The development of social relationships influences a person\'s self-concept, which in turn affects their perceptions and neural correlates in social interactions. This study employed an EEG-based hyperscanning technique and a longitudinal design to investigate how the evolution of interpersonal relationships impacts inter-brain synchrony during nonverbal social-emotional interactions. The framework for this study is based on the self-expansion model. We found that dyads exhibited enhanced affective sharing abilities and increased brain-to-brain synchrony, particularly in the gamma rhythm across the frontal, parietal, and left temporoparietal regions, after seven months together compared to when they first met. Additionally, the results indicate that inter-brain coupling evolves as relationships develop, with synchrony in nonverbal social-emotional interactions increasing as self-expansion progresses. Crucially, in the deep learning model, interpersonal closeness can be successfully classified by inter-brain synchrony during emotional-social interactions. The longitudinal EEG-hyperscanning design of our study allows for capturing dynamic changes over time, offering new insights into the neurobiological foundations of social interaction and the potential of neural synchrony as a biomarker for relationship dynamics.

Although many companion animal (or \"pet\") owners report that their relationships with their pets are important, we know little about how animal ownership duration and animal life stage are related to relationship quality. In a sample of 1303 dog and cat owners, the present research explored the associations between relationship duration, pet life stage (puppy/kitten, young adult, mature adult, and senior), and four markers of relationship quality: pet-related self-expansion, perceived pet responsiveness, perceived pet insensitivity, and human-animal bond. We found that relationship duration was negatively and linearly associated with self-expansion for both dog and cat owners. Results comparing relationship quality markers across pet life stages revealed that for both dog and cat owners, self-expansion was higher for owners of younger animals compared to owners of older animals. There were no significant effects for perceived pet responsiveness, perceived pet insensitivity, or human-animal bond based on relationship duration or animal life stage. These findings indicate that the duration of the relationship with one\'s pet and animal life stage have implications for how much people feel a pet helps them grow, whereas other markers of human-pet relationship quality likely vary based on other experiences.

According to the self-expansion model, people increase their positive self-concept content when they form and maintain romantic relationships, and self-expansion is an important predictor of relationship outcomes. Although thought to be universal, no prior research has examined self-expansion among sexual minority individuals. In the current study, sexual minority (N = 226) and heterosexual (N = 104) participants completed measures of self-expansion and relationship outcomes, and sexual minority participants completed measures of sexual minority stress. Overall, sexual minorities reported similar levels of self-expansion as heterosexuals, and sexual minority status did not moderate the association between self-expansion and relationship satisfaction, investments, or quality of alternatives. However, sexual minority status moderated the association between self-expansion and commitment. For sexual minority participants, self-expansion negatively correlated with sexual minority stressors (i.e. internalized homonegativity, concealment, inauthenticity) and moderated the association between internalized homonegativity and relationship satisfaction and commitment, as well as concealment and relationship satisfaction and commitment, such that the negative association between sexual minority stressors and relationship outcomes was weaker in relationships characterized by high (vs. low) levels of self-expansion.

Research into the impact of companion animals on well-being has been both extensive and inconclusive, with studies finding both positive and negative relationships. The present research explored three previously unexamined relationship science concepts that may help clarify whether companion animals provide well-being benefits: self-expansion (the process of adding positive content to the self through incorporating new resources and perspectives into one\'s identity or engaging in novel, exciting activities), perceived pet responsiveness, and perceived pet insensitivity; as well as attachment. We focused on dog and cat owners\' depression, anxiety, positive and negative affect, and loneliness through an online survey with a large sample population (N = 1359). We found that perceived pet insensitivity is a significant positive predictor of depression, anxiety, negative affect, and loneliness; that attachment is a significant positive predictor of depression, anxiety, and loneliness, and a significant negative predictor of positive affect; and that self-expansion is a significant positive predictor of positive affect, and a significant negative predictor of loneliness. Loneliness emerged as a mediator in the relationship between perceived pet insensitivity, attachment, self-expansion, and all mental well-being outcome variables. These findings indicate that perceived pet insensitivity, attachment, and self-expansion may play an important yet neglected role in well-being outcomes.

This study researches the impact of self-expansion experiences in the Metaverse on users\' identity perception, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. To do so, the researchers conducted a two-wave panel study with a 3-month interval (N = 486) in VRChat, one of the most popular social virtual reality (VR) platforms. As predicted, the increase in self-expansion experience in VR environments positively predicted users\' self-esteem and life satisfaction. However, when self-expansion led to a loss of coherency in the self-concept by causing identity disjunction or self-discrepancy, it damaged self-esteem and life satisfaction, respectively. The current findings exhibit that experimenting with and enlarging identity through immersive experiences in the Metaverse could benefit the individual, but only when it does not cause a disconnection between virtual and offline identities. This article discusses the potential opportunities and risks in the Metaverse, emphasizing the importance of advancing our understanding of the self-expansion experience in immersive media.

Virtual corporate social responsibility co-creation (VCSRC) became an effective strategic tool with which enterprises can fulfill social responsibilities and retain customers. This study investigated the drivers of consumers\' continuous participation in VCSRC based on online survey data collected from 336 VCSRC participants. From a new perspective of self-expansion theory and by integrating consumer engagement (CE), we constructed a theoretical model and proposed a set of hypotheses, which were tested by using the structural equation model (SEM). Our findings show that self-expansion (experience-based expansion, competence-based expansion, and identity-based expansion) has a significant positive impact on continuous participation, with CE (conscious attention, enthusiasm, and social connection) playing a partial mediating role. Our research not only theoretically contributes to the research on VCSRC and self-expansion theory, but also inspires the operation of VCSRC projects in motivating consumers\' continuous participation.

This study is the first to apply terror management theory to understanding smartphone addiction by examining the potential indirect effect of death anxiety on smartphone addiction via inclusion of smartphone in the self (i.e., self-expansion), affiliation motivation (the desire to connect with others) for emotional support, and smartphone use. The sample consisted of 1483 Chinese university students between the ages of 18 and 24 (M = 19.14, SD = 1.03) who voluntarily completed an anonymous questionnaire survey. As hypothesized, death anxiety, inclusion of smartphone in the self, affiliation motivation, and smartphone use were directly, positively correlated with smartphone addiction. In addition, death anxiety exerted significant indirect effects via various pathways, including (i) affiliation motivation for emotional support and smartphone use and (ii) inclusion of smartphone in the self and smartphone use. Findings suggest that effective interventions for smartphone addiction should include targeting death anxiety, self-expansion, and affiliation need frustration.

Processing advantages arising from self-association have been documented across various stimuli and paradigms. However, the implications of \"self-association\" for affective and social behavior have been scarcely investigated. The approach-avoidance task (AAT) offers an opportunity to investigate whether the privileged status of the \"self\" may also translate into differential evaluative attitudes toward the \"self\" in comparison to \"others\". In the current work, we first established shape-label associations using the associative-learning paradigm, and then asked the participants to engage in an approach-avoidance task to test whether attitudinal differences induced on the account of self-association lead to participants having different approach-avoidance tendencies toward the \"self-related\" stimuli relative to the \"other-related\" stimuli. We found that our participants responded with faster approach and slower avoidance tendencies for shapes associated with the \"self\" and slower approach and faster avoidance tendencies for the shapes associated with the \"stranger.\" These results imply that \"self-association\" may lead to positive action tendencies toward \"self-associated\" stimuli, and at the same time lead to neutral or negative attitudes toward stimuli not related to the \"self\". Further, as the participants responded to self-associated vs. other-associated stimuli cohorts, these results may also have implications for the modulation of social group-behaviors in favor of those like the self and against those in contrast to the self-group.

A cheap and easily obtainable wheat gluten (WG) was used to fabricate bio-foams via a simple method of stirring, heating, and lyophilization. The foam possesses a 3D layered porous structure with interconnected channels, and the biofoam has excellent mechanical properties through glycerol plasticization and glutaraldehyde (GA) cross-linking. The water absorption and volume expansion rate can reach 793.67 ∼ 918.45% and 201.47 ∼ 239.53% respectively. In dry state, the foams had good compression resilience, and can basically recover its original shape after withstanding 60% compression strain for about 7 h. In wet state, they can withstand 10 cycles of compression test, and had good compressive resilience and durability; they also had fast liquid-triggered shape recovery performance, of which the foams can reabsorb liquid, expand, and recover its original shape within 40 seconds after withstanding 80% compression strain. In addition, The hemolysis rates of red blood cells treated with 1, 3, and 5 mg/mL of 14WG-20g-5GA foam suspension were 0.53 ± 0.12%, 2.12 ± 0.34%, and 3.97 ± 0.21%, respectively, all of which were below the permissible range for biological materials (<5%). The above-mentioned advantages made the sustainable foams be potentially useful for medical dressings, especially for the treatment of non-compressible haemorrhaging, which offered a new field of application for WG protein and its added value was also increased obviously.

People are increasingly using smartwatches in their daily lives. Scholars have focused on the drivers of the initial and continued use of smartwatches, while few studies have dealt with the outcomes of smartwatch use. Therefore, this study explores the impact of smartwatch use on user experience (self-expansion and self-extension) and user reciprocity (user loyalty and user influence) based on service-dominant logic. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey of 343 smartwatch users in China. Structural equation modeling and the bootstrapping method were applied to test the theoretical hypotheses. The results show that smartwatch use positively affects self-expansion and self-extension, both self-expansion and self-extension positively affect user loyalty and user influence, and smartwatch use affects user loyalty and user influence through self-expansion and self-extension. This research deepens our understanding of the outcomes of smartwatch use, and provides insights for smartwatch manufacturers to create more value from user reciprocity.