bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On nomological validity and auxiliary assumptions: The importance of simultaneously testing effects in social cognitive theories applied to health behavior and some guidelines
Authors: Hagger Martin S , Gucciardi Daniel F. , Chatzisarantis Nikos
Published: July 2018

Tests of social cognitive theories provide informative data on the factors that relate to health behavior, and the processes and mechanisms involved. In the present article, we contend that tests of social cognitive theories should adhere to the principles of nomological validity, defined as the degree to which predictions in a formal theoretical network are confirmed. We highlight the importance of nomological validity tests to ensure theory predictions can be disconfirmed through observation. We argue that researchers should be explicit on the conditions that lead to theory disconfirmation, and identify any auxiliary assumptions on which theory effects may be conditional. We contend that few researchers formally test the nomological validity of theories, or outline conditions that lead to model rejection and the auxiliary assumptions that may explain findings that run counter to hypotheses, raising potential for ‘falsification evasion.’ We present a brief analysis of studies (k D 122) testing four key social cognitive theories in health behavior to illustrate deficiencies in reporting theory tests and evaluations of nomological validity. Our analysis revealed that few articles report explicit statementssuggesting that their findings support or reject the hypotheses of the theories tested, even when findings point to rejection. We illustrate the importance of explicit a priori specification of fundamental theory hypotheses and associated auxiliary assumptions, and identification of the conditions which would lead to rejection of theory predictions. We also demonstrate the value of confirmatory analytic techniques, meta-analyticstructural equation modeling, and Bayesian analyses in providing robust converging evidence for nomological validity. We provide a set of guidelines for researchers on how to adopt and apply the nomological validity approach to testing health behavior models.
Investigating the mediating effect of working memory on intentional forgetting in dysphoria
Authors: Noreen Saima , Cooke Richard , Ridout Nathan
Published: July 2018

Our aim was to determine if deficits in intentional forgetting that are associated with depression and dysphoria (subclinical depression) could be explained by variations in working memory capacity. Sixty dysphoric and 61 non-dysphoric participants completed a modified version of the think/no-think (TNT) task and a measure of complex working memory (the operation span task). The TNT task involved participants learning a series of emotional cue-target word pairs. They were then presented with a series of the cues and asked to either recall the associated target or to prevent it from coming to mind (by thinking about a substitute word). Participants were subsequently asked to recall the targets to all cues (regardless of previous recall instructions). As expected, we found that dysphoric individuals exhibited impaired forgetting relative to the non-dysphoric participants. Also as expected, we found that greater working memory capacity was associated with more successful forgetting. Critically, we found that working memory capacity mediated the effect of depression on intentional forgetting. That is, depression influenced forgetting indirectly via its effect on working memory, perhaps reducing the amount of available working memory resources that could be applied to the suppression of the memories. These findings are important as they provide an additional explanation for the finding of impaired forgetting in depression and also suggest that working memory training might be a viable intervention for improving the ability of depressed individuals to prevent unwanted memories from coming to mind.
Finding categories through words: More nameable features improve category learning
Authors: Zettersten Martin , Lupyan Gary
Published: July 2018

What are the cognitive consequences of having a name for something? Having a word for a feature makes it easier to communicate about a set of exemplars belonging to the same category (e.g., “the red things”) - might it make it easier to learn the category itself? Here, we provide evidence that the ease of learning category distinctions based on simple visual features is predicted from the ease of naming those features. Across seven experiments, participants learned categories composed of colors or shapes that were either easy or more difficult to name in English. Holding the category structure constant, when the underlying features of the category were easy to name, participants were faster and more accurate in learning the novel category. These results suggest that compact verbal labels may facilitate hypothesis formation during learning: it is easier to pose the hypothesis “it is about redness” than “it is about that pinkish-purplish color”. Our results have consequences for understanding how developmental and cross-linguistic differences in a language’s vocabulary affect category learning and conceptual development.
Using versus liking: Young children use ownership to predict actions, but not to infer preferences
Authors: Pesowski Madison Leigh , Friedman Ori
Published: July 2018

Three experiments show that young children (N = 384) use ownership to predict actions but not to infer preferences. In Experiment 1, 3- to 6-year-olds considered ownership when predicting actions but did not expect it to trump preferences. In Experiment 2, 4- and 5-year-olds, but not 3-year-olds, used ownership to predict actions, and 5-year-olds grasped that an agent would use his or her own property despite preferring someone else’s. This experiment also showed that relating an agent to an object interfered with 3- and 4-year-olds’ judgments that a more attractive object is preferred. Finally, Experiment 3 found that 3- and 4-year-olds do not believe that owning an object increases regard for it. These findings are informative about the kinds of information children use to predict actions and the inferences they make from ownership. The findings also reveal specificity in how children use ownership to make judgments about others, and suggest that children more closely relate ownership to people’s actions than to their desires.
A fully automated, transparent, reproducible, and blind protocol for sequential analyses
Authors: Beffara Brice , Bret Amélie , Nalborczyk Ladislas
Published: July 2018

Despite many cultural, methodological and technical improvements, one of the major obstacle to results reproducibility remains the pervasive low statistical power. In response to this problem, a lot of attention has recently been drawn to sequential analyses. This type of procedure has been shown to be more efficient (to require less observations and therefore less resources) than classical fixed-N procedures. However, these procedures are submitted to both intrapersonal and interpersonal biases during data collection and data analysis. In this tutorial, we explain how automation can be used to prevent these biases. We show how to synchronise open and free experiment software programs with the Open Science Framework and how to automate sequential data analyses in R. This tutorial is intended to researchers with beginner experience with R but no previous experience with sequential analyses is required.
On Common Factor and Principal Component Representations of Data: Implications for Theory and for Confirmatory Replications
Authors: Widaman Keith F.
Published: July 2018

Common factor analysis (FA) and principal component analysis (PCA) are commonly used to obtain lower-dimensional representations of matrices of correlations among manifest variables. Whereas some experts argue that differences in results from use of FA and PCA are small and relatively unimportant in empirical studies, the fundamental rationales for the two methods are very different. Here, FA and PCA are contrasted on four key issues: the range of possible dimensional loadings, the range of potential correlations among dimensions, the structure of residual covariances and correlations, and the relation between population parameters and the correlational structures with which they are associated. For decades, experts have emphasized indeterminacies of the FA model, particularly indeterminacy of common factor scores. Determinate in most respects, a heretofore unacknowledged, pernicious indeterminacy of PCA is demonstrated: the indeterminacy between PCA structural representations and the correlational structures from which they are derived. Researchers are often advised to use either FA or PCA in exploratory rounds of data analysis to understand and refine the dimensional structure of a domain before moving to structural equation modeling in later theory-testing, confirmatory, replication studies. Results from the current study suggest that PCA is an unreliable method to use for such purposes and may lead to serious misrepresentation of the structure of a domain. Hence, PCA should never be used if the goal is to understand and represent the latent structure of a domain; only FA techniques should be used for this purpose.
The Development of Achievement Goals throughout College: Modeling Stability and Change
Authors: Corker Katherine S. , Donnellan Brent , Bowles Ryan
Published: July 2018

Emerging adulthood, defined for many by the college years, is an active period of personality development; less is known about goal change during these years. We investigated stability and change in the 2 × 2 model of achievement goals over 4 years (N = 527). We evaluated rank-order stability and mean-level change, and tested goal coupling hypotheses—the idea that early changes in goals predict later change in other goals—using multivariate latent difference score models. Achievement goals showed moderate rank-order stability over 4 years. Three of four goals demonstrated small normative declines, excepting performance approach goals. A change in mastery approach goals was associated with levels of the other three goals; these goals jointly acted to slow the decline of mastery goals. Trajectories for the other three goals were largely independent. Results suggest that goals are relatively stable individual differences during the college years.
A preliminary study of the educational benefits of conducting replications in the classroom
Authors: Jern Alan
Published: July 2018

Some have argued that having students conduct rigorous replications of published studies would provide benefits to both psychological science and to the students themselves. However, while it seems clear that replications are beneficial to psychological science, there is little empirical evidence that having students conduct replications provides benefits to students. In this study, I conducted a preliminary test (N = 37) of one purported benefit to students of conducting a classroom replication: the development of scientific critical thinking skills. Students completed a one-term research methods course centered around a class replication project. I assessed students' critical thinking development after completing the course. The results were largely inconclusive, showing no significant change in performance between a pre-test (M = 11.00, SD = 3.44) and a post-test (M = 10.30, SD = 2.62), t(36) = -1.21, p = 0.23. This study highlights the need for additional research on the question of whether having students conduct replications provides educational benefits beyond those offered by other pedagogical methods.
Is Bilingualism Associated with Enhanced Executive Functioning in Adults? A Meta-Analytic Review_Pre-Print
Authors: Lehtonen Minna , Soveri Anna , Laine Aini , Järvenpää Janica , de Bruin Angela , Antfolk Jan
Published: July 2018

Due to enduring experience of managing two languages, bilinguals have been argued to develop superior executive functioning compared to monolinguals. Despite extensive investigation, there is, however, no consensus regarding the existence of such a bilingual advantage. Here we synthesized comparisons of bilinguals’ and monolinguals’ performance in six executive domains using 891 effect sizes from 152 studies on adults. We also included unpublished data, and considered the potential influence of a number of study-, task-, and participant-related variables. Before correcting estimates for observed publication bias, our analyses revealed a very small bilingual advantage for inhibition, shifting, and working memory, but not for monitoring or attention. No evidence for a bilingual advantage remained after correcting for bias. For verbal fluency, our analyses indicated a small bilingual disadvantage, possibly reflecting less exposure for each individual language when using two languages in a balanced manner. Moreover, moderator analyses did not support theoretical presuppositions concerning the bilingual advantage. We conclude that the available evidence does not provide systematic support for the widely held notion that bilingualism is associated with benefits in cognitive control functions in adults.
Preprint: Increased startle potentiation to unpredictable stressors in alcohol dependence: Possible stress neuroadaptation in humans
Authors: Moberg Christine A. , Bradford Daniel E. , Kaye Jesse T , Curtin John Joseph
Published: July 2018

Stress plays a key role in addiction etiology and relapse. Rodent models posit that following repeated periods of alcohol and other drug intoxication, compensatory allostatic changes occur in the central nervous system (CNS) circuits involved in behavioral and emotional response to stressors. We examine a predictedmanifestation of this neuroadaptation in recently abstinent alcohol dependent humans. Participants completed a translational laboratory task that uses startle potentiation to unpredictable (vs. predictable) stressors implicated in the putative CNS mechanisms that mediate this neuroadaptation. Alcohol dependent participants displayed significantly greater startle potentiation to unpredictable than predictable stressors relative to nonalcoholic controls. The size of this effect covaried with alcohol-related problems and degree of withdrawal syndrome. This supports the rodent model thesis of a sensitized stress response in abstinent alcoholics. However, this effect could also represent pre-morbid risk or mark more severe and/or comorbid psychopathology. Regardless, pharmacotherapy and psychological interventions may target unpredictable stressor response to reduce stress-induced relapse.
Attribution matters: revisiting the link between extreme weather experience and climate change mitigation responses
Authors: Ogunbode Charles Adedayo
Published: July 2018

The literature suggests extreme weather experiences have potential to increase climate change engagement by influencing the way people perceive the proximity and implications of climate change. Yet, limited attention has been directed at investigating how individual differences in the subjective interpretation of extreme weather events as indications of climate change modulate the link between extreme weather experiences and climate change attitudes. This article contends that subjective attribution of extreme weather events to climate change is a necessary condition for extreme weather experiences to be translated into climate change mitigation responses, and that subjective attribution of extreme weather to climate change is determined by the psychological and social contexts in which individuals appraise their experiences with extreme weather. Using survey data gathered in the aftermath of severe flooding across the UK in winter 2013/2014, I show that personal experience of this flooding event is only directly linked to perceived threat from climate change, and indirectly linked to climate change mitigation responses, among individuals who subjectively attributed the floods to climate change. Additionally, subjective attribution of the floods to climate change is significantly predicted by pre-existing climate change belief, political affiliation and perceived normative cues. Attempts to harness extreme weather experiences as a route to engaging the public must be attentive to the heterogeneity of opinion on the attributability of extreme weather events to climate change.
Person-Situation Transactions Across the Lifespan
Authors: Corker Katherine S. , Donnellan Brent
Published: July 2018

Research on situations has been reinvigorated within social and personality psychology. The chapter argues that a developmental perspective on situations can further enrich understanding of person-situation transactions and generate interesting predictions for future empirical tests. The approach is grounded in life course theory (Elder & Shanahan, 2006), an interactionist approach that considers person-situation dynamics as critical to understanding individual lives. The chapter describes an overarching perspective and reviews principles of personality development before turning to an explicit consideration of how situational characteristics (the Situational Eight DIAMONDS; Rauthmann et al., 2014) may change with age. It then outlines how a developmental tasks perspective and socioemotional selectivity theory can be integrated with the DIAMONDS characteristics. It concludes by describing different kinds of person-situation transactions that promote consistency and change in psychological characteristics across the lifespan and suggests a few future directions for research.
Taking Parametric Assumptions Seriously Arguments for the Use of Welch’s F-test instead of the Classical F-test in One-way ANOVA (in press for the International Review of Social Psychology)
Authors: Delacre Marie , Lakens Daniel , Mora Youri , Leys Christophe
Published: July 2018

Student's t-test and classical F-test ANOVA rely on the assumptions that two or more samples are independent, and that independent and identically distributed residuals are normal and have equal variances between groups. We focus on the assumptions of normality and equality of variances, and argue that these assumptions are often unrealistic in the field of psychology. We underline the current lack of attention to these assumptions through an analysis of researchers' practices. Through Monte Carlo simulations we illustrate the consequences of performing the classic parametric F-test for ANOVA when the test assumptions are not met on the Type I error rate and statistical power. Under realistic deviations from the assumption of equal variances the classic F-test can yield severely biased results and lead to invalid statistical inferences. We examine two common alternatives to the F-test, namely the Welch's ANOVA (W-test) and the Brown-Forsythe test (F*-test). Our simulations show that under a range of realistic scenariosthe W-test is a better alternative and we therefore recommend using the W-test by default when comparing means. We provide a detailed example explaining how to perform the W-test in SPSS and R. We summarize our conclusions in practical recommendations that researchers can use to improve their statistical practices.
A multi-sensory code for emotional arousal
Authors: Sievers Beau , Lee Caitlyn , Haslett William , Wheatley Thalia
Published: July 2018

People express emotion using their voice, face and movement, as well as through abstract forms as in art, architecture and music. The structure of these expressions often seems intuitively linked to its meaning: e.g., romantic poetry is written in flowery curlicues, while the logos of death metal bands use spiky script. Here we show that these associations are universally understood because they are signaled using a multi-sensory code for emotional arousal. Specifically, variation in the central tendency of the frequency spectrum of a stimulus—its spectral centroid—is used by signal senders to express emotional arousal, and by signal receivers to make emotional arousal judgments. We show that this code is used across sounds, shapes, speech, and human body movements, providing a strong multi-sensory signal that can be used to efficiently estimate an agent’s level of emotional arousal.
Comment on Zwaan, Etz, Lucas, and Donnellan (2017): Selecting target papers for replication
Authors: Kühberger Anton , Schulte-Mecklenbeck Michael
Published: July 2018

Randomness in the selection process of the to-be-replicated target papers is of critical importance for replication success or failure. If target papers are chosen due to ease of doing a replication, or because replicators doubt the reported findings, replications are likely to fail. To date, the selection of replication targets is biased.
Measuring Prospective Motor Control in Action Development
Authors: Gottwald Janna M.
Published: July 2018

This article critically reviews kinematic measures of prospective motor control. Prospective motor control, the ability to anticipatorily adjust movements with respect to task demands and action goals, is an important process involved in action planning. In manual object manipulation tasks, prospective motor control has been studied in various ways, mainly using motion tracking. For this matter, it is crucial to pinpoint the early part of the movement that purely reflects prospective (feed-forward) processes, but not feedback influences from the unfolding movement. One way of defining this period is to rely on a fixed time criterion; another is to base it flexibly on the inherent structure of each movement itself. Velocity—as one key characteristic of human movement—offers such a possibility and describes the structure of movements in a meaningful way. Here, I argue for the latter way of investigating prospective motor control by applying the measure of peak velocity of the first movement unit. I further discuss movement units and their significance in motor development of infants and contrast the introduced measure with other measures related to peak velocity and duration.
F*c*book: Swearing impacts impression formation on social media
Authors: Westrop Sophie , Nordmann Emily , Bruce Gillian , Scott Graham G.
Published: July 2018

The language we use can influence the impressions others form of us. Swearing is a taboo linguistic category often used offline with striking and often gender-specific results. Swear words are employed in informal online contexts such as social networks but their impact in such domains is unclear. To investigate the effect of swearing in online impression formation we asked 276 participants to view Facebook timelines containing swearing or no swearing, and form impressions of the timeline owners on dimensions of attractiveness, professionalism, and credibility. All data and code is available at https://osf.io/acpgw/. Swearing generally resulted in poorer impressions being formed. Female timeline owners who did not swear were considered particularly attractive. Men perceived female timeline owners who swore as more physically attractive, but less task attractive. Results are discussed in relation to online impression formation and employability.
The Common Sense Model of Self-Regulation: Meta-Analysis and Test of a Process Model
Authors: Hagger Martin S , Koch Severine , Chatzisarantis Nikos , Orbell Sheina
Published: July 2018

According to the common-sense model of self-regulation, individuals form lay representations of illnesses that guide coping procedures to manage illness threat. We meta-analyzed studies adopting the model to (a) examine the intercorrelations among illness representation dimensions, coping strategies, and illness outcomes; (b) test the sufficiency of a process model in which relations between illness representations and outcomes were mediated by coping strategies; and (c) test effects of moderators on model relations. Studies adopting the common-sense model in chronic illness (k = 254) were subjected to random-effects meta-analysis. The pattern of zero-order corrected correlations among illness representation dimensions (identity, consequences, timeline, perceived control, illness coherence, emotional representations), coping strategies (avoidance, cognitive reappraisal, emotion venting, problem-focused generic, problem-focused specific, seeking social support), and illness outcomes (disease state, distress, well-being, physical, role, and social functioning) was consistent with previous analyses. Meta-analytic path analyses supported a process model that included direct effects of illness representations on outcomes and indirect effects mediated by coping. Emotional representations and perceived control were consistently related to illness-related and functional outcomes via, respectively, lower and greater employment of coping strategies to deal with symptoms or manage treatment. Representations signaling threat (consequences, identity) had specific positive and negative indirect effects on outcomes through problem- and emotion-focused coping strategies. There was little evidence of moderation of model effects by study design, illness type and context, and study quality. A revised process model is proposed to guide future research which includes effects of moderators, individual differences, and beliefs about coping and treatment.
(Part of) The Case for a Pragmatic Approach to Validity: Comment on De Houwer, Teige-Mocigemba, Spruyt, and Moors (2009)
Authors: Nosek Brian A. , Greenwald Anthony G.
Published: July 2018

In their review of validity of Implicit Association Test and affective priming, De Houwer, Teige-Mocigemba, Spruyt, and Moors (2009) identified validity with establishment of “basic theoretical understanding” of the measures. We agree that theoretical understanding has an important role in making measures more valid and useful. Nevertheless, we conclude that scientific advancement will more often be well served by prioritizing pragmatic goals of establishing the measures’ predictive validity and their adequate sensitivity to individual differences.
Recruiting and pursuing big questions in the scientific study of religion
Authors: Gibson Nicholas J. S.
Published: July 2018

In a commentary to a special issue of Religion, Brain & Behavior focusing on big questions in the scientific study of religion, I consider what researchers are requesting funding to study, the need for greater diversity and interdisciplinarity in the generation of big questions, examples of areas in need of particular research attention (e.g., the nature of affective processes within religious cognition), and which questions should be prioritized.
Targets’ Facial Width-to-Height Ratio Biases Pain Judgments
Authors: Deska Jason C. , Hugenberg Kurt
Published: July 2018

The accurate perception of others’ pain is important for both perceivers and targets. Yet, like other person perception judgments, pain judgments are prone to biases. Although past work has begun detailing characteristics of targets that can bias pain judgments (e.g., race, gender), the current work examines a novel source of bias inherent to all targets: structural characteristics of the human face. Specifically, we present four studies demonstrating that facial width-to-height ratio, a stable feature of all faces, biases pain judgments. Compared to those with low facial width-to-height ratio, individuals with high facial width-to-height ratio are perceived as experiencing less pain in otherwise identical situations (Studies 1, 2, & 3), and as needing less pain medication to salve their injuries (Study 4). This process was observed for White but not Black targets (Study 2), and manipulations of facial width-to-height ratio affected pain perceptions even when target identity was held constant (Study 4). Together, these findings implicate face structure in judgments of others’ pain.
Message Framing for Health: Moderation by Perceived Susceptibility and Motivational Orientation in a Diverse Sample of Americans
Authors: Updegraff John , Brick Cameron
Published: July 2018

Objective: The present study examined how gain- and loss-framed informational videos about oral health influence self-reported flossing behavior over a 6-month period, as well as the role of perceived susceptibility to oral health problems and approach/avoidance motivational orientation in moderating these effects.Methods: An age and ethnically diverse sample of 855 American adults were randomized to receive no health message, or either a gain-framed or loss-framed video presented on the internet. Self-reported flossing was assessed longitudinally at two and six months.Results: Among the entire sample, susceptibility interacted with frame to predict flossing. Participants who watched a video where the frame (gain/loss) matched perceived susceptibility (low/high) had significantly greater likelihood of flossing at recommended levels at the 6-month follow-up, compared to those who viewed a mismatched video or no video at all. However, young adults (18-24) showed stronger moderation by motivational orientation than by perceived susceptibility, in line with previous work largely conducted with young adult samples.Conclusion: Brief informational interventions can influence long-term health behavior, particularly when the gain- or loss-frame of the information matches the recipient’s beliefs about their health outcome risks.
Age differences explain social class differences in students’ friendship at university: Implications for transition and retention.
Authors: Rubin Mark
Published: July 2018

The present research tested the hypotheses that (a) working-class students have fewer friends at university than middle-class students, and (b) this social class difference occurs because working-class students tend to be older than middle-class students. A sample of 376 first-year undergraduate students from an Australian university completed an online survey that contained measures of social class and age as well as quality and quantity of actual and desired friendship at university. Consistent with predictions, age differences significantly mediated social class differences in friendship. The Discussion focuses on potential policy implications for improving working-class students’ friendships at university in order to improve their transition and retention.
Behavioral Compensation Before and After Eating at the Minnesota State Fair
Authors: Lenne Richie L , Panos Mary Elizabeth , Auster-Gussman Lisa , Scherschel Heather , Zhou Lucy , Mann Traci
Published: July 2018

People regulate their eating behavior in many ways. They may respond to overeating by compensating with healthy eating behavior or increased exercise (i.e., a sensible tradeoff), or by continuing to eat poorly (i.e., disinhibition). Conversely, people may respond to a healthy eating event by subsequently eating poorly (i.e., self-licensing) or by continuing to eat healthily (i.e., promotion spillover). We propose that people may also change their behaviors in anticipation of an unhealthy eating event, a phenomenon that we will refer to as pre-compensation. Using a survey of 430 attendees of the Minnesota State Fair over two years, we explored whether, when, and how people compensated before and after this tempting eating event. We found evidence that people use both pre-compensatory and post-compensatory strategies, with a preference for changing their eating (rather than exercise) behavior. There was no evidence that people who pre-compensated were more likely to self-license by indulging in a greater number of foods or calories at the fair than those who did not. Finally, people who pre-compensated were more likely to also post-compensate. These results suggest that changing eating or exercise behavior before exposure to a situation with many tempting foods may be a successful strategy for enjoying oneself without excessively overeating.
Body odor disgust sensitivity predicts authoritarian attitudes.
Authors: Liuzza Marco Tullio , Lindholm Torun , Hawley Caitlin , Gustafsson Sendén Marie , Ekström Ingrid Anamaria , Olsson Mats J. , Olofsson Jonas
Published: July 2018

Authoritarianism has resurfaced as a research topic in political psychology, as it appears rele-vant to explain current political trends. Authoritarian attitudes have been consistently linked to feelings of disgust, an emotion that is thought to have evolved to protect the organism from contamination. We hypothesized that body odour disgust sensitivity might be associated with authoritarianism, as chemo-signalling is a primitive system for regulating interpersonal contact and disease avoidance, which are key features also in authoritarianism. We used well-validated scales for measuring body odour disgust sensitivity (BODS), authoritarianism, and related constructs. Across two studies, we found that BODS is positively related to authoritarianism. In a third study, we showed a positive association between BODS scores and support for Donald Trump, who, at the time of data collection, was a presidential candidate with an agenda described as resonating with authoritarian attitudes. Authoritarianism fully explained the positive association between BODS and support for Donald Trump. Our findings highlight body odour disgust as a new and promising domain in political psychology research. Authoritarianism and body odour disgust sensitivity might be part of the same disease avoidance framework, and our results contribute to the growing evidence that contemporary social attitudes might be rooted in basic sensory functions.
Sequential Sampling Models Without Random Between-Trial Variability: The Racing Diffusion Model of Speeded Decision
Authors: Tillman Gabriel
Published: July 2018

Most current sequential sampling models have random between-trial variability in their parameters. These sources of variability make the models more complex in order to fit response time data, do not provide any further explanation to how the data were generated, and have recently been criticised for allowing infinite flexibility in the models. To explore and test the need of between-trial variability parameters we develop a simple sequential sampling model of N-choice speeded decision making: the racing diffusion model. The model makes speeded decisions from a race of evidence accumulators that integrate information in a noisy fashion within a trial. The racing diffusion does not assume that any evidence accumulation process varies between trial, and so, the model provides alternative explanations of key response time phenomena, such as fast and slow error response times relative to correct response times. Overall, our paper gives good reason to rethink including between-trial variability parameters in sequential sampling models
Revealing hidden gender biases in competence impressions from faces
Authors: Oh DongWon , Buck Elinor A. , Todorov Alexander
Published: July 2018

Competence impressions from faces affect important decisions, such as hiring and voting. Here, using data-driven computational models, we identify the components of the competence stereotype. Faces manipulated by a competence model varied in attractiveness (Experiment 1a). However, faces could be manipulated on perceived competence controlling for attractiveness (Experiments 1b); moreover, those faces perceived as more competent, but not attractive, were also perceived as more confident and masculine, suggesting a bias to perceive male faces as more competent than female faces (Experiment 2). Correspondingly, faces manipulated to appear competent, but not attractive, were more likely to be classified as male (Experiment 3). When masculinity cues that induced competence impressions were applied to real-life images, these cues were more effective on male faces (Experiment 4). These findings suggest that the main components of competence impressions are attractiveness, confidence, and masculinity, and reveal gender biases in how we form important impressions of others.
Social-Emotional Aspects of Quality of Life in Multiple Sclerosis
Authors: Lex Heidemarie , Weisenbach Sara , Sloane Jacob , Syed Sana , Rasky Eva , Freidl Wolfgang
Published: July 2018

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory auto-immune disease of the central nervous system. It leads to many impairments including physical, cognitive, psychological, and social challenges. Our study examined gender and cultural associations with quality of life (QoL), personal characteristics, and benefits from having MS among those with MS.The study was conducted in Austria and the United States. The sample included 128 participants, 64 in each country, of whom 78 were women and 50 were men aged between 20 and 57 years. We used standard statistical tests, including analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) and partial correlations for the analysis of quantitative data. For the qualitative part of the survey we used semi-structured interviews, which we transcribed and coded to identify categories in the answers for qualitative analyses.Austrian participants with MS perceived a higher social-emotional QoL in comparison to American participants. American participants expressed a higher self-esteem in comparison to Austrian participants. Men reported a lower ability to express love than women. Independent of sex/gender and nationality, participants reported benefits through the disease, especially with regard to improved compassion, mindfulness, improved family relations and lifestyle gains. The qualitative interviews revealed additional gender differences for coping with the illness; and in experiences, expectations, and challenges related to MS.These insights can be used to develop targeted psychological and social support interventions aimed toward improving social-emotional QoL for persons with MS.
Math = Male, Me = Female, therefore Math ≠ Me
Authors: Nosek Brian A. , Banaji Mahzarin R. , Greenwald Anthony G.
Published: July 2018

We examined the role of group membership (being female or male), implicit identity with social groups (me=male/female), and math-gender stereotypes (math=male) in predicting implicit math attitudes (math=good) and math identity (math=me). In addition, we investigated the relationship between implicit and explicit preferences and SAT performance. College students demonstrated negativity toward math and science relative to arts and language on implicit measures. Women showed greater implicit negativity toward math than men did, even in a sample that had selected a math-intensive college major. In addition, associations of math with male and the self with gender related to implicit math attitudes, but those relationships were directly opposing for men and women. Stronger math=male associations corresponded with more negative math attitudes for women, but more positive math attitudes for men. Finally, both implicit and explicit math attitudes were predictive of SAT performance. These results point to the opportunities and constraints on personal preferences that derive from membership in social groups.
Social Decoys: Leveraging Choice Architecture to Alter Social Preferences
Authors: Chang Linda W. , Cikara Mina
Published: July 2018

Many of society's most significant social decisions are made over sets of individuals: for example, evaluating a collection of job candidates when making a hiring decision. Rational theories of choice dictate that decision makers' preferences between any two options should remain the same irrespective of the number or quality of other options. Yet people's preferences for each option in a choice set shift in predictable ways as function of the available alternatives. These violations are well documented in consumer behavior contexts: for example, the decoy effect, in which introducing a third inferior product changes consumers' preferences for two original products. The current experiments test the efficacy of social decoys and harness insights from computational models of decision-making to examine whether choice set construction can be used to change preferences in a hiring context. Across seven experiments (N = 6312) we find that participants have systematically different preferences for the exact same candidate as a function of the other candidates in the choice set (Experiments 1a-1d, 2) and the salience of the candidate attributes under consideration (Experiments 2, 3a, 3b). Specifically, compromise and (often) asymmetric-dominance decoys increased relative preference for their yoked candidates when candidates were counter-stereotypical (e.g., high warmth/low competence male candidate). More importantly, we demonstrate for the first time that we can mimic the effect of a decoy in the absence of a third candidate by manipulating participants' exposure to candidates' attributes: balanced exposure to candidates' warmth and competence information significantly reduced bias between the two candidates.
The DARC Toolbox: automated, flexible, and efficient delayed and risky choice experiments using Bayesian adaptive design
Authors: Vincent Benjamin Thomas , Rainforth Tom
Published: July 2018

Delayed and risky choice (DARC) experiments are a cornerstone of research in psychology, behavioural economics and neuroeconomics. By collecting an agent's preferences between pairs of prospects we can characterise their preferences, investigate what affects them, and probe the underlying decision making mechanisms. We present a state-of-the-art approach and software toolbox allowing such DARC experiments to be run in a highly efficient way. Data collection is costly, so our toolbox automatically and adaptively generates pairs of prospects in real time to maximise the information gathered about the participant's behaviours. We demonstrate that this leads to improvements over alternative experimental paradigms. The key to releasing our real time and automatic performance is a number of advances over current Bayesian adaptive design methodology. In particular, we derive an improved estimator for discrete output problems and design a novel algorithm for automating sequential adaptive design. We provide a number of pre-prepared DARC tools for researchers to use, but a key contribution is an adaptive experiment toolbox that can be extended to virtually any 2-alternative-choice tasks. In particular, to carry out custom adaptive experiments using our toolbox, the user need only encode their behavioural model and design space - both the subsequent inference and sequential design optimisation are automated for arbitrary models the user might write.
Brain stimulation to left prefrontal cortex modulates mechanisms of social attention
Authors: Wiese Eva , Abubshait Aziz , Azarian Bobby , Blumberg Eric J.
Published: July 2018

In social interactions, we rely on nonverbal cues like gaze direction to understand the behavior of others. How we react to these cues is determined by the degree to which we believe that they originate from an entity with a mind capable of having internal states and showing intentional behavior, a process called mind perception. While prior work has established a set of neural regions linked to mind perception, research has just begun to examine how mind perception affects social-cognitive mechanisms like gaze processing on a neuronal level. In the current experiment, participants performed a social attention task (i.e., attentional orienting to gaze cues) with either a human or a robot agent (i.e., variation of mind perception), while transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) was applied either to prefrontal or temporo-parietal areas, both regions that have been linked to mind perception in previous studies. The results show that stimulation to temporo-parietal areas did not modulate social attention, neither in response to the human nor the robot agent. In contrast, stimulation to prefrontal areas enhanced attentional orienting in response to hu-man gaze cues and attenuated attentional orienting in response to robot gaze cues. Post-hoc analyses revealed that prefrontal stimulation particularly affected those participants who have followed human gaze more strongly than robot gaze at baseline. These findings suggest that mind perception modulates low-level mechanisms of social cognition via pre-frontal structures, and that a certain degree of mind perception is essential in order to benefit from active stimulation to prefrontal areas.
Dual-tasking with simple linguistic tasks: Evidence for serial processing
Authors: Fairs Amie , Bögels Sara , Meyer Antje
Published: July 2018

In contrast to the large amount of dual-task research investigating the coordination of a linguistic and a non-linguistic task, little research has investigated how two linguistic tasks are coordinated. However, such research would greatly contribute to our understanding of how interlocutors combine speech planning and listening in conversation. In three dual-task experiments we studied how participants coordinated the processing of an auditory stimulus (S1), which was either a syllable or a tone, with selecting a name for a picture (S2). Two SOAs, of 0ms and 1000ms, were used. To vary the time required for lexical selection and to determine when lexical selection took place, the pictures were presented with categorically related or unrelated distractor words. In Experiment 1 participants responded overtly to both stimuli. In Experiments 2 and 3, S1 was not responded to overtly,but determined how to respond to S2, by naming the picture or reading the distractor aloud. Experiment 1 yielded additive effects of SOA and distractor type on the picture naming latencies. The presence of semantic interference at both SOAs indicated that lexical selection occurred after response selection for S1. With respect to the coordination of S1 and S2 processing, Experiments 2 and 3 yielded inconclusive results. In all experiments, syllables interfered more with picture naming than tones. This is likely because the syllables activated phonological representations also implicated in picture naming. The theoretical and methodological implications of the findings are discussed.
Subjective embodiment during the rubber hand illusion predicts severity of premonitory sensations and tics in Tourette Syndrome
Authors: Rae Charlotte , Larsson Dennis , Eccles Jessica , Ward Jamie , Critchley HUgo
Published: July 2018

The rubber hand illusion describes a sense of embodiment over a fake hand induced by synchronous visuo-tactile stimulation. In Tourette Syndrome, the expression of involuntary tics and preceding premonitory sensations is associated with the perturbation of subjective feelings of self-control and agency. We compared responses to induction of the Rubber Hand Illusion in 23 adults with TS and 22 matched controls. Both TS and control participants reported equivalent subjective embodiment of the artificial hand: feelings of ownership, location, and agency were greater during synchronous visuo-tactile stimulation, compared to asynchronous stimulation. However, individuals with TS did not manifest greater proprioceptive drift during synchronous relative to asynchronous stimulation, an objective marker of embodiment observed in controls. We computed an ‘embodiment prediction error’ index from the difference between subjective embodiment and objective proprioceptive drift. This embodiment prediction error correlated with severity of premonitory sensations according to the Premonitory Urge for Tics Scale (PUTS). Feelings of ownership over the artificial hand also correlated with premonitory sensation severity, and feelings of agency with tic severity (YGTSS). Together our findings suggest that the subjective strength of bodily ownership, as measured by the rubber hand illusion, contributes to susceptibility to the premonitory sensations that are a precipitating factor in tics. These results also suggest that somatosensory neural pathways underpinning visuo-tactile integration are likely altered in TS and may interact with other sensory and motor systems to engender premonitory sensations and tics.