Interpersonal similarity attracts. In intergroup contexts, however, similarity between groups potentiates bias. The current study examined whether intergroup similarity versus dissimilarity engenders cross-group friendship formation. We used an essay-writing paradigm to manipulate perceived intergroup similarity or dissimilarity between the ethnic groups of participants prior to a dyadic interaction that involved a competitive party game. During the interaction, we continuously recorded physiological and behavioral responses from both participants. We used the physiological responses to derive a measure of physiological synchrony: the mutual activation of partners’ sympathetic nervous systems. People primed with dissimilarity, not similarity, experienced physiological synchrony with their partner. Moreover, the partners of people primed with dissimilarity acted more affiliative than the partners of people primed with similarity, which in turn predicted friendship initiation by participants. We discuss the seemingly counter-intuitive value of emphasizing differences between groups to foster positive intergroup relations

Racial/ethnic discrimination has been linked to poor health outcomes. Effects of discrimination on health behaviors, including patterns of food consumption, may contribute to health outcomes.We examined relations of discrimination to consumption of healthy and unhealthy foods in two diverse samples. Discrimination within the past-week was associated with more frequent consumption of both unhealthy and healthy foods, whereas lifetime discrimination was associated with more frequent consumption only of unhealthy foods.The data were limited to self-report measures and only the frequency of consumption was assessed. The findings suggest discrimination may contribute to health disparities through effects on food consumption. Differential effects for past-week and lifetime discrimination suggest that multiple mechanisms may be involved.

A growing body of research has associated the practice of meditation with the development of character strengths. Sahaja Yoga (SY) is a spiritual practice designed to help people develop a set of character strengths. The primary goal of the current work is to determine whether practitioners of SY meditation endorse signature strengths. Using the VIA Inventory of Strengths 120, we conducted a survey to measure character strengths among 310 daily practitioners of SY meditation and compared them to a matched sample from the database of the VIA Institute on Character. Practitioners of SY meditation endorsed seven signature strengths, relative to non-meditators: spirituality, forgiveness, gratitude, self-regulation, teamwork, appreciation of beauty, and hope. Findings suggest that the practice of SY meditation may be related to a unique and broad set of character strengths. The findings pave the way for research identifying signature strength development in other group contexts.

Receiving social support is often related to adaptive outcomes for athletes, such as reduced stress and greater wellbeing. Nevertheless, in some cases, receiving social support may not reduce, or even heighten, stress reactions. Thus, research is needed to better understand the complex dynamics of social support processes among athletes. Though substantial research has examined social support in sport, the majority of these studies relied on self-report measures; there is a lack of information about the actual interactions that constitute social support exchanges among teammates. This study sought to fill this gap by observing athletes’ discussions of stressful experiences, with a focus on understanding the types of social support behaviours that are displayed. University athlete dyads (N = 46 dyads, Mage = 20.2 years, SD = 1.9) were asked to complete surveys and engage in a conversation regarding stressors in a lab setting. The conversations were video-recorded and analysed along with self-reported survey data. Results showed that in addition to emotional, esteem, and informational support, athletes commonly engaged in co-rumination – collective discussions of stressful experiences with a persistent focus on negative feelings associated with the experience. Correlational analysis revealed that observed informational support was positively associated with perceived emotional and informational support, and co-rumination was positively associated with perceived stress. Emotional, esteem, and informational support did not relate to stress perceptions. The findings were interpreted to highlight the importance of considering co-rumination and we suggest potential avenues for future research on social support in sport that might further illuminate this salient component. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Sleep impairment may be a key pathway through which discrimination undermines health. Links between discrimination and sleep in American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) have not been established. Further, it is unclear if such links might depend on the timing of discrimination or if socioeconomic status (SES) might buffer the impact of discrimination.

To investigate associations between interpersonal discrimination and sleep impairment in urban AI/AN, for both lifetime and recent discrimination, and controlling for other life stressors. Education and income, indices of SES, were tested as potential moderators.Lifetime discrimination uniquely accounts for sleep impairment and may be especially harmful in those with less education. These findings suggest targeting interventions to those most in need. Limitations include the cross-sectional nature of the data. Longitudinal and qualitative work is needed to understand how education may buffer the effects of discrimination on sleep and perhaps other health problems in AI/AN

There exists a wealth of evidence that athletes must regulate their emotions for optimal performance and wellbeing. In addition to athletes’ attempts to regulate their own emotions, they may also attempt to regulate each other’s emotions (interpersonal emotion regulation). Though self- and interpersonal emotion regulation likely co-occur, previous research has not explored how these strategies concurrently impact athletes’ emotions and performance outcomes. In the current study, we examined whether athletes’ emotional self-regulation and the receipt of interpersonal emotion regulation from their teammates were related to their anxiety and goal achievement during competition.

Previous research shows that for native perceivers, visual information enhances speech perception, especially when auditory distinctiveness decreases. This study examines how linguistic experience affects audio‐visual (AV) perception of non‐native (L2) speech. Native Canadian English perceivers and Mandarin perceivers with two levels of English exposure (early and late arrival in Canada) were presented with English fricative‐initial syllables in a quiet and a caf‐noise background in four ways: audio‐only (A), visual‐only (V), congruent AV, and incongruent AV. Identification results show that for all groups, performance was better in the congruent AV than A or V condition, and better in quiet than in caf‐noise background. However, whereas Mandarin early arrivals approximate the native English patterns, the late arrivals showed poorer identification, more reliance on visual information, and greater audio‐visual integration with the incongruent AV materials. These findings indicate that although non‐natives were more attentive to visual information, they failed to use the linguistically significant L2 visual cues, suggesting language‐specific AV processing. Nonetheless, these cues were adopted by the early arrivals who had more L2 exposure. Moreover, similarities across groups indicate possible perceptual universals involved. Together they point to an integrated network in speech processing across modalities and linguistic backgrounds. [Work supported by SSHRC.]