bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
China’s Propaganda Strategy: Evidence from State-Owned News Networks’ English-Language Twitter Posts
Authors: Wu Peter
Published: February 2022

This paper seeks to analyze one element of China’s propaganda strategy. It seeks to find out whether one aspect of this strategy can be described as one of focusing on “positives about China” rather than “negatives about others”. This paper builds upon the research conducted by King et al. (2017), which found that the Chinese government employs a “cyber troop” of online influencers who post positive valence issues about the government in order to distract readers from negative valence topics surrounding the state. This study repeats King et. al’s study with Chinese government-owned English-language news outlets. Due to the different nature of the units of analysis (anonymous cyber troopers vs. official news agencies), a derivation of King et al.’s categorization scheme needed to be constructed which captures similar sentiments. Using this scheme, the paper analyzes the sentiment of the Twitter posts of these news outlets to determine whether the aforementioned strategy of “positives about China” rather than “negatives about others” is a genuine strategy of Chinese propaganda. Overall, there is evidence that the answer is affirmative. This could be driven by the Chinese government’s attempt to anchor public opinion favourably on issues of low public knowledgeability.
The Effect of Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback Training on Vagal Tone in Athletically Talented Secondary School Students
Authors: Firth Andrea , Ask Torvald F. , Sütterlin Stefan , Lugo Ricardo
Published: February 2022

This study examines whether twelve sessions of heart rate variability biofeedback training would improve vagally mediated heart rate variability. If so, it would go some way in explaining why breathing-based interventions reduce clinical symptoms and improve non-clinical performance outcomes. Methods: Thirty participants (N = 30, Nfemale = 13) aged 14–13-year-old, all talented athletes, from a sport specialist school in SE London UK, were randomly divided into three groups, a control group, a psychology skills training combined with heart rate variability biofeedback training group, and a heart rate variability biofeedback only group. For the combined group, a variety of typical psychological skill training techniques were also used. Results: Paired participant t-test and the Wilcoxon Signed Rank test found non-significant differences between pre- and post-intervention measurements of heart rate variability. Non-significant results remained even after pooling the biofeedback training groups (n = 19). Conclusions: Our results do not indicate that beneficial effects associated with focused breathing training can be attributed to improved vagal tone. Further investigation into the underlying mechanisms of the benefits of focused breathing techniques is necessary to maximize clinical and non-clinical outcomes.
Cross-national and longitudinal evidence for a rapid decline in life satisfaction in adolescence
Authors: Daly Michael
Published: February 2022

IntroductionWhile several studies have documented a declining-with-age trend in life satisfaction in adolescence, cross-national and nationally representative longitudinal evidence is needed to establish the normative trajectory of life satisfaction during this critical developmental period. Methods The Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) study of 10 to 16 year-olds included the Cantril Ladder life satisfaction measure in surveys of 43 countries between 2001 and 2014 (N = 752,620, 51% female). The UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) was used to assess within-person changes in life satisfaction from age 10 to 15 years among young people sampled between 2009 and 2018 (N = 8,952, Obs. = 30,278). ResultsLife satisfaction decreased by 0.61 standard deviations (SD) on average from ages 10-16 in the HBSC sample. A statistically significant decreasing-with-age trend was observed in each of the 43 countries examined. Females experienced a more pronounced decline in life satisfaction than males (0.75 SD vs. 0.46) on average, and a significantly larger decrease in life satisfaction among females was identified in 38 of 43 countries examined. Longitudinal analysis of adolescents from the UKHLS sample replicated this pattern: life satisfaction declined significantly by 0.5 SD between the ages of 10 and 15 and this decline was found to be steeper for females (0.76 SD) than males (0.23 SD).ConclusionsThe study findings enhance our understanding of the lifespan dynamics of life satisfaction and point to a potential universal decline in life satisfaction in adolescence. Understanding the developmental processes underlying this phenomenon will now be crucial.
The Future of Decisions from Experience: Connecting Real-World Decision Problems to Cognitive Processes
Authors: Olschewski Sebastian , Luckman Ashley , Mason Alice , Ludvig Elliot Andrew , Konstantinidis Emmanouil
Published: February 2022

In many important real-world decision domains, such as finance, the environment, and health, behavior is strongly influenced by experience. Renewed interest in studying this influence led to important advancements in the understanding of these decisions from experience (DfE) in the last 20 years. Building on this literature, in this perspective, we suggest ways the standard experimental design should be extended to better approach important real-world DfE. These extensions include among others the introduction of more complex choice situations, delayed feedback, and social interactions. Acting upon experiences in these richer and more complicated environments requires extensive cognitive processes to make a decision. Therefore, we argue for integrating cognitive processes more explicitly into experimental research in DfE. These cognitive processes include attention to and perception of numeric and non-numeric experiences, the influence of episodic and semantic memory, and the mental models involved in learning processes. Understanding these basic cognitive processes can advance the modeling, understanding and prediction of DfE in the laboratory and in the real world. We highlight the potential of experimental research in DfE for theory integration across the behavioral, decision, and cognitive sciences. Furthermore, this research could become an important method to better inform decision making and policy interventions.
Fear-related psychophysiological patterns are situation and person dependent: A Bayesian model comparison approach
Authors: McVeigh Kieran , Kleckner Ian R , Quigley Karen S. , Satpute Ajay
Published: February 2022

Is there a universal mapping of physiology to emotion, or do these mappings vary substantially by person or situation? Psychologists, philosophers, and neuroscientists have debated this question for decades. Most previous studies have focused on differentiating emotions on the basis of accompanying autonomic responses using analytical approaches that often assume within-category homogeneity. In the present study, we took an alternative approach to this question. We determined the extent to which the relationship between subjective experience and autonomic reactivity generalizes across or depends upon the individual and situation for instances of a single emotion category, specifically, fear. Electrodermal activity and cardiac activity - two autonomic measures that are often assumed to show robust relationships with instances of fear - were recorded while participants reported fear experience in response to dozens of fear-evoking videos related to three distinct situations: spiders, heights, and social encounters. We formally translated assumptions from diverse theoretical models into a common framework for model comparison analyses. Results exceedingly favored a model that assumed situation-dependency in the relationship between fear experience and autonomic reactivity, with subject variance also significant, but constrained by situation. Models that assumed generalization only across situations or individuals performed much worse by comparison. These results call into question the assumption of generalizability of autonomic-subjective mappings across instances of fear, such as in translational research from non-human animals to humans, and suggest the benefits of adopting a situated approach to understanding the autonomic correlates of fear experience.
Cognitive Rigidity, Habitual Tendencies, and Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms: Individual Differences and Compensatory Interactions
Authors: Ramakrishnan Smriti , Robbins Trevor William , Zmigrod Leor
Published: February 2022

Recent theories have posited a range of cognitive risk factors for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), including cognitive inflexibility and a maladaptive reliance on habits. However, empirical and methodological inconsistencies have obscured the understanding of whether inflexibility and habitual tendencies indeed shape OCD symptoms in clinical and sub-clinical populations, and whether there are notable interactions amongst these traits. The present investigation adopted an interactionist individual differences approach to examine the associations between behaviourally-assessed cognitive flexibility and subclinical OCD symptomatology. It also explored the nature of the interactions between cognitive flexibility and habitual tendencies, and the degree to which these cognitive traits predict subclinical OCD symptomatology. Across two studies, including a preregistration, Bayesian and regression analyses revealed that cognitive inflexibility and compulsive habitual tendencies act as unique and independent predictors of subclinical OCD symptomatology. Furthermore, there was a significant interaction between cognitive rigidity and habitual compulsivity, which accounted for 49.4% of the variance in subclinical OCD symptomatology in Study 1, and 37.3% in Study 2. In-depth analyses revealed a compensatory effect between cognitive inflexibility and habitual compulsivity such that both are necessary for OCD symptomatology, but neither is sufficient. These results imply that in order to generate reliable and nuanced models of the endophenotype of OCD symptomatology, it is essential to account for interactions between psychological traits. Moreover, the present findings have important implications for theories on the cognitive roots of OCD, and potentially in the development of interventions that target both cognitive inflexibility and habitual compulsivity.
The effects of base rate neglect on sequential belief updating and real-world beliefs
Authors: Ashinoff Brandon Kay , Buck Justin , Woodford Michael , Horga Guillermo
Published: February 2022

Base-rate neglect is a pervasive bias in judgment that is conceptualized as underweighting of prior information and can have serious consequences in real-world scenarios. This bias is thought to reflect variability in inferential processes but empirical support for a cohesive theory of base-rate neglect with sufficient explanatory power to account for longer-term and real-world beliefs is lacking. A Bayesian formalization of base-rate neglect in the context of sequential belief updating predicts that belief trajectories should exhibit dynamic patterns of dependence on the order in which evidence is presented and its consistency with prior beliefs. To test this, we developed a novel ‘urn-and-beads’ task that systematically manipulated the order of colored bead sequences and elicited beliefs via an incentive-compatible procedure. Our results in two independent online studies confirmed the predictions of the sequential base-rate neglect model: people exhibited beliefs that are more influenced by recent evidence and by evidence inconsistent with prior beliefs. We further found support for a noisy-sampling inference model whereby base-rate neglect results from rational discounting of noisy internal representations of prior beliefs. Finally, we found that model-derived indices of base-rate neglect—including noisier prior representation—correlated with propensity for unusual beliefs outside the laboratory. Our work supports the relevance of Bayesian accounts of sequential base-rate neglect to real-world beliefs and hints at strategies to minimize deleterious consequences of this pervasive bias.
The Role of Response Inhibition in the Approach and Avoidance Task: No Evidence for Approach and Avoidance Task-training effects in Inpatients with Alcohol-Use Disorder
Authors: Kugler Dimitrij , Scholz-Hehn Deborah , Schäfer Ingo , Strate Peter , Gallinat Jürgen , Kühn Simone
Published: February 2022

The Approach and Avoidance Task (AAT) has been shown effective in reducing relapse rates among patients with alcohol-use disorder and thus can enhance treatment outcome. However, until now the working mechanisms of the AAT are poorly understood. An intriguing possibility is that response inhibition, as a predominantly reflective process, might play a more pronounced role in AAT-paradigms than commonly thought. The present study was the first to disentangle the role of response inhibition and avoidance gestures in AAT-trainings. To this end, 76 inpatients with alcohol-use disorder undergoing detoxification treatment were randomly assigned to either a classical AAT-, an inhibition AAT-, or a sham-training group. During the intervention participants in the classical AAT group had to avoid pictures related to alcohol, while participants in the inhibition AAT group were requested to inhibit a response when alcohol-related content was presented. Training lasted for 3 weeks and alcohol consumption and alcohol approach biases were assessed both before and after the intervention and another nine weeks later. AAT-training effects, such as decreases in alcohol consumption and/or alcohol approach biases, were not replicated. Neither was the inhibition AAT-training effective. Reasons for the observed results are discussed in detail.
Perspective-taking and social inferences in adolescents, young adults and older adults
Authors: De Lillo Martina , Ferguson Heather Jane
Published: February 2022

Taking another person’s perspective, and inferring their beliefs and intentions, is an essential part of social interaction. In this paper we examined how different sub-components of perspective-taking change beyond childhood in a large sample (N=263) of adolescents, young adults and older adults, and tested the degree to which age-related changes in perspective-taking are mediated by executive functions. Participants completed three tasks that assessed, i) the speed and likelihood of making social inferences, ii) level 1 and 2 judgements about an avatar’s visual and spatial perspective, and iii) their ability to use an avatar’s visual perspective to assign reference in language. We also measured individual performance on three executive function tasks (inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility). Results revealed that while some components of perspective-taking are subject to developmental changes from adolescence to older age, others, including inferring others’ mental states and making level 1 judgements about what they can see, are not. Mediation analyses supported these findings (no age effect on level 1 perspective-taking), and revealed that EFs contribute to but do not completely mediate the effect of age on perspective-taking. We discuss how these results fit with models of mentalising that predict distinct patterns of social development depending on the maturation of cognitive and language mechanisms.
What Makes Hong Kong Parents Hesitant to Vaccinate Their Children against COVID-19? Testing Health Belief Model and Theory of Planned Behavior in a Large-Scale Survey
Authors: Li Jian Bin , Lau Eva Yi Hung , Chan Derwin King Chung
Published: February 2022

COVID-19 vaccines have been authorized for use in children in many nations. Parents’ intention to vaccinate their children is context-specific. Drawing upon health belief model (HBM) and theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study contributed to a timely topic by examining the extent to which parents intended to vaccinate their children and its associated factors in Hong Kong, where the government announced children as young as five could take COVID-19 vaccines on 21-January-2022. A large-scale, online survey was conducted among 11,141 Hong Kong parents (86% mothers) of children aged 5-12 (N=14,468, 49.5% girls). They reported on measures that assessed HBM constructs (i.e., perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, and cues to action), TPB constructs (i.e., attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control), and their intention to vaccinate each of their children. Multilevel regression showed that after controlling for parents’ and children’s demographic variables (e.g., sex and age), parents’ willingness to vaccinate their children was higher for parents with higher levels of perceived susceptibility, perceived benefits, positive attitudes, and subjective norms, but it was lower for parents with higher levels of perceived barriers. These findings identify health belief factors that explain Hong Kong parents’ hesitancy to vaccinate their children.
Neural classification maps for distinct word combinations in Broca’s area
Authors: Schell Marianne , Friederici Angela D. , Zaccarella Emiliano
Published: February 2022

Humans are equipped with the remarkable ability to comprehend an infinite number of utterances. Relations between grammatical categories restrict the way words combine into phrases and sentences. How the brain recognises different word combinations remains largely unknown, although this is a necessary condition for combinatorial unboundedness. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging and multivariate pattern analysis to explore whether distinct neural populations of a known language network hub —Broca’s area—are specialised for recognising distinct simple word combinations. The phrases consisted of a noun (flag) occurring either with a content word, an adjective (green flag), or with a function word, a determiner (that flag). The key result is that the distribution of neural populations classifying word combination in Broca’s area seems sensitive to neuroanatomical subdivisions within this area, irrespective of task. The information patterns for adjective + noun were localised in the anterior part (BA45) whereas those for determiner + noun were localised in the posterior part (BA44). Our findings provide preliminary answers to the fundamental question of how lexico-grammatical access and word combination interact during simple word combination, with the observation that Broca’s area is sensitive to the recognition of categorical relationships during combinatory processing, based on different demands placed on syntactic and semantic processing. This supports the hypothesis that the combinatorial power of language consists of some neural computation capturing phrasal differences when processing linguistic input.
Risk perception and behavior change after personal vaccination for COVID-19 in the USA
Authors: Jia Jayson S. , Yuan Yun , Jia Jianmin , Christakis Nicholas
Published: February 2022

Although vaccines are crucial for giving pandemic-stricken societies the confidence to return to socioeconomic normalcy, vaccination may also induce laxity in personal protective behaviors (e.g., handwashing, facemask use). We use the quasi-experimental context of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout across the United States to quantify the impact of different stages of personal vaccination on people’s risk perceptions, daily activities, and risk mitigation behaviors, which we measure in a three-wave national panel study (N wave-1 = 7,358, N wave-2 = 3,000, N wave-3 = 2,345) from March to June, 2021, and validate using vaccination, infection, and human mobility data. Socializing rebounded after only partial vaccination. After full vaccination, communal activities recovered; however, the propensity for protective behaviors declined. The effects were heterogenous depending on vaccination level, demographics, and infection history. We further use a utility theory framework to model risk-value trade-offs and risk-construction for different behaviors.
Decreased Rostral Cingulate Zone Cue-reactivity to Unhealthy Stimuli after Avoidance Training in Healthy Participants
Authors: Kugler Dimitrij , Bremer Thomas , Kühn Simone
Published: February 2022

The Approach and Avoidance Task (AAT)-training has been established as a promising treatment add-on, capable of reducing relapse rates in addiction. First neuroscientific research in people with alcohol use disorder has linked nucleus accumbens (NAc), amygdala, medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) brain activity to the AAT. The present study was the first to investigate AAT-induced changes in brain function among healthy participants. We assumed that reward-related structures such as the NAc and the mPFC would play a minor role, while the amygdala and motor areas were thought to be more important in such a sample. To test this, 62 participants were randomly assigned to an AAT-training group or a control group, receiving sham-training. We employed an implicit AAT-training, aimed at changing beverage consumption by avoiding 90% of unhealthy and approaching 90% of the healthy beverages. FMRI data, acquired during a cue reactivity and a Go/No-Go paradigm, was used to compare pre- and post-training activation. No differences in beverage consumption in a bogus taste test and regular consumption during two weeks after the intervention were found. On the neural level, the experimental group showed less rostral cingulate zone (RCZ) activity in response to unhealthy drinks after the training. The RCZ has been associated with action selection and decreased activity suggests that relatively automatic action-outcome associations became established through avoidance training. More speculatively, a devaluation process, assigning less subjective value to the avoided stimuli, might have occurred. Reasons for the failure to find behavioural effects are discussed.
Reading Between the Lines: Exploring Lexical and Emotional Content in Baseline Trauma Impact Statements
Authors: Girard Jeffrey M. , Sprunger Joel Gregory , Chard Kathleen M.
Published: February 2022

The words a person uses while describing salient life events/experiences can provide a wealth of information about their cognitive and emotional functioning. Linguistic analyses can thus play an important role in clinical settings by providing insights into patients' mental health. The current paper applies such techniques to the study of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It uses a combination of computational and human rating methods to analyze the lexical and emotional content of trauma appraisal essays (i.e., impact statements) written by a treatment-seeking clinical sample (N=94). More frequent use of first-person plural pronouns (e.g., 'we', 'our') was associated with lower self-reported PTSD and depressive severity, higher ratings of expressed anger were associated with higher clinician-rated PTSD severity, and higher ratings of expressed vulnerable emotions were associated with higher self-reported PTSD and depressive severity. Text-mining approaches also provided insights into common themes across participants' trauma impact statements (e.g., safety, trust, and self-esteem).
Common and unique associations of adolescents’ affective and cognitive empathy development with conflict behavior towards parents
Authors: Van Lissa Caspar J. , Hawk Skyler T. , Branje Susan , Koot Hans M. , Meeus Wim
Published: February 2022

Adolescents’ developing empathy may be associated with a shift towards more constructive behaviors in conflict with parents. Two empathy dimensions, affective empathic concern and cognitive perspective taking, may have common and unique developmental associations with the conflict behaviors adolescents use. This six-year longitudinal study (ages 13-18) used multivariate latent growth curve modeling to investigate developmental associations between adolescents’ (N = 497) empathic dispositions and conflict behaviors towards both parents. In support of common associations, both empathy dimensions were associated with reduced conflict escalation with mothers, and increased problem solving with both parents. However, these associations were all stronger for perspective taking than for empathic concern. Furthermore, compliance with mothers was uniquely associated with increasing empathic concern. Perspective taking was uniquely associated with a decreased tendency to withdraw from conflicts. Perspective taking thus appears to be more strongly associated with a pattern of constructive conflict behaviors
Leaving academia: PhD attrition and unhealthy research environments
Authors: Kis Andrea , Tur Elena M , Lakens Daniel , Vaesen Krist , Houkes Wybo
Published: February 2022

PhD candidates’ attrition rates and reports of better working conditions outside academia are raising concerns about the potential impact of unhealthy research environments. To study this impact, we investigated PhD candidates’ (N = 391) perceptions about their research environment at a Dutch university in terms of the research climate, (un)ethical supervisory practices, and questionable research practices. We also assessed whether their perceptions are related to career considerations. While most PhD candidates experience fair evaluation processes, openness, integrity, trust, and freedom in their research climate, many report lack of time and support, insufficient supervision, and witness questionable research practices. Results based on Spearman correlations indicate that those who experience a less healthy research environment (including experiences with unethical supervision, questionable practices, and barriers to responsible research), more often consider leaving academia and their current PhD position.
A Note on the Connection Between Trek Rules and Separable Nonlinear Least Squares in Linear Structural Equation Models
Authors: Ernst Maximilian Stefan , Peikert Aaron , Brandmaier Andreas Markus , Rosseel Yves
Published: February 2022

We show that separable nonlinear least squares (SNLLS) estimation is applicable to all linear structural equation models (SEMs) that can be specified in RAM notation. SNLLS is an estimation technique that has successfully been applied to a wide range of models, for example neural networks and dynamic systems, often leading to improvements in convergence and computation time. It is applicable to models of a special form, where a subset of parameters enters the objective linearly. Recently, Kreiberg et al. (2021) have shown that this is also the case for factor analysis models. We generalize this result to all linear SEMs. To that end, we show that undirected effects (variances and covariances) and mean parameters enter the objective linearly and therefore, in the least squares estimation of structural equation models, only the directed effects have to be obtained iteratively. For model classes without unknown directed effects SNLLS can be used to analytically compute least squares estimates. To provide deeper insight into the nature of this result, we employ trek rules that link graphical representations of structural equation models to their covariance parametrization. We further give an efficient expression for the gradient, which is crucial to make a fast implementation possible. Results from our simulation indicate that SNLLS leads to improved convergence rates and a reduced number of iterations.
Entrusted or achieved: Construing power as socially dependent explains the greater otherorientation of powerholders in collectivistic cultures
Authors: Choi Eunsoo , Gobel Matthias S , Uchida Yukiko
Published: February 2022

In this research, we examined the association of power and other-orientated psychological and behavioral tendencies across cultures. Using multiple methods and assessing a range of outcomes - including beliefs in what makes powerholders effective, psychological other-orientation, and pro-social behavioral intentions - we provide converging evidence that power at work is associated with greater other-orientation in collectivistic than in individualistic cultures. Moreover, we tested the role of power construal as a key mechanism for explaining these cultural differences. We discovered that construing power as being based on the entrustment of other group members (i.e., higher social dependency of power) increased other orientation, compared to construing power as being the result of one’s own merit and achievement (i.e., lower social dependency of power). Taken together, our research suggests that a nuanced interpretation of power construal is critical for a better understanding of powerholders’ psychological tendencies across cultures.
PassivePy: A Tool to Automatically Identify Passive Voice in Big Text Data
Authors: Sepehri Amir , Mir Mitra , Markowitz David Matthew
Published: February 2022

The academic study of grammatical voice (e.g., active and passive voice) has a long history in the social sciences. Passive voice, for example, has been used to identify victim blaming in traumatic events, false versus truthful speech patterns, and levels of construal. Most evaluations of passive voice are experimental or small-scale field studies, however, and perhaps one reason for its lack of adoption is the difficulty associated with obtaining valid, reliable, and replicable results through automated means. In this paper, we introduce an automated tool to identify passive voice from large-scale text data, PassivePy. With minimal computational overhead, this package achieves 97% agreement with human coded data for grammatical voice as revealed in two large validation studies. In this paper, we discuss why passive voice is an important social and psychological construct, how PassivePy works, and conclude with pathways to apply this package in everyday psychological research.
It Takes a Village: Advancing Attachment Theory and Recovering the Roots of Human Health with the Circle of Seven Essential Needs
Authors: Sosteric Mike , Ratkovic Gina
Published: February 2022

Bowlby’s Attachment Theory (AT) remains a popular way to understand infant, child, adolescent, and even adult and family dysfunction. However, attachment theory, which has not changed significantly since its inception, is a reductive theory that ignores a wider range of human needs and has caused significant hardship and trauma. The limitations of this model, particularly when applied outside the Eurocentric and ethnocentric frames of mainstream psychology, are well known. In this article, we suggest it is time to replace the reductive theory of needs that underpins AT with a comprehensive theory, one that could help us develop a less ideological, healthier, and more empirically informed approach to socialization and social care; one that might help us answer Abraham Maslow’s Eupsychian question which is how to build a society capable of actuating the full potential of all its citizens.
Climate Change, Natural Disasters, and Disaster Reduction Impacts on LGBTQ+, Black, and POC Communities
Authors: Orr Ash
Published: February 2022

Issues surrounding the marginalization of LGBTQ+, Black, People of Color (POC), and minority communities include diminishing access to safe spaces; religious or general stigmatization; and mental, emotional, or physical abuse. In addition to these common problems, with more frequent and increasingly intense natural disasters and climatological events (Harvey 2018), there are inadequate Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) policies that fail to address the needs of these communities. Most work on minority communities is heavily biased by the Western ideology of colorism, as well as a binary conception gender and sexual orientation: black or white, man or woman, straight or gay. These theories are dismissive towards the multitude of identities within these communities, especially those in non-Western settings. DRR policies and overall risk preparedness and response structures fail to acknowledge the experiences and needs of these communities. Research has been conducted to gather and evaluate experiences of marginalized communities impacted by climatological or natural disaster events. Results from this study can help inform, update, or create new and more-inclusive DRR policies that recognize the experiences and needs of minority communities, and improve outcomes for these individuals. This research paper will cover the methodology applied and share preliminary results.
Emotional experiences during breastfeeding: time of day, family support and mental health
Authors: Perez Sofia Hempelmann , Smith Sophie , Isaicu Christina , Binder Natasha , Gold Ian , Choudhury Suparna , Raturi Radhika , Little Charlotte , Pennestri Marie-Helene , Solomonova Elizaveta
Published: February 2022

This study aimed to investigate the emotional experience of breastfeeding mothers; to compare their emotions during the day and night; and to identify predictors of maternal emotional states. 107 breastfeeding women completed daytime and nighttime online surveys. Mothers reported a more positive emotional experience during the daytime breastfeeding session. During the day, positive emotional state was most strongly predicted by perceived degree of family’s support, followed by mother’s mental health, overall sleep quality, child’s age, mother’s age and the mother’s immigrant status. In contrast, more positive experience during the nighttime was only associated with better subjectively rated mental health Our results suggest that maternal emotional experience needs to be understood as an interplay between mental health and social context.
Long-Term Consequences of Repeated School Closures During the COVID-19 Pandemic for Reading and Mathematics Competencies
Authors: Schult Johannes , Mahler Nicole , Fauth Benjamin , Lindner Marlit Annalena
Published: February 2022

School closures during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 were associated with attenuated learning gains compared to pre-pandemic years. In Germany, two further pandemic waves led to school closures and periods of remote learning between December 2020 and May 2021. The present study investigates the academic achievement of all incoming fifth-graders in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg before and during the pandemic, using educational large-scale assessment results in reading and mathematics. Each year, the assessments took place at the beginning of the school year in September (each n > 84,000). The comparison of average competence levels in 2021 with pre-pandemic years (2017–2019) indicates that the downward trend that was observed after the first pandemic wave in 2020 came to a halt in the domain of reading and continued at a slower rate in the domain of mathematical operations. Achievements in the mathematical domain of numbers even rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. Longer periods of school closures were associated with larger learning losses. Additional analyses showed larger learning losses for the group of low-achieving students and for schools with less socio-cultural capital. The partial rebound of learning outcomes suggests that most teachers and students successfully adapted to the pandemic situation in 2021. Still, disadvantaged student groups are at high risk of further substantial learning losses due to school closures that may negatively affect their future education. Accordingly, disadvantaged student groups in particular should receive additional support to compensate for the loss of learning opportunities in the classroom.
Using intonation to disambiguate meaning: The role of empathy and proficiency in L2 perceptual development
Authors: Casillas Joseph V , Garrido-Pozú Juan José , Parrish Kyle , Fernandez Arroyo Laura , Rodriguez Nicole , Esposito Robert , Chang Isabelle , Gómez Kimberly , Constantin-Dureci Gabriela , Shao Jiawei , Andreu Rascón Iván , Taveras Katherine
Published: February 2022

The present study investigates the interplay between proficiency and empathy in the development of second language (L2) prosody by analyzing the perception and processing of intonation in questions and statements in L2 Spanish. A total of 225 adult L2 Spanish learners (L1 English) from the Northeastern United States completed a two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) task in which they listened to four utterance types and categorized them as either questions or statements. We used Bayesian multilevel regression and Drift Diffusion modeling to analyze the 2AFC data as a function of proficiency level and empathy scores for each utterance type. We show that learner response accuracy and sensitivity to intonation is positively correlated with proficiency, and this association is affected by individual empathy levels in both response accuracy and sentence processing. Higher empathic individuals, in comparison with lower empathic individuals, appear to be more sensitive to intonation cues in the process of forming sound-meaning associations, though increased sensitivity does not necessarily imply increased processing speed. The results motivate the inclusion of measures of pragmatic skill, such as empathy, to better account for intonational meaning processing and sentence comprehension in second language acquisition.
Exploring Achievement Behaviors in Non-Major Statistics Course: An Expectancy-Value Perspective and Thoughts for Practice
Authors: Smith Tamarah , Dai Ting
Published: February 2022

Statistics education is increasingly important to our society with enrollment increases of 16% in introductory statistics courses and 85% in upper-level statistics courses. Research has demonstrated many factors related to students’ behaviors and outcomes in statistics courses such as past achievement, attitudes, and effort. We sought to model these factors together to better understand how introductory statistics students’ attitudes were related to students' achievement behaviors and what student characteristics mediated such relationships. Structural equation modeling with data from N=301 students in an introductory statistics course for psychology majors revealed that majors with higher GPAs had more interest, enjoyment as well as utility value for statistics, and these variables were in turn related to expectations for success or achievement behaviors. Females had lower interest in statistics, and this was related to lower expectations of success. The findings highlight the need to increase interest and enjoyment and utility value for psychology students studying statistics. Recommendations for how to adapt the statistics classroom to that end are discussed.
A Practical Introduction to EEG Time-Frequency Principal Components Analysis (TF-PCA)
Authors: Buzzell George , Niu Yanbin , Bernat Edward
Published: February 2022

This EEG methods tutorial provides both a conceptual and practical introduction to a promising data reduction approach for time-frequency representations of EEG data: Time-Frequency Principal Components Analysis (TF-PCA). Briefly, the unique value of TF-PCA is that it provides a data-reduction approach that does not rely on strong a priori constraints regarding the specific timing or frequency boundaries for an effect of interest. Given that the time-frequency characteristics of various neurocognitive process are known to change across development, the TF-PCA approach is thus particularly well suited for the analysis of developmental TF data. Towards this end, this tutorial provides the background knowledge, theory, and practical information needed to allow individuals with basic EEG experience to begin applying the TF-PCA approach to their own data. Crucially, this tutorial article is accompanied by a companion GitHub repository that contains example code, data, and a step-by-step guide of how to perform TF-PCA: https://github.com/NDCLab/tfpca-tutorial. Although this tutorial is framed in terms of the utility of TF-PCA for developmental data, the theory, protocols and code covered in this tutorial article and companion GitHub repository can be applied more broadly across populations of interest.
Semi-Automated Rasch Analysis with Differential Item Functioning
Authors: Wijayanto Feri , Bucur Ioan Gabriel , Mul Karlien , Groot Perry , van Engelen Baziel G.M. , Heskes Tom
Published: February 2022

Rasch analysis is a procedure to develop and validate instruments that aim to measure persons' traits. However, manual Rasch analysis is a complex and time-consuming task, even more so when the possibility of differential item functioning (DIF) is taken into consideration. Furthermore, manual Rasch analysis by construction relies on a modeller's subjective choices. As an alternative approach, we introduce a semi-automated procedure that is based on the optimization of a new criterion, called in-plus-out-of-questionnaire log likelihood with differential item functioning (IPOQLL-DIF) which extends our previous criterion. We illustrate our procedure on artificially generated data as well as on several real-world datasets containing potential DIF items. On these real-world datasets, our procedure found instruments with similar clinimetric properties as those suggested by experts through manual analyses.
Comparing Psychopathy Across Measurement Modalities
Authors: West Samuel James , Psederska Elena , Vasilev Georgi , Bozgunov Kiril , Nedelchev Dimitar , Thomson Nicholas D. , Vassileva Jasmin
Published: February 2022

Psychopathy is a collection of personality traits and behaviors that are associated with costly personal, interpersonal, and societal outcomes. The nature of this construct has been widely debated across decades of literature and such debates have produced a multitude of instruments for the measurement of psychopathy. These measures include self-reports and clinical interviews, yet little work has examined the degree to which measurements of psychopathy may differ across these modalities and whether such potential differences may impact the associations commonly found with psychopathy (e.g., impulsivity). To this end we applied psychometric network and item response theory analyses to data obtained from the interview-based Psychopathy Checklist - Screening Version (PCL:SV) and the Levenson Self-report of Psychopathy (LSRP) in the same sample. Our results revealed similarities and differences across measurement modalities. Regarding the PCL:SV, Factor 2 items were more important to the psychopathy construct (i.e., the most central and contributed more information than Factor 1 items), whereas Factor 1 items were more important to the LSRP. Factor 1 items were positively linked with positive urgency and were either negatively associated or not associated with negative urgency. In contrast, Factor 2 items were positively linked with negative urgency in both networks. Our analyses also revealed that dishonesty and irresponsibility served as the primary bridges connecting the factors of psychopathy in both networks. We make suggestions for improving the assessment of psychopathy by implementing self-report and interview measures that allow scores to be compared directly.
Activating Unemployed Job Seekers Toward Volunteering
Authors: MacConnell Jonathan
Published: February 2022

Unemployment is a devastating experience that can result in poor mental and physical health and reduced wellbeing. Deterioration of social networks and loss of other secondary benefits previously provided by employment may lead to increased social anxiety and isolation. Unemployed individuals with social anxiety may exhibit fewer approach behaviours toward activities that contribute to overall wellbeing and increased likelihood of re-employment. Research shows that volunteering can be a pathway to re-employment and provide similar social and psychological benefits as employment, but also shows that unemployed individuals are less likely to volunteer. Approach Avoidance Task (AAT) training has been effective in improving implicit and explicit attitudes toward stressful stimuli and enhancing approach behaviours toward beneficial activities. The present research examines if one-time AAT training in approaching images of volunteering will positively influence implicit and explicit evaluations by unemployed jobseekers toward volunteering, as measured by the single category implicit association test (SC-IAT), self-reported measures of feelings toward and intention to volunteer and behaviours toward volunteering.Results from a broad sample of English speaking, unemployed job seekers between the ages of 18 and 65 from North America, Europe, and Oceania did not support the five hypotheses in this study. Although procedures, as designed, did not show a significant, positive, treatment effect, initial exploratory analysis indicates avenues for further investigation.This research contributes to developing AAT training literature in investigating applications in vocational and volunteering domains. Further empirical evidence is required to fully understand how AAT training could be used in these applications. It is hoped that this research and further recommendations encourage others to investigate the potential of AAT training in these domains.
Assessing Strategic Flexibility: Strategy-Shifting as a Mechanism of Cognitive Reserve
Authors: Barulli Daniel , Habeck Christian , Stern Yaakov
Published: February 2022

AbstractThis series of experiments explores the potential role of strategic flexibility in cognitive aging, and whether this construct can serve as a mechanism for cognitive reserve. A strategic flexibility task was designed utilizing matrix reasoning stimuli that each required one of two specific solution strategies: logico-analytic and visuospatial. It was formatted as a task-switching paradigm, assessing the ability to switch between solution strategies. Study 1 demonstrated the presence of switch-costs on this task using commonly measured metrics, as well on an alternate measure of task performance that combines reaction time and accuracy. Age-related switch-costs were noted, similar to those reported in set switching tasks using simpler items. Study 2 included assessment of CR proxies and introduced a redesigned version of this task, matching it more closely to existing paradigms of task-switching. It again found switch-costs that increased with aging. In addition, a relationship between switch-costs and CR proxies was noted, suggesting a relationship between strategic flexibility and CR. Study 3 utilized participants who had been studied extensively with neuropsychological assessments and structural neuroimaging. It aimed to investigate the associations between these data and measures of strategic flexibility. Results again indicated that age negatively affected strategic flexibility, but that individuals with higher CR as measured with standard proxies performed better. We then tested whether strategic flexibility moderated the relationship between cortical thickness and measures of cognitive performance. The strategic flexibility measure accounted for additional variance in cognitive performance over that explained by cortical thickness, suggesting that it may contribute to CR. Overall, the results are consistent with the idea that strategic flexibility might be one cognitive process that underlies cognitive reserve.This article is under review at Psychology and Aging. This paper is not the copy of record and may not exactly replicate the authoritative document that will be published in the APA journal.