages 3-4, 7-8, and 10-11years. Descriptions were coded using the framework of the Values in Action Classification of Strengths, with additional traits added as needed. Parent-endorsed traits included love, kindness, happiness, and humor in children across all ages and traits such as perseverance as children entered school. Higher CBCL scores were associated with a lower likelihood of endorsement for Humanity traits. Results are congruent with a contemporary neurodiversity perspective that emphasizes strengths and resilience.

Adoption of improved cassava varieties in Nigeria: Insights from DNA fingerprinting versus self-reporting varietal identification approaches

Much of the empirical studies on crop varietal adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa relied on self-reported adoption in farm-household surveys, which is prone to measurement errors. In addition, farmers’ perceptions of consumption-related varietal traits in adoption studies has received limited attention compared with production-related traits. Using DNA-based and self-reported adoption measures, we analyze the adoption of improved cassava varieties (ICVs) with a focus on the extent of varietal misidentification, the sensitivity of the drivers of adoption to varietal misidentification and the role of farmers’ perceptions of biofortification trait in adoption decisions. We find that the adoption rate of ICVs is relatively high using both DNA-based and self-reported adoption measures, but there is notable misclassification in varietal adoption. We find that the mismatch in DNA-based and self-reported adoption measures leads to some variation in the factors that influence the likelihood and intensity of adoption of ICVs. This suggests that appropriate varietal identification helps in better understanding of the drivers of adoption. In addition, we find that despite the observed varietal misclassification, farmers’ perceptions of biofortification trait is significantly correlated with the probability and intensity of adoption of ICVs using both DNA-based and self-reported varietal identification. This suggests that inclusion of biofortification trait in cassava matters for both the likelihood and extent of adoption of ICVs. The latter lends credence to the emerging policy interests in breeding programs for biofortified crops to address hidden hunger in Nigeria.

Local versus long-range connectivity patterns of auditory disturbance in schizophrenia

Auditory hallucinations are a debilitating symptom of schizophrenia. Effective treatment is limited because the underlying neural mechanisms remain unknown. Our study investigates how local and long-range functional connectivity is associated with auditory perceptual disturbances (APD) in schizophrenia. APD was assessed using the Auditory Perceptual Trait and State Scale. Resting state fMRI data were collected for N=99 patients with schizophrenia. Local functional connectivity was estimated using regional homogeneity (ReHo) analysis; long-range connectivity was estimated using resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) analysis. Mediation analyses tested whether local (ReHo) connectivity significantly mediated associations between long-distance rsFC and APD. Severity of APD was significantly associated with reduced ReHo in left and right putamen, left temporoparietal junction (TPJ), and right hippocampus-pallidum. Higher APD was also associated with reduced rsFC between the right putamen and the contralateral putamen and auditory cortex. Local and long-distance connectivity measures together explained 40.3% of variance in APD (P < 0.001), with the strongest predictor being the left TPJ ReHo (P < 0.001). Additionally, TPJ ReHo significantly mediated the relationship between right putamen – left putamen rsFC and APD (Sobel test, P = 0.001). Our findings suggest that both local and long-range functional connectivity deficits contribute to APD, emphasizing the role of striatum and auditory cortex. Considering the translational impact of these circuit-based findings within the context of prior clinical trials to treat auditory hallucinations, we propose a model in which correction of both local and long-distance functional connectivity deficits may be necessary to treat auditory hallucinations.

Contributions of human and environmental factors to concerns of personal safety and crime in urban parks

Human and environmental fear-evoking factors discourage park visitation and degrade recreational experience and enjoyment. Planners and managers have often ignored these critical issues. We conducted a questionnaire survey of 872 park users in eight urban parks in Hong Kong, representing different design, size, and socio-demographic and physical characteristics of the neighborhoods. Perception of personal safety and related park traits were examined. Landscape design and management were the most influential factors in inducing fearful feelings. Visitor-related concerns were more important than inherent park characteristics. The identified causative factors could contribute to crime prevention through environmental design to inventory safe and unsafe features in parks and develop targeted alternatives and solutions.

Does music affect citizens' evaluations of candidates?

While some candidates use music in some of their campaign ads to shape individuals' perceptions of their competence or compassion, for example, it is unclear whether the relationship between music and trait perceptions is empirically valid. Considering the importance of knowing where trait perceptions-which represent important determinants of the vote-come from and the extent to which it is possible to manipulate trait perceptions by means of music, this study investigates the effect of music on trait perceptions using data from an online survey experiment conducted between October 30 and November 12, 2020. In this experiment, 362 individuals were exposed to a random sequence of five campaign ads, either with their original music or with no music. Following each campaign ad, individuals were asked to evaluate the candidate's competency, honesty, leadership, and compassion. The analyses reveal that music marginally affects perceptions of competency, honesty, and leadership. Moreover, music exerts no significant effect on perceptions of compassion.

The eye wants what the heart wants: Female face preferences are related to partner personality preferences.

Women prefer male faces with feminine shape and masculine reflectance. Here, we investigated the conceptual correlates of this preference, showing that it might reflect women's preferences for feminine (vs. masculine) personality in a partner. Young heterosexual women reported their preferences for personality traits in a partner and rated male faces-manipulated on masculinity/femininity-on stereotypically masculine (e.g., dominance) and feminine traits (e.g., warmth). Masculine shape and reflectance increased perceptions of masculine traits but had different effects on perceptions of feminine traits and attractiveness. While masculine shape decreased perceptions of both attractiveness and feminine traits, masculine reflectance increased perceptions of attractiveness and, to a weaker extent, perceptions of feminine traits. These findings are consistent with the idea that sex-dimorphic characteristics elicit personality trait judgments, which might in turn affect attractiveness. Importantly, participants found faces attractive to the extent that these faces elicited their preferred personality traits, regardless of gender typicality of the traits. In sum, women's preferences for male faces are associated with their preferences for personality traits. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Attitudes Toward Submental Fat Among Adults in the United States.

Excess submental fat (SMF) can cause submental fullness resulting in negative perceptions of individuals. However, the impact of SMF on perceptions of social traits has not been well studied. To characterize the impact of SMF on external value judgments in adults in the United States. Respondents completed an online survey in which they reacted to statements about individuals with varying grades of SMF. Attributes were rated on a scale from 0 to 100 with higher scores for more positive attributes. Similar proportions of respondents (N = 1996) indicated that women and men with double chins were less attractive than those without (91% and 90%, respectively). A double chin was more likely to be noticed on a woman than on a man (78% of respondents). With increasing SMF, individuals were perceived as significantly less likeable, intelligent, happy, active, and easygoing. Those with greater amounts of SMF were rated as significantly less attractive than those with less SMF. For all attributes, male respondents rated all individuals lower than female respondents did. Results from this study provide further evidence of negative perceptions of individuals with SMF. Aesthetics of the submental area, especially SMF, likely impact the overall assessment of attractiveness and social attributes.

The Role of Age and Gender on Perception of Women After Cosmetic Rhinoplasty.

Rhinoplasty is known to increase attractiveness; however, the influence of observer age and gender are largely undetermined. This retrospective cross-sectional study included 20 women who underwent cosmetic rhinoplasty between January 1st, 2012, and December 31st, 2019. A total of 4 surveys were constructed with 10 sets of photographs each (5 preoperative and 5 postoperative). Surveys were designed such that photographs of the same patient were not placed in the same survey to avoid recallbias. Each of these surveys were then sent to at least 30 lay people via a web-based survey tool. Anonymous blinded respondents used a 7-point Likert scale to rate their perception of each patient's aggressiveness, likeability, sociability, trustworthiness, attractiveness, femininity, intelligence and confidence. A multivariate linear mixed effect model was applied to analyze the overall patient trait data as well as to assess age and gender differences. This survey study included photographs of 20 women (mean age, 28.2 years) before and after cosmetic rhinoplasty. A total of 174 respondents (mean age range, 25-34 years [41%]; 108 [62%] were female) completed the survey. Overall, postoperative photographs were perceived as significantly more sociable (0.13; 95% CI, 0.01-0.25), attractive (0.21; 95% CI, 0.09-0.34), feminine (0.18; 95% CI, 0.05-0.30), and confident (0.15; 95% CI, 0.02-0.27). When analyzed by sex, men rated women as less aggressive (-0.42, 95% CI, -0.65,-0.17) and more likeable (+0.45, 95% CI, 0.21-0.69), sociable (+0.38, 95% CI, 0.14-0.62), trustworthy (+0.37, 95% CI, 0.13-0.61), attractive (+0.60, 95% CI, 0.35-0.84), feminine (+0.23, 95% CI, 0.07-0.41) and intelligent (+0.29, 95% CI, 0.04-0.53). In contrast, female respondents indicated an increase in perceived attractiveness (+0.16, 95% CI, 0.06-0.22) and femininity (+0.18, 95% CI, 0.03-0.32) for women after rhinoplasty. Raters aged 25-34 indicated improvements across all traits analyzed. Almost all age ranges rated post-operative photographs as more attractive (18-24: +0.32, 95% CI, 0.19-0.46; 25-34: +0.52, 95% CI, 0.33-0.72; 35-44: +0.29, 95% CI, 0.12-0.51; 45-54: +0.50, 95% CI, 0.11-0.89) while individuals over age 55 only indicated increased trustworthiness (+0.51, 95% CI, 0.03-0.99). These findings suggest that cosmetic rhinoplasty improves perceptions of personality and physical traits of women with males and individuals aged 25-34 indicating the greatest benefit. Level IV.

Social trait perception is structured by a latent composition of 3D face features

Social trait perception is structured by a latent composition of 3D face features

Linking language descriptions and social trait perception of three-dimensional body shapes

Linking language descriptions and social trait perception of three-dimensional body shapes

Comparison of Self and Resident Assessment of Obstetrics and Gynecology Attendings

Study Objective There have been studies assessing OBGYN personality types. However, there is a gap of study assessing attending personality assessment and its effects on residents. The objective of this study is to examine attending self-perception of personality traits, clinical/surgical teaching and provision of feedback and how this compares to resident assessment. Design Online Survey. Setting Anonymous survey. Patients or Participants Current residents and attendings. Interventions There were separate attending and resident surveys. The surveys collected demographic information, personality/clinical/surgical teaching assessment as well as a set of slider questions pertaining to resident/attending perceptions. This set was developed with a clinical psychologist. Each survey linked to a validated personality test. Measurements and Main Results Resident response rate was 65.8%. Attending response rate was 78.6%. A repeated measure model was used to assess the mean difference in scores between residents and attendings. Attendings viewed themselves as more reliable/trustworthy (p=0.01), professional (p=0.04), ethical (p McNemar's test was used to assess the association between subjective and objective measures of attending personality type. 40% of attendings classified themselves as an extrovert but scored as an introvert (p=0.05). There was no difference between classification of type A/B personality types and measurement with the validated personality test. Conclusion Attending perception of personality traits, teaching ability, and provision of feedback correlates positively with resident perception for many of the factors studied. For example, residents perceived attendings as better at surgical teaching than they self-perceived. Assessing these correlations may assist in improving resident/attending communication and feedback.

Searching online and buying offline: Understanding the role of channel-, consumer-, and product-related factors in determining webrooming intention

In recent times, the increasing accessibility of mobile technology has led to changes in consumers’ purchasing behavior. Despite the gloom and doom hearsay about how electronic commerce is threatening the existence of brick-and-mortar stores, by some indications, however, webrooming (i.e., the practice of researching items online, and then buying them offline) may be an even more common practice among shoppers. Against this background, this study proposes and empirically validates a comprehensive research model which incorporates consumer traits (i.e., need for touch, need for interaction, and price-comparison orientation), channel-related factors (i.e., online search convenience, perceived usefulness of online reviews, perceived helpfulness of in-store salespeople, and perceived risk of buying online), and smart shopping perception as antecedents of webrooming intention. Moreover, this study examines the moderating role of product category in predicting webrooming intention. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted. A total of 280 useable responses was collected and data was analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling. The findings revealed significant direct and/or indirect effects (through smart shopping perception) of consumer traits and channel-related factors on webrooming intention. In addition, product category was found to moderate the relationship between price-comparison orientation, online search convenience, perceived risk, and webrooming intention. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The stories we tell, the reputations we form: Narrative identity and person perception

We explored the degree of consensus and accuracy in observers’ ratings of targets’ traits and autobiographical narratives. Targets narrated life high, low, and turning points and reported their personality traits. The conceptual content of these stories had previously been quantified. Here, groups of observers provided ratings of targets’ traits, knowability (how well the observer felt they ‘knew’ the target), and story conventionality, after reading each narrative. Observers exhibited consensus in perceptions of traits, knowability, and story conventionality. These ratings corresponded with targets’ self-ratings of traits, to a modest degree. The knowability of narrators did not moderate this relation, nor did key scene type. The conceptual content of targets’ narratives partially accounted for the relation between observer-reported and target-reported traits.

The Influence of Each Facial Feature on How We Perceive and Interpret Human Faces.

Facial information is processed by our brain in such a way that we immediately make judgments about, for example, attractiveness or masculinity or interpret personality traits or moods of other people. The appearance of each facial feature has an effect on our perception of facial traits. This research addresses the problem of measuring the size of these effects for five facial features (eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth, and jaw). Our proposal is a mixed feature-based and image-based approach that allows judgments to be made on complete real faces in the categorization tasks, more than on synthetic, noisy, or partial faces that can influence the assessment. Each facial feature of the faces is automatically classified considering their global appearance using principal component analysis. Using this procedure, we establish a reduced set of relevant specific attributes (each one describing a complete facial feature) to characterize faces. In this way, a more direct link can be established between perceived facial traits and what people intuitively consider an eye, an eyebrow, a nose, a mouth, or a jaw. A set of 92 male faces were classified using this procedure, and the results were related to their scores in 15 perceived facial traits. We show that the relevant features greatly depend on what we are trying to judge. Globally, the eyes have the greatest effect. However, other facial features are more relevant for some judgments like the mouth for happiness and femininity or the nose for dominance.