Psychology Research Digest
British Journal of Psychology
The British Journal of Psychology is the flagship journal of the British Psychological Society, publishing cutting-edge, multidisciplinary psychological research with major theoretical or methodological contributions across different sections of psychology. With a commitment to open science, the journal enjoys a wide international readership. It features empirical studies and critical reviews that address contemporary or modern topics or issues by integrating different specialisms of psychology or interdisciplinary work with contributions from or to psychology theory or practice.
Suppressing food‐related memories via think/no‐think: Effective retrieval inhibition across weight status
Inhibitory control plays a critical role in regulating eating behaviour. While previous research focused primarily on motor inhibition (e.g. go/no-go tasks), the role of memory suppression remains underexplored. This study employed a food-specific think/no-think (TNT) paradigm to investigate two questions: (1) whether individuals can intentionally suppress food-related memories, and whether suppression performance is associated with body mass index (BMI); and (2) whether memory suppression reduces subjective food valuation. Sixty-one young female participants completed a TNT task and subsequently rated food items for liking and wanting. Results showed that recall accuracy for suppressed (No-think) items was significantly lower than for both retrieved (Think) and Baseline items, indicating suppression-induced forgetting. However, food-related memory suppression performance was not associated with BMI. Moreover, memory suppression did not significantly alter subjective ratings of liking or wanting. These findings suggest that food-related memories can be deliberately suppressed regardless of BMI, but such suppression may not influence food valuation directly. Further studies are needed to determine whether such memory suppression has any downstream impact on eating behaviour and to identify mechanisms beyond mere changes in valuation.
Publication date: Thu, 26 Feb 2026 05:23:53 -0800 Access the article >>Too good to be true: Synthetic AI faces are more average than real faces and super‐recognizers know it
The AI revolution has produced synthetic faces that often appear more human than photos of real people. We tested whether individual differences in human face recognition ability explain variation in discriminating AI from real faces. Super-recognizers – people with exceptional ability to recognize human faces (N = 36) – outperformed a typical sample by 15% and by 7% compared to a group of higher performing, motivated control participants (Cohen's d = 0.55; N = 89). Individual difference analysis revealed that this pattern reflected a positive association between human face recognition and AI face discrimination abilities. AI discrimination ability was also associated with individuals' sensitivity to the ‘hyper-average’ appearance of AI faces. Deep neural networks optimized for face identity processing confirmed a more central distribution of AI faces in face-space. Moreover, centrality was associated with a higher probability of super-recognizers judging the faces as AI, but this pattern was not observed for controls. Super-recognizers' correct interpretation of hyper-averageness as a cue to artificiality constitutes the first mechanistic link between evolved expertise in face processing and AI face detection and addresses a common misconception regarding the structure of human face space.
Publication date: Wed, 18 Feb 2026 06:22:55 -0800 Access the article >>Expressive suppression strengthens coherence between arousal intensity and arousal interpretation
Interpretations of physiological arousal may be a key pathway connecting stress-related physiological arousal intensity to physiological and affective consequences of stress. Expressive suppression is linked to increased perceptions of stressors as threatening, which may exacerbate associations between physiological arousal intensity and interpretations of physiological arousal as debilitative. However, the effect of expressive suppression on the association between perceptions of physiological arousal intensity and interpretation remains untested. A sample of 224 undergraduate students completed two psychological acute stress tasks and rated the intensity of their perceived physiological arousal and whether they believed this physiological arousal to be facilitative or debilitative. Before the second stress task, half of the participants were randomly assigned to be instructed to engage in expressive suppression during the task; the remaining participants were instructed to not suppress their emotional expressions. Experimental group assignment moderated associations between physiological arousal intensity and interpretation. In the suppression group, within-person increases in physiological arousal intensity were more strongly associated with more debilitative physiological interpretations. The present study suggests that engaging in expressive suppression during stress causes increases in the intensity of perceived physiological arousal to be interpreted as more debilitating, with implications for stress-related anxiety.
Publication date: Wed, 04 Feb 2026 02:20:13 -0800 Access the article >>The use of AI in psychology: A historical perspective
Psychology and AI have a long and interconnected history that dates from Turing's famous query: ‘Can machines think?’ Since that time, insights into human perception, cognition, language and intelligence have passed between these fields in both directions. Psychological phenomena have fuelled the development of AI, and in parallel, the failures/successes of AI have informed theoretical models of psychological phenomena. In the past decade, the pace of this exchange has quickened, along with AI's impressive gains in achieving human-like feats of intelligence. This Special Issue examines the use of artificial intelligence in psychological research and covers a wide range of topics including: Explainable AI, the development of computational models of psychological processes, the nature of human interactions with AI and the use of AI as a creative and powerful tool for psychological research. Studies of Explainable AI aim to understand the decisions and actions of an AI in human terms. AI-based models of human perception, cognition, and language can ground theories of these processes and can be manipulated and used in hypothesis testing. Studying human interactions with AI can provide a window into the mental models we form of other types of intelligent systems. At the level of social interaction, psychologists can ask whether and how AI is changing human behaviour, both in the near- and far-term. In this Special Issue, we see examples of research aimed at each of these questions. This guest editorial provides a brief history of how psychology and AI have evolved to arrive at this point in time. We also provide an overview of the diverse contents of this issue. These papers give a glimpse of the next chapter in the co-evolution of AI and psychology.
Publication date: Mon, 26 Jan 2026 20:38:40 -0800 Access the article >>How local social norms shape global environmental action: The role of norm misperceptions in environmental attitude–behaviour cycles
This study examines the cyclical relationship between social norms, personal costs of action and pro-environmental behaviour, using a novel dynamic path model to analyse temporal and feedback effects. Recognizing that environmental action often involves a trade-off between individual costs and social expectations, we explore how perceptions of social norms influence environmental decisions and, conversely, how individual behaviours shape norm perceptions. We investigate the roles of social norm misperceptions, where individuals misjudge the environmental commitment of peers, and normative feedback, designed to correct these misestimations, in motivating or demotivating sustainable behaviours. Through a controlled experimental design involving sequential tasks and feedback interventions, we capture how normative feedback impacts pro-environmental choices over time. Results indicate that, when normative feedback reduces the perception of social isolation around sustainable actions, pro-environmental behaviour is sustained, albeit contingent on environmental attitudes. These findings advance our understanding of normative interventions and the complex dynamics underlying environmental decision-making.
Publication date: Fri, 23 Jan 2026 23:06:52 -0800 Access the article >>Exploring the associations of generalized trust, climate change conspiracy beliefs and freecycling: Empirical evidence from 34 cultures
This study examined the relationships between generalized trust, climate change conspiracy beliefs and freecycling – a community-based free-item sharing pro-environmental behaviour. It also explored the role of societal factors in relation to participation in freecycling, as well as how they are associated with these relationships. Using a panel method, we conducted an online survey with 16,773 participants, stratified by age, gender and region across 34 countries/societies. Key findings indicate that generalized trust and, unexpectedly, climate change conspiracy beliefs are positively associated with freecycling participation. Our exploratory results show that freecycling is more prevalent in developing societies, characterized by stronger beliefs in reward for application and religiosity, a lesser emphasis on uncertainty avoidance and a preference for short-term over long-term orientation. Cross-level moderation analysis indicates that generalized trust is more strongly linked to freecycling in developing societies; its association with freecycle giving is also stronger in cultures with lower reward for application. Climate change conspiracy beliefs are more strongly linked to freecycling in societies with lower uncertainty avoidance. By addressing gaps in the existing literature, particularly the need for cross-cultural comparisons, our research offers valuable insights into the construct of freecycling. As we navigate the complexities of hyperconsumerism and climate change conspiracy beliefs, scepticism towards mainstream narratives may sometimes be associated with individuals seeking alternative, grassroots solutions. Promoting freecycling could encourage sustainability, strengthening community connections and empowering individuals to take direct action in response to their doubts, potentially contributing to a more resilient and environmentally aware society.
Publication date: Fri, 23 Jan 2026 22:04:34 -0800 Access the article >>Spatial memory under emotion: Effects across encoding, maintenance and retrieval
Emotions modulate spatial memory, yet their impact remains inconsistent across contexts. For example, fear may enhance attention to landmarks or induce spatial disorientation. Traditional emotion–memory models, mainly focused on episodic memory, fail to account for these mixed effects. We propose that emotional valence affects spatial memory as a function of both the memory phase (encoding, maintenance, retrieval) and the reference frame: egocentric (body-centred) or allocentric (environment-based). In three experiments, we manipulated the timing of emotional stimuli while participants performed spatial memory tasks. Negative emotion impaired egocentric encoding, whereas positive emotion reduced allocentric encoding. During maintenance, both valences broadly disrupted spatial performance, suggesting interference with cognitive control. At retrieval, only allocentric judgements were affected. Moreover, individual traits such as mood, interoception and alexithymia predicted egocentric more than allocentric performance. These findings support a stage-dependent model in which emotional stimuli interact dynamically with spatial representations. This framework offers a novel perspective to reconcile conflicting results in the literature and advances understanding of how affective states shape adaptive and maladaptive spatial behaviours.
Publication date: Fri, 23 Jan 2026 22:00:37 -0800 Access the article >>Neurodivergence and well‐being: The fulfilment of fundamental psychological needs, work‐related stress and life satisfaction
This paper presents two complementary studies on the impact of neurodivergent conditions such as autism, AD(H)D, dyslexia/dyscalculia and giftedness on well-being. In Study 1, survey data from 2157 participants in a true probabilistic sample of Dutch households show that respondents with autism and ADHD report significantly lower life satisfaction and higher levels of stress and maladjustment than neurotypical peers. Other conditions present more nuanced patterns. Study 2 builds on Self-Determination Theory and uses Large Language Models (LLMs) to analyse 2214 Reddit life stories, evaluating the mediating role of autonomy, competence and relatedness need fulfilment in the relationship between neurodivergence and well-being. Our results indicate that giftedness and dyslexia are positively related to psychological needs satisfaction, whereas other neurodivergent conditions are predominantly negatively associated with needs fulfilment. Indirect association analyses show that, except for ADD, the fulfilment of autonomy, competence and relatedness needs accounts for the association between neurodivergence on the one hand and life satisfaction and stress on the other hand. This study provides initial empirical evidence and contributes novel empirical insights by combining multimethod data sources and LLM-based narrative analysis, advancing our understanding of how different forms of neurodivergence affect well-being.
Publication date: Fri, 23 Jan 2026 21:54:14 -0800 Access the article >>Universal threads: Shared sociopolitical roots and consequences of extrasensory perception and pseudoscientific beliefs
While irrational beliefs cluster together, their content differs widely, from beliefs about collective memories shaping biological properties (pseudoscientific) to those about premonition (extrasensory). This difference might extend further—they might reflect a similar information processing style but be differently embedded in worldviews; for example, pseudoscientific beliefs are typically endorsed by conservatives. Across three studies (two preregistered) in two post-conflict countries (total N = 1042), followed by an internal meta-analysis, we investigated whether pseudoscientific and extrasensory perception beliefs (1) are related to a less analytical but more intuitive thinking style, prone to contradictions and fatalistic thinking, but (2) are differentially linked to a conservative, authoritarian and ethnocentric worldview, and (3) are differentially related to past use of non-evidence-based practices, extrasensory perception experiences and civic activism. As expected, both beliefs were similarly predicted by information processing style. However, they were also similarly predicted by authoritarian and, to a lesser extent, ethnocentric views. Moreover, both beliefs were tied to similar behavioural patterns. We argue that the relationship among a conservative worldview, irrational beliefs and socially relevant behaviours is important for understanding how public policies get politicized.
Publication date: Tue, 20 Jan 2026 20:39:50 -0800 Access the article >>Borderline personality mediates the link between attachment insecurities and subjective working memory deficits: The role of pre‐emptive and post‐emptive strategies
Individuals with attachment insecurities, particularly attachment anxiety, often report subjective working memory deficits (SWMD). However, the psychological mechanisms underlying this relationship remain poorly understood. In this project, we propose that borderline personality disorder (BPD) features help explain this link. We tested this model across three studies, including one preregistered study, conducted with Russian, Turkish, and Polish samples. In Study 1, both attachment anxiety and avoidance predicted SWMD, with the former effect being stronger than the latter. The indirect effects of attachment anxiety and avoidance on SWMD via BPD were significant, with the former effect being stronger as the latter. Study 2 introduced gaze anxiety as an additional mediator, revealing that attachment avoidance had stronger indirect effects via gaze anxiety, a potential pre-emptive strategy, while attachment anxiety's effect was stronger via BPD, a potential post-emptive pathway. In preregistered Study 3, reflective functioning mediated the associations between attachment insecurities and SWMD, contrary to our moderation hypothesis. Importantly, relationships between attachment anxiety and SWMD remained robust after controlling for personality traits and personality disorders. Results are consistent with the role of different regulatory strategies in explaining how attachment insecurities contribute to subjective cognitive difficulties.
Publication date: Tue, 20 Jan 2026 03:09:11 -0800 Access the article >>Differential relationships of positive and negative parenting styles on primary school children’s academic achievement: Learning anxiety and learning engagement matter
Parenting styles are widely recognized as influencing academic achievement; however, the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain inadequately understood. Drawing on the dynamic systems theory and the family systems theory, the present study recruited 481 children (222 boys, Mage = 9.90 ± 0.69 years old) to investigate the longitudinal associations between positive/negative parenting styles and academic achievement and to further explore how learning anxiety and learning engagement may mediate these relationships. Results indicated that (1) negative parenting, but not positive parenting, had a negative direct effect on academic achievement; (2) both positive and negative parenting predicted higher academic achievement through increased learning engagement, but not through learning anxiety; and (3) learning anxiety and learning engagement acted as sequential mediators in the link between positive parenting styles and academic achievement. Overall, these findings highlight how parenting approaches shape children's learning and academic results by influencing their emotional and motivational characteristics from a developmental perspective.
Publication date: Mon, 19 Jan 2026 23:07:06 -0800 Access the article >>Comparability between AI and human cognition and its role in psychological research and AI ethics
With the advances in AI technology, comparison studies between humans and AI can not only enhance our understanding of information processing mechanisms underlying human cognition but also facilitate our understanding of AI systems' behaviour and interactions with humans. In particular, explainable AI (XAI) methods, including both computational and experimental methods, can be used to reveal the mechanisms underlying AI's behaviour and its interactions with humans. This information can be used (1) as computational models to study human behaviour, (2) for updating users' beliefs about AI during the interactions, and (3) for evaluation purposes to examine potential ethical issues associated with AI adoption. Different AI systems may require different XAI methods to accurately reveal their underlying mechanisms to facilitate the comparisons with humans. Thus, an important future research direction is to develop task-specific XAI methods through interdisciplinary approaches across psychology and AI to benefit both psychological research and the development of ethical AI.
Publication date: Sun, 18 Jan 2026 23:44:59 -0800 Access the article >>Perinatal women dominantly protect—rather than submissively cede—resources when interacting with threatening‐looking others
When competing for resources, people appear particularly sensitive to social cues of threat, tending to submissively cede resources to more (vs. less) threatening-looking others. This tendency appears especially pronounced among those that are physically weaker and thus more vulnerable to harm. One phase of adult life during which humans are particularly vulnerable is the perinatal period, the months leading up to and immediately after parturition (giving birth). Previous evidence and models of parental care and motivation suggest that individuals would be especially sensitive to threats during this phase. Accordingly, here we tested for the first time the preregistered prediction that perinatal (vs. non-perinatal) women would submissively cede more to threatening-looking others when competing over resources. Contrary to these predictions, results showed that women in this phase (n = 86, tested at ~29 weeks gestation and 1-month postpartum) were less sensitive to social threat than were non-perinatal women (n = 53), dominantly protecting rather than submissively ceding resources against threatening-looking male strangers. These findings suggest that pregnancy may affect social and economic decision-making by reducing (rather than increasing) submissiveness to threat, consistent with a ‘maternal aggression’ response documented in many non-human mammals.
Publication date: Fri, 16 Jan 2026 00:00:00 -0800 Access the article >>Editorial acknowledgement
British Journal of Psychology, Volume 117, Issue 1, Page 429-431, February 2026.
Publication date: Thu, 08 Jan 2026 21:49:06 -0800 Access the article >>Introducing the British Psychological Society Journal's Landmark Issue on digital futures
British Journal of Psychology, Volume 117, Issue 1, Page 1-2, February 2026.
Publication date: Thu, 08 Jan 2026 21:49:06 -0800 Access the article >>Issue Information
British Journal of Psychology, Volume 117, Issue 1, Page i-iv, February 2026.
Publication date: Thu, 08 Jan 2026 21:49:06 -0800 Access the article >>We are what we eat: Cross‐cultural self‐prioritization effects for food stimuli
Previous research has shown that the concept of self is malleable and can be associated with various arbitrary stimuli. This study explored whether the self could be linked to images of food representative of one's own or a different culture. We compared two groups, Italian and Japanese individuals, whose cultures are both characterized by rich and distinctive food traditions. Participants performed a perceptual matching task, associating themselves with either Italian or Japanese food, depending on the block. They also reported their food habits and preferences. The findings revealed that, in both groups, the self could extend to include food stimuli from both cultural categories. However, the self was more strongly associated with food typical of the participant's own culture. Additionally, this association was unrelated to reluctance to try unfamiliar foods, as measured by the Food Neophobia Scale. These results underscore the central role of food in shaping personal identity, supporting the hypothesis of a modulatory effect of valence on the strength of self-association with arbitrary items and suggesting that self-related food associations may influence food preferences.
Publication date: Thu, 08 Jan 2026 21:49:06 -0800 Access the article >>Misophonia symptom severity is linked to impaired flexibility and heightened rumination
Misophonia is a disorder involving sensitivity to certain sounds and related stimuli. Here, we explore the relationship between misophonia and affective flexibility, which describes cognitive shifting abilities in the face of emotion-evoking stimuli. The secondary aim of this study is to test the potential association between misophonia and cognitive flexibility, building upon findings from previous research. The third objective is to examine the relationship between misophonia and rumination. One hundred and forty participants completed the Memory and Affective Flexibility Task (MAFT), designed to assess affective flexibility, as well as a battery of self-report measures to evaluate misophonia severity, cognitive flexibility, and rumination. Results suggested an inverse relationship between affective flexibility as measured by switch accuracy, but not reaction time, and misophonia severity. Cognitive flexibility was also inversely associated with misophonia severity, but was not attributed to task-based affective flexibility, suggesting two independent constructs both involved in misophonia manifestation. Rumination associated positively with misophonia severity and inversely with cognitive flexibility, but not affective flexibility. Taken together, these findings highlight a unique cognitive profile of misophonia, characterized by rigidity at the psychological level through cognitive inflexibility and rumination, as well as at the executive function level in terms of affective switching difficulties.
Publication date: Thu, 08 Jan 2026 21:49:06 -0800 Access the article >>The rhythm of sensory input shapes audio‐visual temporal processing
The temporal relationship between incoming signals is crucial in determining whether multisensory information is integrated into unitary percepts. Temporal binding windows (TBWs) define the time range within which multisensory inputs are highly likely to be perceptually integrated, even if asynchronous. TBWs widen with stimulus complexity and neurodevelopmental conditions (e.g., autism and schizophrenia), yet the key factors underlying their malleability remain unclear. The (quasi)rhythmic properties of sensory inputs, frequently embedded in natural stimuli (e.g., speech), are among the possible exogenous modulators. Indeed, stimulus spectral features can influence the alignment of neural excitability across sensory regions, synchronizing brain rhythms with external rhythmic patterns through phase-reset mechanisms and neural entrainment. In a series of psychophysical studies, we presented simultaneity judgement tasks with pulsing audio-visual (AV) streams amplitude-modulated according to different regular frequencies or following purely rhythmic vs. quasi-rhythmic (speech-like) envelopes. Results show that TBWs decrease as the stimulus frequency increases and that speech-like streams are integrated across larger TBWs. These findings highlight the importance of stimulus spectral structure in shaping multisensory perception. Furthermore, they show that quasi-rhythmic spectrotemporal features of speech-like streams induce more tolerant cross-modal temporal processing even when the leading stimulation frequency is controlled for, putatively reflecting an adaptation to the variable rhythmic structure of natural speech. Our results align with neurophysiological accounts of neural entrainment and motivate future research in clinical populations with multisensory processing deficits.
Publication date: Thu, 08 Jan 2026 21:49:06 -0800 Access the article >>Not so different and not deficient: First‐ and continuing‐generation students' selves and self‐discrepancies
Previous research has often portrayed first-generation college students – students whose parents do not have a four-year university degree – through a deficit lens, depicting them as lacking in skills, knowledge or potential compared to continuing-generation students. It, however, remains unknown how first-generation and continuing-generation students perceive themselves with respect to their own goals and obligations. Who do they want to be and to what extent do they think of themselves as meeting their own goals and obligations? To answer these questions, we assessed students' ideal and ought selves, as well as self-discrepancies, based on Higgins's theory (Higgins, 1987), in a relatively large sample of students in the US (N = 1244) across three waves. Overall, we found no significant differences in the content of ideal and ought selves, or perceived self-discrepancies between first-generation and continuing-generation students. Responses were strikingly similar, with both groups mentioning almost identical characteristics for their ideal and ought selves. Furthermore, there were no significant differences in ideal or ought self-discrepancies between the two groups of students. Despite common deficit narratives, first-generation students did not think of themselves as being further away from their aspired selves than continuing-generation students.
Publication date: Thu, 08 Jan 2026 21:49:06 -0800 Access the article >>Lonely individuals reveal proximal social avoidance and distal general approach motivation: Evidence from time perception in social and non‐social contexts
Loneliness is a major public health issue, leading to serious physical and mental health problems. Research has shown that trait-like, chronically lonely individuals exhibit either avoidance or approach behaviour towards social connections. However, how social avoidance and approach motivation co-occur in trait-like, chronically lonely individuals remains unclear. We hypothesized that loneliness would first induce social avoidance and then approach motivation, given the inherent negative bias of loneliness and the general process model of threat and defence, which asserts that threat first activates avoidance motivation followed by approach motivation. To test this hypothesis, we used sub- and supra-second time bisection tasks in social and non-social contexts based on the motivational dimensional model of time perception. The results showed that high-loneliness (HL) and low-loneliness (LL) individuals had similar sub-second time estimates in non-social contexts. However, HL individuals lengthened time in the sub-second range in social contexts and shortened time in the supra-second range compared to LL individuals, regardless of social or non-social context. These findings suggest that HL individuals exhibit proximal social avoidance and distal general approach as a defence mechanism, which is consistent with the general process model of threat and defence and extends the evolutionary theory of loneliness.
Publication date: Thu, 08 Jan 2026 21:49:06 -0800 Access the article >>Choosing to know: Children's decision to actively request social‐norm information and their sharing behaviour
We examined the sharing behaviour of children (aged 6–12) when presented with a generous vs. a selfish norm of sharing, or after having a choice of whether or not to request the (same) social-norm information. We found that with age children shared more overall and were more influenced by the generous norm in their recommendations to others. Moreover, the results show a significant effect of information-seeking on children's behaviour: children who were presented with the choice to request social-norm information and actively chose to request it were significantly more influenced by the information in their own sharing decisions and in their recommendation to others, compared with children who were presented with the same social-norm information without asking for it. The findings highlight the importance of an active search for information, rather than the information content per se, as a key factor in understanding the effect of social-norm information on children's sharing behaviour.
Publication date: Thu, 08 Jan 2026 21:49:06 -0800 Access the article >>Calling in crisis: How intolerance of uncertainty shaped occupational calling before and during the pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected physical and mental health, while also posing potential challenges to future career prospects. College students are a special group facing the dual dilemma of potential disruptions to both their academic pursuits and career planning. As yet, little is known about how major stressful events or uncertain situations have influenced the occupational calling of students engaged in job preparation. We explored changes in occupational calling among Chinese college students before and after the COVID-19 outbreak (late 2019 and late 2020, N = 684; Study 1), and during the pandemic (May 2022 to March 2023, N = 460; Study 2). Given the pandemic's inherent uncertainty, individual differences in intolerance of uncertainty (IU) may shape how people perceive and respond to such events. Our findings indicated a significant decline in occupational calling from pre- to post-outbreak (Study 1), but no decline in the third year following the outbreak (Study 2). Interestingly, individuals with lower IU exhibited a steeper decline in occupational calling post-outbreak. These results not only deepen theoretical understanding of how major public crises influence the development of occupational calling, but also provide practical insights for supporting youth career development in an era marked by persistent uncertainty.
Publication date: Thu, 08 Jan 2026 21:49:06 -0800 Access the article >>Eyewitness testimony by individuals who stammer: Evidence, experience and perceived credibility
Stammering may impede an individual's eyewitness testimony and reduce jurors' perceptions of their credibility through a complex interplay of bio-psycho-social factors. However, no research to date has explored this. Three co-produced, mixed-methods studies are reported, investigating the evidential quality, lived experiences and perceived credibility of people who stammer (PWS) as witnesses. In pre-registered Study 1, PWS recalled as much correct information as non-stammering witnesses overall. However, during the free – but not cued – recall interview phase, PWS provided fewer correct details. A reflexive thematic analysis of participants' post-testimony reflections captured how PWS experienced a cyclical relationship between communicative pressure, anxiety over listener misperceptions and stammer severity, which they navigated either by employing avoidance strategies at the expense of testimony or by speaking through their stammer. In pre-registered Study 2, mock jurors rated PWS as less confident yet more likeable and trustworthy than non-stammering witnesses. In Study 3, providing jurors with information about stammering further improved their likeability and trustworthiness but had no impact on perceived confidence. Findings provide new insight into communication disorders in legal contexts – and the unique challenges faced by PWS in particular – demonstrating the need for systemic accommodations and targeted training for legal professionals.
Publication date: Thu, 08 Jan 2026 21:49:06 -0800 Access the article >>“I got all sorts of solitude, but that solitude wasn't mine”: A mixed‐methods approach to understanding aloneness during becoming a mother
This study examines the evolving experiences of “aloneness” in first-time mothers during their transition to motherhood. While the term is often used to describe new mothers' experiences, it tends to blur distinct yet overlapping constructs such as solitude, loneliness, and social isolation. Study 1 involved qualitative interviews with 22 mothers, revealing three themes: the ambivalent companionship of a baby, the multifaceted nature of post-motherhood aloneness, and a shift in priorities that diminished both the quantity and quality of solitude. Although mothers often spent more time physically alone, solitude free from caregiving demands became scarce, contributing to increased loneliness and isolation. Time alone with a baby was perceived variably, depending on interaction level and caregiving demands. Study 2 analysed one-week Ecological Momentary Assessment data from 47 new mothers, tracking daily activities and emotional well-being. Personal time (time spent for oneself) and social time were both linked to improved mood. These findings highlight the challenges of accessing restorative time when under sustained emotional and cognitive demands. Beyond early parenthood, this study extends solitude research by providing empirical evidence that subjective solitude is shaped not only by social presence or absence but also by the psychological load imposed by social demands.
Publication date: Thu, 08 Jan 2026 21:49:06 -0800 Access the article >>The longitudinal relationship between family socioeconomic status and students' academic achievement: The mediating roles of learning anxiety‐learning engagement profiles and the moderating role of negative parenting styles
This study examined the longitudinal relationship between family socioeconomic status (family SES) and students' academic achievement through learning anxiety-learning engagement profiles and the moderating role of negative parenting styles. Using longitudinal data from 425 Chinese primary students (200 boys, M age = 9.73 ± 0.86 years old) across three seasons (winter, spring and summer) with three-month intervals, latent profile analysis identified three learning anxiety-learning engagement profiles: “High Anxiety-Low Engagement”, “High Anxiety-Moderate Engagement” and “Low Anxiety-High Engagement”. Mediation analysis revealed that, compared to the “Low Anxiety-High Engagement” group, the “High Anxiety-Moderate Engagement” group significantly mediated the relationship between family SES and academic achievement. Additionally, negative parenting styles moderated the association between family SES and learning anxiety-learning engagement profiles. These findings support both the family stress and investment models, suggesting that interventions should be tailored to families with differing SES levels.
Publication date: Thu, 08 Jan 2026 21:49:06 -0800 Access the article >>Individual and community post‐traumatic growth: A data‐driven examination of person, process, and contextual factors
This study investigated factors associated with post-traumatic growth (PTG) after severe traumatic societal events. Utilizing a quota-representative sample of 931 Israeli Jews, we assessed individual and community PTG following the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023, alongside a range of factors guided by Bronfenbrenner's Process-Person-Context-Time (PPCT) model. Using data-driven techniques, we identified three distinct growth profiles: relatively high individual and collective PTG (n = 354), high PTG on all dimensions (n = 273), and secular growth showing high PTG in general but not in spiritual terms (n = 322). Higher levels of religious identification, involvement, and coping, altruistic behaviour, social support, optimism, and mindfulness, as well as lower levels of pessimism, were found in the group(s) with the highest PTG. This research highlights the potentially high societal resilience reported after a large-scale traumatic event, identifying factors that may be tested for their potential to maximize growth in the aftermath of trauma.
Publication date: Thu, 08 Jan 2026 21:49:06 -0800 Access the article >>Self‐directed speech and attention deficit hyperactive disorder‐like behaviours
One of the behaviours associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) is talking in a manner considered to be socially inappropriate. It follows, therefore, that self-directed speech, including inner dialogue, will be particularly prevalent among adults who exhibit traits typical of ADHD. In three experiments, we tested this prediction. Participants completed the ASRS-v1.1 together with either the Self-Talk Scale (Experiment 1; N = 198) or the Varieties of Inner Speech Questionnaire (Experiment 2; N = 198). Results from both experiments revealed that participants with behaviours typical of an ADHD diagnosis reported significantly more self-directed speech than those whose behaviours were not typical of ADHD. A third experiment (N = 198) replicated these findings and also found that the effect does not distinguish between overt and covert speech. Overall, these data suggest that self-talking is more prevalent in individuals with relatively high levels of ADHD traits. We speculate that talking to oneself may represent a useful displacement activity or acts as a camouflage technique for those with the condition.
Publication date: Thu, 08 Jan 2026 21:49:06 -0800 Access the article >>Conceptual trait associations predict impressions of highly variable faces
People form consequential trait judgements from seeing others' faces. The influential dynamic interactive theory suggests that trait judgements reflect the combined use of visual cues from faces (e.g. smiling looks trustworthy) with individuals' own conceptual trait associations (e.g. believing trustworthy people are also kind), thus far supported for impressions of highly constricted neutral faces in the US cultural context. Here, we provide a stringent new test of the dynamic interactive theory by examining whether conceptual trait associations predict impressions of highly variable everyday faces, within and across cultures and individuals. Study 1 shows that conceptual trait associations predict impressions of highly variable everyday faces in British perceivers. Study 2 demonstrates that British and Chinese perceivers' conceptual trait associations (expressed in English and Mandarin, respectively) predict impressions of highly variable White and Asian faces similarly. Study 3 finds that individuals' conceptual trait associations predict their impressions of highly variable face images. Together, we show for the first time that conceptual trait associations predict impressions even when faces provide rich visual cues and extend this understanding beyond Western perceivers, faces and languages. Our findings thus offer independent support for dynamic interactive theory in naturalistic impressions across cultures.
Publication date: Thu, 08 Jan 2026 21:49:06 -0800 Access the article >>‘Sweet poison’ and ‘mild medicine’: Different effects of collective narcissism and collective self‐esteem on ingroup versus outgroup conspiracy beliefs
Collective narcissism and non-narcissistic ingroup positivity (notably collective self-esteem) are associated differently with conspiracy beliefs. We conducted three cross-sectional surveys in China and the United States that distinguished between ingroup and outgroup conspiracy beliefs, to explore the intricate relationships and underlying mechanisms of these variables. Studies 1 (N = 800) and 2 (N = 385) showed that, in China, collective narcissism was positively associated with outgroup conspiracy belief (partially mediated by increased perceived threat from the outgroup) and with ingroup conspiracy belief (partially mediated by increased instrumental treatment of ingroup members); collective self-esteem was positively associated with outgroup conspiracy belief (fully mediated by increased victim consciousness), but negatively with ingroup conspiracy belief (fully mediated by increased system-justifying belief). Study 3 (N = 397) only replicated the significant positive relationship between collective narcissism and outgroup conspiracy belief in a US sample, and the partial mediating effect of increased perceived threat from the outgroup in it, while the other three paths were not statistically significant. These findings suggest that the association between different forms of ingroup positivity (narcissistic versus non-narcissistic) and conspiracy beliefs is influenced both by the identity of the conspirators (ingroup versus outgroup) and cultural context.
Publication date: Thu, 08 Jan 2026 21:49:06 -0800 Access the article >>Effects of social exclusion on following the gaze of others
Evidence shows that social exclusion motivates to paying attention to the situation to reconnect with others or to protect oneself from further exclusion. However, it is unclear how social attention is affected by who offers an opportunity to reconnect. Two studies filled this gap by assessing whether being excluded affects our propensity to share attention with another individual (seen or novel) with a happy or a neutral expression. Findings show a significant three-way interaction with differences in gaze cueing between groups only for seen faces with a neutral expression. Gaze-cueing effects for seen (excluders) faces with a neutral expression occurred in 73% of socially excluded individuals – this was 33% for seen (includers) faces for socially included. There were no differences in gaze cueing for novel faces with happy or neutral expressions. In Study 2, social information about faces was learned without direct exclusion. Here, the proportion of participants showing the effect observed in Study 1 and the associations between gaze cueing and emotional expressions differed. In line with the social monitoring system theory, individuals in the immediate aftermath of exclusion remain socially engaged, displaying a dual attentional strategy: vigilance towards the excluder and openness to affiliative signals from novel others.
Publication date: Thu, 08 Jan 2026 21:49:06 -0800 Access the article >>It's my fault, I should try harder! The narratives of self‐made upward mobility sustain belief in meritocracy in low social mobility context
Rags-to-riches narratives are inspiring; however, they may inadvertently perpetuate the meritocratic myth, particularly in contexts of low social mobility. Across five studies, we demonstrate that self-made upward mobility narratives increase people's meritocratic beliefs and motivate them to exert greater effort, especially in low mobility contexts. Watching such narratives is positively associated with meritocratic beliefs in low social mobility conditions (Pilot Study). Recalling such a narrative (Study 1), being exposed to these narratives in a fictitious society (Study 2) or encountering them in specific scenarios from a first-person (Study 3a) or third-person perspective (Study 3b), leads participants to engage in system justification, blame failure and accept or legitimize exploitation through meritocratic beliefs in low mobility contexts. Interpreting such narratives in a non-meritocratic way can mitigate these effects (Study 4). In summary, we uncover a rather small but robust effect: Even and especially in low mobility contexts, exposure to self-made upward mobility narratives strengthens individuals' belief in the power of personal effort. This, in turn, prompts them to justify the system and push themselves harder.
Publication date: Thu, 08 Jan 2026 21:49:06 -0800 Access the article >>Why existential threats increase conspiracy beliefs: Evidence for the mediating roles of agency detection and pattern perception
This research investigates the cognitive mechanisms linking health-related existential threats to conspiracy beliefs within a Chinese context. Study 1 (N = 199) demonstrated that the relationship between perceived existential threats and outgroup conspiracy beliefs is mediated by hypersensitive agency detection through an experimental manipulation involving a monkeypox virus threat. Studies 2a (N = 198) and 2b (N = 200) revealed that illusory pattern perception also mediates this relationship. In Study 3 (N = 278, using a manipulation of threatening information about genetically modified foods) and in Study 4 (N = 296, using information about Japan's discharge of nuclear sewage), both hypersensitive agency detection and illusory pattern perception mediated this relationship. Additional mini-meta-analyses further corroborated these findings. We conclude that the effects of existential threats on outgroup conspiracy beliefs are mediated by hypersensitive agency detection and illusory pattern perception.
Publication date: Thu, 08 Jan 2026 21:49:06 -0800 Access the article >>Measuring the felt sense of dehumanization: A COSMIN systematic review of the psychometric properties of self‐ and meta‐dehumanization measures
There is increasing awareness of the clinical relevance of self- and meta-dehumanization. With various measures available for use, evidence of robust reliability and validity is essential before implementation. This review aimed to evaluate the psychometric strength and methodological quality of self- and meta-dehumanization measures and make recommendations for practice using Consensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement Instruments (COSMIN) guidance. A systematic search of Web of Science, PubMed, PsycINFO and Scopus was conducted to identify studies reporting on the development or validation of a measure of self- or meta-dehumanization. Of 5190 records, 26 studies containing 29 distinct outcome measures were identified (14 self-dehumanization and 15 meta-dehumanization). In general, there was a lack of involvement from people with lived experience in measure development, leading to very low quality of evidence for content validity. Strength and quality of other psychometric properties varied, with only some measures demonstrating sufficient high-quality ratings. Based on COSMIN guidance, only one measure, the Experience of Dehumanization Measure (Golossenko et al., Br. J. Soc. Psychol., 62, 2023, 1285), can be currently recommended for use. It is recommended that future research looks to: (1) improve efforts to validate existing measures and (2) develop gold standard measures in collaboration with people with lived experience.
Publication date: Thu, 08 Jan 2026 21:49:06 -0800 Access the article >>Moving to wheat‐farming regions increases analytic thought, but moving to cities does not: A three‐wave longitudinal study
Does moving to a new environment change people's cultural thought style? We tracked the cultural thought style of 1462 university students at 18 sites over time after they moved across China for college. We tested their holistic thought, which is more common in interdependent cultures. One logical prediction is that students would think less holistically after moving to big cities and more economically developed areas, in line with modernization theory. However, moving to bigger cities or more-developed areas did not predict decreases in holistic thought. Instead, regions' history of rice versus wheat farming predicted change in thought style. Within just five months, students who moved to wheat-farming prefectures thought less holistically than people who moved to rice-farming prefectures. This fits with the idea that rice farming required more coordination and interdependence than wheat farming. In a follow-up wave three years later, differences widened between students in rice and wheat areas. This three-wave longitudinal study documents the transmission of cultural differences in cognition, even without personal experience farming. The results suggest that China's farming history is still shaping cultural differences in the modern day.
Publication date: Thu, 08 Jan 2026 21:49:06 -0800 Access the article >>Effects of emotional variability on social evaluations of faces: An advantage of low variability
When people see another person's face, they can quickly infer traits and make social evaluations from them, a process known as social perception of faces. Previous studies have investigated the effects of emotion on social evaluations but have mainly focused on single expressions. The present study examined how intra-individual emotional variability across multiple faces affects judgements of warmth and competence. In Experiment 1, mixed-valence sets containing both happy and angry faces were used, and emotional variability was manipulated by varying the emotional distance of faces. Results showed that the positive warmth and competence words were perceived as more appropriate to describe faces with low variability compared with high variability (Exp1a). This low-variability advantage persisted after controlling for extreme expressions and generalized to additional warm and competent traits (Exp1b). Experiments 2a and 2b tested the variability effects across happy-only, angry-only, and mixed-valence sets. Positive sets received the highest ratings, mixed-valence sets intermediate, and negative sets the lowest on both dimensions. Importantly, a significant main effect of variability emerged only for competence ratings, with low-variability faces rated higher than high-variability faces. In summary, our study indicates that low emotional variability has an advantage in social evaluations over high emotional variability.
Publication date: Wed, 07 Jan 2026 04:02:45 -0800 Access the article >>Testing the impact of fallacies and contrarian claims in climate change misinformation
Climate misinformation reduces public acceptance of climate change and undermines support for mitigation policies. This study explored the impact of different types of climate misinformation, examining through content-based and logic-based frameworks. The content-based framework was based on a taxonomy of contrarian claims consisting of five categories—it's not real, it's not us, it's not bad, climate solutions won't work and scientists are not reliable. The logic-based framework examined six rhetorical techniques used in science denial arguments—misrepresentation, false equivalence, oversimplification, red herring, cherry picking and slothful induction. We experimentally tested 30 misinformation examples, crossing five content categories with six fallacies. Participants rated the perceived veracity of misinformation as well as the likelihood of interacting with it. We found no main effect of fallacy on perceived veracity or likelihood to interact but did find a main effect of content category, with the fourth category (climate solutions won't work) perceived as most veracious. We also found that content categories interacted with political ideology, replicating past research into the polarizing effect of climate misinformation. Specifically, the most polarizing categories of misinformation were those targeting climate solutions or attacking climate scientists. Our results highlight the need to prioritize combatting misinformation that targets solutions and scientists.
Publication date: Mon, 29 Dec 2025 20:22:14 -0800 Access the article >>Economic inequality fosters unethical behaviour by promoting the perception of immoral and competitive normative climates
Economic inequality was found to be positively related to unethical behaviours, but the underlying psychological mechanisms have not been well studied. Through five studies, this research explored the psychological mechanisms and boundary conditions between economic inequality and unethical behaviour. Study 1 (N = 165,622) provided primary evidence for the relationship between inequality and unethical behaviour based on large-scale publicly available databases. Using well-established questionnaires, Study 2 (N = 394) indicated that economic inequality positively predicted immoral and competitive normative climates, which positively predicted unethical behaviour. Study 3 (N = 160) and Study 4 (N = 188) provided causal evidence for the effect of economic inequality and repeatedly verified the mediating roles of immoral and competitive normative climates. Study 5 (N = 300) indicated that income level moderated the effect of economic inequality on unethical behaviour by moderating the mediating effect of immoral and competitive normative climates. In societies with high inequality, participants in low-income groups perceived stronger immoral and competitive normative climates, thereby engaging in more unethical behaviours. This research offers explanations for the prevalence of unethical behaviours in unequal societies, contributing to extend the emerging literature in social-ecological psychology that explores how macro-social-ecological factors impact micro-behaviours.
Publication date: Tue, 23 Dec 2025 21:30:20 -0800 Access the article >>Trust learning in the repeated trust game: A meta‐analytic study
Trust involves making oneself vulnerable by relying on the expectation that others will reciprocate and act in a trustworthy manner, leading to mutual benefit. In behavioural economics and psychology, the Trust Game (TG) is a widely used paradigm to measure trust. The repeated TG is a modified version of the TG in which participants encounter the same partner(s) multiple times, allowing for reputation and trust learning. The aim of the present meta-analysis was to identify features of the repeated TG, participant characteristics, and manipulations of partner trustworthiness that affect trust learning. This is the first meta-analytic study to specifically assess trust learning in the repeated TG and included 404 effect sizes from over 8000 participants from 68 studies. Our findings indicate that the partners' behavioural trustworthiness, in the form of their reciprocation rate, is by far the most influential factor in participant trust learning (β = 3.0). Furthermore, the results reveal that manipulating prior information about partners can have an effect on the amount of learning, but only for manipulations of trustworthiness/morality. Notably, in ingroup–outgroup studies, participants learn from their partners' trustworthiness and it is not affected by their partners' group membership.
Publication date: Mon, 15 Dec 2025 05:05:10 -0800 Access the article >>How AI can advance psychological science
Artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed scientific inquiry across disciplines, including the psychological sciences. In psychology, AI serves not only as an analytic tool but also as a computational model of the very processes the field seeks to explain. In this commentary, I highlight several ways in which AI can advance fundamental questions in psychological science beyond traditional approaches, thanks to its unprecedented ability to generate high-level perceptual and cognitive human-like representations. These developments provide psychologists with powerful new tools that, if embraced, can significantly advance our understanding of the human mind and behaviour.
Publication date: Tue, 09 Dec 2025 04:30:45 -0800 Access the article >>Added value of AI for psychology or added value of psychology for AI?
In this commentary, I express my concern that the special issue focuses too much on the added value of AI for psychology, while psychological research also has much to offer, such as the operationalization of variables based on theory, validation tools and the statistical evaluation of information generated by AI systems.
Publication date: Fri, 05 Dec 2025 04:04:27 -0800 Access the article >>A novel index to measure pre‐planning in the Tower of London task: Test–retest reliability and known‐group validity
The Tower of London (TOL) is a planning task frequently used in clinical settings and research. Planning and execution times are the most common outcome variables despite yielding lower effect sizes in clinical group comparisons and lower test–retest reliability than planning accuracy. Here, it is proposed that planning time be analysed not in isolation, but in relation to the combined duration of planning and execution, yielding a novel pre-planning index (PPI). In N = 179 healthy participants, test–retest reliability analyses yielded higher absolute agreement and less intra-individual variability over two sessions for PPI than for planning and execution times. The clinical validity of PPI was probed by comparing patients known to exhibit planning deficits and healthy controls. Stroke and Parkinson's patients showed significantly lower PPI than controls, driven by reduced planning and longer execution times. There was no difference in PPI between patients with mild cognitive impairment and controls. Consistently across healthy participants and patients, the positive correlation of PPI with planning accuracy exceeded that of planning times with accuracy. Thus, this pre-planning index can enhance both the reliability and clinical validity of TOL latency variables and represents a useful complement to accuracy for measuring planning performance in health and disease.
Publication date: Fri, 28 Nov 2025 02:59:33 -0800 Access the article >>On how people describe paintings with mirrors
Since antiquity humans have been fascinated by mirrors; yet, when asked to predict what is made visible in the reflection, or to interpret a scene with a mirror, observers make systematic errors. Many observers claim that a character in a scene is looking at themselves when their reflection is visible, despite not sharing the same viewpoint. The first part of the study consisted of a survey of artworks containing mirrors, and the creation of a catalogue. The second part, using 21 artworks and an online methodology (N = 97), confirmed that the Venus effect impacts most participants. The third part (N = 101) tested whether the effect relates to cognitive/emotional perspective-taking – taking the perspective of someone else – or visual perspective-taking – understanding what can be seen from a certain viewpoint. We related the magnitude of the Venus effect to scores on the AQ test (as a measure of cognitive/emotional perspective-taking) and the ROMP test (as a measure of visual perspective-taking). AQ scores did not predict the Venus effect, and ROMP scores did. We conclude that the Venus effect is likely to occur because people fail to understand what can be seen from a given viewpoint.
Publication date: Fri, 21 Nov 2025 05:02:06 -0800 Access the article >>The relationship between parental control types and mental health types in Chinese adolescents
This study investigated the relationship between parental control types and mental health categories among Chinese adolescents. About 2240 adolescents (1267 males; M age = 14.09) were recruited and completed the Parental Control Scale, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Life Satisfaction Scale at two time points. Results revealed that adolescents' parental control could be classified into seven types, while mental health could be classified into three types. The key finding demonstrates significant dynamic interactions between these variables: at T1, the “high behavioral control-low psychological control” parental control type (e.g., behavioural guidance type) significantly promoted adolescents' transition towards more optimal mental health categories; conversely, adolescents classified in the “complete mental health” category at T1 were more likely to have parents exhibiting the “high behavioural control-low psychological control” positive parenting pattern at T2. This “virtuous cycle” pattern was confirmed, although the “vicious cycle” commonly observed in variable-centred research between psychological control and poor mental health did not fully emerge in this study. These findings elucidate the complex bidirectional relationships between perceived parental control and mental health development among Chinese adolescents.
Publication date: Thu, 20 Nov 2025 07:10:06 -0800 Access the article >>Demystifying the mist: Why do individuals hesitate to accept AI educational services?
Rapid advances in AI technology are fuelling the proliferation of AI applications across industries, including educational services. With the allure of intelligent tutoring, individuals now face the choice of their educational approach—either parental engagement or utilizing AI educational services. This research employs an experimental design approach to examine individuals' decision-making processes involving AI educational services. Across five studies, we observe that, relative to AI educational services, parental engagement induces less guilt, receives a higher valuation and increases individuals' willingness to recommend it to others. We attribute these preferences to a perceived parental responsibility. Intrinsic attribution and conformity promote individuals' WOM. This research is the first to uncover the impact of educational approaches on individuals' guilt and downstream behaviours in the AI-in-Education field, shedding light on attribution as its underlying mechanism and offering actionable strategies to enhance individuals' WOM. The findings offer novel insights to AI-human interaction psychological research and hold practical implications for AI-in-Education industry practitioners.
Publication date: Mon, 10 Nov 2025 23:58:55 -0800 Access the article >>Temporal dynamics of cue integration for sense of agency in social comparative context
Cue integration theory suggests that the sense of agency arises from the interaction of multiple cues, weighted by their reliability and availability. However, whether this integration is dynamic or static remains unclear. This study explored the potential dynamics of cue integration by examining the interplay between internal and external cues in social comparison contexts. Participants in the two experiments controlled a circle to a target location, with the circle's motion either fluent or disfluent. After completing the task, the participants received feedback on their performance relative to others, delivered in either a social (hand gestures in Experiment 1) or non-social format (arrow symbols in Experiment 2), presented either before or after they provided agency ratings. Results revealed that both socially and non-socially formatted feedback influenced agency ratings for future actions (forward modulation) as well as for past actions (backward modulation). Notably, a dynamic pattern of integration was evident only between socially formatted feedback and motion fluency: under disfluent motion, forward and backward effects of socially formatted feedback intensified over time. Conversely, with fluent motion, the impact of socially formatted feedback diminished over time. These findings underscore the complexity of cue integration, indicating a need to incorporate temporal dynamics into cue integration theory.
Publication date: Tue, 14 Oct 2025 04:24:29 -0700 Access the article >>Denialist vs. warmist climate change conspiracy beliefs: Ideological roots, psychological correlates and environmental implications
In the current research, we use network analysis to examine the structure, ideological foundations and correlates of climate change conspiracy theories, distinguishing between denialist and warmist beliefs. Denialist beliefs, typically endorsed on the political right, claim that climate change is exaggerated, whereas warmist beliefs, more prevalent on the left, allege the suppression of climate science and the downplaying of climate change. Across four studies, these beliefs showed a weak and unstable positive correlation but were reliably connected via indirect associations with general conspiracy beliefs and negatively through opposing relationships with denial of anthropogenic climate change (ACC) and conservatism. General conspiracy beliefs and denial of ACC were not directly connected but were instead related indirectly through climate-specific conspiracy beliefs: positively via denialist and negatively via warmist. We found no evidence across studies for an association between climate change conspiracy beliefs and indices of non-rational thinking. Finally, denialist beliefs were negatively associated with pro-environmental intentions, environmental concern, policy support and collective guilt, whereas warmist beliefs were positively related to these outcomes, except for environmental concern, where no significant relationship emerged. These findings highlight the importance of distinguishing ideological variants of climate change conspiracy beliefs to contextualize their psychological significance and potential impacts.
Publication date: Mon, 13 Oct 2025 22:08:59 -0700 Access the article >>Negative targets specifically enhance conscious and unconscious social attention
Humans are highly adept at utilizing various social signals, such as eye gaze and biological motion (BM), to detect important events (e.g. threat, reward) in the environment, a phenomenon termed social attention. Here we investigated whether the affective information carried by the contextual event would modulate this social attention behaviour. By introducing natural emotional pictures (negative, neutral and positive) as peripheral probing targets within the modified central cueing paradigm, we found that central BM induced a stronger attentional orienting effect towards negative targets than neutral and positive ones. Moreover, this modulation was observed in attentional effects induced by another well-known social cue (i.e. eye gaze), whereas no such effect was obtained with the non-social arrow cues. Importantly, this negativity bias persisted at the subliminal level, as shown by the significant attentional effects towards negative targets induced by unconscious social cues (i.e. BM, eye gaze). In contrast, no attentional effects were obtained with non-conscious arrow cues. Overall, these findings reveal a general enhancement of negative targets on conscious and unconscious social attention induced by different types of social signals (i.e. BM, eye gaze) and highlight the distinction of social attention compared to non-social attention in detecting potentially detrimental events.
Publication date: Fri, 10 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0700 Access the article >>Information and affective valence influence judgments of complexity, liking and understanding
Visual complexity is a key factor in perceptual and evaluative judgments. People's representation of visual complexity is constructed from quantitative and structural image features, but it is also influenced by familiarity and expertise. We examined how people represent visual complexity and its impact on perception and evaluation, focusing on information about paintings and their affective valence on judgments of visual complexity, liking and understanding. Seventy-six participants rated 60 representational artworks of negative, neutral, and positive valence on complexity, beauty and understanding. Half of the participants received written information about each artwork. Results showed that negative artworks were judged as more complex than neutral artworks and positive ones, but this effect was attenuated by the provided information. Liking judgments increased with judged complexity, were higher for positive artworks than neutral ones, for neutral than negative ones, and were higher when information was provided. Understanding judgments were higher for positive artworks than neutral ones, and higher for neutral artworks than negatively valenced ones. Information increased understanding only for negative artworks, and judged complexity did not affect these judgments. In sum, the representation of the visual complexity of an image is influenced by its valence and the available information, modulating judgments of complexity and liking, but not of understanding.
Publication date: Thu, 09 Oct 2025 00:04:48 -0700 Access the article >>Out of the dark – Psychological perspectives on people's fascination with true crime
The success of the true crime media genre reflects humanity's avid curiosity about violence, deviance, and murder, yet psychological research on this phenomenon is lacking. In this article, we highlight why true crime consumption may be relevant to various research fields that go beyond simple media preferences. Additionally, we present a large-scale behavioural investigation for comprehensive empirical insights into motives, and behavioural and well-being correlates of true crime consumption. In n = 307–571 participants, we (a) confirm a robust gender difference in true crime consumption in favour of women, and (b) find more general (morbid curiosity) and distinct motives (defensive vigilance, excitement) for true crime consumption. Additionally, (c) through principal component analysis, we extract five components from numerous variables (negative affectivity, antagonism, fear of crime, self-focused adaptive regulation, and affective creativity) to test for contributions to true crime consumption. Ultimately, (d) in multiple regression models, gender, income, fear of crime, and antagonism emerged as unique predictors of overall true crime consumption, though results varied for different formats (e.g., podcasts) and motives. Notably, defensive vigilance motivation (higher in women) was linked to more adaptive self-regulation. Our investigation adds to the emerging body of research on negative crime-related information seeking.
Publication date: Tue, 07 Oct 2025 22:10:09 -0700 Access the article >>Sampling and processing of climate change information and disinformation across three diverse countries
In the media, accurate climate information and climate disinformation often coexist and present competing narratives about climate change. Whereas previous research documented detrimental effects of disinformation on climate beliefs, little is known about how people seek climate-related content and how this varies between cross-cultural contexts. In a preregistered experiment, we studied how individuals sequentially sample and process Pro- and Anti-climate statements across 15 rounds. Participants from the United States, China, and Germany (N total = 2226) freely sampled real-world climate-related statements, retrieved from Twitter and validated in previous studies. Overall, reading both Pro- and Anti-climate statements influenced climate concern in all countries. Participants preferred statements that were better aligned with their initial climate beliefs, and this confirmatory tendency intensified the more information had been sampled. Moreover, participants' confirmatory evaluation (i.e., accepting aligned and rejecting opposing messages) increased over time. While climate concern was mostly stable, in the United States, climate concern levels and box choices mutually reinforced each other, leading to greater polarization within the sample over the course of the experiment. The paradigm offers new perspectives on how people process and navigate conflicting narratives about climate change.
Publication date: Thu, 25 Sep 2025 22:45:09 -0700 Access the article >>Not that different after all: Pro‐environmental social norms predict pro‐environmental behaviour (also) among those believing in conspiracy theories
Social norms are powerful predictors of pro-environmental behaviour. At the same time, conspiracy beliefs are prevalent that can reduce individuals' efforts to act pro-environmentally and might impede the influence of social norms. Across three cross-sectional studies in three countries (Germany, UK, US; total N = 1037), we investigated the interplay between different types of social norm perceptions and conspiracy beliefs in predicting everyday pro-environmental behaviour. Against two out of three hypotheses, we found no evidence that conspiracy beliefs moderated the relationship between perceived social norms and self-reported pro-environmental behaviour. Rather, perceiving higher pro-environmental social (especially subjective and injunctive) norms was associated with more frequent pro-environmental behaviour – also among those with stronger conspiracy beliefs. Conspiracy beliefs (especially those related to climate change) were, in turn, related to less pro-environmental behaviour. These findings shed light on the social factors that might influence individuals believing in conspiracy theories and give reason for optimism regarding the possibility to overcome their climate inaction via normative influence.
Publication date: Mon, 15 Sep 2025 23:05:38 -0700 Access the article >>Advice‐taking in carbon footprint assessments: How psychological and cultural factors shape reliance on experts' advice
In this pre-registered experiment conducted in the Netherlands and Türkiye (N total = 550), we investigated how the source of advice (peer vs. expert) influences people's decision-making when assessing the carbon footprint of a flight between two cities. We also examined whether this effect was influenced by their conspiracy mentality, collective narcissism, epistemic individualism, and climate change scepticism. Our findings suggest that people overall rely more on experts' advice than peers', especially in the Netherlands compared with Türkiye. Moreover, individuals high in conspiracy beliefs, epistemic individualism, and collective narcissism reduced the weight advantage typically given to expert advice over peer advice. Only a specific form of climate change scepticism (i.e., trend scepticism) showed similar effects. Overall, our results indicate that individuals who value their own opinion and harbour distrust towards experts or science tend to discount expert advice.
Publication date: Tue, 09 Sep 2025 21:40:43 -0700 Access the article >>Fighting fire with fire: Prebunking with the use of a plausible meta‐conspiracy framing
Prebunking can be used to pre-emptively refute conspiracy narratives. We developed a new approach to prebunking – fighting fire with fire – which introduces a plausible ‘meta-conspiracy’ suggesting that conspiracy theories are deliberately spread as part of a wider conspiracy. In two preregistered intervention studies, prebunking specific COVID-19 vaccine (Study 1, N = 720) and climate change (Study 2, N = 1077) conspiracy theories (e.g. that climate change is a hoax), with or without this meta-conspiracy framing, did not reduce beliefs in these specific conspiracy theories. However, some notable findings emerged. First, both fighting fire with fire and standard prebunking (Study 2) increased belief in plausible meta-conspiracies that questioned the original specific conspiracy theories. Second, across both studies, specific conspiracy beliefs negatively predicted behavioural intentions, while beliefs in meta-conspiracies positively predicted them. Third, specific conspiracy beliefs were negatively related to belief in plausible meta-conspiracies in both intervention studies (cf: Pilot Study). While this approach did not reduce specific conspiracy beliefs, it increased beliefs that were negatively associated with them and which were positively linked to behavioural intentions. We discuss these null effects and their implications for effective prebunking among conspiracy believers.
Publication date: Mon, 08 Sep 2025 02:36:52 -0700 Access the article >>The gateway (mis)belief model: How misinformation impacts perceptions of scientific consensus and attitudes towards climate change
Climate change is one of the greatest threats to humanity, necessitating immediate action to combat its consequences. Although there is a nearly unanimous scientific consensus that climate change is human-caused, misinformation doubting its causes continues to circulate widely. In this study, we test the Gateway (mis)Belief Model (GmBM) which assumes that misinformation affects perceived scientific consensus negatively, which then cascades down to lower support for public action to mitigate climate change via changes in key beliefs about the issue. We present a reanalysis of data from two online studies in which U.S. participants (N 1 = 207, N 2 = 755) were exposed to misinformation using a pre-post mixed design manipulating assessments of the scientific consensus on climate change. Results showed that misinformation indeed leads to lower estimations of scientific consensus, which cascade down to lower support for public action via corresponding beliefs. However, the pattern of significance of direct effects did not exactly replicate those in the original GBM, though misinformation still had negative direct (Experiments 1–2) and indirect effects (Experiment 2) on several downstream climate outcomes. These findings are further affirmed by an internal meta-analysis. Overall, this study highlights the negative impact of misinformation on climate attitudes and policy support.
Publication date: Mon, 01 Sep 2025 22:09:52 -0700 Access the article >>Blueprint of a smokescreen: Introducing the validated climate disinformation corpus for behavioural research on combating climate disinformation
Behavioural science research has the potential to develop evidence-based strategies to fight disinformation about climate science and climate mitigation action; however, this research has yet to be conducted systematically with validated sets of climate disinformation stimuli. Here, we present the Climate Disinformation Corpus, a collection of climate disinformation statements designed to systematize experimental research testing future disinformation interventions. Using computational social science techniques, we gathered climate disinformation stimuli from the social media platform Twitter/X. We identified 78 statements containing disinformation about the existence, the causes, the consequences of climate change, the reliability and objectivity of climate scientists, and arguing for the delay of climate policies. The Climate Disinformation Corpus showed good heterogeneity across 15 validation measures (e.g., perceived persuasiveness, perceived trustworthiness, and sharing intentions) in a validation study involving a representative sample of N = 503 British participants. Furthermore, the climate disinformation statements were correlated with four individual differences measures related to belief in climate science and support for climate actions, congruently with theoretical expectations. We conclude with practical suggestions on implementing the Climate Disinformation Corpus in disinformation research according to different research questions.
Publication date: Fri, 18 Jul 2025 21:49:15 -0700 Access the article >>The state of modelling face processing in humans with deep learning
Deep learning models trained for facial recognition now surpass the highest performing human participants. Recent evidence suggests that they also model some qualitative aspects of face processing in humans. This review compares the current understanding of deep learning models with psychological models of the face processing system. Psychological models consist of two components that operate on the information encoded when people perceive a face, which we refer to here as ‘face codes’. The first component, the core system, extracts face codes from retinal input that encode invariant and changeable properties. The second component, the extended system, links face codes to personal information about a person and their social context. Studies of face codes in existing deep learning models reveal some surprising results. For example, face codes in networks designed for identity recognition also encode expression information, which contrasts with psychological models that separate invariant and changeable properties. Deep learning can also be used to implement candidate models of the face processing system, for example to compare alternative cognitive architectures and codes that might support interchange between core and extended face processing systems. We conclude by summarizing seven key lessons from this research and outlining three open questions for future study.
Publication date: Wed, 14 May 2025 00:00:00 -0700 Access the article >>Why moral judgements change across variations of trolley‐like problems
In the standard ‘trolley problem’, respondents must decide whether to save a condemned group of individuals by sacrificing a safe bystander. Although respondents often are willing to sacrifice the bystander in some circumstances (e.g., by pulling a lever), they are loath to sacrifice the bystander in others (e.g., by pushing the bystander off a footbridge). This difference in responding has been explained via a Dual Process theory of moral judgements (DPT). DPT, however, is a classic boxes-and-arrows model that only makes directional predictions. Meehl (1967, Philosophy of Science, 34, 103) cautioned against theories that only make directional predictions, explaining that they are notoriously difficult to falsify. Meehl (1967, Philosophy of Science, 34, 103) argued that researchers should follow the lead of Physics and develop computational models that make functional and point predictions. Here, we use a value-based, computational cognitive model of decision-making (Psychological Value Theory) to predict precisely both the speed and kind of response in trolley-like problems in three experiments. We show that this model accounts for the changes in choices across variations of the trolley problem with a response bias parameter.
Publication date: Tue, 18 Feb 2025 20:50:23 -0800 Access the article >>Keep bright in the dark: Multimodal emotional effects on donation‐based crowdfunding performance and their empathic mechanisms
How to raise donations effectively, especially in the E-era, has puzzled fundraisers and scientists across various disciplines. Our research focuses on donation-based crowdfunding projects and investigates how the emotional valence expressed verbally (in textual descriptions) and visually (in facial images) in project descriptions affects project performance. Study 1 uses field data (N = 3817), grabs project information and descriptions from a top donation-based crowdfunding platform, computes visual and verbal emotional valence using a deep-learning-based affective computing method and analyses how multimodal emotional valence influences donation outcomes. Study 2 conducts experiments in GPT-4 (Study 2a, N = 400) and humans (Study 2b, N = 240), manipulates the project's visual and verbal emotional valence through AI-generated stimuli and then assesses donation decisions (both GPT-4 and humans) and corresponding state empathy (humans). The results indicate a multimodal positivity superiority effect: both visual and verbal emotional valence promote initial whether-to-donate decisions, whereas only verbal emotional valence further promotes the how-much-to-donate decisions. Notably, such multimodal emotional effects can be explained through different mediating paths of empathic concern and empathic hopefulness. The current study theoretically facilitates our understanding of the emotional motivations underlying human prosociality and provides insights into crafting impactful advertisements for online donations.
Publication date: Tue, 28 Jan 2025 01:30:42 -0800 Access the article >>Artificial intelligence chatbots mimic human collective behaviour
Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbots, such as ChatGPT, have been shown to mimic individual human behaviour in a wide range of psychological and economic tasks. Do groups of AI chatbots also mimic collective behaviour? If so, artificial societies of AI chatbots may aid social scientific research by simulating human collectives. To investigate this theoretical possibility, we focus on whether AI chatbots natively mimic one commonly observed collective behaviour: homophily, people's tendency to form communities with similar others. In a large simulated online society of AI chatbots powered by large language models (N = 33,299), we find that communities form over time around bots using a common language. In addition, among chatbots that predominantly use English (N = 17,746), communities emerge around bots that post similar content. These initial empirical findings suggest that AI chatbots mimic homophily, a key aspect of human collective behaviour. Thus, in addition to simulating individual human behaviour, AI-powered artificial societies may advance social science research by allowing researchers to simulate nuanced aspects of collective behaviour.
Publication date: Tue, 31 Dec 2024 00:00:00 -0800 Access the article >>Bridging minds and machines: Unmasking the limits in text‐based automatic personality recognition for enhanced psychology–AI synergy
Text-based automatic personality recognition (APR) operates at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and psychology to determine the personality of an individual from their text sample. This covert form of personality assessment is key for a variety of online applications that contribute to individual convenience and well-being such as that of chatbots and personal assistants. Despite the availability of good quality data utilizing state-of-the-art AI methods, the reported performance of these recognition systems remains below expectations in comparable areas. Consequently, this work investigates and identifies the source of this performance limit and attributes it to the flawed assumptions of text-based APR. These insights are obtained via a large-scale comprehensive benchmark and analysis of text data from five corpora with diverse characteristics and complementary personality models (Big Five and Dark Triad) applied to an assortment of AI methods ranging from hand-crafted linguistic features to data-driven transformers. Finally, the work concludes by identifying the open problems that can help navigate the limitations in text-based automatic personality recognition to a great extent.
Publication date: Wed, 18 Dec 2024 07:59:13 -0800 Access the article >>Computers and chess masters: The role of AI in transforming elite human performance
Advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have made significant strides in recent years, often supplementing rather than replacing human performance. The extent of their assistance at the highest levels of human performance remains unclear. We analyse over 11.6 million decisions of elite chess players, a domain commonly used as a testbed for AI and psychology due to its complexity and objective assessment. We investigated the impact of two AI chess revolutions: the first in the late 1990s with the rise of powerful PCs and internet access and the second in the late 2010s with deep learning-powered chess engines. The rate of human improvement mirrored AI advancements, but contrary to expectations, the quality of decisions mostly improved steadily over four decades, irrespective of age, with no distinct periods of rapid improvement. Only the youngest top players saw marked gains in the late 1990s, likely due to better access to knowledge and computers. Surprisingly, the recent wave of neural network-powered engines has not significantly impacted the best players – at least, not yet. Our research highlights AI's potential to enhance human capability in complex tasks, given the right conditions, even among the most elite performers.
Publication date: Thu, 05 Dec 2024 00:00:00 -0800 Access the article >>Automated face recognition assists with low‐prevalence face identity mismatches but can bias users
We present three experiments to study the effects of giving information about the decision of an automated face recognition (AFR) system to participants attempting to decide whether two face images show the same person. We make three contributions designed to make our results applicable to real-word use: participants are given the true response of a highly accurate AFR system; the face set reflects the mixed ethnicity of the city of London from where participants are drawn; and there are only 10% of mismatches. Participants were equally accurate when given the similarity score of the AFR system or just the binary decision but shifted their bias towards match and were over-confident on difficult pairs when given only binary information. No participants achieved the 100% accuracy of the AFR system, and they had only weak insight about their own performance.
Publication date: Fri, 15 Nov 2024 06:28:57 -0800 Access the article >>The differences in essential facial areas for impressions between humans and deep learning models: An eye‐tracking and explainable AI approach
This study explored the facial impressions of attractiveness, dominance and sexual dimorphism using experimental and computational methods. In Study 1, we generated face images with manipulated morphological features using geometric morphometrics. In Study 2, we conducted eye tracking and impression evaluation experiments using these images to examine how facial features influence impression evaluations and explored differences based on the sex of the face images and participants. In Study 3, we employed deep learning methods, specifically using gradient-weighted class activation mapping (Grad-CAM), an explainable artificial intelligence (AI) technique, to extract important features for each impression using the face images and impression evaluation results from Studies 1 and 2. The findings revealed that eye-tracking and deep learning use different features as cues. In the eye-tracking experiments, attention was focused on features such as the eyes, nose and mouth, whereas the deep learning analysis highlighted broader features, including eyebrows and superciliary arches. The computational approach using explainable AI suggests that the determinants of facial impressions can be extracted independently of visual attention.
Publication date: Fri, 25 Oct 2024 00:00:00 -0700 Access the article >>Explainability increases trust resilience in intelligent agents
Even though artificial intelligence (AI)-based systems typically outperform human decision-makers, they are not immune to errors, leading users to lose trust in them and be less likely to use them again—a phenomenon known as algorithm aversion. The purpose of the present research was to investigate whether explainable AI (XAI) could function as a viable strategy to counter algorithm aversion. We conducted two experiments to examine how XAI influences users' willingness to continue using AI-based systems when these systems exhibit errors. The results showed that, following the observation of algorithms erring, the inclination of users to delegate decisions to or follow advice from intelligent agents significantly decreased compared to the period before the errors were revealed. However, the explainability effectively mitigated this decline, with users in the XAI condition being more likely to continue utilizing intelligent agents for subsequent tasks after seeing algorithms erring than those in the non-XAI condition. We further found that the explainability could reduce users' decision regret, and the decrease in decision regret mediated the relationship between the explainability and re-use behaviour. These findings underscore the adaptive function of XAI in alleviating negative user experiences and maintaining user trust in the context of imperfect AI.
Publication date: Mon, 21 Oct 2024 00:00:00 -0700 Access the article >>Generative neural networks for experimental manipulation: Examining dominance‐trustworthiness face impressions with data‐efficient models
An important development in the study of face impressions was the introduction of dominance and trustworthiness as the primary and potentially orthogonal traits judged from faces. We test competing predictions of recent accounts that address evidence against the independence of these judgements. To this end we develop a version of recent ‘deep models of face impressions’ better suited for data-efficient experimental manipulation. In Study 1 (N = 128) we build impression models using 15 times less ratings per dimension than previously assumed necessary. In Study 2 (N = 234) we show how our method can precisely manipulate dominance and trustworthiness impressions of face photographs and observe how the effects' pattern of the cues of one trait on impressions of the other differs from previous accounts. We propose an altered account that stresses how a successful execution of the two judgements' functional roles requires impressions of trustworthiness and dominance to be based on cues of both traits. Finally we show our manipulation resulted in larger effect sizes using a broader array of features than previous methods. Our approach lets researchers manipulate face stimuli for various face perception studies and investigate new dimensions with minimal data collection.
Publication date: Mon, 23 Sep 2024 00:00:00 -0700 Access the article >>People have different expectations for their own versus others' use of AI‐mediated communication tools
Artificial intelligence (AI) can enhance human communication, for example, by improving the quality of our writing, voice or appearance. However, AI mediated communication also has risks—it may increase deception, compromise authenticity or yield widespread mistrust. As a result, both policymakers and technology firms are developing approaches to prevent and reduce potentially unacceptable uses of AI communication technologies. However, we do not yet know what people believe is acceptable or what their expectations are regarding usage. Drawing on normative psychology theories, we examine people's judgements of the acceptability of open and secret AI use, as well as people's expectations of their own and others' use. In two studies with representative samples (Study 1: N = 477; Study 2: N = 765), we find that people are less accepting of secret than open AI use in communication, but only when directly compared. Our results also suggest that people believe others will use AI communication tools more than they would themselves and that people do not expect others' use to align with their expectations of what is acceptable. While much attention has been focused on transparency measures, our results suggest that self-other differences are a central factor for understanding people's attitudes and expectations for AI-mediated communication.
Publication date: Wed, 04 Sep 2024 00:00:00 -0700 Access the article >>Scoping review on natural language processing applications in counselling and psychotherapy
Recent years have witnessed some rapid and tremendous progress in natural language processing (NLP) techniques that are used to analyse text data. This study endeavours to offer an up-to-date review of NLP applications by examining their use in counselling and psychotherapy from 1990 to 2021. The purpose of this scoping review is to identify trends, advancements, challenges and limitations of these applications. Among the 41 papers included in this review, 4 primary study purposes were identified: (1) developing automated coding; (2) predicting outcomes; (3) monitoring counselling sessions; and (4) investigating language patterns. Our findings showed a growing trend in the number of papers utilizing advanced machine learning methods, particularly neural networks. Unfortunately, only a third of the articles addressed the issues of bias and generalizability. Our findings provided a timely systematic update, shedding light on concerns related to bias, generalizability and validity in the context of NLP applications in counselling and psychotherapy.
Publication date: Fri, 02 Aug 2024 22:19:46 -0700 Access the article >>Assessing novelty, feasibility and value of creative ideas with an unsupervised approach using GPT‐4
Creativity is defined by three key factors: novelty, feasibility and value. While many creativity tests focus primarily on novelty, they often neglect feasibility and value, thereby limiting their reflection of real-world creativity. In this study, we employ GPT-4, a large language model, to assess these three dimensions in a Japanese-language Alternative Uses Test (AUT). Using a crowdsourced evaluation method, we acquire ground truth data for 30 question items and test various GPT prompt designs. Our findings show that asking for multiple responses in a single prompt, using an ‘explain first, rate later’ design, is both cost-effective and accurate (r = .62, .59 and .33 for novelty, feasibility and value, respectively). Moreover, our method offers comparable accuracy to existing methods in assessing novelty, without the need for training data. We also evaluate additional models such as GPT-4 Turbo, GPT-4 Omni and Claude 3.5 Sonnet. Comparable performance across these models demonstrates the universal applicability of our prompt design. Our results contribute a straightforward platform for instant AUT evaluation and provide valuable ground truth data for future methodological research.
Publication date: Mon, 22 Jul 2024 04:53:50 -0700 Access the article >>Decoding the language of first impressions: Comparing models of first impressions of faces derived from free‐text descriptions and trait ratings
First impressions formed from facial appearance predict important social outcomes. Existing models of these impressions indicate they are underpinned by dimensions of Valence and Dominance, and are typically derived by applying data reduction methods to explicit ratings of faces for a range of traits. However, this approach is potentially problematic because the trait ratings may not fully capture the dimensions on which people spontaneously assess faces. Here, we used natural language processing to extract ‘topics’ directly from participants' free-text descriptions (i.e., their first impressions) of 2222 face images. Two topics emerged, reflecting first impressions related to positive emotional valence and warmth (Topic 1) and negative emotional valence and potential threat (Topic 2). Next, we investigated how these topics were related to Valence and Dominance components derived from explicit trait ratings. Collectively, these components explained only ~44% of the variance in the topics extracted from free-text descriptions and suggested that first impressions are underpinned by correlated valence dimensions that subsume the content of existing trait-rating-based models. Natural language offers a promising new avenue for understanding social cognition, and future work can examine the predictive utility of natural language and traditional data-driven models for impressions in varying social contexts.
Publication date: Mon, 17 Jun 2024 21:39:31 -0700 Access the article >>Explanation strategies in humans versus current explainable artificial intelligence: Insights from image classification
Explainable AI (XAI) methods provide explanations of AI models, but our understanding of how they compare with human explanations remains limited. Here, we examined human participants' attention strategies when classifying images and when explaining how they classified the images through eye-tracking and compared their attention strategies with saliency-based explanations from current XAI methods. We found that humans adopted more explorative attention strategies for the explanation task than the classification task itself. Two representative explanation strategies were identified through clustering: One involved focused visual scanning on foreground objects with more conceptual explanations, which contained more specific information for inferring class labels, whereas the other involved explorative scanning with more visual explanations, which were rated higher in effectiveness for early category learning. Interestingly, XAI saliency map explanations had the highest similarity to the explorative attention strategy in humans, and explanations highlighting discriminative features from invoking observable causality through perturbation had higher similarity to human strategies than those highlighting internal features associated with higher class score. Thus, humans use both visual and conceptual information during explanation, which serve different purposes, and XAI methods that highlight features informing observable causality match better with human explanations, potentially more accessible to users.
Publication date: Mon, 10 Jun 2024 21:09:42 -0700 Access the article >>Unveiling the factors of aesthetic preferences with explainable AI
The allure of aesthetic appeal in images captivates our senses, yet the underlying intricacies of aesthetic preferences remain elusive. In this study, we pioneer a novel perspective by utilizing several different machine learning (ML) models that focus on aesthetic attributes known to influence preferences. Our models process these attributes as inputs to predict the aesthetic scores of images. Moreover, to delve deeper and obtain interpretable explanations regarding the factors driving aesthetic preferences, we utilize the popular Explainable AI (XAI) technique known as SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP). Our methodology compares the performance of various ML models, including Random Forest, XGBoost, Support Vector Regression, and Multilayer Perceptron, in accurately predicting aesthetic scores, and consistently observing results in conjunction with SHAP. We conduct experiments on three image aesthetic benchmarks, namely Aesthetics with Attributes Database (AADB), Explainable Visual Aesthetics (EVA), and Personalized image Aesthetics database with Rich Attributes (PARA), providing insights into the roles of attributes and their interactions. Finally, our study presents ML models for aesthetics research, alongside the introduction of XAI. Our aim is to shed light on the complex nature of aesthetic preferences in images through ML and to provide a deeper understanding of the attributes that influence aesthetic judgements.
Publication date: Fri, 17 May 2024 07:35:42 -0700 Access the article >>Understanding anxiety through uncertainty quantification
Uncertainty has been a central concept in psychological theories of anxiety. However, this concept has been plagued by divergent connotations and operationalizations. The lack of consensus hinders the current search for cognitive and biological mechanisms of anxiety, jeopardizes theory creation and comparison, and restrains translation of basic research into improved diagnoses and interventions. Drawing upon uncertainty decomposition in Bayesian Decision Theory, we propose a well-defined conceptual structure of uncertainty in cognitive and clinical sciences, with a focus on anxiety. We discuss how this conceptual structure provides clarity and can be naturally applied to existing frameworks of psychopathology research. Furthermore, it allows formal quantification of various types of uncertainty that can benefit both research and clinical practice in the era of computational psychiatry.
Publication date: Fri, 12 Jan 2024 20:48:12 -0800 Access the article >>The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination.
- Carl Rogers, On Becoming a Person (1961)
Reach Out