BEGIN:VCALENDAR PRODID: 1 VERSION:2.0 METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-TIMEZONE: America/Los_Angeles DTSTAMP: 20260531T131909 BEGIN:VEVENT UID: info@vconferenceonline.com SUMMARY:Social Psychology Papers III: Emotions and Relationships PRIORITY:0 CATEGORIES:SESSION CLASS:PUBLIC DTSTART:20200617T170000 DTEND:20200617T182000 URL: https://event.vconferenceonline.com DESCRIPTION:CHAIR: PATRICK DWYER

5:00pm - 5:15pm
SCIENCE UNCERTAINTY: IF AND HOW INDIVIDUALS SEARCH FOR SCIENTIFIC MEANING UNDER THREAT
ALEXANDRA BEAUCHAMP (WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY), MATTHEW WILKINSON, DOMINIK MISCHKOWSKI (OHIO UNIVERSITY)
The threat generated by critical, societal issues can intensify feelings of uncertainty, and trigger sense-making motivations. Under these conditions, lack of scientific consensus may degrade one’s ability to use science as an explanatory strategy. Two studies examine how individuals may use expressions of scientific consensus to reduce feelings of uncertainty when under threat. By understanding the way the public uses science for sense-making, science communicators can more effectively address science denialism.

5:20pm - 5:35pm
TESTING WHETHER BJW MEDIATES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CA AND SE
SAMANTHA SMITH, MEGAN CHESIN, MICHELE CASCARDI (WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY)
Belief in a just world (BJW) may explain the relationship between childhood emotional abuse (EA) and self-esteem (SE). Prior studies show that BJW is positively associated with SE and EA is negatively associated with BJW and SE. Formal mediation testing has not previously been conducted. This study tested whether BJW mediated the negative association between EA and SE in college students. EA and BJW were both associated with SE as expected, mediation was not supported.

5:40pm - 5:55pm
THE EFFECT OF LEISURE ACTIVITY ON MATE ATTRACTIVENESS
LARRY DAILY, JAMES JOYNER, MICHAELA CARPER (SHEPHERD UNIVERSITY)
Little is known about why humans choose construction of scale models as a leisure activity. There are negative perceptions of modelers, but model-making may be a fitness indicator, signaling creativity and problem-solving ability. Young women were tested to determine whether leisure activity (model-making, cross-stitch, or hiking) influenced the perceived attractiveness of a potential mate. Leisure activity did affect perceived attractiveness (but the hiker was most attractive), which then affected interest in a committed, intimate relationship.

6:00pm - 6:15pm
SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF GRATITUDE AT THE GROUP LEVEL OF ANALYSIS
PATRICK DWYER (INDIANA UNIVERSITY), SARA ALGOE, AYANA YOUNGE (UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL), CHRISTOPHER OVEIS (UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO)
We propose a novel theoretical and empirical approach to studying group-level social functions of emotions and use it to make new predictions about the social consequences of gratitude. Emotional expressions may coordinate group living by changing 3rd party witnesses’ behavior toward 1st party emotion expressers. Three experiments revealed that witnessing gratitude expressions increases helping from 3rd party witnesses to 1st party expressers, and that the mechanism of other-praising behavior is responsible for these effects. LOCATION: END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR