Individual differences in activation of the parental care motivational system: Assessment, prediction, and implications.

Buckels, Erin E.; Beall, Alec T.; Hofer, Marlise K.; Lin, Eden Y.; Zhou, Zheng; Schaller, Mark

doi:10.1037/pspp0000023

Cited by 92 publications

(165 citation statements)

References 95 publications

(153 reference statements)

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“…Faces of puppies were included as a condition in the study to test whether exposure to human infants uniquely influences social/ideological attitudes, or whether these attitudinal shifts may more broadly emerge from exposure to vulnerable non-human targets that may also elicit tenderness and affiliative motives. Prior research has suggested that cute and vulnerable animals may also activate caregiving motives [25] [26].Yet compared to parental care motives generated by human infants, these feelings produced by animals may be less likely to translate into types of social and intergroup vigilance examined in the present study. The threat of harm and exploitation from outgroup members may generally and automatically be expected to be directed at vulnerable human members of one's ingroup (such as infants), rather than animals or pets.…”

Section: Studymentioning

confidence: 62%

Brief Exposure to Infants Activates Social and Intergroup Vigilance

Cheon¹,

Esposito²

2020

Preprint

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Among humans, simply looking at infants can activate affiliative and nurturant behaviors. Yet it remains unknown whether mere exposure to infants also activates generalized defensiveness in the absence of immediate threats. Here, we demonstrate that simply viewing faces of infants (especially from the ingroup) may heighten vigilance against social threats and support for institutions that purportedly maintain security. In Study 1 (United States), stronger affiliative reactions to images of infants (but not adults or puppies) predicted stronger perceptions of a dangerous world, endorsement of right-wing authoritarianism, and support for social-political conservatism (relative to liberalism). Study 2 (Italy) revealed that exposure to images of ingroup infants (compared to outgroup infants) increased intergroup bias against outgroups characterized as threatening (immigrants and Arabs) and increased conservatism. These findings suggest a predisposed preparedness for social vigilance in the mere presence of infants, even in the absence of salient external threats.

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Section: Studymentioning

confidence: 62%

Brief Exposure to Infants Activates Social and Intergroup Vigilance

Cheon¹,

Esposito²

2020

Preprint

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“…Supporting these predictions, tenderness is felt in response to human infants and also other baby‐like (i.e., cute and vulnerable) stimuli, including adults whose faces have been experimentally manipulated to appear more infantile (Buckels et al, ; Lishner et al, ; Lishner, Oceja, Stocks, & Zaspel, ), suggesting that tenderness is elicited via activation of the parenting motivational system. Like romantic love, parenting behaviors have been associated with increases in oxytocin (see Feldman, ), suggesting that experiences of tenderness may be associated with the mobilization of physiological resources that aid in parent–infant bonding (Lee, Macbeth, Pagani, & Young, ).…”

Section: Fundamental Motives and Associated Characteristic Emotionsmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Kenrick et al () therefore contend that a fundamental parenting motivational system evolved in humans to help maximize the genetic interests of parents by ensuring that their offspring survive to reproductive age and are able to pass genetic material onto future generations. Tenderness, an emotion, which is psychologically distinct from empathy, sympathy, and romantic love (see Buckels et al, ; Kalawski, ; Lishner, Batson, & Huss, ; Weidman & Tracy, ), may have evolved to facilitate these adaptive needs by promoting a desire to nurture and care for vulnerable offspring (McDougall, ). If so, one's real or imagined offspring should activate the parenting motivational system and also elicit tenderness.…”

Section: Fundamental Motives and Associated Characteristic Emotionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Feelings of tenderness may also be associated with cognitions, attitudes, and behavioral tendencies that facilitate parenting goals. Along these lines, Buckels et al () found that dispositional tenderness is associated with a greater liking for infants and desire to protect them. Furthermore, among parents, a chronic tendency to experience tenderness predicts caring child‐rearing attitudes and self‐child identity overlap, and among nonparents, tenderness predicts a desire to have children (Buckels et al, ).…”

Section: Fundamental Motives and Associated Characteristic Emotionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Along these lines, Buckels et al () found that dispositional tenderness is associated with a greater liking for infants and desire to protect them. Furthermore, among parents, a chronic tendency to experience tenderness predicts caring child‐rearing attitudes and self‐child identity overlap, and among nonparents, tenderness predicts a desire to have children (Buckels et al, ). This research also found that dispositional tenderness positively predicts the amount of time spent voluntarily looking at infant (but not adult) faces.…”

Section: Fundamental Motives and Associated Characteristic Emotionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Emotivational psychology: How distinct emotions facilitate fundamental motives

Beall

Tracy

2017

Social & Personality Psych

Self Cite

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Fundamental motivational systems and distinct emotions have both been suggested to be critically involved in the orchestration of adaptive responses to recurrent challenges in humans' evolutionary history. Research on motivation has, however, proceeded largely independently from research on emotions. Here, we contend that distinct emotions are what motivate behavior, and that these emotions may have evolved in tandem with fundamental motivational systems because they play a critical role in the functioning of those systems. Specifically, once a threat or opportunity has been identified, a distinct emotion is elicited, automatically galvanizing and guiding physiological, cognitive, and behavioral responses toward an adaptive outcome; this entire process occurs via a motivational system. We map six characteristic distinct emotions to six fundamental motivational systems and review evidence supporting each hypothesized link. In doing so, we propose a novel framework for understanding human motivation and the corresponding emergence of distinct emotions.

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Preliminary data on oxytocin modulation of neural reactivity in women to emotional stimuli of children depending on childhood emotional neglect

Meier

Montoya

Spencer

et al. 2022

Developmental Psychobiology

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Sensitivity for rewarding cues and distress signals from children are fundamental to human caregiving and modulated by the neuropeptide oxytocin. In a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study we investigated whether oxytocin regulates neural responses to reward or distress cues form children. In a placebo controlled within-subject design we measured neural responses to positive, negative, and neutral cues from children in 22 healthy female subjects who received oxytocin (24 IU) vs. placebo. Further, based on current literature, we hypothesized that oxytocin effects are modulated by experiences of childhood trauma. The task elicited valence specific effects, positive images activated the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, left anterior cingulate cortex and right putamen, and images of children in distress the bilateral amygdala, hippocampus and right medial superior frontal cortex. The effects of oxytocin depended on subjective reports of childhood emotional neglect. Self-reported neglect interacted with oxytocin administration in the amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal areas. In individuals with higher scores of emotional neglect oxytocin increased neural reactivity of limbic structures to positive and neutral images. Our findings need replication in larger samples and can therefore be considered preliminary but are in line with the recent literature on the modulating effect of childhood adversity on the sensitivity to OXT administration.

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Individual differences in activation of the parental care motivational system: Assessment, prediction, and implications.

Cited by 92 publications

References 95 publications

Brief Exposure to Infants Activates Social and Intergroup Vigilance

Brief Exposure to Infants Activates Social and Intergroup Vigilance

Emotivational psychology: How distinct emotions facilitate fundamental motives

Preliminary data on oxytocin modulation of neural reactivity in women to emotional stimuli of children depending on childhood emotional neglect

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