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Love is a worldwide known phenomenon that affects many aspects of human life, including considering a romantic partner with whom to bond. Thus, developing a reliable and valid measure of love experiences is crucial. One of the most popular tools to test love levels is Sternberg's 45-item Triangular Love Scale (TLS-45), which measures three love components: Intimacy, Passion, and Commitment. However, our literature review reveals that the majority of studies (64%) use a broad variety of shortened versions of the TLS-45. To achieve scientific consensus and improve the reliability, comparability, and generalizability of results across studies, here, we develop a short version of the scale–the TLS-15–which contains 15 items with a 5-point rather than 9-point response scale. In Study 1 (N = 7,332), we re-analyzed secondary data from a large-scale multinational study that validated the original TLS-45 to establish whether the scale could be truncated. In Study 2 (N = 307), we provided evidence for the three-factor structure of the TLS-15 and its reliability. Study 3 (N = 413) confirmed convergent validity and test-retest stability of the TLS-15. Study 4 (N = 60,311) presented a large-scale validation across 37 linguistic versions of the TLS-15 on a cross-cultural sample spanning every continent of the globe. The overall results provided support for the reliability, validity, and cross-cultural invariance of the TLS-15, which could be used as a measure of love components–separately or jointly as a three-factor measure.

People across the world and throughout history have gone to great lengths to enhance their physical appearance. Evolutionary psychologists and ethologists have largely attempted to explain this phenomenon via mating preferences and strategies. Here, we test one of the most popular evolutionary hypotheses for beauty-enhancing behaviors, drawn from mating market and parasite stress perspectives, in a large cross-cultural sample. We also test hypotheses drawn from other influential and non-mutually exclusive theoretical frameworks, from biosocial role theory to a cultural media perspective. Survey data from 93,158 human participants across 93 countries provide evidence that behaviors such as applying makeup or using other cosmetics, hair grooming, clothing style, caring for body hygiene, and exercising or following a specific diet for the specific purpose of improving ones physical attractiveness, are universal. Indeed, 99% of participants reported spending >10 min a day performing beauty-enhancing behaviors. The results largely support evolutionary hypotheses: more time was spent enhancing beauty by women (almost 4 h a day, on average) than by men (3.6 h a day), by the youngest participants (and contrary to predictions, also the oldest), by those with a relatively more severe history of infectious diseases, and by participants currently dating compared to those in established relationships. The strongest predictor of attractiveness-enhancing behaviors was social media usage. Other predictors, in order of effect size, included adhering to traditional gender roles, residing in countries with less gender equality, considering oneself as highly attractive or, conversely, highly unattractive, TV watching time, higher socioeconomic status, right-wing political beliefs, a lower level of education, and personal individualistic attitudes. This study provides novel insight into universal beauty-enhancing behaviors by unifying evolutionary theory with several other complementary perspectives., National Science Center, Poland [2019/33/N/HS6/00054]; Basic Research Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE University); Basic Research Program at HSE University, RF; FCT [UID/PSI/03125/2021, SFRH/BD/126304/2016]; UTAR Research Centre Excellence Award; Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman [2019 -CAP (6401/0019)], This work is the result of the research project funded by the National Science Center, Poland (2019/33/N/HS6/00054). Dmitry Grigoryev was supported by the Basic Research Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE University).; Dmitrii Dubrov was supported by the Basic Research Program at HSE University, RF.; Patricia Arriaga was supported by the FCT through funds from the research center UID/PSI/03125/2021. Anabela C. Santos was supported by the FCT through funds from a PhD grant SFRH/BD/126304/2016. Kavitha Nalla Muthu and Chee-Seng Tan were supported by the UTAR Research Centre Excellence Award 2019 -CAP (6401/0019) from the Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Fatalism—belief that all events are predetermined and therefore inevitable—have been studied by researchers from different disciplines as it is a significant notion to explain various aspects of individual and social life (health behavior, economic capital, political activity, social participation, etc.). However, the weakness of using only etic methods to understand this complex phenomenon is strongly emphasized. We fully share this viewpoint and think that it is far more appropriate to study fatalism with an interdisciplinary approach such as Contemporary Psychological Anthropology. The aim of the present study was to emphasize the theoretical and methodological opportunities of studying fatalism within this field (specifically, within cultural models school) and presenting the results of the empirical study on the Georgian cultural model of fatalism in the light of the opportunities discussed. The theoretical apparatus of the cultural models' school allowed us to think of culturally shaped fatalism, not only as an element of objective culture beyond the mind but also as a part of the mind, namely, as a cognitive schema formed on the basis of shared experiences. To reveal components of this schema we used the in-depth interview as a data collection method and cultural analysis of discourse (specifically, metaphor analysis) as the data analysis method. Personal control, Deity, Destiny, Luck, and Helplessness emerged as the components of Georgian cultural schema according to this analysis. Key words: Fatalism, Cultural Model, Emic Approach, Mutually Inclusive.

Touch, often called the ‘first sense’, is fundamental to how we experience and know ourselves, others and the world. Increasingly, touch is being brought into the digital landscape. This paper explores this shifting landscape to understand the ways in which touch is re-mediated in the context of virtual reality. With attention to the sensoriality and sociality of touch, it asks what ‘counts’ as touch in VR, how is touch experienced and how is it incorporated into meaning making. We present and discuss findings from a multimodal and multisensory study of 16 participants interacting in two VR experiences to describe: the participants’ material encounters with the virtual through a focus on touch practices, expectations and norms; the ways in which participants made meaning of (and with) virtual touch through their dynamic selection and orchestration of the range of semiotic and experiential resources available; and how these virtual touch experiences translated into discourses of touch in VR to emphasize continuities and change between the past, present and futures. The paper comments on the methodological challenges of researching touch in the emergent landscape of VR and asks how multimodality might engage newly with touch, perhaps the most under-rated and neglected of modes and senses, and its digital remediation.

Bringing touch into VR experiences through haptics is considered increasingly important for user engagement and fostering feelings of presence and immersion, yet few qualitative studies have explored users' iVR touch experiences. This paper takes an embodied approach–bringing attention to the tactile-kinaesthetic body–to explore users' wholistic experiences of touch in iVR, moving beyond the cutaneous and tactile elements of “feeling” to elaborate upon themes of movement and kinetics. Our findings show how both touch connections and disconnections emerged though material forms of tactility (the controller, body positioning, tactile expectations) and through “felt proximities” and the tactile-kinaesthetic experience thus shaping the sense of presence. The analysis shows three key factors that influence connection and disconnection, and how connection is re-navigated or sought at moments of experienced disconnection: a sense of control or agency; identity; and bridging between the material and virtual. This extended notion of touch deepens our understanding of its role in feelings of presence by providing insight into a range of factors related to notions of touch – both physical and virtual–that come into play in creating a sense of connection or presence (e.g., histories, expectations), and highlights the potential for iVR interaction to attend to the body beyond the hands in terms of touch.