OBJECTIVE We explored the extent to which changes in emotional states following exposure to images of idealized bodies predict unhealthy body change attitudes and behaviors in women and men, and whether particular psychological traits mediate these effects. METHOD One hundred thirty-three women and 93 men were assessed for unhealthy attitudes and behaviors related to body weight and muscles u...

While theoretical models of the evolution of parental care are based on the assumption of underlying genetic variance, surprisingly few quantitative genetic studies of this life-history trait exist. Estimation of the degree of genetic variance in parental care is important because it can be a significant source of maternal effects, which, if genetically based, represent indirect genetic effects...

An understanding of how the degree of phylogenetic relatedness influences the ecological similarity among species is crucial to inferring the mechanisms governing the assembly of communities. We evaluated the relative importance of spider phylogenetic relationships and ecological niche (plant morphological variables) to the variation in spider body size and shape by comparing spiders at differe...

OBJECTIVE Individuals with an eating disorder experience the rubber hand illusion (RHI) significantly more strongly than healthy controls on both perceptual (proprioceptive drift) and subjective (self-report embodiment questionnaire) measures. This heightened sensitivity to visual information about the body, and/or reduced somatosensory information processing about the body, suggest an increase...

Genetic loci for body weight and subphenotypes such as fat weight have been mapped repeatedly. However, the distinct effects of different loci and physiological interactions among different traits are often not accounted for in mapping studies. Here we used the method of structural equation modeling to identify the specific relationships between genetic loci and different phenotypes influencing...

The aim of this study was to test for the existence of causative genetic variation affecting body composition traits within or adjacent to the porcine insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) gene beyond the known IGF2-intron3-G3072A mutation. A focussed quantitative trait loci analysis using four microsatellite markers within the telomeric region of porcine chromosome 2p was conducted in a large re...

Personality trait identification is of paramount importance. Personality Traits are stable over time. Individual’s behavior naturally varies somewhat from occasion to occasion but there is a core of consistency which defines the true nature. Traits directly influence behavior. There are several methods for identifying traits. We provide an overview of this body of literature drawing out ample a...

Sauropod dinosaurs are a group of herbivorous dinosaurs which exceeded all other terrestrial vertebrates in mean and maximal body size. Sauropod dinosaurs were also the most successful and long-lived herbivorous tetrapod clade, but no abiological factors such as global environmental parameters conducive to their gigantism can be identified. These facts justify major efforts by evolutionary biol...

In two studies, self-affirming the behavioral trait of kindness was examined as a method of regulating state disgust toward one's physical appearance. In Study 1, 56 participants (37 women, 19 men, Mage=33.16 years) completed either a questionnaire designed to self-affirm kindness or a control equivalent and rated their disgust, anger, sadness, and happiness toward their appearance and behavior...

A novel pelage color variant appeared in a laboratory colony of white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) from Massachusetts. The mature adult coat color of this variant exhibits a rich golden tan appearance on the dorsum with white underparts. The trait is inherited as an autosomal recessive. Phenotypic comparisons with other rodents suggest that the trait is attributable to an allele at the bro...