Exercise and cognition, active learning benefits, ideal leader qualities, and more research

For most people, any kind of exercise has immediate benefits for cognitive functioning, suggests a large meta-analysis in Psychological Bulletin. Researchers identified 30 systematic reviews of previous meta-analyses (covering 383 unique studies with 18,347 participants). Their investigation revealed that even one-time workouts improved cognitive function to a moderate degree. The cognitive processes that benefited from one-off exercise sessions were attention, executive function, memory, and information processing. The timing of cognitive assessment mattered; the largest benefits were observed immediately after exercise. The age and cognitive status of the participants, as well as the type, intensity, and duration of exercise, had no significant impact.
DOI: 10.1037/bul0000460

Students can learn faster about a topic when tasked with actively solving practice problems supplemented by feedback than when taught exclusively with classroom lectures, according to research in the Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition. But they may lose motivation to deepen that knowledge. Across three experiments, researchers determined that 870 online participants in the United States learned 15% faster when engaging in practice sessions and receiving feedback than when instructed exclusively with lectures. However, they also found that this teaching method diminished interest in course content for students who are less confident and may struggle when challenged to solve problems and learn from their mistakes without detailed prior instruction.
DOI: 10.1037/mac0000205

The 2020 U.S. presidential election saw people shift their definition of what an ideal leader is, according to a study in American Psychologist. Researchers surveyed 200 Republicans, 200 Democrats, and 200 independents eight times between October 2020 and January 2021 about their perceptions of an ideal leader. While preference for most characteristics—including charisma, sensitivity, dedication, intelligence, and dynamism—remained stable across time, participants who accepted the 2020 election results became less likely to perceive tyranny and masculinity as desired traits compared with those who did not accept those results as valid. The researchers concluded that elected leaders not only mirror public perceptions of ideal leadership but also can shape those perceptions.
DOI: 10.1037/amp0001413

Despite equally valuing the concept of negotiation, boys ask for bigger rewards than girls do for completing the same work, indicates research in Developmental Psychology. Across two experiments, 257 boys and girls ages 6 to 9 indicated they would negotiate to a similar extent in hypothetical scenarios involving negotiating with a teacher for completing classroom work. In a third experiment, 204 children between the ages of 7 and 12 engaged in a task identifying images on a computer screen. No matter how well they performed, they were offered a bonus—viewing images of animals—and asked how many pictures they should get to view based on their achievement. Despite performing at roughly the same level as the girls, on average, the boys asked for 65% more pictures than the girls did. Additionally, boys—but not girls—made higher negotiation requests when they thought doing so was permissible and effective. In contrast, girls’ requests were predicted by how competent they thought they were. Notably, boys overestimated their performance, partially explaining why they believed they deserved bigger rewards.
DOI: 10.1037/dev0001898

People from cultures that are less motivated to reduce unpleasant emotions are less likely to use emotion regulation strategies, suggests a study in Emotion. Across two studies in 2020 and 2021, researchers assessed use of this motivation strategy among 2,608 individuals from 17 countries: Israel, Turkey, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ghana, Brazil, Peru, China, South Korea, Japan, India, Nepal, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, and Bangladesh. In both studies, the motivation to decrease unpleasant emotions was lowest among individuals from Japan and highest among individuals from Germany (the United States was relatively high).
DOI: 10.1037/emo0001403

According to research in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the more people feel compassionate love—that is, giving of oneself for the good of another (family members)—the more likely they are to take the other’s perspective, make sacrifices for them, and support them. Across seven studies with 1,916 participants in Canada, a researcher assessed levels of compassionate love and beneficence in two types of relationships: parents and children and parents and adult children. In both types of relationships, compassionate love was found to be associated with beneficence, such as willingness to sacrifice, responsive caregiving, and lending support. However, the analysis ruled out links between compassionate love and unhealthy forms of caregiving (e.g., caregiving motivated by obligation or needy caregiving) and exploitable dependency. A similar pattern has previously been observed in romantic relationships. Overall, the highest levels of compassionate love were found for parents’ love of their young children and lowest for adult children’s love of their fathers.
DOI: 10.1037/pspi0000479

Communicating specific, measurable diversity goals in job advertisements can increase application rates from women and non-White individuals relative to communicating only vague commitments to diversity, according to research in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. In the first of two studies, researchers presented 5,557 participants in the United States with job advertisements containing specific diversity goals (e.g., “We plan to hire at least one woman or racial minority for every White man we hire”) or general endorsements of diversity (e.g., “We care about diversity”). The specific, goal-focused advertisement drew 6.5% more applicants from women and non-White individuals than the vague advertisement. This effect was especially pronounced in White women. Follow-up studies with 893 women and 865 non-White individuals suggest that although measurable goals signal a more transactional approach to diversity, they also help to persuade applicants of the organization’s genuine commitment. This translated to more applications from both groups.
DOI: 10.1037/xge0001699

Registered research reports are characterized by less bias and better methodology than non-registered reports, though the latter garner more attention, according to a study in American Psychologist. Researchers analyzed 119 pairs of original research articles (registered and non-registered reports) from 33 psychology journals, paired by journal, time of publication, and research topic. They found that registered reports were less biased against null results and included higher levels of method and data transparency. However, these reports were cited less often than non-registered reports, even after controlling for these factors along with the number of studies per article, length of the methods and results sections, open access, and authorship metrics. Overall public impact, as measured by Altmetric attention scores and the number of social media posts on X, was not different between report types. However, articles published in journals with a lower impact score generated more posts on X. This could be due to readers wanting to share registered reports from lower impact journals to ensure the articles’ methodological rigor, which they may assume is assured for higher impact journals.
DOI: 10.1037/amp0001503

People are influenced by binary labels (e.g., Black, White, man, woman) as well as personal experience when sorting faces that vary by gender and race, suggests research in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Across six studies with 1,292 participants in the United States, researchers investigated how face perception varied along these dimensions. They found that when asked to sort faces of varying shades of skin tone along a continuum from Black to White, participants had a distinct lack of consensus regarding faces of intermediate race. Similar results were obtained when cisgender participants were asked to place faces along the male-to-female continuum. Transgender/nonbinary participants, on the other hand, demonstrated much higher levels of consensus in sorting intermediary faces than cisgender participants. Including a third category for sorting faces resulted in greater consensus among cisgender participants. The results suggest personal experience can shape how people think about gender/sex, as can how people categorize others.
DOI: 10.1037/xge0001512

By age 6, children think boys are better than girls at computer science, engineering, and physics but not math, according to a meta-analysis in Psychological Bulletin. Researchers examined findings from 98 studies that measured children’s gender stereotypes about STEM and verbal abilities. The data comprised 145,204 children (ages 4 to 17) from 33 countries across more than 40 years (1977 to 2020). Stereotypes indicating that males are significantly better at computer science, engineering, and physics emerged by age 6, while math stereotypes were minimal at all ages. Girls increasingly held STEM stereotypes about males as they grew older. By age 8, participants thought that girls are much better in verbal domains like reading and writing, a stereotype that grew stronger with age. Additionally, Black participants, especially girls, held weaker pro-male STEM stereotypes than did White participants. Unexpectedly, the stereotypes boys held about whether boys or girls are better at STEM subjects declined from age 6 until age 13 (meaning they see girls as equally good at STEM subjects) but increased thereafter.
DOI: 10.1037/bul0000456

Individuals who demonstrate ­self-control are perceived as more powerful and thus hold more influence over others, suggests research in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Across seven experiments, roughly 3,500 students and employed adults read about or interacted with individuals displaying varying levels of self-control, defined as how often an individual’s behavior aligns with goals in various domains, including saving money, being healthy, and reading books. Across all experiments, individuals with high self-control were seen as more assertive and competent and better suited for powerful roles than individuals with low self-control. In one study, people were perceived as more powerful when they exceeded a modest goal than when they failed to meet an ambitious goal, even though performance was the same in both cases.
DOI: 10.1037/pspi0000457

Knowingly being watched impacts people’s ability to detect faces, according to a study in Neuroscience of Consciousness. Researchers asked 54 undergraduate students in Australia to complete a visual task. Half were conspicuously monitored by multiple surveillance cameras, and the other half were not. The visual task itself involved continuous flash suppression, which temporarily prevents images of either colorful patterns or faces shown to one eye from reaching conscious awareness (though the brain still processes them unconsciously). Surveilled participants became aware of face stimuli almost 1 second faster than the control group. This held true whether the faces appeared to be looking directly at participants or away, though both groups detected direct-gazing faces more quickly overall. When the task involved geometric patterns instead of faces, there were no differences between the watched and unwatched groups. This suggests that surveillance taps into fundamental neural circuits evolved for processing social information. Hypersensitivity to eye gaze is also seen in mental health conditions like psychosis and social anxiety disorder, leading the researchers to suspect that surveillance might interact with these conditions in ways that remain to be investigated.
DOI: 10.1093/nc/niae039opens in new window

Men’s sexual desire is not tied to fluctuations in their daily testosterone levels, according to a study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. Researchers collected daily saliva samples from 41 adult male participants in the United States ages 18 to 26 for 1 month. Participants also reported their level of sexual desire as well as thoughts about courtship, dating, and relationships. Researchers found no association between testosterone levels in participants’ saliva and their degree of sexual desire on a given day. They did, however, find higher testosterone levels in single men than in those who were in sexual relationships. In addition, single men reported putting more effort into courtship on days when their testosterone levels were high.
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2024.1508opens in new window

Submitting work late reduces the receiver’s perception of its quality compared with the same work submitted on time or early, according to research in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. Researchers asked more than 6,000 people in the United States and the United Kingdom, including managers, executives, and human resources personnel, to rate business proposals, product pitches, photography, and news articles. But first, the researchers noted whether the product was submitted early, on time, or late. Late work was consistently rated worse than early or on-time work, even when the employee gave advance notice about missing the deadline. Evaluations of late work were less harsh, however, when the reason for missed deadline was deemed beyond the worker’s control. Additionally, late submissions were rated about the same as work with objective flaws, such as typos and failure to meet a word count. Furthermore, work submitted even a day after the deadline caused both the employee and the work to be judged just as harshly as work that was a week late.
DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2024.104365opens in new window

Specific protein signatures in the blood influence the strength of the association between loneliness and cardiovascular diseases, stroke, and mortality, indicates a study in Nature Human Behaviour. Researchers examined the proteomes, or collection of proteins, in blood samples donated by 42,062 adults ages 40 to 69 who participated in the U.K. Biobank study between 2006 and 2010. About 9% of participants reported being socially isolated, while about 6% reported loneliness. The researchers found 175 proteins (of 2,920 screened for) were associated with social isolation and 26 proteins were associated with loneliness. Many of these proteins are produced in response to inflammation and viral infection, and many have previously been linked to cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, stroke, and early death. A statistical technique revealed five proteins whose abundance was caused by loneliness. These proteins were also linked to the volumes of brain regions involved in emotional and social processing. Over a median follow-up of 13.7 years, the researchers found the proteins also modulated the link between loneliness and cardiovascular diseases, stroke, and mortality.
DOI: 10.1038/s41562-024-02078-1opens in new window

Elite soccer players are quick-witted but not necessarily agreeable, indicates a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers assessed the cognitive abilities and “Big Five” personality traits (agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness) of 204 elite soccer players from top Brazilian and Swedish leagues and compared them with 124 control participants (amateur players). The elite players had exceptional cognitive abilities, including improved planning, memory, and decision-making skills, compared with the control participants. They were also significantly more extroverted, open to new experiences, and more conscientious than the controls, who, in turn, were significantly more neurotic and agreeable than the players.
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2415126122opens in new window