Verification report: A critical reanalysis of Vahey et al. (2015) "A meta-analysis of criterion effects for the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) in the clinical domain"

The meta-analysis reported in Vahey et al. (2015) concluded that the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) has high clinical criterion validity (meta-analytic r‾ = .45) and therefore "the potential of the IRAP as a tool for clinical assessment" (p. 64). Vahey et al. (2015) also reported power analyses, and the article is frequently cited for sample size determination in IRAP studies, especially their heuristic of N > 37. This article attempts to verify those results. Results were found to have very poor reproducibility at almost every stage of the data extraction and analysis with errors generally biased towards inflating the effect size. The reported meta-analysis results were found to be mathematically implausible and could not be reproduced despite numerous attempts. Multiple internal discrepancies were found in the effect sizes such as between the forest plot and funnel plot, and between the forest plot and the supplementary data. 23 of the 56 (41.1%) individual effect sizes were not actually criterion effects and did not meet the original inclusion criteria. The original results were also undermined by combining effect sizes with different estimands. Reextraction of effect sizes from the original articles revealed 360 additional effect sizes that met inclusion criteria that should have been included in the original analysis. Examples of selection bias in the inclusion of larger effect sizes were observed. A new meta-analysis was calculated to understand the compound impact of these errors (i.e., without endorsing its results as a valid estimate of the IRAP's criterion validity). The effect size was half the size of the original (r‾ = .22), and the power analyses recommended sample sizes nearly 10 times larger than the original (N > 346), which no published original study using the IRAP has met. In aggregate, this seriously undermines the credibility and utility of the original article's conclusions and recommendations. Vahey et al. (2015) appears to need substantial correction at minimum. In particular, researchers should not rely on its results for sample size justification. A list of suggestions for error detection in meta-analyses is provided.

Give Me a Straight Answer: Response Ambiguity Diminishes Likability

Across nine experiments (eight preregistered) involving Western and Asian samples, we showed that people providing ambiguous (vs. specific) responses to questions in various social scenarios are seen as less likable. This is because, depending on the social context, response ambiguity may be interpreted as a way to conceal the truth and as a sign of social disinterest. Consequently, people reported lower inclination to befriend or date individuals who appeared to provide ambiguous responses. We also identified situations in which response ambiguity does not harm likability, such as when the questions are sensitive and the responder may need to "soften the blow." A final exploratory study showed that response ambiguity also impacts personality perceptions-individuals providing ambiguous responses are judged as less warm, less extraverted, less gullible, and more cautious. We discuss theoretical implications for the language psychology and person perception literatures and practical implications for impression management and formation.

Victim blaming in negative attention bias? The relationship between bullying victimization and depressive symptoms: The role of different negative attention bias and peer support

BACKGROUND

School bullying significantly affects students' mental health, yet research on its impact on depressive symptoms in college students remains limited. This study examines the link between school bullying victimization and depression, focusing on the roles of negative attentional bias and peer support within the frameworks of the social information processing model and self-verification theory.

METHODS

A total of 5408 college students (aged 16-24) from southern China completed the School Bullying Victimization Questionnaire, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Attention to Negative Information Scale, and Peer Support Scale. A moderated mediation analysis was conducted using Process 4.0 in SPSS.

RESULTS

School bullying victimization was positively associated with depressive symptoms. Negative attentional bias (self) mediated this relationship, whereas negative attentional bias (other) did not. Peer support moderated both the direct effect of bullying victimization on depression and the latter stage of the mediation model.

CONCLUSION

This study elucidates the mechanisms linking bullying victimization to depression from a social information processing perspective and underscores the critical role of peer support in mitigating depressive symptoms among college students.

Experimental evidence that exerting effort increases meaning

Efficiency demands that we work smarter and not harder, but is this better for our wellbeing? Here, we ask if exerting effort on a task can increase feelings of meaning and purpose. In six studies (N = 2883), we manipulated how much effort participants exerted on a task and then assessed how meaningful they found those tasks. In Studies 1 and 2, we presented hypothetical scenarios whereby participants imagined themselves (or others) exerting more or less effort on a writing task, and then asked participants how much meaning they believed they (or others) would derive. In Study 3, we randomly assigned participants to complete inherently meaningless tasks that were harder or easier to complete, and again asked them how meaningful they found the tasks. Study 4 varied the difficulty of a writing assignment by involving or excluding ChatGPT assistance and evaluated its meaningfulness. Study 5 investigated cognitive dissonance as a potential explanatory mechanism. In Study 6, we tested the shape of the effort-meaning relationship. In all studies, the more effort participants exerted (or imagined exerting), the more meaning they derived (or imagined deriving), though the results of Study 6 show this is only up to a point. These studies suggest a causal link, whereby effort begets feelings of meaning. They also suggest that part of the reason this link exists is that effort begets feeling of competence and mastery, although the evidence is preliminary and inconsistent. We found no evidence the effects were caused by post-hoc effort justification (i.e., cognitive dissonance). Effort, beyond being a mere cost, is a source of personal meaning and value, fundamentally influencing how individuals and observers perceive and derive satisfaction from tasks.

Gender and Accuracy in Decoding Affect Cues: A Meta-Analysis

Gender differences in understanding the meanings of affect cues, often labeled emotion recognition, have been studied for over a century. Past reviews of the literature have concluded that girls and women score higher than boys and men on tests of accuracy in decoding affect cues, which are most often tested in the cue modalities of face, body, and content-free voice. The present meta-analysis updates knowledge on this topic by including many more studies (1188 effect sizes in 1011 studies; total N = 837,637) and examining a wide range of moderators such as health status of sample, international location, cue channels of the test, and other sample and test characteristics. Indeed, the gender difference favoring girls and women still exists, and evidence for publication bias was weak. The difference is not large (r = 0.12, d = 0.24), but it is extremely consistent across many moderators, which, even when significant, show minor differences. Health status was the only moderator to produce groups without a significant gender difference.

Pride and moral disengagement: associations among comparison-based pride, moral disengagement, and unethical decision-making

Pride has rarely been explored in the context of moral disengagement and unethical decision-making. Although some research has examined the associations between "authentic" and "hubristic" pride and unethical behaviour, little attention has been paid to potential mechanisms. Across two correlational studies (N = 379), we explore the associations between two facets of pride rooted on comparisons - social comparison-based pride, and self-based pride, moral disengagement, and unethical decision-making. Results show that social comparison-based pride consistently (positively) relates to moral disengagement, and that moral disengagement accounts for the association between social comparison-based pride and unethical decision-making. In sum, our findings contribute in novel ways to the understanding of how pride based in different comparison frames may lead to antisocial decision-making.

Further Evidence for the Dark-Ego-Vehicle Principle: Higher Pathological Narcissistic Grandiosity and Virtue Signaling Are Related to Greater Involvement in LGBQ and Gender Identity Activism

The dark-ego-vehicle principle (DEVP) suggests that individuals with so-called dark personalities (e.g., high narcissistic traits) are attracted to political and social activism that they can repurpose to satisfy their specific ego-focused needs (e.g., signaling moral superiority and manipulating others) instead of achieving prosocial goals. Currently, research on the DEVP is still rare. With two pre-registered studies, we sought further evidence for the DEVP by examining the associations of pathological narcissistic grandiosity with involvement in LGBQ activism (Study 1) and gender identity activism (Study 2). Socioeconomically diverse samples from the USA (Study 1; N = 446) and the UK (Study 2; N = 837) were recruited online via the research-oriented crowdsourcing platform Prolific. Individuals completed the Pathological Narcissism Inventory as well as measures of involvement in activism. Moreover, we assessed different covariates (e.g., altruism), and potential correlates within the narcissism-activism relationship (i.e., virtue signaling, dominance, and aggression). In addition, we examined potential relationships between other dark personality variables (e.g., psychopathy) and activism. In both samples, higher pathological narcissistic grandiosity was related to greater involvement in activism. As expected, virtue signaling was consistently involved in the relationship between pathological narcissistic grandiosity and activism. However, neither dominance nor aggression was related to individuals' involvement in activism. The results did also not consistently support a relationship between higher psychopathy and greater involvement in activism. Overall, the findings help to further specify the DEVP.

Exploring Pain Adaptation in Youth With Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis: Identifying Youth and Parent Resilience Resources and Mechanisms

OBJECTIVE

Although juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is often associated with pain, this experience does not necessitate negative outcomes (eg, depression, functional impairment). Little research has explored youth and parent resilience resources (ie, stable traits) and mechanisms (ie, dynamic processes) in this context, and studies have focused on their contributions independently rather than collectively. This study, informed by the Ecological Resilience-Risk Model in Pediatric Chronic Pain, sought to (1) explore the relationships among youth and parent resilience resources and mechanisms and (2) identify the relative importance (RI; ie, independent contributions when entered simultaneously) of evidence-based youth and parent resources and mechanisms in contributing to youth-reported recovery, sustainability, and growth outcomes.

METHODS

Youth (13-18 years) with JIA and their parents (156 dyads) completed a battery of online questionnaires assessing resilience resources (optimism, resilience), mechanisms (psychological flexibility, pain acceptance, self-efficacy), recovery and sustainability (pain intensity, functional disability, health-related quality of life), and growth (benefit finding) outcomes.

RESULTS

Analyses demonstrated significant positive correlations across within-person resources and mechanisms and weaker correlations across within-dyad resources and mechanisms. Although the RI of predictors varied by outcome, youth pain acceptance was the most robust predictor across models (RI = 0.03-0.15). Some predictors (eg, parent psychological flexibility and pain acceptance) were generally categorized as "Not Important," whereas others (eg, youth resilience) had "Inconclusive" results, suggesting construct overlap.

CONCLUSION

Although additional research is needed to further understand resilience, results highlight the importance of fostering pain acceptance in youth and incorporating parents in psychosocial interventions to optimize living with JIA.

Negative Reactions to Positive Gender Stereotypes: Different Levels of Positivity Elicit Similar Negative Reactions

Positive stereotypes may elicit targets' negative reactions, but it is not well understood whether targets react differently to various levels of such stereotypes. Two studies examined targets' negative reactions to various levels of positive gender stereotypes. Chinese students were recruited as participants (N = 1204), who were randomly assigned to the somewhat, moderately, or extremely positive gender stereotype conditions or the control condition. Reactions to positive gender stereotypes were then measured. Results showed that both female and male participants who were exposed to positive gender stereotypes disliked the speaker stating such stereotypes more, experienced greater negative emotions, and perceived the speaker as more gender-prejudiced than those who were not exposed to such stereotypes. These negative reactions were more pronounced in female participants than in male participants. Furthermore, participants' negative reactions to different levels of positive gender stereotypes were similar, regardless of whether the stereotypes were somewhat, moderately, or extremely positive. These negative reactions elicited by positive gender stereotypes were mediated by both a sense of depersonalization and a sense of diminished autonomy. This research indicates positive gender stereotypes are like "sugar-coated bullets," appearing harmless ostensibly. However, even somewhat positive gender stereotypes may elicit targets' negative reactions, impairing interpersonal relations and perpetuating gender inequality under the radar.

Personality, Ideology, and Attitudes Toward Social Justice

OBJECTIVE

The importance of diversity, inclusiveness, and social justice has been increasingly emphasized in different institutions and organizations around the world. The present research adopted an individual differences approach to understanding people's attitudes toward diversity and social justice.

METHOD

Across three studies (Ns ranging from 371 to 700), participants completed measures of Big Five personality traits, political ideology, and attitudes toward a range of social justice issues (diversity, LGBTQ+, racial relations, abortion).

RESULTS

Higher Openness to Experience and Agreeableness emerged as the most consistent predictors of higher support for social justice. Higher Neuroticism and lower Conscientiousness also predicted support for social justice issues. Furthermore, consistent with the dual-process model of ideology, we found that right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation tended to predict social justice support above and beyond Openness to Experience and Agreeableness.

CONCLUSION

This work provides important insights into the personality predictors of social justice support.

Messenger-based assessment of empathic accuracy in couples' smartphone communication

BACKGROUND

How accurate are empathic judgments of couples in smartphone messenger communication? Are judgments influenced by the level of experience with messengers and communication frequency?.

OBJECTIVES

The current preregistered study introduced a novel ecological assessment method and a privacy by design approach to study couples' empathic accuracy in a messenger context.

METHODS

Data from N = 102 participants (51 couples) was used to investigate how accurate judgments of partners' affect map their partners' actual affect.

RESULTS

Our results demonstrate tracking accuracy and assumed similarity bias in reciprocal empathic judgments of affective valence and arousal during social messenger texting. A small moderation effect for experience with text messengers was found, indicating that partners with higher experience have a higher bias of assumed similarity when rating their partner's valence. A small moderation effect for communication frequency confirms that higher messenger communication frequency is associated with more accurate judgments of arousal.

CONCLUSION

These results point to the reciprocal action of accuracy and bias in couples' messenger communication and the distinct influences of experience and usage. The feasibility and further application of the ecological messenger-based assessment of couples' empathic accuracy in interpersonal research are discussed.

Future anxiety and the motives for postponing parenthood: generational time perspective and life satisfaction as mediators

Introduction

Research to date has focused largely on the consequences of delayed parenting. However, little is known about the reasons and relevant mechanisms that are involved in people's decisions to delay parenthood. The aim of our study was to verify how anxiety about the future relates to the motives for deferred parenthood and how this relationship is mediated by generational time perspective and life satisfaction.

Methods

A total of 203 Polish adults between 18 and 40 years of age participated in the study. All of them were of reproductive age but did not yet have children. Respondents completed the following questionnaires: The Dark Future Scale, The Multidimensional Scale of Motives for Postponing Parenthood, The Generational Time Perspective Questionnaire, and The Riverside Life Satisfaction Scale.

Results

The results obtained in the study show that future anxiety correlates significantly and positively with all six motives for postponing parenthood, postponed parenthood overall, and generational affectivity. It is also associated with the generational cognitive perspective at the level of tendency, and negatively with life satisfaction. According to our findings, in all seven models, at least one of the factors mediated the relationship between future anxiety and motives for postponing parenthood/its total score.

Conclusion

The current study advances the understanding of how the subjective future time perspective is related to delayed parenthood through generational concern and reduced life satisfaction. Our findings may indicate that despite the importance of sociodemographic variables in postponing parenthood (e.g., lack of housing, financial instability, acquiring knowledge, education, etc.), variables related to personality and time perspective play a very important role in postponing the decision to have a child.

Childhood abuse and neglect and profiles of adult emotion dynamics

Childhood maltreatment (CM) is experienced by ∼40% of all children at major personal and societal costs. The divergent associations between emotional, physical, and sexual abuse or neglect in childhood and differences in adult emotional functioning and regulation were examined in terms of daily emotion intensity, variability, instability, inertia, and diversity, reported over 30 days by 290 Dutch aged 19-73. Participants described their abuse/neglect experiences retrospectively using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Dissecting CM effects on adult emotion dynamics may inform theories on the ontogenesis and functioning of emotions, on effects of abuse and neglect, to better understand (dys)functional emotional development, and to prevent their adverse sequelae. Structural equation models (SEM) showed that most types of CM were associated with specific patterns of emotion dynamics, and only emotional abuse had no unique effects on the emotional dynamic indices. Emotional neglect was associated with most measures of emotion dynamics (i.e., less intense, variable, unstable, and diverse emotions). Sexual abuse associated with increases and physical neglect decreases in negative affect variability and instability. Physical abuse was associated with inertia but with a small effect size. Social contact frequency did not mediate much of the relationship between CM types and emotion dynamics.

Evaluating the Evidence for Enclothed Cognition: Z-Curve and Meta-Analyses

Enclothed cognition refers to the systematic influence that clothes can have on the wearer's feelings, thoughts, and behaviors through their symbolic meaning. It has attracted considerable academic and nonacademic interest, with the 2012 article that coined the phrase cited more than 600 times and covered in more than 160 news outlets. However, a recent high-powered replication failed to replicate one of the original effects. To determine whether the larger body of research on enclothed cognition possesses evidential value and replicable effects, we performed z-curve and meta-analyses using 105 effects from 40 studies across 24 articles (N = 3,789). Underscoring the marked improvement of psychological research practices in the mid-2010s, our results raise concerns about the replicability of early enclothed cognition studies but affirm the evidential value for effects published after 2015. These later studies support the core principle of enclothed cognition-what we wear influences how we think, feel, and act.

Parental Stress and Mental Health Outcomes Following the October 7th Events: Insights from Israeli Families of Children with Special Needs

The October 7th events precipitated an unprecedented psychological crisis for Israeli families, particularly affecting parents of children with special needs. This empirical study aimed to investigate the psychological factors contributing to parental stress and mental health outcomes in a community sample of 2097 parents, comparing those with children with special needs (n = 540) to those with typically developing children (n = 1557). Findings revealed that parents of children with special needs exhibited significantly higher levels of attachment anxiety and avoidance, parental stress, and intolerance of uncertainty, while reporting lower levels of parental competence, perceived social support, and mental health. Notably, meaning in life did not significantly differ between the groups. Correlational analyses indicated that attachment anxiety and avoidance were negatively correlated with parental competence, social support, meaning in life, and mental health while positively correlating with parental stress and intolerance of uncertainty. Mediation analyses showed that attachment anxiety and avoidance significantly predicted increased parental stress and reduced mental health, with these effects mediated by lower parental competence and diminished meaning in life. Moreover, intolerance of uncertainty mediated the effect of attachment anxiety on mental health. However, the mediating role of perceived social support on parental stress was absent among parents of children with special needs. These findings underscore the need for targeted interventions that bolster parental resilience, particularly for families of children with special needs during times of crisis.

Third-party evaluators perceive AI as more compassionate than expert humans

Empathy connects us but strains under demanding settings. This study explored how third parties evaluated AI-generated empathetic responses versus human responses in terms of compassion, responsiveness, and overall preference across four preregistered experiments. Participants (N = 556) read empathy prompts describing valenced personal experiences and compared the AI responses to select non-expert or expert humans. Results revealed that AI responses were preferred and rated as more compassionate compared to select human responders (Study 1). This pattern of results remained when author identity was made transparent (Study 2), when AI was compared to expert crisis responders (Study 3), and when author identity was disclosed to all participants (Study 4). Third parties perceived AI as being more responsive-conveying understanding, validation, and care-which partially explained AI's higher compassion ratings in Study 4. These findings suggest that AI has robust utility in contexts requiring empathetic interaction, with the potential to address the increasing need for empathy in supportive communication contexts.

Is That Really Sexual Harassment? The Effect of a Victim's Sexual Orientation on How People View a Sexual Harassment Claim

In four experiments and a meta-analysis, the present research examined how the sexual orientation of a victim affected the perceived legitimacy of sexual harassment claims. Working from prototype theory, the researchers hypothesized that because lesbian women deviate from the prototype of a sexual harassment victim, people would be less likely to perceive sexual harassment claims as legitimate when the victim was a lesbian woman as compared to a heterosexual woman. Although Experiment 1 yielded results congruent with the hypothesis, Experiment 2 and Experiment 3 did not. A meta-analysis conducted to assess effects of sexual orientation across all studies was not significant (g = -.06, z = -1.20, p = .23). The impact of victim prototypicality on perceptions of sexual harassment claims is discussed.

Do Good Citizens Look to the Future? The Link Between National Identification and Future Time Perspective and Their Role in Explaining Citizens' Reactions to Conflicts Between Short-Term and Long-Term National Interests

When people consider what is good for their country, they might face a conflict between the country's short-term and long-term interests. We suggest that resolving this conflict depends on people's form of national identification and future time perspective. Across four studies (N = 4,274), we showed that constructive patriotism, but not conventional patriotism or glorification, was positively associated with future time perspective. Moreover, we showed that this further translated into people's responses to intertemporal conflicts. Specifically, constructive patriotism was indirectly linked to higher support for national policies with long-term advantages (despite short-term disadvantages) and lower support for national policies with long-term disadvantages (despite short-term advantages), and these links were mediated by future time perspective. Overall, our results demonstrate that distinct forms of national identification are differently linked to future time perspective. Likewise, this helps explain differences in how much people care about their country's present and future.

When the Others Are Dangerous: Paranoid Presentations in Subclinical Forms of Personality Disorders

The discriminant validity of paranoid personality disorder has been recently questioned, and paranoid presentations are now conceived of as transdiagnostic features of personality disorders (PDs). However, empirical results are inconsistent. This study investigated the link between subclinical personality disorders (except paranoid PD) and paranoid presentations, exploring how the severity of personality functioning affects this relationship. Nonclinical participants (N = 270, females: n = 194; 71.9%) completed self-report measures of the constructs of interest. In multiple regression analyses, subclinical borderline PD was primarily related to a wide range of paranoid presentations. Moreover, the severity of personality functioning increased the strength of the association between subclinical BPD and severe paranoid presentations. Results suggest that, when exploring unique contributions, paranoid presentations are especially associated with subclinical forms of BPD and highlight the importance of considering personality dysfunction severity. Additionally, the findings demonstrate that paranoid presentations are a relatively transdiagnostic dimension.

Benefits of nostalgic landmarks for people living with Alzheimer's disease

BACKGROUND

Emerging literature shows that nostalgia induced by autobiographical reflection and music confers psychological benefits to people living with dementia.

OBJECTIVE

Our objective was to test the potential benefits of nostalgic landmarks for people living with Alzheimer's disease.

METHODS

We displayed the landmarks as wall-mounted pictures within a virtual environment. In Experiment 1, we developed the nostalgia manipulation by using pictures associated with the decade during which participants lived most of their childhood. To examine the effectiveness, tolerability, and safety of this pictorial nostalgia induction, we conducted the experiment with 172 healthy adults. In Experiment 2, we recruited 20 participants living with Alzheimer's disease who experienced mild to moderate cognitive impairments. We further personalized the pictorial nostalgia induction by interviewing them about fond memories from their past and generating images corresponding to these events. We hypothesized that navigating a virtual environment with wall-mounted nostalgic (compared to control) pictures would confer psychological benefits.

RESULTS

The nostalgic (versus control) pictures evoked higher levels of momentary nostalgia; the manipulation was successful (Experiments 1 and 2). Compared to control pictures, nostalgic pictures significantly increased self-reported positive (but not negative) affect, self-esteem, self-continuity, social connectedness, and meaning in life (Experiments 1 and 2). Participants in the nostalgia condition (compared to controls) evinced better picture recognition, but not improved spatial memory (Experiment 2).

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings demonstrate that nostalgic landmarks confer psychological benefits and enhance picture recognition among people living with Alzheimer's disease. This work has real-world applications for dementia-friendly design and therapy-related practices.

Psychotic-like Experiences and Underlying Mechanisms: An Integrative Model of ADHD Symptoms, Rumination, Negative Affect, and Trauma Experience

Background: Psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) are low-intensity subclinical phenomena, often transient in nature. The etiology of PLEs primarily involves neurodevelopmental changes, trauma exposure, and maladaptive coping styles. Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is considered to be one of the factors that increase the risk of future psychosis. Furthermore, ADHD symptoms predict a heightened incidence of traumatic experiences, ruminative thoughts, and negative affect (NA). This present study examines whether rumination and NA mediate the relationship between ADHD symptoms and PLEs and whether trauma experiences moderate these pathways. Methods: A total of 188 participants (72% female) aged 18-35 completed questionnaires assessing ADHD symptoms and traumatic experiences and took part in a seven-day experience sampling method (ESM) procedure, completing ratings of PLEs experiences, the intensity of ruminations, and NA. Results: Correlation analysis showed significant relationships between all tested variables. Serial mediation analysis revealed a significant indirect effect of rumination and NA in the link between ADHD symptoms and PLEs. There was no significant impact of trauma experience in this relationship. Conclusions: Our study underscores the important role of rumination and NA in the co-development of ADHD symptoms and PLEs. Future research should consider investigating the intra-individual dynamics of ADHD and trauma using ecologically valid research methods in the context of PLEs to better understand these complex relationships.

Deception Detection: Using Machine Learning to Analyze 911 Calls

This study examined the use of machine learning in detecting deception among 210 individuals reporting homicides or missing persons to 911. The sample included an equal number of false allegation callers (FAC) and true report callers (TRC) identified through case adjudication. Independent coders, unaware of callers' deception, analyzed each 911 call using 86 behavioral cues. Using the random forest model with k-fold cross-validation and repeated sampling, the study achieved an accuracy rate of 68.2% for all 911 calls, with sensitivity and specificity at 68.7% and 67.7%, respectively. For homicide reports, accuracy was higher at 71.2%, with a sensitivity of 77.3% but slightly lower specificity at 65.0%. In contrast, accuracy decreased to 61.4% for missing person reports, with a sensitivity of 49.1% and notably higher specificity at 73.6%. Beyond accuracy, key cues distinguishing FACs from TRCs were identified and included cues like "Blames others," "Is self-dramatizing," and "Is uncertain and insecure."

Companionship goals and marital goal concordance contribute to relationship satisfaction partly through dyadic coping in dating couples

BACKGROUND

Marital goals reflect individuals' understanding of the purpose of marriage and could influence the dyadic interactions and satisfaction in intimate relationships. The current study examines how each partner's marital goals and the concordance of marital goals between the partners influence dating couples' relationship satisfaction through dyadic coping.

METHOD

The sample consisted of 200 heterosexual dating couples from Hong Kong. Both partners completed a survey that assessed three types of marital goals, dyadic coping, relationship satisfaction, and other background variables. Path analysis was conducted to estimate the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) with each partner's three types of marital goals and marital goal concordance between the two partners as the predictors, each partner's dyadic coping as the mediators, and each partner's relationship satisfaction as the outcomes.

RESULTS

Women's dyadic coping significantly mediated the effects of women's companionship goals and marital goal concordance on both partners' marital satisfaction. Meanwhile, men's dyadic coping significantly mediated the effects of men's companionship goals and marital goal concordance on their own relationship satisfaction.

CONCLUSION

The current study offered the first evidence supporting the importance of marital goals, the goal concordance between the partners, and dyadic coping in dating relationships.

Born This Way? National Collective Narcissism, Implicit Homophobia, and Homosexual Essentialism in Populist Poland

Prejudice toward the LGBT community has become prevalent in Poland under the ultraconservative populist government. The results of three studies conducted between 2018 and 2019 (N1 = 879, N2 = 324, and N3 = 374) indicate that Polish collective narcissism-the belief that the exaggerated greatness of the nation is not recognized by others-is associated with implicit homophobia assessed as the intuitive disapproval of gay men and automatic evaluative preference of heterosexuality over homosexuality. Those associations were to a large extent explained by the relationships between collective narcissism and (1) the belief that groups defined by sexual orientations are essentially distinct; (2) the belief that homosexuality is a personal choice, not genetically determined or culturally universal. The experimental results of Study 3 indicated that inducing the belief that non-normative sexuality is genetically determined and culturally universal reduced automatic preference for heterosexuality over homosexuality (but not intuitive disapproval of gay men) across levels of collective narcissism (contrary to predictions). The obtained results complete the picture of the association of narcissistic beliefs about the nation and homophobia emerging from previous studies. National narcissism is linked not only to explicit but also to latent, implicit homophobia likely to be triggered by increased presence of national narcissism in public discourse. Moreover, national narcissism is linked to implicit homophobia, especially via the agentic belief that sexual orientation is a matter of choice. Changing this belief reduces implicit homophobia also among national narcissists.

Boosting arousal and cognitive performance through alternating posture: Insights from a multi-method laboratory study

This study investigated the role of arousal and effort costs in the cognitive benefits of alternating between sitting and standing postures using a sit-stand desk, while measuring executive functions, self-reports, physiology, and neural activity in a 2-h laboratory session aimed to induce mental fatigue. Two sessions were conducted with a one-week gap, during which participants alternated between sitting and standing postures each 20-min block in one session and remained seated in the other. In each block, inhibition, switching, and updating were assessed. We examined effects of time-on-task, acute (local) effects of standing versus sitting posture, and cumulative (global) effects of a standing posture that generalize to the subsequent block in which participants sit. Results (N = 43) confirmed that time-on-task increased mental fatigue and decreased arousal. Standing (versus sitting) led to acute increases in arousal levels, including self-reports, alpha oscillations, and cardiac responses. Standing also decreased physiological and perceived effort costs. Standing enhanced processing speed in the flanker task, attributable to shortened nondecision time and speeded evidence accumulation processes. No significant effects were observed on higher-level executive functions. Alternating postures also increased heart rate variability cumulatively over time. Exploratory mediation analyses indicated that the positive impact of acute posture on enhanced drift rate was mediated by self-reported arousal, whereas decreased nondecision time was mediated by reductions in alpha power. In conclusion, alternating between sitting and standing postures can enhance arousal, decrease effort costs, and improve specific cognitive and physiological outcomes.

Smile variation leaks personality and increases the accuracy of interpersonal judgments

People ubiquitously smile during brief interactions and first encounters, and when posing for photos used for virtual dating, social networking, and professional profiles. Yet not all smiles are the same: subtle individual differences emerge in how people display this nonverbal facial expression. We hypothesized that idiosyncrasies in people's smiles can reveal aspects of their personality and guide the personality judgments made by observers, thus enabling a smiling face to serve as a valuable tool in making more precise inferences about an individual's personality. Study 1 (N = 303) supported the hypothesis that smile variation reveals personality, and identified the facial-muscle activations responsible for this leakage. Study 2 (N = 987) found that observers use the subtle distinctions in smiles to guide their personality judgments, consequently forming slightly more accurate judgments of smiling faces than neutral ones. Smiles thus encode traces of personality traits, which perceivers utilize as valid cues of those traits.

Anecdotes impact medical decisions even when presented with statistical information or decision aids

People are inundated with popular press reports about medical research concerning what is healthy, get advice from doctors, and hear personal anecdotes. How do people integrate conflicting anecdotal and statistical information when making medical decisions? In four experiments (N = 4126), we tested how people use conflicting information to judge the efficacy of artificial and real medical treatments. Participants read an anecdote from someone in a clinical trial, or who had undergone a medical treatment previously, for whom the medical treatment was ineffective. We found that reading anecdotes for either artificial or real medical treatments shifted participants' beliefs about the efficacy of a medical treatment. We observed this result even when the anecdote was uninformative, was paired with an icon array, or when participants were provided with thorough medical decision aids about reproductive health procedures. Our findings highlight the pervasive effect of anecdotes on medical decision making.

Minds of Monsters: Scary Imbalances Between Cognition and Emotion

Four studies investigate a fear of imbalanced minds hypothesis that threatening agents perceived to be relatively mismatched in capacities for cognition (e.g., self-control and reasoning) and emotion (e.g., sensations and emotions) will be rated as scarier and more dangerous by observers. In ratings of fictional monsters (e.g., zombies and vampires), agents seen as more imbalanced between capacities for cognition and emotion (high cognition-low emotion or low cognition-high emotion) were rated as scarier compared to those with equally matched levels of cognition and emotion (Studies 1 and 2). Similar effects were observed using ratings of scary animals (e.g., tigers, sharks; Studies 2 and 3), and infected humans (Study 4). Moreover, these effects are explained through diminished perceived control/predictability over the target agent. These findings highlight the role of balance between cognition and emotion in appraisal of threatening agents, in part because those agents are seen as more chaotic and uncontrollable.

Power to Detect What? Considerations for Planning and Evaluating Sample Size

ACADEMIC ABSTRACT

In the wake of the replication crisis, social and personality psychologists have increased attention to power analysis and the adequacy of sample sizes. In this article, we analyze current controversies in this area, including choosing effect sizes, why and whether power analyses should be conducted on already-collected data, how to mitigate the negative effects of sample size criteria on specific kinds of research, and which power criterion to use. For novel research questions, we advocate that researchers base sample sizes on effects that are likely to be cost-effective for other people to implement (in applied settings) or to study (in basic research settings), given the limitations of interest-based minimums or field-wide effect sizes. We discuss two alternatives to power analysis, precision analysis and sequential analysis, and end with recommendations for improving the practices of researchers, reviewers, and journal editors in social-personality psychology.

PUBLIC ABSTRACT

Recently, social-personality psychology has been criticized for basing some of its conclusions on studies with low numbers of participants. As a result, power analysis, a mathematical way to ensure that a study has enough participants to reliably "detect" a given size of psychological effect, has become popular. This article describes power analysis and discusses some controversies about it, including how researchers should derive assumptions about effect size, and how the requirements of power analysis can be applied without harming research on hard-to-reach and marginalized communities. For novel research questions, we advocate that researchers base sample sizes on effects that are likely to be cost-effective for other people to implement (in applied settings) or to study (in basic research settings). We discuss two alternatives to power analysis, precision analysis and sequential analysis, and end with recommendations for improving the practices of researchers, reviewers, and journal editors in social-personality psychology.

Morality, Social Inclusion, and In-Group Superiority: The Differential Role of Individualizing and Binding Foundations in Perceptions of the Social Identity of In-Group and Out-Group Members

Research into social identity and morality judgments typically focuses on how the former influences the latter. We approach this theme from the opposite direction, establishing the influence of morality on perceptions of social identity. In three studies, conducted in two cultures, we show that in-group members acting immorally are excluded from the group. Extending this investigation to the overlooked study of out-group-on-out-group behavior, in Studies 2 and 3, we compare perceptions of social inclusion for in-group members following (im)moral behavior toward the in-group with perceptions of out-group members following (im)moral behavior toward the out-group. We show that people treat in-group and out-group members alike with respect to binding morals, which concern preservation and protection of the group, but not individualizing morals, which concern preservation and protection of individual rights. Finally, in Study 3, we confirm the underlying motivating mechanism of reasserting in-group superiority by affirming the positive distinctiveness of one's own group.

Effects of resilience, social support, and academic self-efficacy, on mental health among Peruvian university students during the pandemic: the mediating role of digital inclusion

Background

Mental health of university students has been impacted during the pandemic, highlighting the importance of understanding its psychosocial determinants. Nevertheless, there has been limited exploration into whether the digital inclusion conditions for remote education could mediate the effects that variables such as resilience, social support, and academic self-efficacy may have on mental health. Considering the above, there is evidence that shows a consistent relationship between resilience, social support and academic self-efficacy on mental health, to the extent that these are psychological variables. On the other hand, digital inclusion, which comprehends a contextual variable, not a psychological one, related to ICT access opportunities and mainly focused on the quality of Internet access, should be analyzed in a differential manner.

Objectives

This study seeks to analyze the effect of resilience, social support and academic self-efficacy, on the mental health of a group of Peruvian university students; in addition, it seeks to analyze the mediating role of digital inclusion.

Materials and methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted with 3,147 undergraduate students from a private university in Lima, Perú. From August to October 2020, data were collected online through questionnaire, this include The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale 21 (DASS-21), The 10-item version of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC10), The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (EMASP), The Perceived Self-Efficacy Specific for Academic Situations Scale (EAPESA) and to measure digital inclusion, the Perceived Quality of Internet Access reported by the students. The levels of participants' anxiety, depression and stress were described using frequency and percentage. Pearson Correlation test was used to measure the correlation between the variables and a Path analysis was conducted. Finally, The PROCESS macro for SPSS (Model 4) was applied to examine the mediating effect of the model controlling gender variable.

Results

The results revealed significant levels of extremely severe symptoms of anxiety (36.8%), depression (33.4%) and stress (18.1%) among the participants. A path analysis, which indicated that resilience (β = -0.346), social support (β = -0.189), academic self-efficacy (β = -0.060) and digital inclusion (β = -0.089) had significant impact on students' General Distress. In addition, digital inclusion plays a partial mediation role with low but significant effect size in the relationship between resilience, social support and self-efficacy with mental health.

Conclusion

Mental health of university students during the pandemic shows alarming levels of general or emotional distress. The findings indicate that resilience, social support and self-efficacy protect college students' mental health by reducing general distress. However, the study shows that when there is a digital divide around internet quality the impact of these factors is affected.

Who is more willing to engage in social rejection? The roles of self-esteem, rejection sensitivity, and negative affect in social rejection decisions

How do self-schemas and their consequences guide would-be-rejectors? When making decisions about whether to reject, individuals consider the difficulty and emotional consequences of rejecting, and both considerations are likely to involve self-schemas. In three preregistered studies, we examine the roles of self-esteem, rejection sensitivity, and symptoms of depression and anxiety in rejection decisions. In an initial set of studies (N1a = 214, N1b = 264), participants forecast their willingness to reject and their emotional responses in friendship (Study 1a) and romantic (Study 1a-1b) vignettes. In Study 2 (N2 = 259), participants who recently rejected rated that experience on the same measures. Correlates of negative self-schema were associated with negative emotions. Self-esteem, rejection sensitivity, and general distress were associated with forecasted difficulty rejecting, but only anxiety and general distress were associated with retrospectively reported increased difficulty. Taken together, psychological distress may decrease willingness to reject in a way that participants cannot predict.

Preregistered Replication and Extension of "Moral Hypocrisy: Social Groups and the Flexibility of Virtue"

The tendency for people to consider themselves morally good while behaving selfishly is known as moral hypocrisy. Influential work by Valdesolo and DeSteno (2007) found evidence for intergroup moral hypocrisy such that people were more forgiving of transgressions when they were committed by an in-group member than an out-group member. We conducted two experiments to examine moral hypocrisy and group membership in an online paradigm with Prolific workers from the United States: a direct replication of the original work with minimal groups (N = 610; nationally representative) and a conceptual replication with political groups (N = 606; 50% Democrats and 50% Republicans). Although the results did not replicate the original findings, we observed evidence of in-group favoritism in minimal groups and out-group derogation in political groups. The current research finds mixed evidence of intergroup moral hypocrisy and has implications for understanding the contextual dependencies of intergroup bias and partisanship.

Characteristics of the time processing of adults' strongest sustained attentional bias toward neutral infant faces

Previous studies have shown that adults exhibit the strongest attentional bias toward neutral infant faces when viewing faces with different expressions at different attentional processing stages due to different stimulus presentation times. However, it is not clear how the characteristics of the temporal processing associated with the strongest effect change over time. Thus, we combined a free-viewing task with eye-tracking technology to measure adults' attentional bias toward infant and adult faces with happy, neutral, and sad expressions of the same face. The results of the analysis of the total time course indicated that the strongest effect occurred during the strategic processing stage. However, the results of the analysis of the split time course revealed that sad infant faces first elicited adults' attentional bias at 0 to 500 ms, whereas the strongest effect of attentional bias toward neutral infant faces was observed at 1000 to 3000 ms, peaking at 1500 to 2000 ms. In addition, women and men had no differences in their responses to different expressions. In summary, this study provides further evidence that adults' attentional bias toward infant faces across stages of attention processing is modulated by expressions. Specifically, during automatic processing adults' attentional bias was directed toward sad infant faces, followed by a shift to the processing of neutral infant faces during strategic processing, which ultimately resulted in the strongest effect. These findings highlight that this strongest effect is dynamic and associated with a specific time window in the strategic process.

Full throttle: are motorcyclists as risk-taking as we think?

BACKGROUND

Motorcycling, whether thought of as a leisure activity, hobby, or social activity, can add quality to one's life. Being a member of a motorcycle club may promote a sense of community, while motorcycling itself may increase feelings of awe and joy. When conceptualized as part of one's social identity, motorcycling tends to be associated with an unfavourable image or stereotype, wherein motorcyclists' personalities are characterized as rebellious, prone to risk-taking behaviour, and masculine (regardless of the motorcyclist's gender). The accuracy of this stereotype is unclear, particularly as perceived by non-motorcyclists, such as car drivers. Accordingly, the overall purpose of this exploratory study was to describe the personality profile of motorcyclists from a basic trait perspective (Big 5) and assess its congruence with non-motorcyclists' perceptions of the "typical" motorcyclist's personality.

PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE

A cross-sectional online survey (N = 376) consisting of motorcyclists (n = 194) and car drivers (n = 182) collected information on personality traits (self-report or perceived), riding behaviour (motorcyclists only), and well-being.

RESULTS

The results show that car drivers perceive motorcyclists to be more disinhibited, less open, more neurotic, less agreeable, and less conscientious than motorcyclists self-report.

CONCLUSIONS

Car drivers' perceptions of motorcyclists seem to be more negative than their actual personalities, suggesting an unfavourable judgement of that community.

Explaining contentious political issues promotes open-minded thinking

Cognitive scientists suggest that inviting people to explain contentious political issues might reduce intergroup toxicity because it exposes people to how poorly they understand the issue. However, whether providing explanations can result in more open-minded political thinking remains unclear. On one hand, inviting people to explain a political issue might make them more impartial and open-minded in their thinking. On the other hand, an invitation to explain a contentious political issue might lead to myside bias-rationalization of one's default position. Here, we address these contrasting predictions in five experiments (N = 1884; three pre-registered), conducted across a variety of contexts: with graduate students interacting with an actor in a laboratory setting, with US residents at the peak of the 2012 and 2016 U.S. presidential elections, with UK residents before the highly polarized 2019 Brexit vote, and with gun-control partisans. Across studies, we found that explaining politically contentious topics resulted in more open-minded thinking, an effect that generalized across coded (Studies 1-4) and self-report (Studies 3-4) measures. We also observed that participants who were made to feel like their explanations were welcomed felt closer to their discussion partner (Studies 3-4), an effect that generalized to all outgroup members with whom they disagreed with about the politically contentious issue (Study 4). We discuss the theoretical implications of these findings, and the potential for explanations to foster open-minded political engagement.

Characteristics of Chinese Lottery Consumers' Financial Literacy and its Relationship with Problem Lottery Gambling

Problem lottery gambling among lottery consumers has increased globally over the years, rendering it necessary to explore their financial literacy characteristics and to answer whether financial literacy inhibits problem lottery gambling. In the present research, a total of 316 Chinese lottery consumers, who constitute the culturally underrepresented samples in the extant literature, completed a survey about financial literacy and problem lottery gambling. Using the propensity score matching method, we compared financial literacy between Chinese lottery consumers and Chinese general population (N = 10,058). The results showed that the five facets of financial literacy (i.e., financial knowledge, financial capacity, financial management values, financial ethics, and wealth values) among Chinese lottery consumers were significantly lower than Chinese general population. Among Chinese lottery consumers, their Homo sociologicus index (including financial ethics and wealth values) negatively predicted problem lottery gambling, but the Homo economicus index (including financial knowledge, financial capacity, and financial management values) was not significantly associated with problem lottery gambling. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings were discussed.

Big Is Bad: Stereotypes About Organizational Size, Profit-Seeking, and Corporate Ethicality

Individuals tend to hold a dim view of for-profit corporations, believing that profit-seeking comes at the expense of ethicality. In the present research, we show that this belief is not universal; rather, people associate ethicality with an organization's size. Across nine experiments (N = 4,796), people stereotyped large companies as less ethical than small companies. This size-ethicality stereotype emerged spontaneously (Study 1), implicitly (Study 2), and across industries (Study 3). Moreover, we find this stereotype can be partly explained by perceptions of profit-seeking behavior (Supplementary Studies A and B), and that people construe profit-seeking and its relationship to ethicality differently when considering large and small companies (Study 4). People attribute greater profit-maximizing motives (relative to profit-satisficing motives) to large companies, and these attributions shape their subsequent judgments of ethicality (Study 5; Supplementary Studies C and D).

Emotional experiences of ghosting

Although ghosting (i.e., unilaterally ending a relationship by ceasing communication) has only recently entered the lexicon, it is a regularly used form of relationship dissolution. However, little research has examined the emotional experiences of ghosting, particularly the experiences of those on both sides of the ghosting process. In a multi-method study, participants who had both ghosted and been ghosted in previous romantic relationships (N = 80) provided narratives of their experiences and completed questionnaires. The narrative responses were analyzed by coders and by using LIWC. Ghosters and ghostees used similar overall levels of positively and negatively valenced words to describe their experiences, but ghosters were more likely to express guilt and relief, whereas ghostees were more likely to express sadness and hurt feelings. Ghostees also experienced more of a threat to their fundamental needs - control, self-esteem, belongingness, meaningful existence - than ghosters.

Stigma Toward Consensual Non-Monogamy: Thematic Analysis and Minority Stress

Consensually non-monogamous (CNM) romantic and sexual relationships tend to be stigmatized. The present research examined this stigma across two studies. First, we qualitatively explored the specific ways that people in CNM relationships report experiencing stigma using thematic analysis and identified the following four themes: Expressions of discomfort/disapproval of CNM, Loss of resources/threatening behaviors, Character devaluation, and Relationship devaluation (Study 1; N = 372). Second, we examined the relationship between experienced stigma and psychological well-being for people in CNM relationships, using the framework of minority stress theory. We found that experienced stigma was positively associated with psychological distress and that this association was partially statistically mediated by anticipated stigma and internalized stigma (Study 2; N = 383). Overall, this research strives to achieve a better understanding of the processes and potential consequences of stigma toward CNM relationships and individuals.

Volitional Change in Pathological Traits: Can People Change Their Maladaptive Traits?

Research suggests people want to change their normative personality traits-and they can volitionally do so. However, studies have not yet addressed volitional change in pathological personality. Consequently, the current study examined (a) people's desires to change pathological traits, (b) whether these change goals predict subsequent trait change, (c) whether this withstands controlling normative traits, and (d) the extent to which pathological trait change predicts relevant outcomes. College students (N = 463) self-reported their pathological traits weekly for up to 16 weeks. People with elevated pathological traits generally desired to decrease these traits. Furthermore, goals to change negative affectivity and disinhibition predicted corresponding trait change. Thus, people want to reduce their pathological traits-and they may be able to do so for some traits.

Moral identity in relation to emotional well-being: a meta-analysis

Introduction

This meta-analytic review surveyed previous empirical studies that examined links between moral identity and indicators of emotional well-being. Additionally, this meta-analysis examined cultural origin as a moderator, testing if links between moral identity and emotional well-being differ in collectivistic vs. individualistic countries.

Methods

A systematic literature review was conducted through ProQuest's 65 databases and PubMed. A random-effect meta-analysis and subgroup analyses were conducted using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis 4.0 (CMA) software.

Results

Drawing on 27 eligible studies, moral identity was associated with greater emotional well-being (r = 0.27, p < 0.001). Follow up analyses on individual dimensions showed medium effect sizes in links between moral identity and greater happiness or positive affect (r = 0.28, p < 0.001), greater sense of purpose or meaning in life (r = 0.29, p < 0.001), and higher self-esteem (r = 0.25, p < 0.001). Moreover, moral identity was associated with greater life satisfaction showing a small effect size (r = 0.15, p = 0.011). Results showed that effect sizes of links between moral identity and overall emotional well-being did not significantly differ by cultural origin. However, effect sizes tended to be larger in the nine studies that were conducted in collectivistic countries (r = 0.30, p < 0.001) as compared to the 15 studies that were conducted in individualistic countries (r = 0.27, p < 0.001).

Discussion

The results of this meta-analysis indicate a robust empirical relationship between moral identity and emotional well-being that is present across various dimensions of emotional well-being and in both individualistic and collectivistic cultures.

Systematic review registration

https://osf.io/94f8b/?view_only=6db54da0fa304c83993d0438ecb5c637.

High replicability of newly discovered social-behavioural findings is achievable

Failures to replicate evidence of new discoveries have forced scientists to ask whether this unreliability is due to suboptimal implementation of methods or whether presumptively optimal methods are not, in fact, optimal. This paper reports an investigation by four coordinated laboratories of the prospective replicability of 16 novel experimental findings using rigour-enhancing practices: confirmatory tests, large sample sizes, preregistration and methodological transparency. In contrast to past systematic replication efforts that reported replication rates averaging 50%, replication attempts here produced the expected effects with significance testing (P < 0.05) in 86% of attempts, slightly exceeding the maximum expected replicability based on observed effect sizes and sample sizes. When one lab attempted to replicate an effect discovered by another lab, the effect size in the replications was 97% that in the original study. This high replication rate justifies confidence in rigour-enhancing methods to increase the replicability of new discoveries.

The mediating effect of hope agency on perceived stress and professional burnout among Polish corporate employees

Job burnout is considered an outcome of prolonged exposure of employees to stress. Although many studies have focused on the presence of a direct association between stress and burnout, we still know very little about mediators that indirectly play a role in this relationship. Previous analyses have determined that self-efficacy acts as a mechanism that explains the overall relationship between stress and burnout. However, there is no such evidence to support the mediatory function of hope. Therefore, the main aim of the current study was to verify whether self-efficacy, hope pathways, and hope agency are mediators in this relationship. The study included 408 Polish-speaking adults who completed the Perceived Stress Scale, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Dispositional Hope Scale. The outcomes indicated a positive correlation of stress with the overall burnout score, as well as all subscales. Moreover, hope agency was a mediator, thus suggesting that there is also an indirect relationship between stress and job burnout. Therefore, it can be assumed that higher stress is associated with lower motivation to generate and sustain the actions needed to reach the goals. Consequently, lower hope agency may lead stressed employees to greater exhaustion and reduced personal accomplishment.

3-Year test-retest reliability in Parkinson's disease and healthy older adults: The Parkinson's progression markers initiative study

Repeated neuropsychological assessments are often conducted in clinical and research settings to track cognitive changes over single or multiple intervals in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Yet few studies have documented test-retest reliability in PD. To address this gap, we used data from the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) to investigate the reliability of five well-known neuropsychological tests over a 3-year follow-up assessment in early-stage PD with either normal (PD-NC; N = 158) or abnormal (PD-AC; N = 39) cognitive screening, categorized based on recommended cutoffs for the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and healthy older adults (HOA; N = 102). All participants analyzed maintained the same cognitive status category across the assessment points. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) estimated reliability. The overall ICCs calculated across time points were as follows: Judgment of Line Orientation (PD-NC = .47, PD-AC = .50, HOA = .59); Letter-Number Sequencing (PD-NC = .64, PD-AC = .64, HOA = .65); Semantic Fluency (PD-NC = .69, PD-AC = .89, HOA = .77); Symbol Digit Modalities Test (PD-NC = .67, PD-AC = .83, HOA = .71). For the two primary components of the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised, we found the following ICCs: immediate recall (PD-NC = .46, PD-AC = .57, HOA = .58); delayed recall (PD-NC = .42, PD-AC = .57, HOA = .54). Findings from this study provide useful information for clinicians and researchers toward selecting suitable neuropsychological tests to monitor cognition at two or more time points among newly diagnosed individuals with PD and HOA.

How Can People Become Happier? A Systematic Review of Preregistered Experiments

Can happiness be reliably increased? Thousands of studies speak to this question. However, many of them were conducted during a period in which researchers commonly "p-hacked," creating uncertainty about how many discoveries might be false positives. To prevent p-hacking, happiness researchers increasingly preregister their studies, committing to analysis plans before analyzing data. We conducted a systematic literature search to identify preregistered experiments testing strategies for increasing happiness. We found surprisingly little support for many widely recommended strategies (e.g., performing random acts of kindness). However, our review suggests that other strategies-such as being more sociable-may reliably promote happiness. We also found strong evidence that governments and organizations can improve happiness by providing underprivileged individuals with financial support. We conclude that happiness research stands on the brink of an exciting new era, in which modern best practices will be applied to develop theoretically grounded strategies that can produce lasting gains in life satisfaction.

Liking Predicts Judgments of Authenticity in Real-Time Interactions More Robustly Than Personality States or Affect

We conducted three studies involving small group interactions (N = 622) that examined whether Big Five personality states, affect, and/or liking predict judgments of others' authenticity. Study 1 (n = 119) revealed that neither self-rated personality states nor affect predicted other-rated authenticity. Instead, other-rated liking was the only predictor of other-rated authenticity. Study 2 (n = 281) revealed that other-rated personality states and affect were significant predictors of other-rated authenticity, but other-rated liking was a more important factor in predicting other-rated authenticity than specific behaviors or affect. Based on these results, Study 3 (n = 222) examined whether experimental manipulation of likability had a causal effect on other-ratings of authenticity. Likable actors were indeed judged as more authentic. Together, this suggests that we judge people we like as more authentic and that likability may be more important than the "objective" content of behavior.

A Tutorial on Analyzing Ecological Momentary Assessment Data in Psychological Research With Bayesian (Generalized) Mixed-Effects Models

In this tutorial, we introduce the reader to analyzing ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data as applied in psychological sciences with the use of Bayesian (generalized) linear mixed-effects models. We discuss practical advantages of the Bayesian approach over frequentist methods and conceptual differences. We demonstrate how Bayesian statistics can help EMA researchers to (a) incorporate prior knowledge and beliefs in analyses, (b) fit models with a large variety of outcome distributions that reflect likely data-generating processes, (c) quantify the uncertainty of effect-size estimates, and (d) quantify the evidence for or against an informative hypothesis. We present a workflow for Bayesian analyses and provide illustrative examples based on EMA data, which we analyze using (generalized) linear mixed-effects models to test whether daily self-control demands predict three different alcohol outcomes. All examples are reproducible, and data and code are available at https://osf.io/rh2sw/. Having worked through this tutorial, readers should be able to adopt a Bayesian workflow to their own analysis of EMA data.

Developmental psychologists should adopt citizen science to improve generalization and reproducibility

Widespread failures of replication and generalization are, ironically, a scientific triumph, in that they confirm the fundamental metascientific theory that underlies our field. Generalizable and replicable findings require testing large numbers of subjects from a wide range of demographics with a large, randomly-sampled stimulus set, and using a variety of experimental parameters. Because few studies accomplish any of this, meta-scientists predict that findings will frequently fail to replicate or generalize. We argue that to be more robust and replicable, developmental psychology needs to find a mechanism for collecting data at greater scale and from more diverse populations. Luckily, this mechanism already exists: Citizen science, in which large numbers of uncompensated volunteers provide data. While best-known for its contributions to astronomy and ecology, citizen science has also produced major findings in neuroscience and psychology, and increasingly in developmental psychology. We provide examples, address practical challenges, discuss limitations, and compare to other methods of obtaining large datasets. Ultimately, we argue that the range of studies where it makes sense *not* to use citizen science is steadily dwindling.

Inside the mindful moment: The effects of brief mindfulness practice on large-scale network organization and intimate partner aggression

Mindfulness can produce neuroplastic changes that support adaptive cognitive and emotional functioning. Recently interest in single-exercise mindfulness instruction has grown considerably because of the advent of mobile health technology. Accordingly, the current study sought to extend neural models of mindfulness by investigating transient states of mindfulness during single-dose exposure to focused attention meditation. Specifically, we examined the ability of a brief mindfulness induction to attenuate intimate partner aggression via adaptive changes to intrinsic functional brain networks. We employed a dual-regression approach to examine a large-scale functional network organization in 50 intimate partner dyads (total n = 100) while they received either mindfulness (n = 50) or relaxation (n = 50) instruction. Mindfulness instruction reduced coherence within the Default Mode Network and increased functional connectivity within the Frontoparietal Control and Salience Networks. Additionally, mindfulness decoupled primary visual and attention-linked networks. Yet, this induction was unable to elicit changes in subsequent intimate partner aggression, and such aggression was broadly unassociated with any of our network indices. These findings suggest that minimal doses of focused attention-based mindfulness can promote transient changes in large-scale brain networks that have uncertain implications for aggressive behavior.