Marian's Neologism 1-"Grooming"

Groom
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The verb to Groom can refer to:
Personal grooming, or preening, in humans and animals, a hygienic activity (caring for physical appearance)
Dog grooming, the care provided for a dog's physical appearance (especially its coat and nails), or specific work done to enhance its appearance for a show
Horse grooming, the daily hygienic care provided for horses, or specific work done on the horse to enhance its physical appearance for a show
Social grooming, the activity by which animals and people who live in proximity can bond and reinforce social structures
Traffic grooming, a technical activity in telecommunications
Child grooming, befriending a child, often in the negative context of preparing them to accept inappropriate behavior
Snow grooming, the process of preparing snow for recreational uses, such as skiing
Animal self-grooming behavior

Social grooming
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In social animals such as humans social grooming or allogrooming is an activity in which individuals in a group clean or maintain each other's body or appearance. It is a major social activity, and a means by which animals who live in proximity can bond and reinforce social structures, family links, and build relationships. Social grooming is also used as a form of reconciliation and a means of conflict resolution in some species.
It is a reuse of ordinary grooming behavior, a means of achieving hygiene and good health, in that an animal that helps another animal to clean itself, is also helping to form a social bond and trust between them.

[edit] Non-human animals
All animals regularly clean themselves to keep their fur, feathers, scales, or other skin coverings in good condition. This activity is known as personal grooming, preening, or auto-grooming and is a form of hygiene. Foreign objects such as insects, ectoparasites, dead skin, and leaves, dirt and twigs, are some of the items typically removed.

Many social animals groom each other, an activity known as social grooming, mutual grooming, or allo-grooming. Items removed during social grooming are identical to those removed by personal grooming. Social grooming also takes the form of stroking, scratching, and massaging.
Primates provide perhaps the best example of this activity. Primatologists have called grooming the social cement of the primate world. The trust and bonding it builds is critical to group cooperation. Among primates, social grooming pays an important role in establishing and maintaining alliances and dominance hierarchies, for building coalitions, for reconciliation after conflicts, and is a resource that is exchanged for other resources like food and sex.[1][2][3][4] Primates groom socially in moments of boredom as well, and the act has been shown to reduce tension and stress.[5] Primates have been known to fall asleep while receiving grooming.
Results of a research shows that male Crab-eating Macaques will groom females in order to get sex. The study found that a female has a greater likelihood to engage in sexual activity with a male if he had recently groomed her, compared to males who had not groomed her.[6]
Other animals groom socially as well. These include insects,[7] fish,[8] birds,[9] ungulates,[10] and bats.[11] Whereas social grooming among primates has been very well-studied, less is known about social grooming in these other animals.
Mammals often perform social grooming. Domesticated animals, especially cats and dogs, will groom trusted humans as a sign of affection.
[edit] Human mutual grooming

A few empirical studies of human social grooming exist.[12][13] They rely on self-report survey and experimental methodology of adults living primarily in the U.S. and other Western cultures. People report grooming romantic partners more than grooming people they have other types of relationships with like family members, friends, and strangers. Grooming is associated with increased relationship satisfaction, trust, and experience of family affection while growing up. People who groom, as opposed to touch each other without grooming, are perceived to be better potential parents, more in love with the person they have groomed and more caring and committed to them. Women, but not men, tend to think people who have groomed one another are romantically involved. People also think that if people who have groomed one other are romantically involved, they are in a long-term relationship rather than one that has just begun. Human mutual grooming plays a role in pairbonding.
[edit] Endocrine effects of grooming

Grooming stimulates the release of beta-endorphin which is one physiological reason for why grooming appears to be relaxing.[14]
Additionally, an article published in 1997 concluded that an increase in maternal grooming resulted in a proportionate increase in Glucocorticoid receptors on target tissue in the neonatal rat. Additionally it was found that the receptor number was altered because of a change in both serotonin and thyroid stimulating hormone concentrations. An increase in the number of receptors might influence the amount of negative feedback on corticosteroid secretion and prevent the undesirable side effects of an abnormal physiologic stress response.[15]


Personal grooming
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[edit] In humans
Main article: Hygiene
Grooming in humans typically includes bathroom activities such as primping: washing and cleansing the hair, combing it to extract tangles and snarls, and styling. It can also include cosmetic care of the body, such as shaving.
Primping is usually the act of getting ready before going out for the night. Such activities include showering, the application of makeup and the picking out of the night's outfit and jewelry.
[edit] In other animals


Blue Ducks preening their feathers
Individual animals regularly clean themselves and put their fur, feathers or other skin coverings in good order. This activity is known as personal grooming, a form of hygiene. For example, combing through the hair or feathers, ensuring they lie smoothly against the skin, and extracting foreign objects such as insects, and leaves, dirt and twigs, are all forms of grooming.
Among animals, birds spend considerable time preening their feathers. This is done to remove ectoparasites, keep them in good aerodynamic condition, and waterproof them. They use the "preen oil" secreted by the uropygial gland, the dust of powder down, or other means such as dust-bathing or anting. When an oil spill affects penguins, animal conservation that rescue them sometimes dress them in knitted sweaters to stop them from preening and thereby ingesting the mineral oil which is poisonous.
Felidae (cats) are famous for their extensive grooming. One reason advanced for such grooming is to remove all traces of blood and other matter so as to not alert prey with the scent. Cats groom so much that they often produce hairballs from the fur they ingest.
[edit] Grooming as a social activity
Main article: Social grooming
Many social animals adapt preening and grooming behaviors for other social purposes such as bonding, social structure enforcement, or dispute resolution.

Child grooming
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This article is about the act of befriending and influencing a child with the intent of sexually abusing the child. For grooming to improve appearance or hygiene, see Personal grooming.
Child grooming, in the context of this article, refers to actions deliberately undertaken with the aim of befriending and establishing an emotional connection with a child, in order to lower the child's inhibitions in preparation for sexual abuse.
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Overview
The deliberate actions taken by an adult to form a trusting relationship with a child, with the intent of later having sexual contact, is known as child grooming. The act of grooming a child sexually may include activities that are legal in and of themselves, but later lead to sexual contact. Typically, this is done to gain the child's trust as well as the trust of those responsible for the child's well-being. Furthermore, research has shown children are less likely to report a crime if it involves someone that he or she knows, trusts, and/or cares about[citation needed]. Additionally, a trusting relationship with the family means that unfortunately, the child's parents will be less likely to believe any potential accusations. [1]

[edit] Examples of activities sometimes used as part of child grooming
Taking an undue interest in someone's child (having a "special" friend)
Giving gifts or money to the child for no apparent reason
Showing pornography to the child (illegal in many jurisdictions)
Talking about sexual topics that are not age-appropriate
Invading the child's privacy (e.g. walking in on him/her in the bathroom)
Hugging, kissing, or other physical contact even when the child wants this attention
Allowing the child to get away with inappropriate behavior
Talking to the child about problems that would normally be discussed between adults (e.g. marital problems)[2][1]
Becoming good friends with the child's parents in order to gain easy access to their child (e.g. Babysitting)
Inviting the child over for sleep overs or sleeping in the same room or bed with someone else's child that wouldn't normally be done between an adult and the child.
[edit] Child grooming over the Internet
Sexual grooming of children also occurs on the Internet. Some abusers will pose as children online and make arrangements to meet with them in person.
In 2003, MSN implemented restrictions in their chat rooms purportedly intended to help protect children from adults seeking sexual conversations with them. In 2005, Yahoo! chat rooms were investigated by the New York State attorney general's office for allowing users to create rooms whose names suggested that they were being used for this purpose. That October, Yahoo! agreed to "implement policies and procedures designed to ensure" that such rooms would not be allowed.
An organization called Perverted-Justice (known as PJ) uses PJ operatives posing as underage teens on the internet to identify potential child molesters and turn the information over to the police and the courts. The news program Dateline NBC features the recurring segment "To Catch a Predator", based on documenting such activities.
Multiple programs have been developed, that help identify grooming and warn parents. The software studies chat room and other Instant messaging logs for activity that may identify grooming or other potentially suspicious activities. Some of the technologies have been adapted to social networking services and ISPs.[3]