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In navigating the complexities of social life, humans have evolved to interpret invisible odorous chemical cues, with profound behavioural impacts often unbeknown to the conscious mind. The manifestation of this in humans is evident in the scent of androstadienone (androsta-4,16-dien-3-one), an odorous compound which is considered a putative human pheromone. The current study investigated the effect of androstadienone on social distance-dependent prosocial behaviour measured by a social discounting task, in which participants chose between selfish and generous options. Based on our pre-registration, we predicted a sex-specific effect, with males exposed to androstadienone exhibiting increased generosity, while females would choose more selfishly. Employing a double-blind, placebo-controlled, between-subject design, we recruited 170 participants who were randomly assigned to either the androstadienone or control condition. Olfactory stimuli were administered while participants completed the social discounting task. Inconsistent with our hypothesis, inhaling androstadienone did not impact social distance-dependent prosocial behaviour. This finding was supported by multiple estimates of prosociality, including model-free, model-based and maximum likelihood estimation. Further analyses indicated that androstadienone administration did not influence perceived social distance or bias participants towards being generous or selfish. Thus, our empirical findings provide no support for the hypothesis that androstadienone modulates generosity.

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BACKGROUND: Understanding the intricate influences of risk factors contributing to suicide among young individuals remains a challenge. The current study employed interpretable machine learning and network analysis to unravel critical suicide-associated factors in Chinese university students. METHODS: A total of 68,071 students were recruited between Sep 2016 and Sep 2020 in China. Students reported their lifetime experiences with suicidal thoughts and behaviors, categorized as suicide ideation (SI), suicide plan (SP), and suicide attempt (SA). We assessed 36 suicide-associated factors including psychopathology, family environment, life events, and stigma. Local interpretations were provided using Shapley additive explanation (SHAP) interaction values, while a mixed graphical model facilitated a global understanding of their interplay. RESULTS: Local explanations based on SHAP interaction values suggested that psychoticism and depression severity emerged as pivotal factors for SI, while paranoid ideation strongly correlated with SP and SA. In addition, childhood neglect significantly predicted SA. Regarding the mixed graphical model, a hierarchical structure emerged, suggesting that family factors preceded proximal psychopathological factors, with abuse and neglect retaining unique effects. Centrality indices derived from the network highlighted the importance of subjective socioeconomic status and education in connecting various risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: The proximity of psychopathological factors to suicidality underscores their significance. The global structures of the network suggested that co-occurring factors influence suicidal behavior in a hierarchical manner. Therefore, prospective prevention strategies should take into account the hierarchical structure and unique trajectories of factors.

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People vary both in their embrace of their society's traditions, and in their perception of hazards as salient and necessitating a response. Over evolutionary time, traditions have offered avenues for addressing hazards, plausibly resulting in linkages between orientations toward tradition and orientations toward danger. Emerging research documents connections between traditionalism and threat responsivity, including pathogen-avoidance motivations. Additionally, because hazard-mitigating behaviors can conflict with competing priorities, associations between traditionalism and pathogen avoidance may hinge on contextually contingent tradeoffs. The COVID-19 pandemic provides a real-world test of the posited relationship between traditionalism and hazard avoidance. Across 27 societies (N = 7844), we find that, in a majority of countries, individuals' endorsement of tradition positively correlates with their adherence to costly COVID-19-avoidance behaviors; accounting for some of the conflicts that arise between public health precautions and other objectives further strengthens this evidence that traditionalism is associated with greater attention to hazards.

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We synthesized life history theory and the antagonistic pleiotropy hypothesis to form an integrative framework for understanding delay discounting (DD). We distinguished between fundamental and longitudinal life history trade-offs to explain individual and age differences of DD. Fundamental life history trade-offs are characterized by life history strategies (LHS), describing how individuals adjust reproductive timing according to childhood environments, while longitudinal life history trade-offs characterize how individuals make trade-offs between early- vs. late-life reproduction as a function of age. Results of a life-span sample (242 Chinese participants) supported several theoretical predictions: (a) slower LHS predicted lower DD; (b) the relationship between chronological age and DD was U-shaped; (c) the effects of age and LHS were differential. Mechanisms underlying fundamental and longitudinal trade-offs were explored. Regarding fundamental trade-offs, LHS mediated the effects of childhood environment on DD. Regarding longitudinal trade-offs, the U-shaped relationship was more evident between physical age and DD: older adults who were in poorer physical health felt older and exhibited a higher DD. Neither the time perspective nor anticipatory time perception mediated the effect of life history trade-offs. We concluded that DD was a product of two distinct life history trade-offs, reflecting both the trait-like quality and age-related development.

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We examined the effects of anticipatory emotions induced by episodic future thinking on the basic decision-process of delay discounting and preventive behaviors during the most stringent COVID-19 "lockdown" period in China. We define anticipatory emotions as any discrete emotions induced from anticipating decision outcomes and felt during decision-making. In an online study conducted with healthy volunteers, anticipatory emotions were induced and appraised by asking participants to rate various emotions they feel when thinking they may be infected by COVID-19 (N = 246). The participants in the control group reported their present emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic (N = 245). Compared with the control group, the participants in the anticipatory emotion group had a higher future-oriented preference for monetary rewards, with a significantly lower delay discounting rate. These participants also had a higher intention to engage in proactive, preventive behaviors. The likelihood estimate of being infected by COVID-19 mediated these effects. Moreover, anticipatory disgust increased the preference for larger-and-later rewards. Anticipatory emotions induced by future thinking guide fast and rational decision-making in a health crisis.

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