Individual Differences in Activation of the Parental Care Motivational System: An Empirical Distinction Between Protection and Nurturance

Hofer, Marlise K.; Buckels, Erin E.; White, Cindel; Beall, Alec T.; Schaller, Mark

doi:10.1177/1948550617728994

Cited by 43 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 28 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…were significantly higher on mate-seeking motivation than were women (Neel et al: d = 0.55,Varnum et al: d = 0.24). Further, consistent with other social psychological findings (Buckels et FAMILY MATTERS 13 al., 2015;Hofer, Buckels, White, Beall, & Schaller, 2018;Neel et al, 2016), women scored significantly higher on mate retention (Neel et…”

Section: Sexmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family Matters: Rethinking the Psychology of Human Social Motivation

Pick

Kwon

et al. 2019

Perspect Psychol Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

What motives do people prioritize in their social lives? Historically, social psychologists, especially those adopting an evolutionary perspective, have devoted a great deal of research attention to sexual attraction and romantic-partner choice (mate seeking). Research on long-term familial bonds (mate retention and kin care) has been less thoroughly connected to relevant comparative and evolutionary work on other species, and in the case of kin care, these bonds have been less well researched. Examining varied sources of data from 27 societies around the world, we found that people generally view familial motives as primary in importance and mate-seeking motives as relatively low in importance. Compared with other groups, college students, single people, and men place relatively higher emphasis on mate seeking, but even those samples rated kin-care motives as more important. Furthermore, motives linked to long-term familial bonds are positively associated with psychological well-being, but mate-seeking motives are associated with anxiety and depression. We address theoretical and empirical reasons why there has been extensive research on mate seeking and why people prioritize goals related to long-term familial bonds over mating goals. Reallocating relatively greater research effort toward long-term familial relationships would likely yield many interesting new findings relevant to everyday people’s highest social priorities.

show abstract

Section: Sexmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family Matters: Rethinking the Psychology of Human Social Motivation

Pick

Kwon

et al. 2019

Perspect Psychol Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Indeed, Sherman et al (2009) found that cute images induced tenderness in students, especially reported by women, which was positively associated with performance on a fine-motor dexterity task. Tenderness, suggested to be aroused when the parental motivational system is activated (Hofer et al, 2017;Schaller, 2018), may particularly be triggered by cuteness in mothers to help them with their caregiving practices.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, increased happy facial expressions when viewing infant images were found associated with better performance on the perceptual-cognitive task, which has not been demonstrated before. Facial expressions are likely a behavioural manifestation of the parental care motivational system (Hofer et al, 2017;Schaller, 2018). Mothers' happy facial expressions play an important role in the affective mother-child interchange, eliciting positive emotion expressions in their infants in return (Mendes, Seidlde-Moura, & de Oliveira Siqueira, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cuteness has been associated with baby schema, described by Lorenz (1943) with features such as a large head, high rounded forehead, large eyes, and rounded cheeks. Responses to baby schema have been proposed to activate the parental care motivational system, consisting of affective and cognitive mechanisms that evolved to regulate behavioural responses, preparing the individual to protect and provide care (Hofer, Buckels, White, Beall, & Schaller, 2017;Schaller, 2018).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Exposure to infant images enhances attention control in mothers

Karreman

Riem

2019

Cognition and Emotion

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Viewing cute images has been reported to promote performance on tasks requiring carefulness, possibly related to an enhanced positive emotional state. However, it is unclear whether viewing infant images also enhances attention control in mothers. Therefore, this experimental study examined whether exposure to images of infants affected mothers' performance on a visual search task, studying associations with happy facial expressivity. Mothers (N = 101, M age = 30.88) were randomly assigned to one of two conditions in which they either viewed images of infants or images of adults. Before and after viewing images, mothers performed a visual search task. Mothers' happy facial expressions at baseline and when viewing images were analysed. Viewing images of infants, in contrast to viewing images of adults, improved task performance indexed by accurateness, but not the number of correct responses. Images of infants elicited happy facial expressivity, which was associated with the number of correct responses on the visual search task. This study showed that viewing images of infants evokes happy facial expressions in mothers and can improve mothers' performance on a perceptual-cognitive task requiring attention control. Mothers' responses to infant images may be explained as an attentional preparedness for caregiving.

show abstract

“…Among mammals, such as humans, survival and fitness of offspring are contingent on sufficient parental care. Parental care of offspring can be categorized into two broader classes of behavior: Nurturance and protection [1,2]. Nurturant care behaviors include activities such as feeding, grooming, and providing contact comfort, whereas protective care includes vigilant and defensive behaviors in anticipation or response to perceived threats.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Brief Exposure to Infants Activates Social and Intergroup Vigilance

Cheon

Esposito

2020

Behavioral Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Among humans, simply looking at infants can activate affiliative and nurturant behaviors. However, it remains unknown whether mere exposure to infants also activates other aspects of the caregiving motivational system, such as 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. Across two studies, participants viewed and rated one among several image types (between-subjects design): Infants, adult males, adult females, and puppies in Study 1, and infants of varying racial/ethnic groups (including one’s ingroup) and puppies in Study 2. Following exposure to one of these image types, participants completed measures of intergroup bias from a range of outgroups that differed in perceived threat, belief in a dangerous world, right-wing authoritarianism and social-political conservatism (relative to liberalism). 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 that are characterized as threatening (immigrants and Arabs) and increased conservatism. These findings suggest a predisposed preparedness for social vigilance in the mere suggested presence of infants (e.g., viewing images) even in the absence of salient external threats.

show abstract

Individual Differences in Activation of the Parental Care Motivational System: An Empirical Distinction Between Protection and Nurturance

Cited by 43 publications

References 28 publications

Family Matters: Rethinking the Psychology of Human Social Motivation

Family Matters: Rethinking the Psychology of Human Social Motivation

Exposure to infant images enhances attention control in mothers

Brief Exposure to Infants Activates Social and Intergroup Vigilance

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About