bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Reciprocal Effects of Mathematics Performance, School Engagement, and Burnout During Adolescence
Authors: Widlund Anna , Tuominen Heta , Korhonen Johan
Published: February 2022

BackgroundTransitioning into adolescence while simultaneously facing greater academic demands as the level of education increases often entails both academic challenges and general declines in students' school-related well-being. Still, however, relatively little is known about the causal relationship between students’ academic well-being (i.e., school engagement and burnout) and their performance during the adolescent years.AimsThis study examined longitudinal relations between adolescents’ mathematics performance, school engagement, and burnout (exhaustion, cynicism, and inadequacy) across lower secondary education.SampleData came from a longitudinal research project, following Finnish lower secondary school (grades 7–9) students (N = 1131) over 4 years (2016–2019).MethodsStudents completed standardized mathematics tests and self-report measures of school engagement and burnout at four time points, twice within both 7th and 9th grade. A random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) was used to examine pathways between engagement, burnout, and mathematics performance over time.ResultsHigher mathematics performance increased students’ engagement, and lowered their exhaustion and cynicism over time, whereas both engagement and exhaustion predicted higher performance. Negative relations were also found from inadequacy and cynicism on students’ mathematics performance. Furthermore, school burnout predicted engagement both positively (from exhaustion) and negatively (from cynicism and inadequacy) within and between the school years, whereas engagement only predicted cynicism and inadequacy negatively within 7th grade.ConclusionsFindings suggest that the overall relation between students’ mathematics performance, engagement, and burnout is rather reciprocal, but also, that the relations become more prominent over time, demonstrating the importance of supporting both learning and well-being in school.
Openness Relates to COVID-19 Vaccination Rates across 48 United States but Politics Trump Personality
Authors: Webster Gregory D. , Howell Jennifer Lee , Losee Joy Ellen , Mahar Elizabeth , Wongsomboon Val
Published: February 2022

Does geographic variation in personality across the United States relate to COVID-19 vaccination rates? To answer this question, we combined multiple state-level datasets: (a) Big Five personality averages (i.e., extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness; Rentfrow et al., 2008), (b) COVID-19 full-vaccination rates (CDC, 2021a), (c) health-relevant demographic covariates (population density, per capita gross domestic product, and racial/ethnic data; Webster et al., 2021), and (d) political and religiosity data. Analyses showed openness as the strongest correlate of full-vaccination rates (r = .51). Controlling for other traits, demographic covariates, and spatial dependence, openness remained significantly related to full-vaccination rates (rp = .55). Adding political and religiosity data to this model diminished openness effects for full-vaccination rates to non-significance (rp = .26); however, extraversion emerged as a significant correlate of full-vaccination rates (rp = .37). Although politics are paramount, we suspect that states with higher average openness scores are more conducive to novel thinking and behavior—dispositions that may be crucial in motivating people to take newly-developed vaccines based on new technologies to confront a novel coronavirus.
Defining Virtual Reality (VR). Scoping Literature Review on VR Applications in Autism Research
Authors: Savickaite Sarune , McDonnell Neil , Simmons David
Published: February 2022

Virtual Reality (VR) systems are a sophisticated interplay of technology and human perception. VR systems share three main features: immersion, interaction, and a sense of presence. Many empirical studies have since recognized VR as an important therapeutic tool. Research in VR and psychology has increased exponentially over the last few decades and has been reviewed previously. In our review, we will examine VR use in autism research as an illustrative example to demonstrate a need for precise definitions. Three databases were chosen: Web of Science, PubMed and Google Scholar. 42 studies were analysed. Recommendations for future research have emerged from the reviewed literature, such as the need for larger sample sizes representing the entire autism spectrum and wider age ranges. The most substantial problem in the literature reviewed is the problem of definitions of VR. We describe the need for clear definitions of the equipment used and propose more refined terminology.
How Identity Fusion Predicts Extreme Pro-Group Orientations: A Meta-Analysis
Authors: Varmann Anders Hustad , Kruse Line , Bierwiaczonek Kinga , Gomez Angel , Vázquez Alexandra . , Kunst Jonas R.
Published: February 2022

Researchers have productively tested identity fusion theory, aiming to explain extreme pro-group orientations. However, the strength of effects, types of measurements, and study contexts have varied substantially. This first meta-analysis (90 studies from 55 reports, 106 effects, N = 36,880) supported four main conclusions based on the available literature: (1) identity fusion has a strong and positive but very heterogeneous relationship with extreme pro-group orientations; (2) its effect is significantly stronger than that of social identification; however, some evidence suggests that this difference is primarily observed in published rather than unpublished studies; (3) the verbal identity fusion scale has the best explanatory power; (4) identity fusion is most strongly associated with extreme collective action, followed by a willingness to sacrifice oneself, fight or die for the group, and outgroup hostility. We discuss the findings’ implication for identity fusion theory. Based on the literature’s limitations, we highlight avenues for future research.
The Leadership Arena-Reputation-Identity (LARI) Model: Distinguishing shared and unique perspectives in multisource leadership ratings
Authors: Vergauwe Jasmine , Hofmans Joeri , Wille Bart
Published: February 2022

Multisource leadership ratings rely on the assumption that –in addition to the leader’s self-evaluation– different rater groups (i.e., subordinates, peers and superiors) bring in unique perspectives and thus provide a more well-rounded analysis of the leader’s behavior. However, the way in which multisource data are typically treated in research offers little information about the precise levels of overlap and uniqueness that are encapsulated in these different perspectives. Drawing on the Trait-Reputation-Identity (TRI) model, we propose a model that conceptualizes these shared and unique perspectives in terms of latent factors reflecting respectively (i) the consensus about the leader (i.e., the Leadership Arena), (ii) the impressions conveyed to others that are distinct from self-perceptions (i.e., the leader’s Reputation), and (iii) the unique self-perceptions of the leader (i.e., the leader’s Identity). This Leadership Arena-Reputation-Identity (LARI) model is formalized by means of bifactor modeling, which allows to statistically decompose the variance captured by multisource ratings. The LARI model was tested against five alternative models in two large multisource samples (N1 leaders = 537, N1 observers = 7,337; N2 leaders = 1,255, N2 observers = 15,777), each using different leadership instruments. In both samples, the LARI bifactor model outperformed the alternative models. A subsequent variance decomposition showed that each rater source indeed provides unique information about the target’s behavior, although in varying degree. Across all leadership dimensions in both samples, superiors consistently provided the largest share of unique information among the three observer groups. Implications and future directions are discussed.
How We Understand Others: A Theory of How Social Perspective Taking Unfolds
Authors: Gehlbach Hunter , Mu Nan
Published: February 2022

Arguably, social perspective taking—the process through which perceivers discern the thoughts, feelings, and motivations of a target—facilitates interpersonal interactions more than any other human capacity. Thus, this capacity is foundational for relationships, mental health and well-being, behaviors, and much more. Despite its importance to the human experience and substantial research into its precursors and outcomes, little is known about the social perspective taking process itself. How does a social perspective taking attempt actually unfold? We pArguably, social perspective taking—the process through which perceivers discern the thoughts, feelings, and motivations of a target—facilitates interpersonal interactions more than any other human capacity. Thus, this capacity is foundational for relationships, mental health and well-being, behaviors, and much more. Despite its importance to the human experience and substantial research into its precursors and outcomes, little is known about the social perspective taking process itself. How does a social perspective taking attempt actually unfold? We propose that perceivers engage in a process consisting of up to four phases: perception of the target, motivation to engage in social perspective taking, strategy selection, and evaluation of their attempt. Scholars have emphasized two primary outcomes of this process—social perspective taking effort and accuracy. We review the literature in support of these phases, noting the relative maturity of each contributing line of research. In doing so we hope to provide a framework for understanding how existing studies relate to one another, prioritize future investigations, and offer preliminary thoughts into which parts of the process might be most promising for research aimed at improving social perspective taking.ropose that perceivers engage in a process consisting of up to four phases: perception of the target, motivation to engage in social perspective taking, strategy selection, and evaluation of their attempt. Scholars have emphasized two primary outcomes of this process—social perspective taking effort and accuracy. We review the literature in support of these phases, noting the relative maturity of each contributing line of research. In doing so we hope to provide a framework for understanding how existing studies relate to one another, prioritize future investigations, and offer preliminary thoughts into which parts of the process might be most promising for research aimed at improving social perspective taking.
Embodied time: Effect of reading expertise on the spatial representation of past and future
Authors: Grasso Camille L. , Ziegler Johannes C. , Coull Jennifer , Montant Marie
Published: February 2022

How do people grasp the abstract concept of time? It has been argued that abstract concepts, such as future and past, are grounded in sensorimotor experience. When responses to words that refer to the past or the future are either spatially compatible or incompatible with a left-to-right timeline, a space-time congruency effect is observed. In the present study, we investigated whether reading expertise determines the strength of the space-time congruency effect, which would suggest that learning to read and write drives the effect. Using a temporal categorization task, we compared two types of space-time congruency effects, one where spatial incongruency was generated by the location of the stimuli on the screen and one where it was generated by the location of the responses on the keyboard. While the first type of incongruency was visuo-spatial only, the second involved the motor system. Results showed stronger space-time congruency effects for the second type of incongruency (i.e., when the motor system was involved) than for the first type (visuo-spatial). Crucially, reading expertise, as measured by a standardized reading test, predicted the size of the space-time congruency effects. Altogether, these results reinforce the claim that the spatial representation of time is partially mediated by the motor system and partially grounded in spatially-directed movement, such as reading or writing.
Dwelling in prolonged grief: Resting state functional connectivity during oxytocin and placebo administration
Authors: Seeley Saren H. , Andrews-Hanna Jessica R. , Allen John JB , O'Connor Mary-Frances
Published: February 2022

Clinical theories of adaptation in bereavement highlight a need for flexible shifting between mental states. However, the prolonged motivational salience of the deceased partner may be a complicating factor, particularly when coupled with perseverative thinking about the loss. We investigated how prolonged grief might relate to resting state functional brain network connectivity in a sample of older adults (n = 38) who experienced the death of a partner 6-36 months prior, and whether intranasal oxytocin (as a neuropeptide involved in pair-bonding) had differential effects in participants with more prolonged grief symptoms. Higher scores on the Inventory of Complicated Grief (ICG) were associated with lower anticorrelation (i.e., higher functional connectivity) between the default-retrosplenial – cingulo-opercular-dACC network pair. Intranasal oxytocin increased coactivation the same default-retrosplenial – cingulo-opercular-dACC circuit but ICG scores did not moderate effects of oxytocin, contrary to our prediction. Higher ICG scores were associated with longer dwell time in a state characterized by in a dynamic functional connectivity state featuring positive correlations among default, frontoparietal, and cingulo-opercular networks across both placebo and oxytocin sessions. Dwell time was not significantly affected by oxytocin, and higher prolonged grief symptoms were not associated with more variability in dynamic functional connectivity states over the scan. Results offer preliminary evidence that prolonged grief symptoms in older adults are associated with patterns of static and time-varying functional connectivity, and may specifically involve a default network-salience-related circuit that is sensitive to oxytocin.
The Transtheoretical model’s processes of change in the heart of a physical activity intervention : a series of n-of-1
Authors: Lapointe Josyanne , Comtois  , Romain Ahmed Jerome , Bernard Paquito
Published: February 2022

The objectives were a) to test whether a Processes of Change (POC)-personalized Transtheoretical model (TTM)-based intervention could increase physical activity (PA) among inactive adults, and b) to examine whether the intervention increased the level of TTM theoretical constructs. The following hypotheses were formulated: 1) PA levels will be significantly higher during and after the intervention in comparison to baseline measures; 2) the level of targeted POCs will significantly increase during the intervention; 3) non targeted POCs will stay stable, and 4) self-efficacy and decisional balance levels will significantly increase during the intervention. A series of N-of-1 with A (1 to 2-week)-B(10-week)-A’(2-week) design were conducted with 12 inactive adults. Behavioral counselors used behavior change techniques to target TTM constructs and supervise PA. Interventions were individualized based on the 5 POCs with the lowest pre-intervention level. Device-based and subjective PA along with TTM measures were collected weekly online. PA data were analyzed with piecewise linear models. A visual analysis was run to examine the TTM constructs. Device, self-reported and TTM data were available for five, seven and five participants, respectively. A significant self-reported PA increase for six participants was found during the phase B and A2. A significant device-measured PA increase was observed in two participants during the study. A substantial increase of targeted POC from baseline for all participants with available data was observed. This study provides the first evidence of behavioral and psychological effects of a POC-personalized TTM-based intervention in inactive adults.
The Evil Within: The AMORAL Model of Dark Creativity
Authors: Kapoor Hansika , Kaufman James C.
Published: February 2022

The dark side of creativity entails using original thought to meet a selfish, negative, or evil goal, with or without the deliberate intent to harm others. Recent empirical advances have studied the behavioral correlates of such creativity, including associations with aggression, deception, and subclinical psychopathy. The time, therefore, seems apt to propose a theoretical framework for dark creativity’s development and manifestation. This paper outlines the AMORAL model of dark creativity, which traces a creative action from its Antecedents to Mechanisms and Operants to its Realization, and to the subsequent Aftereffects and Legacy of the act. We use both real-life and simulated examples to illustrate the application of the theory across multiple domains, from law enforcement to interpersonal relationships. Our goal is to help guide future scholarship and measurement.
Zero Sales Resistance: The dark side of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence
Authors: Riva Giuseppe , Wiederhold Brenda K. , Succi Sauro
Published: February 2022

Big data (BD) is the hue and cry of modern science and society. The impact of such data-deluge is huge and far-reaching for both science and society. Moreover, given the effort required for collecting and analyzing this data, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has replaced the human mind in accomplishing the enormous task of deriving insight out of the information. In this paper, we analyze the role of BD and AI in steering the world population towards the state of Zero Sales Resistance (ZSR): the inability to exert critical judgement over the most seductive aspects of the aforementioned data deluge. Moreover, we discuss the alarming consequences of presenting the merging of BD and AI as a universal panacea even if, to date, they have proven far more efficient for predicting human decisions and behaviors (predictive analytics) than for solving the most critical problems in science and society. Why? Our answer is simple. The causal structures associated with such challenges command a detailed understanding of the underlying mechanisms (causal explanation), typically acting nonlinearly and on a broad range of scales in space and time. In contrast, personality and behavior can be predicted with no need of a microscopic theory and understanding of the brain-mind system (empirical prediction). This is a direct consequence of the fact that our mind, at least for the intuitive level, uses the same prediction techniques applied by AI (bayesian predictions based on our past experience). However, prediction is not explanation, and without joining them will be impossible to achieve a major advance in our understanding of complex systems.
Political Resources and Online Political Hostility How and Why Hostility Is More Prevalent Among the Resourceful
Authors: Rasmussen Stig Hebbelstrup Rye , Osmundsen Mathias , Petersen Michael Bang
Published: February 2022

Toxicity and hostility permeate political debates on social media, but who is responsible? Canonical theories of political engagement equate political resources with being a “model democratic citizen.” In contrast, we develop the theoretical argument that in the current polarized political climate, those same resources come to motivate hostile engagement. Combining two years of survey and behavioral Twitter data, we provide empirical support for a link between political resources and online political hostility. This link is especially pronounced among citizens high in affective polarization -- a trait held by many resourceful citizens in current US society. Concerningly, resourceful but hateful social media users do not simply cater to fringe audiences. Rather, they dominate online debates by tweeting more frequently, having more friends and followers, and by occupying powerful positions in their online networks. The present findings thus shed important light on the causes and consequences of online political hostility.
Factors influencing acceptance of technology across age: Amid the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Kourtesis Panagiotis , Wilson Graham , Rodrigues Mario Parra
Published: February 2022

Background: Digital technologies are creating unprecedented opportunities to improve and increase support to older people with cognitive and mental health problems, and to their family and carers. However, barriers that preclude the implementation of technology driven programs for the assessment and intervention of adults at risk of cognitive decline need to be better understood. This study investigated these outstanding issues, as well as considering the impact that the COVID-19 Pandemic has had on such barriers.Methods: A sample of 105 participants completed an online survey. Their ages ranged from 18 to 92 years. Of these,72%were female,83%had higher education and beyond, 42% were working, 42% were retired, and 14% were unemployed. The questionnaires assessed IT experience alongside awareness, attitudes, and stigmas regarding the use of technologies, particularly those used to support cognitive and mental health. Questionnaires also explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on these technology-related factors. We compared these across groups of young (n=45), middle age (n=12) and older adults (n=48).Results: Relative to younger participants, older participants were less aware of, and held stronger stigmas against healthcare technologies, even though they reported more IT experience. IT awareness was associated to more positive (r=0.619, p<0.001) and less negative IT Attitudes (r=-0.271, p=0.015), more acceptability (r=-0.374, p=0.001) and receptiveness towards technologies (r=-0.610, p<0.001). Male participants appeared to be more aware of such technologies than female participants. However, relative to men, women had increased the number of ways and frequency with which they used technologies since the COVID-19 pandemic started, and older people in general felt more inclined to endorse the need to learn more about healthcare technologies.Conclusions: Having more accumulated IT experience throughout our lives may not necessarily lead to better acceptance of healthcare technologies. More awareness about such specific technologies will help overcome stigmas, and challenging environments such as those imposed by the COVID-19 pandemicmay lead to positive changes in perception and acceptance of such technologies. These are necessary steps towards the personalisation of healthcare technologies to support vulnerable adults at risk of dementia.
Cortical Oscillations in Pre-verbal Infants Track Rhythmic Speech and Non-speech Stimuli
Authors: Ní Choisdealbha Áine , Attaheri Adam , Rocha Sinead , Mead Natasha , Olawole-Scott Helen , Brusini Perrine , Gibbon Samuel , Boutris Panagiotis , Hines Declain , Grey Christina , Flanagan Sheila A. , Goswami Usha
Published: February 2022

The foundations for language acquisition are laid in infancy. A key feature of infant-directed speech (IDS) is that the slowest modulations of its amplitude envelope (~2 Hz) contain more energy than in adult-directed speech. These slow modulations may provide a cross-language rhythmic scaffold for the neural tracking of speech in infancy. To investigate relations between early neural processing of speech and language acquisition in English, the BabyRhythm project followed 113 infants during infancy and toddlerhood. The neural predictor of language development reported here was the cortical tracking of slow, rhythmic audiovisual stimuli, processing of which is known to differ in older children with dyslexia. To find out how such stimuli are tracked early in development, infants were presented with videos of a woman repeating the syllable “Ta” twice per second, and a ball bouncing on a drum to create a 2Hz beat. At the ages of six and nine months, infants exhibited a significant peak in EEG power at 2Hz when listening to these stimuli, indicating that the infant brain was responding to these stimuli at the expected frequency. Time-frequency analysis showed increased inter-trial EEG phase coherence at 2Hz, suggesting that the increase in oscillatory power was driven by the stimuli. There were no differences in how the speech and non-speech stimuli were tracked. These results indicate that the infant brain can track the rhythm of slow auditory stimuli. They lay the foundation for future investigation of how individual differences in tracking might relate to later language acquisition.
Simulating Reputation Dynamics and Their Manipulation - An Agent Based Model Framework
Authors: Enßlin Torsten , Kainz Viktoria , Boehm Celine
Published: February 2022

Reputation is essential to human interactions and shapes group dynamics, however, it can be manipulated. In order to identify key aspects of malicious communication strategies, we have developed an agent-based simulation framework that captures aspects of the dynamics of social reputation communication: the reputation game simulation. After giving an overview of our framework, we highlight both previous and new results obtained with it. Similarly to other works in the literature on trust and reputation networks, probability functions and Bayesian logic are used in the reputation game simulation to represent uncertainties in agents’ beliefs. A new aspect of our framework is how bounded rationality of humans is modeled. It is regarded as a consequence of the necessary data compression step minds with limited capacity have to perform. Although this tries to minimize the loss of relevant information, for which we discuss two theoretically plausible options, it introduces cognitive imperfections. The resulting imperfect reasoning due to this and other cognitive shortcomings makes agents vulnerable to deception. This eventually leads to the emergence of communication and behavioral patterns in reputation game simulations that resemble reality, such as for example echo chambers, self-deception, deception symbiosis, and freezing of group opinions. As a result, the framework we propose could be used to develop methods to mitigate the impact of harmful communication strategies, i.e. in social media. We illustrate the potential for this via simulation experiments.
From “haves” to “have nots”: Developmental declines in subjective social status reflect children's growing consideration of what they do not have
Authors: Peretz-Lange Rebecca , Harvey Teresa , Blake Peter
Published: February 2022

Subjective social status (SSS), or a person's view of their own socioeconomic status, has important consequences for social cognition and wellbeing, yet little is known about its development before adolescence. Previous research finds that SSS declines during childhood. We sought to replicate this finding, and also to extend it by investigating what aspects of children's reasoning drive this developmental decline. To do so, we assessed four- to ten-year-old children's SSS using a MacArthur Ladder Task (n = 377), which has been validated for use with children in this age range. We then assessed children's open-ended rationales for their SSS judgments. Results indicated that SSS declined over child development, replicating previous work. We also confirmed that this decline corresponded with improvements in SSS accuracy; young children overestimated their SSS relative to their objective SES, but were relatively accurate by age ten. Moreover, trends in children's rationales revealed that developmental shifts in both SSS and SSS accuracy corresponded with children's references to what they do not have, but not with references to what they do have, nor with references to any particular status cues (e.g., houses, lifestyle). Thus, children may increasingly consider what they lack to determine their status. Implications for self-evaluation and social cognition are discussed.
Individual differences in looking at persons in scenes
Authors: Broda Maximilian Davide , de Haas Benjamin
Published: February 2022

Individuals freely viewing complex scenes vary in their fixation behavior. The most prominent and reliable dimension of such individual differences is the tendency to fixate faces. However, much less is known about how observers distribute fixations across other body parts of persons in scenes and how individuals may vary in this regard. Here, we aimed to close this gap. We expanded a popular annotated stimulus set (Xu et al., 2014) with 6365 hand-delineated pixel masks for body parts of 1136 persons embedded in 700 complex scenes, which we publish with this paper (https://osf.io/ynujz/). This resource allowed us to analyze the person-directed fixations of 103 participants freely viewing these scenes. We found large and reliable individual differences in the distribution of fixations across person features. Individual fixation tendencies formed two anti-correlated clusters, one for eyes, head and the inner face and one for body features (torsi, arms, legs and hands). Interestingly, the tendency to fixate mouths was independent of the face cluster. Finally, our results show that observers who tend to avoid person fixations in general, particularly do so for the face region. These findings underscore the role of individual differences in fixation behavior and reveal underlying dimensions. They are further in line with a recently proposed push-pull relationship between cortical tuning for faces and bodies. They may also aid the comparison of special populations to general variation.
Syntactic Intervention cannot explain agreement attraction in English wh-questions
Authors: Arehalli Suhas , Linzen Tal , Legendre Géraldine
Published: February 2022

A core goal of psycholinguistics is to account for how syntactic constraints -- those that govern whether sentences in a language are grammatical or not -- are enforced during real-time processing. One such constraint in Mainstream American English is subject-verb agreement, which requires the verb's number feature matches that of its subject, irrespective of the number of any other noun phrases in the sentence. Past work has demonstrated that participants often make errors when enforcing this constraint when distractor noun phrases, called attractors, have a number feature different from the subject. Franck, Lassi, Frauenfelder & Rizzi (2006) propose an account of agreement errors based on the position of a potential attractor in a sentence's structural derivation in modern syntactic theory. In this paper, we argue that their account predicts that we should see no agreement attraction for a particular construction in English, a Discourse-linked wh-question. In a high-powered self-paced reading study, we test that prediction and find a robust attraction effect, suggesting that syntactic intervention is not a necessary condition for attraction errors in comprehension
Holistic and mechanical combination in psychological assessment: Why algorithms are underutilized and what is needed to increase their use
Authors: Neumann Marvin , Niessen Susan , Hurks Petra , Meijer Rob
Published: February 2022

Although mechanical combination results in more valid judgments and decisions than holistic combination, existing publications suggest that mechanical combination is rarely used in practice. Yet, these publications are either descriptions of anecdotal experiences or outdated surveys. Therefore, in several Western countries, we conducted two surveys (total N = 323) and two focus groups to investigate (1) how decision makers in psychological and HR practice combine information, (2) why they do (not) use mechanical combination, and (3) what may be needed to increase its use in practice. Many participants reported mostly using holistic combination, usually in teams. The most common reasons for not using mechanical combination were that algorithms are unavailable in practice and that stakeholders do not accept their use. Furthermore, decision makers do not quantify information, do not believe in research findings on evidence-based decision making, and think that combining holistic and mechanical combination results in the best decisions. The most important reason why mechanical combination is used was to increase predictive validity. To stimulate the use of mechanical combination in practice, our results suggest that decision makers should receive more training on evidence-based decision making, and decision aids supporting the use of mechanical combination should be developed.
Typing expertise in a large student population
Authors: Pinet Svetlana , Zielinski Christelle , Alario Francois Xavier , Longcamp Marieke
Published: February 2022

Typing has become a pervasive mode of language production worldwide, with keyboards fully integrated in a large part of many daily activities. The bulk of the literature on typing expertise concerns highly trained professional touch‐ typists, but contemporary typing skills mostly result from unconstrained sustained practice. We measured the typing performance of a large cohort of 1301 university students through an online platform and followed a preregistered plan to analyse performance distributions, practice factors, and cognitive variables. The results suggest that the stand‐ ard model with a sharp distinction between novice and expert typists may be inaccurate to account for the perfor‐ mance of the current generation of young typists. More generally, this study shows how the mere frequent use of a new tool can lead to the incidental development of high expertise.
Dynamic patterns of personality states, affects and goal pursuit before and during an exercise intervention: a series of N-of-1 trials combined with ecological momentary assessments
Authors: Kingsbury Celia , Bernard Paquito
Published: February 2022

Prior studies have failed to identify the dynamics between the momentary manifestation of personality traits (namely personality states) and cognitive-affective mechanisms in relation to physical activity. The current study modelized the temporal associations between daily personality states, affect (valence) and pursuit of personal goals before and during a physical exercise intervention. Single cases using an A (10 days) -B (42 days) design paired with ecological momentary assessments was used in 10 inactive adults. Idiographic network analyses and generalized additive model were performed. The magnitude of the association between personality states, affect and pursuit of personal goals were modified during the intervention. Their respective weight of the variables in the networks during the exercise intervention followed an individual pattern. The intervention was associated with a systematic change in levels of pursuit of personal goals, with seven participants showing a non-linear association. The complexity of individual networks before and during the intervention stresses the importance of an idiographic level of analysis, especially in the context of an exercise intervention.
The ‘infodemic’ infodemic: Toward a more nuanced understanding of truth-claims and the need for (not) combatting misinformation
Authors: Krause Nicole M. , Freiling Isabelle , Scheufele Dietram A.
Published: February 2022

(Mis)information scholarship struggles to assist policy actors in assessing the relative accuracy of science-related truth claims as well as their potential threat. This limited ability to produce translational research stems in part from conceptualizations of dis- and misinformation that pay insufficient attention to an information ecosystem in which defining “accuracy” is complicated by intersecting uncertainties associated with the nature of science, sociopolitical climates, and media systems. These uncertainties introduce compounding error in accuracy assessments, and they demand more nuanced understandings of mis- and disinformation than those which currently underlie discussions of the “infodemic.” Here, we propose a framework for evaluating claims in terms of a collection of intersecting attributes beset by uncertainty. We apply our framework to real-world examples and conclude by discussing implications for research and action on (mis)information in a socio-scientific world where true and false claims are not as distinct as they are sometimes purported to be.
Learning in the Algerian Context during the Pandemic: Is it online or offline?
Authors: GHOUNANE Nadia
Published: February 2022

The spread of the Covid-19 leads academic institutions all over the world to shift to online mode through educational platforms like Moodle, blackboard, and Teams or towards the informal ways of learning through YouTube and Social Networking Sites, mainly Facebook or through the inclusion of some apps like Zoom and Google meet. Algerian Universities also hasten to replace face-to-face with online mode. However, there are many challenges, among which is the absence of interaction between teachers and students since most of the lectures are posted in an asynchronous online mode. The study attempts to answer the main research question: Which learning mode is used in Algeria during the pandemic? The current paper tends to give an in-depth look at the teaching and learning situation of English in the Algerian context during the pandemic. It also sheds light on the nature of the learning mode. The researcher conducted the study with four universities from different regions in Algeria. Data were collected quantitatively and qualitatively using a questionnaire, an interview, and observation. Findings revealed that most universities use asynchronous online mode in learning. The analysis also demonstrated that the asynchronous mode affects EFL students’ motivation towards e-learning and raises their technostress since they have not developed e-learning readiness yet.
The Youth Vote in the 2021 Local Government Elections in South Africa
Authors: Bekker Martin , Runciman Carin
Published: February 2022

Few youth (including would-be first-time voters) registered to vote in the 2021 South African Local Government Elections, and among those registered, fewer still came out to vote on election day. Of the young voters in our sample (those aged 18-34 years) 42% self-reported having voted for the ANC, 25% for the DA, and 9% for the EFF. This means that, among young voters who cast a ballot, support for the ANC is almost double that for the DA, and support for the DA is well over double support for the EFF. Despite low support for the EFF among young voters, the youth nonetheless represent the EFF’s primary support base. Sixty percent of the EFF’s voters were under the age of 37. Voting trends for the main political parties by young voters follow generally expected patterns of class and racialized configurations of support. Young Black African voters mostly voted for the ANC while White, Coloured and Indian and Asian young voters mostly voted for the DA. Lower income groups had higher share of support for the ANC and the DA drew more of its votes from higher income groups. EFF supporters drew predominately their support from either end of the income scale, with their support concentrated in the lowest and highest income brackets. The explanations that young people gave for not voting were not distinct from that of older age cohorts. The three most common reasons were individual barriers (33%), such as not being in their registered ward on Election day, being at work, or saying they were simply ‘too busy’ to vote; administrative barriers (25%), such as not being registered to vote and being uninterested and disillusioned (17%). Youth voters display a non-negligible degree of voter fluidity, switching between voting and abstention, and in switching party support between elections. This mirrors similar trends that emerged in the wider electorate.
Faith-Based Public Foundations: Identifying the Field and Assessing its Impact
Authors: Ralph Allison K. , Fulton Brad R. , Allen Samuel
Published: February 2022

Charitable activity is a core tenet of most faith traditions, and many charitable organizations have a religious identity. However, little is known about the prevalence and scale of faith-based foundations, and how they differ from secular foundations. This study identifies the field of public foundations, differentiates between faith-based and secular foundations, and compares their characteristics by analyzing Form 990 data. Our analysis estimates that 24% of all public charities operate as foundations and that 17% of public foundations are faith-based. We use these findings to generate first-ever estimates for the entire field of public foundations. Based on our analysis and calculations using nonprofit sector data, there are approximately 300,000 public foundations in the U.S., and we estimate that 52,000 of them are faith-based. Collectively, these faith-based public foundations have at least $90 billion in assets, and in 2015, they contributed at least $8 billion to charitable causes. Additional analyses comparing faith-based and secular foundations indicate that faith-based foundations tend to be older, have greater revenue and more assets, receive less money from the government, and distribute more money in grants, especially to international causes. This study provides an important lens through which to examine the field of public foundations and better understand similarities and differences among faith-based and secular foundations. It can help scholars analyze relationships between religion and philanthropy, help grantmakers assess foundations through a faith-based-secular grid, and help grantees identify funders who share a similar orientation toward religion. Overall, this study reveals the meaningful presence of faith-based foundations, indicates the scale of their impact, and underscores religion’s enduring and significant influence in the philanthropic sector.
Exploring Teachers and Students’ Perceptions towards Emergency Online Learning Intensive English Writing Course during COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Sheerah Hebah Asaad Hamza , Yadav Meenakshi Sharma , Allah May Ali Elzein Fadl , Abdin Ghazwa Jalal
Published: February 2022

For ages, teaching and learning face-to-face has been very popular and considered the best way to achieve knowledge and accomplish academic activities. However, during the Covid-19 Pandemic, where on the one side, the whole world was searching for a solution to cope with the situation on the other side online learning demonstrated a substantial alternative. The present paper aimed to investigate the teachers and students’ perceptions of the emergency online learning process, especially for intensive English writing courses. The study is descriptive using the qualitative research methodology. The two focus groups (teacher and student) are interviewed, consisting of 42 participants, asking open-ended questions mainly about the benefits and challenges of the writing course during the Pandemic. The paper ends with the teachers and students’ positive response that indicates the thrilled and jubilant welcome of the synchronized online/virtual learning in the latest situation that emerged due to the Pandemic. Eventually, the study discussed the quality assurance efforts, particularly towards the spontaneous conduction of lectures infused with motivation, responsibility, discipline, and flexibility offered without any interruption. The Internet proved a great learning tool in assuring many resources.
Disinformation as Infrastructure: Making and maintaining the QAnon conspiracy on Italian digital media
Authors: Pasquetto Irene , Pasquetto Alberto , Tacchetti Luca , Spada Alessandra , Riotta Gianni
Published: February 2022

Building from sociotechnical studies of disinformation and of information infrastructures, we examine how – over a period of eleven months – Italian QAnon supporters designed and maintained a distributed, multi- layered “infrastructure of disinformation” that spans multiple social media platforms, messaging apps, online forums, alternative media channels, as well as websites, databases, and content aggregators. Examining disinformation from an infrastructural lens reveals how QAnon disinformation operations extend well-beyond the use of social media and the construction of false narratives. While QAnon conspiracy theories continue to evolve and adapt, the overarching (dis)information infrastructure through which "epistemic evidence" is constructed and constantly updated is rather stable and has increased in size and complexity over time. Most importantly, we also found that deplatforming is a time-sensitive effort. The longer platforms wait to intervene, the harder it is to eradicate infrastructures as they develop new layers, get distributed across the Internet, and can rely on a critical mass of loyal followers. More research is needed to examine whether the key characteristics of the disinformation infrastructure that we identified extend to other disinformation infrastructures, which might include infrastructures put together by climate change denialists, vaccine skeptics, or voter fraud advocates.
The Reshaping of Professional Discourse among Young Military Leaders during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ukraine
Authors: Bhinder Nataliya
Published: February 2022

The research aimed to outline the features of “new normal” communication behavior of young military leaders due to the COVID-19 pandemic influence. To study this critical problem we used some general scientific and empirical methods like literature analysis, synthesis and theoretical modelling, pedagogical experience, statistical data processing. The author found that the changes include development of closed and indirect forms, introduction of new lexical, grammatical, and stylistic units, fake information spread, misuse of information and communication technologies (ICT), periodical refusal to message with non-verbal tools. The findings show that professional discourse among young military leaders changes fast because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And the transformations involve different communication behavior, the more significant role of leaders in study group especially in the context of peer-to-peer learning, critical thinking development, independent production and comprehension of professional utterances, higher responsibility of a speaker. The experiment demonstrates that military officers and cadets are likely to cope with new “rules of the game” and they continue to carry out security tasks prioritizing discipline, considerable motivation, psychological readiness to high-risk conditions and adaptability to counteract dramatic challenges. The article is one of the early researches reviewing the features of young military leaders’ discourse and describing its current transformations. The research can contribute to developement of recommendations for professional discourse improvements and, consequently, to enhance the efficiency of professional activities of military officers.