The Psychological Science Accelerator's COVID-19 rapid-response dataset

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three large-scale psychological studies to examine the effects of loss-gain framing, cognitive reappraisals, and autonomy framing manipulations on behavioral intentions and affective measures. The data collected (April to October 2020) included specific measures for each experimental study, a general questionnaire examining health prevention behaviors and COVID-19 experience, geographical and cultural context characterization, and demographic information for each participant. Each participant started the study with the same general questions and then was randomized to complete either one longer experiment or two shorter experiments. Data were provided by 73,223 participants with varying completion rates. Participants completed the survey from 111 geopolitical regions in 44 unique languages/dialects. The anonymized dataset described here is provided in both raw and processed formats to facilitate re-use and further analyses. The dataset offers secondary analytic opportunities to explore coping, framing, and self-determination across a diverse, global sample obtained at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which can be merged with other time-sampled or geographic data.

Is there no beauty in sexually dimorphic eyes? Facial attractiveness and White Europeans ocular morphology-Brief communication

The link between human ocular morphology and attractiveness, especially in the context of its potential adaptive function, is an underexplored area of research. In our study, we examined the association between facial attractiveness and three sexually dimorphic measures of ocular morphology in White Europeans: the sclera size index, width-to-height ratio, and relative iris luminance. Sixty participants (30 women) assessed the attractiveness of the opposite-sex photographs of 50 men and 50 women. Our results show that in both men and women, none of the three measures was linked to the opposite sex ratings of facial attractiveness. We conclude that those ocular morphology measures may play a limited role in human mate preferences.

A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. Left unchecked, these emotional changes might have a wide array of adverse impacts. To reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, we tested the effectiveness of reappraisal, an emotion-regulation strategy that modifies how one thinks about a situation. Participants from 87 countries and regions (n = 21,644) were randomly assigned to one of two brief reappraisal interventions (reconstrual or repurposing) or one of two control conditions (active or passive). Results revealed that both reappraisal interventions (vesus both control conditions) consistently reduced negative emotions and increased positive emotions across different measures. Reconstrual and repurposing interventions had similar effects. Importantly, planned exploratory analyses indicated that reappraisal interventions did not reduce intentions to practice preventive health behaviours. The findings demonstrate the viability of creating scalable, low-cost interventions for use around the world. PROTOCOL REGISTRATION: The stage 1 protocol for this Registered Report was accepted in principle on 12 May 2020. The protocol, as accepted by the journal, can be found at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4878591.v1.

Willingness to Invest in Children: Psychological Kinship Estimates and Emotional Closeness

In general, adults invest more in related children compared to unrelated children. To test whether this pattern reflects variations in psychological kinship estimates (i.e., putative relatedness weighted by certainty in relatedness), willingness to invest in children belonging to different categories (direct offspring, nieces/nephews, stepchildren, and friends' children) was measured in a population-based sample of 1,012 adults. Respondents reported more willingness to invest in their own biological children, than in other related children (nieces and nephews), or in stepchildren and friends' children. Compared to putative relatedness, respondents' psychological kinship estimates better predicted the willingness to invest. This association was partially mediated by emotional closeness. Additionally, the age of a child and the number of children in the care of the respondent were negatively associated with willingness to invest. The association between psychological kinship estimates and willingness to invest supports evolutionary predictions. Investment in stepchildren was, however, higher than expected.

Extremes of L-ficolin concentration in children with recurrent infections are associated with single nucleotide polymorphisms in the FCN2 gene

L-ficolin (also called ficolin-2, P35 or hucolin) is a soluble pattern recognition molecule of suspected importance in anti-microbial immunity. It activates the lectin pathway of complement and acts as an opsonin. l-ficolin, encoded by the FCN2 gene, recognizes microbial polysaccharides and glycoconjugates rich in GlcNAc or GalNAc. We report here data concerning four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the FCN2 gene and their relationship to l-ficolin serum concentrations. There are two pairs of SNPs in linkage disequilibrium: ss32469536 (located in promoter) with rs7851696 (in exon 8) and ss32469537 (promoter) with ss32469544 (exon 8). We selected groups possessing low or high serum l-ficolin concentrations (or= 4.5 microg/ml, respectively) from Polish children suffering from recurrent respiratory infections (n = 146). Low l-ficolin levels were associated with variant alleles for ss32469536 and rs7851696 and normal alleles for ss32469537 and ss32469544. Conversely, high l-ficolin levels were associated with variant alleles of ss32469537 and ss32469544. FCN2 genotyping should be a valuable additional tool for disease association studies.

Dielectric Dispersion in Water + 2-Hydroxypyridine Solid Mixtures

The complex electric permittivity was measured in water + 2-hydroxypyridine (2HP) solid mixtures as a function of concentration, temperature and frequency. Just after freezing of diluted mixtures, (mole fraction of 2HP < 0.2) pronounced dielectric dispersion in the MHz region was observed. The dispersion disappears on cooling between -30 and -40 degrees C in a first-order phase transition. The dispersion was explained in terms of the movement of a guest molecule (2HP) in a clathratelike structure of ice.

Sound attenuation, shear viscosity, and mutual diffusivity behavior in the nitroethane-cyclohexane critical mixture

The shear viscosity eta(s), mutual diffusion coefficient D, and ultrasonic attenuation spectra of the nitroethane-cyclohexane mixture of critical composition have been measured at various temperatures near the critical temperature T(c). The relaxation rate of order parameter fluctuations resulting from a combined evaluation of the eta(s) and D data follows power law behavior with the theoretical exponent and with the large amplitude Gamma(o)=(156+/-2)x10(9) s(-1). The ultrasonic spectra have been evaluated in terms of a critical contribution and a noncritical background contribution. The amplitude of the former exhibits a temperature dependence, in conformity with a temperature dependence in the adiabatic coupling constant (|g| = 0.064 near T(c) and 0.1 at T-T(c)=3 K). If the variation of the critical amplitude with T is taken into account the experimental attenuation coefficient data display a scaling function which nicely fits to the theoretical prediction from the Bhattacharjee-Ferrell dynamic scaling model [R. A. Ferrell and J. K. Bhattacharjee, Phys. Rev. A 31, 1788 (1985)].