MacEwan University

About: MacEwan University is a education organization based out in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 818 authors who have published 1493 publications receiving 20228 citations. The organization is also known as: Grant MacEwan University.

Human preferences for sexually dimorphic faces may be evolutionarily novel

Abstract: A large literature proposes that preferences for exaggerated sex typicality in human faces (masculinity/femininity) reflect a long evolutionary history of sexual and social selection. This proposal implies that dimorphism was important to judgments of attractiveness and personality in ancestral environments. It is difficult to evaluate, however, because most available data come from large-scale, industrialized, urban populations. Here, we report the results for 12 populations with very diverse levels of economic development. Surprisingly, preferences for exaggerated sex-specific traits are only found in the novel, highly developed environments. Similarly, perceptions that masculine males look aggressive increase strongly with development and, specifically, urbanization. These data challenge the hypothesis that facial dimorphism was an important ancestral signal of heritable mate value. One possibility is that highly developed environments provide novel opportunities to discern relationships between facial traits and behavior by exposing individuals to large numbers of unfamiliar faces, revealing patterns too subtle to detect with smaller samples.

Meaning in Nature: Meaning in Life as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Nature Connectedness and Well-Being

Abstract: Research has established nature connectedness as a reliable correlate of well-being. In the current research, we examined whether meaning in life mediated the association between nature connectedness and well-being. In Study 1, 311 undergraduates completed multiple measures of nature connectedness, multiple measures of meaning in life, and multiple measures of well-being. Mediational analyses revealed that meaning in life fully mediated the association between nature connectedness and well-being. In Study 2, we examined whether mediation of the association between nature connectedness and well-being by meaning in life could be demonstrated alongside a previously documented mediation of the association between religiousness and well-being by meaning in life. Undergraduates (N = 227) completed measures of nature connectedness, religiousness, meaning in life, and well-being. Mediational analyses revealed that meaning in life fully mediated both the association between nature connectedness and well-being and the association between religiousness and well-being.

Sample size and grounded theory

Abstract: Interviews are one of the most frequently used method of data collection and grounded theory has emerged as one of the most commonly used methodological frameworks. Although interviews are widely accepted, there is little written on an appropriate sample size. To tackle this concern a content analysis of one hundred articles that utilized grounded theory and interviews as a data collection method was performed. The findings indicate the point of theoretical saturation can be affected by the scope of the research question, the sensitivity of the phenomena, and the ability of the researcher. However, the average sample size was twenty-five, but it is recommended to plan for thirty interviews to fully develop patterns, concepts, categories, properties, and dimensions of the given phenomena. By knowing an approximation of the required number of interviews researchers now have starting point which will assist in the design, execution and budgeting of a research project.