How will humanity react to the discovery of extraterrestrial life? Speculation on this topic abounds, but empirical research is practically non-existent. We report the results of three empirical studies assessing psychological reactions to the discovery of extraterrestrial life using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) text analysis software. We examined language use in media coverage of past discovery announcements of this nature, with a focus on extraterrestrial microbial life (Pilot Study). A large online sample (N = 501) was asked to write about their own and humanity’s reaction to a hypothetical announcement of such a discovery (Study 1), and an independent, large online sample (N = 256) was asked to read and respond to a newspaper story about the claim that fossilized extraterrestrial microbial life had been found in a meteorite of Martian origin (Study 2). Across these studies, we found that reactions were significantly more positive than negative, and more reward vs. risk oriented. A mini-meta-analysis revealed large overall effect sizes (positive vs. negative affect language: g = 0.98; reward vs. risk language: g = 0.81). We also found that people’s forecasts of their own reactions showed a greater positivity bias than their forecasts of humanity’s reactions (Study 1), and that responses to reading an actual announcement of the discovery of extraterrestrial microbial life showed a greater positivity bias than responses to reading an actual announcement of the creation of man-made synthetic life (Study 2). Taken together, this work suggests that our reactions to a future confirmed discovery of microbial extraterrestrial life are likely to be fairly positive.

Much research indicates that exposure to early life adversity (ELA) predicts chronic inflammatory activity, increasing one’s risk of developing diseases of aging later in life. Despite its costs, researchers have proposed that chronic inflammation may be favored in this context because it would help promote immunological vigilance in environments with an elevated risk of infection and injury. Although intuitively appealing, the assumption that exaggerated inflammatory activity predicts favorable immunological outcomes among those exposed to ELA has not been tested. Here, we seek to address this gap, examining the links between exposure to ELA, inflammation, and immune function. Consistent with others’ work, results revealed that those from low socioeconomic status (SES) childhood environments exhibited exaggerated unstimulated inflammatory activity relative to what was observed among those from higher SES childhood environments. Further, results revealed that – although levels of inflammation predicted the magnitude of immunological responses in those from higher SES backgrounds – for those who grew up in low SES environments, higher levels of inflammation were unrelated to the magnitude of immunological responses. Results suggest that exaggerated inflammatory activity in the context of ELA may not predict improved ability to manage acute immunological threats.

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How will humanity react to the discovery of extraterrestrial life? Speculation on this topic abounds, but empirical research is practically non-existent. We report the results of three empirical studies assessing psychological reactions to the discovery of extraterrestrial life using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) text analysis software. We examined language use in media coverage of past discovery announcements of this nature, with a focus on extraterrestrial microbial life (Pilot Study). A large online sample (N = 501) was asked to write about their own and humanity's reaction to a hypothetical announcement of such a discovery (Study 1), and an independent, large online sample (N = 256) was asked to read and respond to a newspaper story about the claim that fossilized extraterrestrial microbial life had been found in a meteorite of Martian origin (Study 2). Across these studies, we found that reactions were significantly more positive than negative, and more reward vs. risk oriented. A mini-meta-analysis revealed large overall effect sizes (positive vs. negative affect language: g = 0.98; reward vs. risk language: g = 0.81). We also found that people's forecasts of their own reactions showed a greater positivity bias than their forecasts of humanity's reactions (Study 1), and that responses to reading an actual announcement of the discovery of extraterrestrial microbial life showed a greater positivity bias than responses to reading an actual announcement of the creation of man-made synthetic life (Study 2). Taken together, this work suggests that our reactions to a future confirmed discovery of microbial extraterrestrial life are likely to be fairly positive.Keywords: extraterrestrial life, societal reactions, LIWC, affect, scientific discovery INTRODUCTIONHow will we react to the discovery of alien life? In 1953, the Robertson Panel warned of the danger of mass hysteria (Durant, 1953), and a recent national poll found that 25% of American respondents anticipated people would panic (Harrison, 2011). Depictions of contact with extraterrestrial life in fiction for over a century have highlighted potential downsides of alien contact, from H. G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" (Wells, 1898(Wells, /2003, to the television series "The X-Files" (Carter, 1993(Carter, -2002, and films such as "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (Blaustein and Wise, 1951), "Independence Day" (Devlin and Emmerich, 1996), and "Edge of Tomorrow" (Hoffs et al., 2014). However, most speculations regarding humanity's reactions to extraterrestrial life, both in fiction and otherwise, have focused on discovering evidence of intelligent life from elsewhere, Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 1 January 2018 | Volume 8 | Article 2308Kwon et al. Psychological Responses to E.T. Lifewhile less consideration has been given to how we may react to the discovery of extraterrestrial life that is not intelligent, even though we are more likely to encounter microbial life in our solar system (Race and Randolph, 2002;Race, 2008;Gronstal, 20...

Women’s sex hormones play an important role in shaping women’s mating psychology and behavior. These hormones are disrupted by the use of hormonal contraceptives (HCs), which suppress the release of women’s own dynamically changing ovarian hormones and supplant them with a consistent dose of synthetics. Although a majority of reproductive-aged women have used HCs to manage fertility at some point in their lives, little is known about the impacts of the artificial hormones in HCs on women’s mating psychology and behavior. In the current chapter, we review what is known and not known about the relationship between HC use and women’s mating and sexual psychology. The chapter closes by addressing important limitations of the existing research and delineating fruitful areas for future study.