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Starting from the assumption that caregiving behaviours are regulated at different levels, the aim of the present paper was to investigate adults’ reaction to salient infant cues by means of a multilevel approach. To this aim, psychophysiological responses (Heart Rate Variability), implicit associations (SC-IAT-A), and explicit attitudes (semantic differential) toward salient infant cues were measured on a sample of 25 non-parents adults (14 females, 11 males). Moreover, the trait anxiety and the individual noise sensitivity were considered as controlling factors. Results showed that adults’ responses were moderated by the specific measure considered, and that responses at the different levels were only partially consistent. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

This contribution applies the social judgment based on warmth and competence in the Italian political context (2008 electoral campaign; N = 625), by integrating insights coming from the literature on the Big Two and on the dual cognition theories. It aims at identifying how the evaluations toward leaders and parties (in terms of assigned warmth and competence, and ingroup/outgroup perception) predict the electoral decision-making. Furthermore, we test the hypothesis that the evaluations of the opposite party (group) and leader (group member) differ. The results are discussed considering the relationship between the Big Two and the following social evaluations and behaviors, in terms of intergroup competition and dual cognitive processes, the peculiar Italian political context and its increasing level of political personalization.

In this study, we investigated how a new food label forms explicit and implicit attitudes toward a product, and through which processes, these attitudes influence consumer behaviours. To this aim, 215 adults (85% female) implicitly and explicitly evaluated labels representing two products: water and chocolate. The labels were presented either in basic form or as having one of four additional symbols representing, respectively, the origin of the product, the respect of the environment, the wellness information, and the shelf life. Results showed that the additional symbolic information creates more of a negative implicit impression but more of a positive explicit attitude toward the products than the basic label does. Moreover, the analysis showed that for the chocolate only were both implicit and explicit reactions critical in driving the approach behaviour toward that food. The theoretical implications of these results are discussed.

To date a few studies have experimentally investigated the effects of hand gestures (and frequency) on psychosocial perception. A preliminary study with two experiments were conducted, in which confederates manipulated “Type” (rhythmic gestures, cohesive gestures and self-adaptors for experiment 1; rhythmic gestures, focusing gestures and dynamic gestures for experiment 2) and “Frequency” (low and high) during a face-to-face conversation with the participants. ANOVAs reveal that rhythmic gestures influence positively competence perception but negatively conversational fairness, self-adaptors increase warmth evaluation and high frequency influences positively warmth and dominance perceptions. Hand gestures appear to play a causal role in psychosocial evaluation.