bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
How has our knowledge of dinosaur diversity through geologic time changed through research history?
Authors: Tennant Jonathan , Chiarenza Alfio Alessandro , Baron Matthew
Published: July 2018

Assessments of dinosaur macroevolution at any given time can be biased by the historical publication record. Recent studies have analysed patterns in dinosaur diversity that are based on secular variations in the numbers of published taxa. Many of these have employed a range of approaches that account for changes in the shape of the taxonomic abundance curve, which are largely dependent on databases compiled from the primary published literature. However, how these ‘corrected’ diversity patterns are influenced by the history of publication remains largely unknown. Here, we investigate the influence of publication history between 1991 and 2015 on our understanding of dinosaur evolution using raw diversity estimates and Shareholder Quorum Subsampling for the three major subgroups: Ornithischia, Sauropodomorpha and Theropoda. We find that, while sampling generally improves through time, there remain periods and regions in dinosaur evolutionary history where diversity estimates are highly volatile (e.g., the latest Jurassic of Europe, the mid-Cretaceous of North America, and the Late Cretaceous of South America). Our results show that historical changes in database compilation can often substantially influence our interpretations of dinosaur diversity. ‘Global’ estimates of diversity based on the fossil record are often also based on incomplete, and distinct regional signals, each subject to their own sampling history Changes in the record of taxon abundance distribution, either through discovery of new taxa or addition of existing taxa to improve sampling evenness, are important in improving the reliability of our interpretations of dinosaur diversity. Furthermore, the number of occurrences and newly identified dinosaurs is still rapidly increasing through time, suggesting that it is entirely possible for much of what we know about dinosaurs at the present to change within the next 20 years.
Hurdiid radiodontans from the middle Cambrian (Series 3) of Utah
Authors: Pates Stephen , Daley Allison C. , Lieberman Bruce S.
Published: July 2018

Radiodontan body elements, some belonging to Peytoia and Hurdia and some unassigned, have been reported from the Langston Formation (Spence Shale Member), Wheeler Formation, and Marjum Formation of the middle Cambrian (Series 3) of Utah. These identifications are reassessed in light of recent work on the morphology of the radiodontan Hurdia. New specimens of Hurdia are identified from the Spence Shale, representing mouthparts (oral cones), cephalic carapace H-elements, frontal appendages, and a single isolated swimming flap. The shape of the H-elements allows H. victoria Walcott, 1912 to be identified from the Spence Shale for the first time. The flap is larger and more complete than any reported from the Burgess Shale and allows for a better understanding of the morphology of Hurdia swimming flaps. A 3D model of a Hurdia frontal appendage indicates that there is only one morph of Hurdia frontal appendage found in both species, and apparent morphological differences between disarticulated appendages reflect a preservational continuum caused by varying oblique angles relative to the seafloor. Peytoia should no longer be reported from the Spence Shale, but its presence is confirmed in the Wheeler and Marjum formations. New mouthparts (oral cones) of Hurdia from the Spence Shale and Peytoia from the Marjum Formation with surface textures of submillimeter-diameter raised nodes are described. These new features have not been observed in material from the Burgess Shale and suggest slight differences in preservation.
Early evolution of sexual dimorphism and polygyny in Pinnipedia
Authors: Cullen Thomas M , Fraser Danielle , Rybczynski Natalia , Schröder-Adams Claudia
Published: July 2018

Sexual selection is one of the earliest areas of interest in evolutionary biology. And yet, the evolutionary history of sexually dimorphic traits remains poorly characterized for most vertebrate lineages. Here we report on evidence for the early evolution of dimorphism within a model mammal group, the pinnipeds. Pinnipeds show a range of sexual dimorphism and mating systems that span the extremes of modern mammals, from monomorphic taxa with isolated and dispersed mating to extreme size dimorphism with highly ordered polygynous harem systems. In addition, the degree of dimorphism in pinnipeds is closely tied to mating system, with strongly dimorphic taxa always exhibiting a polygynous system, and more monomorphic taxa possessing weakly polygynous systems. We perform a comparative morphological description, and provide evidence of extreme sexual dimorphism (similar to sea lions), in the Miocene-aged basal pinniped taxon Enaliarctos emlongi. Using a geometric morphometric approach and combining both modern and fossil taxa we show a close correlation between mating system and sex-related cranial dimorphism, and also reconstruct the ancestral mating system of extant pinnipeds as highly polygynous. The results suggest that sexual dimorphism and extreme polygyny in pinnipeds arose by 27 Ma, in association with changing climatic conditions.
The Development of Territory-Based Inferences of Ownership
Authors: Goulding Brandon W. , Friedman Ori
Published: July 2018

Legal systems often rule that people own objects in their territory. We propose that an early-developing ability to make territory-based inferences of ownership helps children address informational demands presented by ownership. Across 6 experiments (N = 504), we show that these inferences develop between ages 3 and 5 and stem from two aspects of the psychology of ownership. First, we find that a basic ability to infer that people own objects in their territory is already present at age 3 (Experiment 1). Children even make these inferences when the territory owner unintentionally acquired the objects and was unaware of them (Experiments 2 and 3). Second, we find that between ages 3 and 5, children come to consider past events in these judgments. They move from solely considering the current location of an object in territory-based inferences, to also considering and possibly inferring where it originated (Experiments 4 to 6). Together, these findings suggest that territory-based inferences of ownership are unlikely to be constructions of the law. Instead, they may reflect basic intuitions about ownership that operate from early in development.
Trait psychopathy and utilitarian moral judgement: The mediating role of action aversion
Authors: Patil Indrajeet
Published: July 2018

Although past research has established that the utilitarian bias (increased willingness to agree to personally kill someone for the greater good) in psychopathy on moral dilemmas stems from weaker negative affect at the prospect of harming others due to reduced harm aversion, it remains to be seen if this is owing to reduced aversion to witnessing harmful outcomes (outcome aversion) or performing harmful actions (action aversion). In this study, we show that trait psychopathy is associated with both reduced outcome and action aversion and that only action aversion negatively mediates the influence of trait psychopathy on utilitarian moral judgement. Thus, the increased tendency in psychopathy to make utilitarian moral judgements is in part due to reduced aversion to carrying out harmful actions.
Gauging the impact of behavior change interventions: A tutorial on the Numbers Needed to Treat
Authors: Gruijters Stefan L.K. , Peters Gjalt - Jorn Ygram
Published: July 2018

Effect size indices are valuable to research in applied psychology, but traditional measures (e.g. Cohen’s d or Pearson’s r) are limited by their ability to convey practical information about intervention effectiveness. Researchers rely on concepts such as ‘standardized mean difference’ or ‘explained variance’ to express effectiveness. Practitioners, policymakers, and lay-people prefer concepts such as frequencies. Partial solutions have been offered by rules-of-thumb (e.g. Cohen’s categories of ‘small’, ‘moderate’ and ‘large’), but such pigeon-holing is somewhat arbitrary and of little nuance. We review, and provide a tutorial on, the Numbers Needed for Treat (NNT) statistic—an effect size index that originated in the medical literature. NNT fills the communicative gap between research and practice, and is particularly suited to gauge the impact of a behavior change intervention on a population level. NNT is defined as the number of people who need to be exposed to an intervention to achieve the desired change in one more individual, relative to a control condition. NNT has informational advantages: 1) it communicates effect magnitude in a frequency-format (number of people) making the impact of an intervention on a population transparent, and 2) it considers the population behavior base-rate to estimate this number. We adapt and extend the NNT index to suit applied psychology endeavors, and argue that the measure can strengthen the translation of intervention research to practice. The statistical procedure to estimate the NNT is explained, illustrated with concrete examples, and supplemented by script and functions to calculate the index in the R - environment.
High Quality Direct Replications Matter: Response to Williams (2014)
Authors: Corker Katherine S. , Lynott Dermot , Wortman Jessica , Connell Louise , Donnellan Brent , Lucas Richard E. , O'Brien Kerry S
Published: July 2018

We respond to Williams’ (2014) comments on our three failures to replicate of Study 2 fromWilliams and Bargh (2008). We clarify our conclusions on this topic, making clear that although the results of our studies cast doubt on the specific effect reported in Williams and Bargh (i.e., that instant hot and cold packs influence choice of reward for self or friend), a more complete understanding of the embodiment hypothesis in question requires consideration of relevant conceptual replications. Accordingly, we consider the strength of the evidence in the conceptual replications that Williams identifies and find that small samples appear to be the norm. We conclude that in order for researchers to move forward, future studies must take seriously issues of power, researcher degrees of freedom, and file drawer problems. Doing so will ensure that future studies are more informative tests of this hypothesis.
Do computer games jeopardize educational outcomes? A prospective study on gaming times and academic achievement
Authors: Gnambs Timo , Stasielowicz Lukasz , Wolter Ilka , Appel Markus
Published: July 2018

Playing computer and video games is a popular pastime activity for many adolescents worldwide. However, the increasing amount of time spent on these games each day raised fears that this comes at the expense of school and, over the long run, impairs academic achievement. Extending prior research, the present study on a sample of N = 3,554 German adolescents (56% girls) adopted a prospective design and examined the effects of the time playing computer games each day on grades and domain-specific competences in mathematics and reading over time. Robust polynomial regressions combined with specification curve analyses showed that longer gaming times predicted worse grades two years later. These results could be replicated after controlling for initial grades and reasoning abilities. In contrast, mathematical and reading competences were not affected by gaming times. Thus, playing computer and video games can result in a noticeably, albeit small, loss of educational returns, but it does not affect basic competences.
Do Performance Avoidance Goals Moderate the Effect of Different Types of Stereotype Threat on Women’s Math Performance?
Authors: Finnigan Katherine M. , Corker Katherine S.
Published: July 2018

This research intended to (1) compare two different types of stereotype threat and (2) replicate an interaction between stereotype threat and performance-avoidance goals within a large sample of American women ages 18-60.
Crowding for faces is determined by visual (not holistic) similarity: Evidence from judgements of eye position
Authors: Kalpadakis-Smith Alexandra , Goffaux Valerie , Greenwood John A
Published: July 2018

Crowding (the disruption of object recognition in clutter) presents the fundamental limitation on peripheral vision. For simple objects, crowding is strong when target/flanker elements are similar and weak when they differ – a selectivity for target-flanker similarity. In contrast, the identification of upright holistically-processed face stimuli is more strongly impaired by upright than inverted flankers, whereas inverted face-targets are impaired by both – a pattern attributed to an additional stage of crowding selective for “holistic similarity” between faces. We propose instead that crowding is selective for target-flanker similarity in all stimuli, but that this selectivity is obscured by task difficulty with inverted face-targets. Using judgements of horizontal eye-position that are minimally affected by inversion, we find that crowding is strong when target-flanker orientations match and weak when they differ for both upright and inverted face-targets. By increasing task difficulty, we show that this selectivity for target-flanker similarity is obscured even for upright face-targets. We further demonstrate that this selectivity follows differences in the spatial order of facial features, rather than “holistic similarity” per se. There is consequently no need to invoke a distinct stage of holistic crowding for faces – crowding is selective for target-flanker similarity, even with complex stimuli such as faces.
Why most experiments in psychology failed: sample sizes required for randomization to generate equivalent groups as a partial solution to the replication crisis
Authors: Peters Gjalt - Jorn Ygram
Published: July 2018

The experimental method is one of the staple methodological tools of the scientific method, and is as such prevalent in the psychological literature. It relies on the process of randomization to create equivalent groups. However, this procedure requires sufficiently large samples to succeed. In the current paper, we introduce tools that are based on the sampling distribution of Cohen’s d and that enable computing the likelihood that randomization succeeded in creating equivalent groups and the required sample size to achieve a desired likelihood of randomization success. The required sample sizes are considerable, and to illustrate this, we compute the likelihood of randomization failure using data from the Reproducability Project: Psychology. It is shown that it is likely that many original studies but also many replications failed to successfully create equivalent groups. For the replications, the mean likelihood of randomization failure was 44.54% (with a 95% confidence interval of [35.03%; 54.05%]) in the most liberal scenario, and 100% in the most conservative scenario. This means that many studies were in fact not experiments: the observed effects were at best conditional upon the value of unknown confounders, and at worst biased. In any case replication is unlikely when the randomization procedure failed to generate equivalent groups in either the original study or the replication. The consequence is that researchers in psychology, but also the funders of research in psychology, will have to get used to conducting considerably larger studies if they are to build a strong evidence base.
Random effects structure for confirmatory hypothesis testing: Keep it maximal
Authors: Barr Dale , Levy Roger Philip , Scheepers Christoph , Tily Harry
Published: July 2018

Linear mixed-effects models (LMEMs) have become increasingly prominent in psycholinguistics and related areas. However, many researchers do not seem to appreciate how random effects structures affect the generalizability of an analysis. Here, we argue that researchers using LMEMs for confirmatory hypothesis testing should minimally adhere to the standards that have been in place for many decades. Through theoretical arguments and Monte Carlo simulation, we show that LMEMs generalize best when they include the maximal random effects structure justified by the design. The generalization performance of LMEMs including data-driven random effects structures strongly depends upon modeling criteria and sample size, yielding reasonable results on moderately-sized samples when conservative criteria are used, but with little or no power advantage over maximal models. Finally, random-intercepts-only LMEMs used on within-subjects and/or within-items data from populations where subjects and/or items vary in their sensitivity to experimental manipulations always generalize worse than separate F1 and F2 tests, and in many cases, even worse than F1 alone. Maximal LMEMs should be the ‘gold standard’ for confirmatory hypothesis testing in psycholinguistics and beyond.
A Mixed-Effects Location Scale Model for Dyadic Interactions
Authors: Rast Philippe , Ferrer Emilio
Published: July 2018

We present a mixed-effects location scale model (MELSM) for examining thedaily dynamics of affect in dyads. The MELSM includes person and timevarying variables to predict the location, or individual means, and the scale,or within-person variances. It also incorporates a sub-model to account forbetween-person variances. The dyadic specification can accommodate individual and partner effects in both the location and the scale components,and allows random effects for all location and scale parameters. All covariances among the random effects, within and across the location and the scaleare also estimated. These covariances offer new insights into the interplayof individual mean structures, intra-individual variability, and the influenceof partner effects on such factors. To illustrate the model, we use data from274 couples who provided daily ratings on their positive and negative emotions toward their relationship – up to 90 consecutive days. The model is fitusing Hamiltonian Monte Carlo methods, and includes subsets of predictorsin order to demonstrate the flexibility of this approach. We conclude witha discussion on the usefulness and the limitations of the MELSM for dyadicresearch.
Individual Differences in Subphonemic Sensitivity and Phonological Skills
Authors: Li Monica Yin Chen , Braze David , Kukona Anuenue , Johns Clinton L. , Tabor Whitney , Van Dyke Julie A. , Mencl W. Einar , Shankweiler Donald P. , Pugh Kenneth R. , Magnuson James
Published: July 2018

Many studies have established a link between phonological abilities (indexed by phonological awareness and phonological memory tasks) and typical and atypical reading development. Individuals who perform poorly on phonological assessments have been mostly assumed to have underspecified (or “fuzzy”) phonological re- presentations, with typical phonemic categories, but with greater category overlap due to imprecise encoding. An alternative posits that poor readers have overspecified phonological representations, with speech sounds perceived allophonically (phonetically distinct variants of a single phonemic category). On both accounts, mismatch between phonological categories and orthography leads to reading difficulty. Here, we consider the implications of these accounts for online speech processing. We used eye tracking and an individual differences approach to assess sensitivity to subphonemic detail in a community sample of young adults with a wide range of reading-related skills. Subphonemic sensitivity inversely correlated with meta-phonological task performance, consistent with overspecification.
Essentialist Beliefs and Social Distance towards Gay Men and Lesbian Women: A Latent Profile Analysis
Authors: Agadullina Elena , Lovakov Andrey , Malysheva Natalia
Published: July 2018

Psychological essentialism is the layperson’s belief that social categories are natural and entitative. Studies have shown that essentialist beliefs are strongly connected with different types of prejudice. Previous research into essentialist beliefs predominantly used a variable-centered approach to investigate the relationship between essentialist beliefs and prejudice. Extending this research, we used a person-centered approach to explore the relationship between different essentialist beliefs related to sexual orientation and gender (naturalness, homogeneity, discreteness and informativeness). The study involved 282 (sample 1) and 194 (sample 2) respondents from Russia with different sexual orientations. Using latent profile analysis, we identified three distinct essentialist belief profiles, which are the same for both our target groups, gay men and lesbian women. We examined the relationships between belonging to essentialist belief profiles and social distance towards gay men and lesbian women. We found individuals from various profiles differed in levels of gender identification and right-wing authoritarianism. Individuals with relatively low levels of naturalness beliefs and high levels of essentialist beliefs about the social and psychological differences between gender groups and between heterosexuals and non-heterosexuals demonstrated greater social distance towards gay men and lesbian women compared to respondents with lower essentialist beliefs in the differences between groups.
Social and Economic Ideologies Differentially Predict Prejudice across the Political Spectrum, but Social Issues are Most Divisive
Authors: Crawford Jarret , Brandt Mark John , Inbar Yoel , Chambers John , Motyl Matt
Published: July 2018

Liberals and conservatives both express prejudice toward ideologically dissimilar others (Brandt et al., 2014). Previous work on ideological prejudice did not take advantage of evidence showing that ideology is multi-dimensional, with social and economic ideologies representing related but separable belief systems. In five studies (total N = 4912), we test three competing hypotheses of a multi-dimensional account of ideological prejudice. The dimension-specific symmetry hypothesis predicts that social and economic ideologies differentially predict prejudice against targets who are perceived to vary on the social and economic political dimensions, respectively. The social primacy hypothesis predicts that such ideological worldview conflict is experienced more strongly along the social than economic dimension. The social-specific asymmetry hypothesis predicts that social conservatives will be more prejudiced than social liberals, with no specific hypotheses for the economic dimension. Using multiple target groups, multiple prejudice measures (e.g., global evaluations, behavior), and multiple social and economic ideology measures (self-placement, issue positions), we found relatively consistent support for the dimension-specific symmetry and social primacy hypotheses, and no support for the social-specific asymmetry hypothesis. These results suggest that worldview conflict and negative intergroup attitudes and behaviors are dimension-specific, but that the social dimension appears to inspire more political conflict than the economic dimension.
The New Statistics for Better Science: Ask How Much, How Uncertain, and What Else is Known
Authors: Calin-Jageman Robert , Cumming Geoff
Published: July 2018

&&& Now published in the American Statistician: https://amstat.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00031305.2018.1518266 *** The "New Statistics" emphasizes effect sizes, confidence intervals, meta-analysis and the use of Open Science practices. We present 3 specific ways in which a New Statistics approach can help improve scientific practice: by reducing over-confidence in small samples, by reducing confirmation bias, and by fostering more cautious judgements of consistency.
Motivational Predictors of Students’ Participation in Out-of-School Learning Activities and Academic Attainment in Science: An Application of the Trans-Contextual Model Using Bayesian Path Analysis
Authors: Hagger Martin S , Hamilton Kyra
Published: July 2018

Given the shortfall in students studying science, promotion of motivation and engagement in science education is a priority. The current study applied the trans-contextual model to study the motivational predictors of participation in science learning activities in secondary-school students. In a three-wave prospective design, secondary-school students completed measures of perceived autonomy support, autonomous and controlled motivation, social-cognitive beliefs (attitudes, subjective norms, perceived control), intentions, and self-reported participation in out-of-school science learning activities. Five-weeks later, students self-reported their science learning activities. Students’ averaged science grades over the semester period were obtained. Bayesian path analyses supported model hypotheses: in-school autonomous motivation predicted out-of-school autonomous motivation, beliefs, intentions, science activity participation, and science grades. Specifying informative priors in the Bayesian analysis yielded greater precision in estimates. Findings provide initial evidence of a link between students’ autonomous motivation toward science activities across contexts and may inform interventions promoting motivation and participation in science activities.
The Generation Effect Revisited: Fewer Generation Constraints Enhances Item and Context Memory
Authors: McCurdy Matthew P. , Leach Ryan , Leshikar Eric D.
Published: July 2018

Self-generated information is often better remembered than non-self-generated information. This effect has been robust for item memory (i.e., the content of information) across many different experiments, but inconsistent for context memory (e.g., memory for the extraneous details of information, such as source). Previous studies examining the generation effect, however, have often applied constraints on the generation task possibly limiting the memory benefit from self-generation. In three experiments, we compared item and context memory for a lower-constraint generation task (i.e., free response to a cue word) relative to higher-constraint generation tasks (Exp. 1 & 2: scramble; Exp. 3: word fragment). Results showed that participants had better item and context memory in the lower-constraint compared to higher-constraint generation tasks. Overall, these experiments suggest that that the mnemonic benefits of self-generation depend on the level of task constraint. This study further advances the idea that self-generation is a powerful mnemonic that leads to enriched memory representations for both the item and context, especially when fewer generation constraints are imposed.
Psychopathy and ratings of persuasiveness: Examining their relations in weaker and stronger contexts
Authors: Weiss Brandon , Lynam Donald , Miller Josh
Published: July 2018

Previous work has demonstrated mostly null to small associations between boldness and externalizing behaviors associated with psychopathy. The present study replicates this finding and examines an alternative manner in which boldness may be relevant to the construct of psychopathy, namely by enhancing psychopathic individuals’ capacity for interpersonal manipulation. Using data collected from an MTurk sample, we measured persuasiveness using ratings of video-recorded product pitches and examined the relations between psychopathic and general traits and persuasiveness across “weaker” (improvised) and “stronger” (scripted) conditions. Boldness exhibited a small, positive relation with perceived persuasiveness in the improvised condition only; conversely, psychopathic traits related to antagonism/meanness and disinhibition exhibited small negative associations with persuasiveness and trust in the scripted condition. The results suggest that boldness may help individuals persuade others so as to achieve desired outcomes, although the effect was quite small in nature, whereas psychopathic individuals who are not high on boldness may need to use other tactics (e.g., intimidation; coercion) to manipulate others.
Personality Predicts Mortality Risk: An Integrative Data Analysis of 15 International Longitudinal Studies
Authors: Graham Eileen Kranz , Rutsohn Joshua P. , Turiano Nick , Bendayan Rebecca , Batterham Philip , Gerstorf Denis , Katz Mindy , Reynolds Chandra Ann , Sharp Emily , Yoneda Tomiko , Bastarache Emily , Elleman Lorien Grey , Zelinski Elizabeth , Johansson Boo , Kuh Diana , Barnes Lisa L. , Bennet David , Deeg Dorly , Lipton Richard , Pedersen Nancy , Piccinin Andrea Marie , Spiro Avron , Muniz-Terrera Graciela , Willis Sherry , Schaie K. Warner , Roan Carol , Herd Pamela , Hofer Scott Michael , Mroczek Dan
Published: July 2018

This study examined the Big Five personality traits as predictors of mortality risk, and smoking as a mediator of that association. Replication was built into the fabric of our design: we used a Coordinated Analysis with 15 international datasets, representing 44,094 participants. We found that high neuroticism and low conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness were consistent predictors ofmortality across studies. Smoking had a small mediating effect for neuroticism. Country and baseline age explained variation in effects: studies with older baseline age showed a pattern of protective effects (HR<1.00) for openness, and U.S. studies showed a pattern of protective effects for extraversion. This study demonstrated coordinated analysis as a powerful approach to enhance replicability andreproducibility, especially for aging-related longitudinal research.
Scene Construction and Relational Processing: Separable Constructs?
Authors: Roberts Reece Pierre , Schacter Daniel L , Addis Donna Rose
Published: July 2018

Imagining hypothetical events often entails the construction of a detailed mental simulation. Despite recent advances, debate still surrounds the fundamental constructive process underpinning simulations supported by the hippocampus. Palombo et al. (2016) report findings that suggest that scene construction drives hippocampal engagement during imagination. However, they fail to consider the findings of a previous study using a near-identical manipulation that generated similar hippocampal findings, but was interpreted in terms of event specificity and relational processing (Addis et al. 2011). While we applaud the general approach taken by Palombo et al. in attempting to distinguish components of mental simulation, their paper has brought into sharp relief how the lack of a common theoretical framework can result in significant interpretative ambiguities. In this commentary, we attempt to identify and clarify these as yet unresolved conceptual issues that will require empirical and theoretical attention in future research.
With great data comes great (theoretical) opportunity
Authors: Frank Michael C.
Published: July 2018

Is there a “critical period” for language? Using a viral online grammar test, Hartshorne, Tenenbaum, and Pinker (2018) collected a new massive dataset on the relationship between age and language learning. Their data highlight both the importance – and the challenges – of creating quantitative theories linking “big data” to cognitive models.
Brief Therapy ASSIP Influences Coping Among Patients with a History of Attempted Suicide
Authors: Gysin-Maillart Anja , Soravia Leila M. , Schwab Simon
Published: July 2018

The development of individual coping strategies for suicidal crises is essential for suicide prevention. However, the influence of a brief intervention and the effect on coping strategies is largely unknown. This study aims to investigate the long-term association between coping behaviour and suicidal ideation in a clinical high-risk sample of the Attempted Suicide Short Intervention Program (ASSIP) evaluation study. In this secondary analysis of a 24-month follow-up randomised controlled study, 120 patients (55% female; mean age of 36) with a history of suicide attempts were randomly allocated to the ASSIP group or to a control group, both added to treatment as usual. The present study identifies an 11% reduction in dysfunctional coping in the ASSIP group and a 6% increase in problem-focussed coping compared to the control group after 24-months. Broader categories of dysfunctional coping showed a significant interaction between the ASSIP group and the control group regarding self-distraction, after 12-months, and self-blame, after 24-months. In the ASSIP group, active coping and substance use were associated with a reduction in Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation (BSS) scores. In the control group (CG), behavioural disengagement and positive reframing were positively and self-distraction was negatively related to suicidal ideation. These results indicate that ASSIP has an influence on coping behaviour. Thus, the development of new problem-focussed coping strategies is crucial, although a reduction in dysfunctional coping (e.g. self-blame) seems to be essential in overcoming suicidal crises long-term.
Moral Elevation Reduces Prejudice Against Gay Men
Authors: Lai Calvin K. , Nosek Brian A.
Published: July 2018

Disgust is linked to social evaluation. People with higher disgust sensitivity exhibit more sexual prejudice, and inducing disgust increases sexual prejudice. We tested whether inducing moral elevation, the theoretical opposite of disgust, would reduce sexual prejudice. In four studies (N = 3622), we induced elevation with inspiring videos and then measured sexual prejudice with implicit and explicit measures. Compared to control videos that elicited no particular affective state, we found that elevation reduced implicit and explicit sexual prejudice, albeit very slightly. No effect was observed when the target of social evaluation was changed to race (Black-White). Inducing amusement, another positive emotion, did not significantly affect sexual prejudice. We conclude that elevation weakly but reliably reduces prejudice towards gay men.
Toddlers can use semantic cues to learn difficult nonadjacent dependencies
Authors: Willits Jon , Saffran Jenny , Lany Jill
Published: July 2018

languages. The fact that infants and adults have difficulty learning nonadjacent structure in laboratory settings has led to theories suggesting that there are strict constraints on the units over which humans track nonadjacent structure. In four experiments, we tested the hypothesis that correlated semantic cues enhance toddlers’ ability to learn nonadjacent linguistic structures. Toddlers successfully transferred these patterns to new strings spanning novel intervening items, and to novel nonadjacent pairs drawn from the same semantic categories. The results provide evidence that toddlers can use rich, redundant input that includes meaning to learn nonadjacent structures akin to those present in natural languages.
Better know who you are starving with - Judging humanness in a multiplayer video game
Authors: Tulk Stephanie , Cumings Ryon , Zafar Taha , Wiese Eva
Published: July 2018

Perceived humanness affects how others behave towards artificial agents, and can be examined with imitation games, where participants interact with either a human or an artificial agent and then have to guess who they interacted with. The current experiment uses the multiplayer, socially interactive video game "Don’t Starve Together" to examine whether it is possible for participants (Player 1) to distinguish a human from an artificial agent (Player 2) based on how they make decisions in complex environments. We explore how sensitive participants are at discriminating human from AI behavior, and whether Player 2’s actual and/or perceived humanness has an impact on the participants’ willingness to cooperate with them. The results show that while participants were good at correctly identifying AI behavior, they misidentified the human player with a high likelihood. Cooperation during the game was higher for participants who correctly identified Player 2 (as either human or AI), and participants always preferred to cooperate with Player 2 when they thought they were human. The willingness to cooperate with Player 2 in future interactions was higher when participants misidentified Player 2, and was not impacted by the actual or perceived humanness of Player 2.
The Go/No-Go Association Task
Authors: Nosek Brian A. , Banaji Mahzarin R.
Published: July 2018

Theory is constrained by the quality and versatility of measurement tools. As such, the development of techniques for measurement is critical to the successful development of theory. This paper presents a technique – the Go/No-go Association Task (GNAT) – that joins a family of existing techniques for measuring implicit social cognition generally, with a focus on attitude (evaluation). To expand the measurement potential supplied by its closest cousin, the Implicit Association Test (IAT), the GNAT can be used to examine automatic social cognition toward a single target category. That is, the GNAT obtains a measure of implicit social cognition without requiring the direct involvement of complementary or contrasting objects. Also, by implementing a response deadline in the procedure, this version of the GNAT trades off response latency for sensitivity as the dependent variable measure. We illustrate the technique through a series of experiments (1-5) using simple attitude objects (bugs and fruit). In Experiment 6, the GNAT is used to investigate attitudes toward race (Black and White) and gender (male and female). To explore the theoretical leverage offered by this tool, Experiment 6 puts to test a recurring question concerning automatic in-group favoritism versus out-group derogation. Results demonstrate the dual presence of both out-group derogation (e.g., negativity toward Black Americans) and in-group favoritism (positivity toward White Americans), a finding that emerges because the GNAT offers the potential for separable measures of attitude toward the two groups. Through these experiments, the GNAT is shown to be an effective tool for assessing automatic preferences as well as resolving persistent questions that require measures of individual attitude objects while maintaining the advantages of response competition tasks.
Make-or-break: chasing risky goals or settling for safe rewards?
Authors: Analytis Pantelis P. , Wu Charley M , Gelastopoulos Alexandros
Published: July 2018

Humans regularly pursue activities characterized by dramatic success or failure outcomes where, critically, the chances of success depend on the time invested working towards it. How should peo- ple allocate time between such make-or-break challenges and safe alternatives, where rewards are more predictable (e.g., linear) functions of performance? We present a formal framework for studying time allocation between these two types of activities, and explore optimal behavior in both one-shot and dynamic versions of the problem. In the one-shot version, we illustrate striking discontinuities in the optimal time allocation policy as we gradually change the parameters of the decision-making problem. In the dynamic version, we formulate the optimal strategy—defined by a giving-up threshold—which adaptively dictates when people should stop pursuing the make-or-break goal. We then show that this strategy is computationally inaccessible for humans, and explore boundedly rational alternatives. We compare the performance of the optimal model against i) a myopic giving-up threshold that is easier to compute, and even simpler heuristic strategies that either ii) only decide whether or not to start pursuing the goal and never give up or iii) consider giving up at a fixed number of control points. Comparing strategies across environments we investigate the cost and behavioral implications of sidestepping the computational burden of full rationality.
Promoting Replicable Sexual Science: A Methodological Review and Call for Metascience
Authors: Sakaluk John Kitchener
Published: July 2018

Concerns have increased within the medical and social science communities about the replicability of scientific findings, and subsequently, assessments of replicability and proposals for how it may be increased have become more common. Sexual scientists, however, with few exceptions, have yet to formally participate in the published discourses about replicability. In this commentary, I begin by highlighting how replicability is important for science in general, and then arguing that sexual science could be uniquely and negatively impacted without more direct involvement in the replicability movement from those within our field. I then briefly review several mechanisms through which replicability can be undermined in research, and some of the proposals for addressing these issues. I conclude by offering some ideas for how sexual scientists might begin to evaluate and improve the replicability of our field, and stress the need for sexual scientists to add their voices to the ongoing discussions about the problem of replicability of scientific findings.
Contextual priming of word meanings is stabilized over sleep
Authors: Gaskell M. Gareth , Cairney Scott , Rodd Jennifer M
Published: July 2018

Evidence is growing for the involvement of consolidation processes in the learning and retention of language, largely based on instances of new linguistic components (e.g., new words). Here, we assessed whether consolidation effects extend to the semantic processing of highly familiar words. The experiments were based on the word-meaning priming paradigm in which a homophone is encountered in a context that biases interpretation towards the subordinate meaning. The homophone is subsequently used in a word-association test to determine whether the priming encounter facilitates the retrieval of the primed meaning. In Experiment 1 (N = 74), we tested the resilience of priming over periods of 2 and 12 hours that were spent awake or asleep, and found that sleep periods were associated with stronger subsequent priming effects. In Experiment 2 (N = 55) we tested whether the sleep benefit could be explained in terms of a lack of retroactive interference by testing participants 24 hours after priming. Participants who had the priming encounter in the evening showed stronger priming effects after 24 hours than participants primed in the morning, suggesting that sleep makes priming resistant to interference during the following day awake. The results suggest that consolidation effects can be found even for highly familiar linguistic materials. We interpret these findings in terms of a contextual binding account in which all language perception provides a learning opportunity, with sleep and consolidation contributing to the updating of our expectations, ready for the next day.
Ritual, Identity Fusion, and the Inauguration of President Trump: A pseudo-experiment of Ritual Modes theory
Authors: Kapitány Rohan , Kavanagh Christopher Michael , Buhrmester Michael , Newson Martha , Whitehouse Harvey
Published: July 2018

The US Presidential Inauguration is a symbolic event which arouses significant emotional responses among diverse groups, and is of considerable significance to Americans’ personal and social identities. We argue that the inauguration qualifies as an Imagistic Ritual (Whitehouse, 2004). Such ritual experiences are thought to produce identity fusion: a visceral sense of oneness with the group. The 2017 Inauguration of President Trump was a unique opportunity to examine how a large-scale naturalistic imagistic ritual influences the social identities of Americans who supported and opposed President Trump. We conducted a pre-registered 7-week longitudinal investigation among an online sample of Americans in order to examine how President Trump’s Inauguration influenced identity fusion. One core prediction was that the affective responses to the inauguration would predict positive changes in fusion, mediated by self-reflection. We did not find support for this. However, the inauguration was associated with flashbulb-like memories, and positive emotional response at the time of the event predicted changes in fusion to both ingroup and outgroup targets. Finally, both positive and negative emotional responses inspired self-reflection, but did not mediate the relationship with fusion. We discuss the implications of our findings for models linking group psychology, fusion theory, and ritual modes. All material available at the Open Science Framework: https://bit.ly/2Qu0G37.
A primer on observational measurement
Authors: Girard Jeffrey M. , Cohn Jeffrey F
Published: July 2018

Observational measurement plays an integral role in a variety of scientific endeavors within biology, psychology, sociology, education, medicine, and marketing. The current article provides an interdisciplinary primer on observational measurement; in particular, it highlights recent advances in observational methodology and the challenges that accompany such growth. First, we detail the various types of instrument that can be used to standardize measurements across observers. Second, we argue for the importance of validity in observational measurement and provide several approaches to validation based on contemporary validity theory. Third, we outline the challenges currently faced by observational researchers pertaining to measurement drift, observer reactivity, reliability analysis, and time/expense. Fourth, we describe recent advances in computer-assisted measurement, fully automated measurement, and statistical data analysis. Finally, we identify several key directions for future observational research to explore.
Preprint of "Differential associations of knowing and liking with accuracy and positivity bias in person perception"
Authors: Wessels Nele M. , Zimmermann Johannes , Biesanz Jeremy Charles , Leising Daniel
Published: July 2018

A great range of person perception phenomena may be conceptualized in terms of how much perceivers know about the targets, how much they like the targets and how these factors relate to the extent to which target descriptions reflect actual target characteristics and/or evaluative bias. We present a comprehensive empirical analysis of this interplay in two studies, the second (targets: N = 189, informants: N = 1352) being a pre-registered replication of the first (targets: N = 73, informants: N = 549). Using multilevel profile analyses, we investigated how liking and knowing are differentially associated with judgments’ normative accuracy (i.e., reflecting actual characteristics of the average target), distinctive accuracy (i.e., reflecting actual characteristics of specific targets), and positivity bias. Statistical effects were largely consistent across two independent validation measures (self-ratings vs. peer-ratings of personality), and across the two studies. Despite being positively correlated with one another, liking and knowing had opposing effects on person judgments: Knowing targets better was associated with greater distinctive and normative accuracy, and with lower positivity bias. In contrast, liking targets more was associated with lower distinctive and normative accuracy, but with greater positivity bias. The findings suggest that person judgments tend to reflect actual target characteristics as well as evaluative bias, and that the relative extents to which they do are predictable from what the perceivers say about their relationships with the targets (i.e., knowing and liking). Directions for future research are discussed.
Who Attains Status? Similarities and Differences Across Social Contexts
Authors: Lawless DesJardins Nicole M. , Srivastava Sanjay , Kuefner Albrecht , Back Mitja
Published: July 2018

Informal groups form hierarchies and allocate social status in order to coordinate action and make collective decisions. Although researchers have identified characteristics of people who tend to get status, the extent to which these characteristics are context-dependent is unclear. In two studies, participants from the United States (N = 157) and Germany (N = 95) engaged in affiliative or competitive group interactions. We investigated whether the nature of the group’s task moderated the relationship between status attainment and personality. As in previous research, we found that extraversion predicted status in both competitive and affiliative contexts. In contrast, agreeableness was only associated with status in affiliative contexts. These findings underscore the importance of examining the relationship between personality and social status in context.