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Smith E, Michalski S, Knauth K, Tuzsus D, Theis H, van Eimeren T, Peters J. Pharmacological Enhancement of Dopamine Neurotransmission Does Not Affect Illusory Pattern Perception. eNeuro 2024; 11:ENEURO.0465-23.2024. [PMID: 38997143 PMCID: PMC11270156 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0465-23.2024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2023] [Revised: 05/21/2024] [Accepted: 06/12/2024] [Indexed: 07/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Psychotic symptoms and delusional beliefs have been linked to dopamine transmission in both healthy and clinical samples and are assumed to result at least in part from perceiving illusory patterns in noise. However, the existing literature on the role of dopamine in detecting patterns in noise is inconclusive. To address this issue, we assessed the effect of manipulating dopaminergic neurotransmission on illusory pattern perception in healthy individuals (n = 48, n = 19 female) in a double-blind placebo-controlled within-subjects design (see preregistration at https://osf.io/a4k9j/). We predicted individuals on versus off ʟ-DOPA to be more likely to perceive illusory patterns, specifically objects in images containing only noise. Using a signal detection model, however, we found no credible evidence that ʟ-DOPA compared with placebo increased false alarm rates. Further, ʟ-DOPA did not reliably modulate measures of accuracy, discrimination sensitivity, and response bias. In all cases, Bayesian statistics revealed strong evidence in favor of the null hypothesis. The task design followed previous work on illusory pattern perception and comprised a limited number of items per condition. The results therefore need to be interpreted with caution, as power was limited. Future studies should address illusory pattern perception using more items and take into account potential dose-dependent effects and differential effects in healthy versus clinical samples.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elke Smith
- Department of Psychology, Biological Psychology, University of Cologne, Cologne 50969, Germany
| | - Simon Michalski
- Department of Psychology, Biological Psychology, University of Cologne, Cologne 50969, Germany
| | - Kilian Knauth
- Department of Psychology, Biological Psychology, University of Cologne, Cologne 50969, Germany
| | - Deniz Tuzsus
- Department of Psychology, Biological Psychology, University of Cologne, Cologne 50969, Germany
| | - Hendrik Theis
- Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Cologne, 50937 Cologne, Germany
- Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Department of Neurology, University of Cologne, 50937 Cologne, Germany
| | - Thilo van Eimeren
- Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Cologne, 50937 Cologne, Germany
- Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Department of Neurology, University of Cologne, 50937 Cologne, Germany
| | - Jan Peters
- Department of Psychology, Biological Psychology, University of Cologne, Cologne 50969, Germany
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Bukowski M, Potoczek A, Barzykowski K, Lautenbacher J, Inzlicht M. What do we manipulate when reminding people of (not) having control? In search of construct validity. Behav Res Methods 2024; 56:3706-3724. [PMID: 38233631 PMCID: PMC11133203 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-023-02326-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/21/2023] [Indexed: 01/19/2024]
Abstract
The construct of personal control is crucial for understanding a variety of human behaviors. Perceived lack of control affects performance and psychological well-being in diverse contexts - educational, organizational, clinical, and social. Thus, it is important to know to what extent we can rely on the established experimental manipulations of (lack of) control. In this article, we examine the construct validity of recall-based manipulations of control (or lack thereof). Using existing datasets (Study 1a and 1b: N = 627 and N = 454, respectively) we performed content-based analyses of control experiences induced by two different procedures (free recall and positive events recall). The results indicate low comparability between high and low control conditions in terms of the emotionality of a recalled event, the domain and sphere of control, amongst other differences. In an experimental study that included three types of recall-based control manipulations (Study 2: N = 506), we found that the conditions differed not only in emotionality but also in a generalized sense of control. This suggests that different aspects of personal control can be activated, and other constructs evoked, depending on the experimental procedure. We discuss potential sources of variability between control manipulation procedures and propose improvements in practices when using experimental manipulations of sense of control and other psychological constructs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcin Bukowski
- Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland.
| | - Anna Potoczek
- Interdisciplinary Centre for Mathematical and Computational Modelling, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Krystian Barzykowski
- Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
| | | | - Michael Inzlicht
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
- Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Varet F, Adam-Troian J, Bonetto E, Akinyemi A, Lantian A, Voisin D, Delouvée S. Experimental manipulation of uncanny feeling does not increase adherence to conspiracy theories. Scand J Psychol 2024; 65:144-156. [PMID: 37667647 DOI: 10.1111/sjop.12962] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2022] [Revised: 07/12/2023] [Accepted: 08/10/2023] [Indexed: 09/06/2023]
Abstract
Research over the past decade has shown that endorsement of conspiracy theories (CTs) is shaped by motivated cognition processes. Accordingly, CTs are theorized to stem from compensatory processes, as individuals attempt to cope with existential threats (i.e., uncertainty, loss of control). Based on the meaning maintenance model, we investigated whether this compensatory effect could follow from epistemic threats in domains unrelated to CTs in the form of uncanniness. Feelings of uncanniness were experimentally manipulated through exposure to absurdist art and literature in a set of five studies, followed by a mini meta-analysis (Ntotal = 1,041). We conducted a final, preregistered sixth study (N = 266) manipulating uncanniness through autobiographical recall. No robust evidence for a compensatory effect was found. We discussed methodological and conceptual limitations of the meaning maintenance model, as well as boundary conditions under which conspiracy theories could have a compensatory function to deal with threats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Florent Varet
- Anthropo-Lab, ETHICS EA 7446, Université Catholique de Lille, Lille, France
| | | | - Eric Bonetto
- Aix Marseille University, PSYCLE, Aix-en-Provence, France
- InCIAM, Aix-en-Provence, France
| | - Alexis Akinyemi
- Laboratoire Parisien de Psychologie Sociale, EA 4386 (équipe PS2C), Nanterre, France
| | - Anthony Lantian
- Département de Psychologie, Laboratoire Parisien de Psychologie Sociale, UPL, Univ Paris Nanterre, Nanterre, France
| | - Dimitri Voisin
- C2S Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France
| | - Sylvain Delouvée
- Department of Psychology, LP3C-EA 1285, University Rennes, Rennes, France
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Irak M, Karahan A. Investigating False Memory and Illusory Pattern Perception Bias in Schizophrenia Patients with and without Delusions. COGNITIVE THERAPY AND RESEARCH 2023; 47:1-12. [PMID: 37363747 PMCID: PMC10212733 DOI: 10.1007/s10608-023-10393-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/20/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023]
Abstract
Background Whether the false memory dysfunction in schizophrenia is at the early (encoding, perceptual) or later (retrieval) stages and how delusions affect it remains unclear. Method In this study, we examined the perception and memory biases in schizophrenia patients with (Sch/D; n = 31) and without delusions (Sch/Nd; n = 32) and compared them with healthy controls (HCs; n = 35). We used the Deese Roediger McDermott (DRM) Paradigm and the Noise Task to measure the false memory and illusory pattern perception (IPP) biases, respectively. Results We found that the patient groups performed lower in both the recall and recognition phases for the DRM and the Noise tasks and made more errors compared to the HC group. Additionally, the performance of the Sch/D group was remarkably lower than the Sch/Nd and HC groups. Conclusions Our results indicated that the information-processing problem in schizophrenia exists in both the encoding and retrieval stages. Also found significant relationship between the presence of delusions and the increase in cognitive deficits. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10608-023-10393-6.
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Affiliation(s)
- Metehan Irak
- Department of Psychology, Brain and Cognition Research Laboratory, Bahcesehir University, Çırağan Cad. No:4 Beşiktaş, Istanbul, 34353 Turkey
| | - Ayşen Karahan
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Health Sciences Istanbul Bağcılar Training and Research Hospital Dr. Sadık Ahmet Cad. Bağcılar, 34093 Istanbul, Turkey
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Does the sense of power influence reputational concern? Tests with episodic and semantic power priming. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL BULLETIN 2023. [DOI: 10.32872/spb.7779] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Reputational concern shapes various social behaviours, since having a negative reputation often results in receiving negative social consequences such as ostracism and punishment. As such, individuals are motivated to avoid displaying socially disapproved behaviour. Previous studies have found that individuals with power (i.e., those who can asymmetrically influence others) tend to show various behaviours that would damage their reputation (e.g., aggression and exploitation). Taken together, we hypothesised that power would be associated with the extent to which individuals are concerned about their reputation. More specifically, we hypothesised that those who have a high and low sense of power would experience reduced and increased reputational concern, respectively. To test the relationship, we conducted three preregistered studies with commonly used power priming methods: episodic priming (Studies 1 and 3) and semantic power priming (Study 2). In Studies 1 and 2, the power priming methods failed to significantly influence the sense of power or reputational concern. In Study 3, we sought to overcome potential methodological issues with online episodic priming, and a modified high power episodic priming was successful. Yet, we did not find evidence for the hypothesised relationship between the experimentally induced sense of power and reputational concern. Our three studies offer valuable implications not only for further research on the relationship between reputational concern and power but also for the effectiveness of power priming methods.
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Hornsey MJ, Bierwiaczonek K, Sassenberg K, Douglas KM. Individual, intergroup and nation-level influences on belief in conspiracy theories. NATURE REVIEWS PSYCHOLOGY 2023; 2:85-97. [PMID: 36467717 PMCID: PMC9685076 DOI: 10.1038/s44159-022-00133-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Conspiracy theories are part of mainstream public life, with the potential to undermine governments, promote racism, ignite extremism and threaten public health efforts. Psychological research on conspiracy theories is booming, with more than half of the academic articles on the topic published since 2019. In this Review, we synthesize the literature with an eye to understanding the psychological factors that shape willingness to believe conspiracy theories. We begin at the individual level, examining the cognitive, clinical, motivational, personality and developmental factors that predispose people to believe conspiracy theories. Drawing on insights from social and evolutionary psychology, we then review research examining conspiracy theories as an intergroup phenomenon that reflects and reinforces societal fault lines. Finally, we examine how conspiracy theories are shaped by the economic, political, cultural and socio-historical contexts at the national level. This multilevel approach offers a deep and broad insight into conspiracist thinking that increases understanding of the problem and offers potential solutions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew J. Hornsey
- grid.1003.20000 0000 9320 7537Business School, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland Australia
| | - Kinga Bierwiaczonek
- grid.5510.10000 0004 1936 8921Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Kai Sassenberg
- grid.418956.70000 0004 0493 3318Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien, Tübingen, Germany ,grid.10392.390000 0001 2190 1447Department of Psychology, University of Tübingen School of Science, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Karen M. Douglas
- grid.9759.20000 0001 2232 2818School of Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
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Gibbs WC, Kim HS, Kay AC, Sherman DK. Who needs control? A cultural perspective on the process of compensatory control. SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY COMPASS 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/spc3.12722] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- W. Connor Gibbs
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences University of California, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara California USA
| | - Heejung S. Kim
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences University of California, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara California USA
| | - Aaron C. Kay
- Fuqua School of Business Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Duke University Durham North Carolina USA
| | - David K. Sherman
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences University of California, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara California USA
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Stereotyping, prejudice, and the role of anxiety for compensatory control. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL BULLETIN 2022. [DOI: 10.32872/spb.7875] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
This work examines the influence of personal control and anxiety on stereotyping and prejudice. In two experiments, personal control was manipulated in an autobiographical experience task. In Experiment 1, participants then completed measures of implicit and explicit gender stereotypes. In Experiment 2, implicit and explicit racial prejudice was assessed. Anxiety was tested as a possible mediator of the relationship between personal control and stereotyping and prejudice, respectively. Low personal control was associated with greater gender stereotyping and racial prejudice in explicit measures. Anxiety mediated the relationship between personal control and stereotyping but not between personal control and prejudice. Also, ingroup identification was found to moderate some of the relations between personal control, anxiety and stereotyping and prejudice. The results provide support for stereotyping and prejudice as compensatory control mechanisms, but evidence is mixed regarding the role of anxiety in mediating the processes.
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Whitson J, Dow B, Menon T, Wang C. Sense of Control and Conspiracy Perceptions: Generative Directions on a Well-Worn Path. Curr Opin Psychol 2022; 47:101389. [DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101389] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2022] [Revised: 05/26/2022] [Accepted: 06/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Perceived lack of control and conspiracy theory beliefs in the wake of political strife and natural disaster. PSIHOLOGIJA 2021. [DOI: 10.2298/psi201115009s] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
While lack of control is one plausible explanation for conspiracy beliefs,
the experimental evidence is mixed. We present two naturalistic studies that
offer some limited support for the control hypothesis. In the first,
Macedonians living in (North) Macedonia (N = 116) completed a conspiracy
ideation scale immediately after a national referendum on the country?s name
change from ?Macedonia? to ?North Macedonia,? and one year after. The
opposition, whose control was lowered after the name change, increased their
conspiracy beliefs, but supporters did not. Study 2, conducted with
Americans (N = 266) in the wake of a series of devastating tornadoes,
replicated and expanded the first study: the effects were evident only for
the threatening event-related conspiracy beliefs. These studies suggest a
possible link between lack of control and conspiracy beliefs in the real
world.
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Are the symptoms really remitting? How the subjective interpretation of outcomes can produce an illusion of causality. JUDGMENT AND DECISION MAKING 2020. [DOI: 10.1017/s1930297500007506] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
AbstractJudgments of a treatment’s effectiveness are usually biased by the probability with which the outcome (e.g., symptom relief) appears: even when the treatment is completely ineffective (i.e., there is a null contingency between cause and outcome), judgments tend to be higher when outcomes appear with high probability. In this research, we present ambiguous stimuli, expecting to find individual differences in the tendency to interpret them as outcomes. In Experiment 1, judgments of effectiveness of a completely ineffective treatment increased with the spontaneous tendency of participants to interpret ambiguous stimuli as outcome occurrences (i.e., healings). In Experiment 2, this interpretation bias was affected by the overall treatment-outcome contingency, suggesting that the tendency to interpret ambiguous stimuli as outcomes is learned and context-dependent. In conclusion, we show that, to understand how judgments of effectiveness are affected by outcome probability, we need to also take into account the variable tendency of people to interpret ambiguous information as outcome occurrences.
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Abstract
Firearms are one of the central flashpoints in American life, and yet the motivations underlying their ownership have been generally understudied by psychologists. In this article, I review work from across the social sciences to model the psychological utility that people get from gun ownership. I propose the coping model of protective gun ownership and argue that those who own their weapon for protection are using their gun symbolically as an aid to manage psychological threats-to their safety, control, and sense of belongingness-that come from their belief that the world is a dangerous place and that society will not keep them safe. I discuss the ramifications of this coping strategy and present a research agenda for exploring this framework.
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