International Journal of Psychology最新文献

Humans may have an innate need to affiliate with nature; this need has been termed biophilia. Humanising nature may connect to biophilia. An experimental design with 167 participants tested the hypothesis that a humanised description of the functioning of trees that focused on similarities between tree and human functioning would have a greater impact than a description of purely biological functions of trees. Participants randomly assigned to the humanising nature condition had higher mean scores for positive affect and empathy related to the target aspect of nature as well as greater pro-environmental intention. A MANOVA showed that the humanising nature condition had a significantly greater overall impact than the control condition. Positive affect and empathy were significantly different between groups. A serial mediation analysis found that positive affect and empathy connected the intervention with pro-environmental intention. Humanising nature holds promise as an approach to meeting biophilia needs. The findings may be globally relevant to the interaction of humans with nature.

Measuring psychological traits with standardised questionnaires is an essential component of clinical practice and research; however, patients and participants risk fatigue from overly long and repetitive measures. When developing the short form of a questionnaire, the most widely used method for selecting an item subset uses factor analysis loadings to identify the items most closely related to the psychological construct being measured. However, this approach will tend to select highly correlated, homogeneous items and might therefore restrict the breadth of the construct examined. In this study, we will present Yarkoni's genetic algorithm for scale reduction and compare it with the classical scale reduction method. The algorithm will be applied to the shortening of three instruments for measuring self-compassion and social safeness (two unidimensional measures and a three-factor measure). We evaluated the shortened scales using correlation with long-form scores, internal reliability and the change in the correlations observed with other related constructs. Findings suggested that the classical method preserves internal reliability, but Yarkoni's genetic algorithm better maintained correlations with other constructs. An additional qualitative assessment of item content showed that the latter method led to a more heterogeneous selection of items, better preserving the full complexity of the constructs being measured.

Although gender equality is a global goal, significant disparity remains between men and women. Benevolent sexism (BS) is widespread and contributes to the maintenance of the gender gap. To reduce BS, many previous studies have implemented long-term intervention programmes. In contrast, we posit that it is necessary to reduce BS efficiently through simpler methods. This study aimed to reduce participants' BS endorsement by presenting experimental vignettes regarding (a) the harm of BS against women and (b) the pervasiveness of BS. An online experiment was conducted with male and female Japanese participants (n = 816). The results showed that the main effect of presenting the harm of BS against women was significant only among female participants. However, neither the main effect of presenting the pervasiveness of BS nor the interaction between presenting harm and pervasiveness were found. We suggested strategies to reduce BS, especially when endorsed by men. Our experimental manipulation can be conducted in a short time and on many participants simultaneously. More empirical studies aimed at reducing BS should be conducted in the future.

Stories sometimes move us; this study examined the factors that strengthen the perception of core values based on the core value goodness hypothesis of being moved. Focusing on the infinity of core values, we hypothesised that the reaffirmation of the finite nature of human beings would emphasise core values. This study examined the factors that promote being moved: finitude salience and value orientation. The participants responded to a family value scale. Subsequently, a descrambling task to manipulate finitude salience was used. The participants composed sentences such as “Everything that exists in this world is finite” and primed finitude. Subsequently, they watched a video on the theme of family love and rated their feelings. From the results, we found that (a) the participants oriented towards the value themed in the video (i.e., love) were more strongly moved by it; and (b) when finitude was salient, people oriented towards the themed value in the video were moved more strongly by it than those who were not. This suggests that the feeling of being moved occurs when we recognise an infinite core value, in contrast to our finite existence.

Clustering methods are increasingly used in social science research. Generally, researchers use them to infer the existence of qualitatively different types of individuals within a larger population, thus unveiling previously “hidden” heterogeneity. Depending on the clustering technique, however, valid inference requires some conditions and assumptions. Common risks include not only failing to detect existing clusters due to a lack of power but also revealing clusters that do not exist in the population. Simple data simulations suggest that under conditions of sample size, number, correlation and skewness of indicators that are frequently encountered in applied psychological research, commonly used clustering methods are at a high risk of detecting clusters that are not there. Generally, this is due to some violations of assumptions that are not usually considered critical in psychology. The present article illustrates a simple R tutorial and a Shiny app (for those who are not familiar with R) that allow researchers to quantify a priori inferential risks when performing clustering methods on their own data. Doing so is suggested as a much-needed preliminary sanity check, because conditions that inflate the number of detected clusters are very common in applied psychological research scenarios.

Simulation has become an essential tool in psychological research, offering unique insights into statistical concepts, optimising research project planning and modelling human behaviour and cognition. This tutorial navigates simulations' diverse applications across various research stages. This tutorial begins by demonstrating simulations' impact on understanding statistical concepts. Amidst growing demands for effect size reporting and interpretation, simulations can help clarify the relationship between data and effect sizes, benefiting both educational purposes and advanced research. Simulations play a crucial role in planning psychological research. They provide flexible solutions for power, helping to determine necessary sample sizes and aiding in robust research planning, providing evidence of planned procedures. Simulations are pivotal in exploring human behaviour and cognition, as well as statistical method properties. By forcing researchers to translate verbal theory into formal models, simulation can help specify the assumptions. The paper also discusses improving simulation efficiency, such as using calculation clusters, optimising simulation practices and recognises simulations' limitations. This paper emphasises simulations' versatile role in psychological research. They enable deep insights into complex datasets, streamline project preparation and uncover subtleties in human behaviour, cognition and statistical methodologies.

Perceptual training enhances the ability to anticipate crucial information for decision-making, for example, a soccer goalkeeper predicting penalty kick direction. However, it remains unclear whether perceptual practice alone (implicit method) is sufficient for optimal decision-making improvement, or whether emphasising pertinent details during practice (explicit method) could yield better results. This study compared implicit and explicit methods of learning ball direction prediction during soccer penalties, involving both goalkeepers and non-soccer players (novices). Participants engaged in a single training session, either through the explicit method (watching videos highlighting relevant information) or implicit method (watching regular videos). Specialised software was used to display penalty kick videos, mimicking the goalkeeper's viewpoint up to 200 ms before ball contact, and measuring reaction time and response choice. Both implicit and explicit training led to consistent performance gains for goalkeepers and novices alike, notably enhancing ball direction prediction accuracy. Reaction time was unaffected by training. This suggests that both explicit and implicit training methods exhibit similar effectiveness, applicable to soccer goalkeepers and novices.

I use a path/confirmatory factor analytic framework to present an under-the-hood introduction to (a) the effects of measurement error and method variance on observed measures, (b) the effects of common latent Trait and Method factors on relationships between observed measures in the presence of measurement error and (c) examine implications of developments presented here for the possible reinterpretation of Campbell and Fiske's original criteria for convergent and discrimainat validity and presence of common method bias. I use results from one previously published and often-cited primary study and four meta-analyses of multitrait–multimethod studies to provide empirical examples to illustrate points made here. I show analytically that (a) some common interpretations of method effects are correct, (b) others are incorrect and (c) still others are more nuanced than is usually recognised. Finally, I offer some suggested directions for future research.

Research has indicated a link between the moral circle and an individual's prosocial behaviour. However, it remains uncertain whether this relationship holds across a broader range of countries and is influenced by sociocultural contexts. Drawing from an international dataset encompassing 49,540 participants from 57 countries, this study examined the impact of the moral circle on an individual's generosity and the moderating role of cultural religiosity. The results revealed a significant positive association between moral circle and generosity in a cross-national context. Notably, in religious cultures, the connection between the moral circle and generosity was found to be weaker. Three robustness checks further affirmed that these findings are robust. The research confirmed a positive relationship between the moral circle and generosity in a multinational context but also highlighted the moderating role of cultural religiosity. This finding suggested that future research should further investigate how cultural and religious frameworks influence ethical behaviour.

This contribution investigates differences in self-construal and emotional expressivity among Arab immigrants and non-immigrants. Furthermore, it examines the role of acculturation styles and perceived emotional acculturation in predicting these outcomes among Arab immigrants. Using a sample of 1249 self-identified Arabs (629 immigrants in Western Europe and North America; 620 non-immigrant Arabs in the Mashriq and Maghrib regions), we found that collectivist self-construal was significantly lower, and positive emotional expressivity was significantly higher among immigrant, than non-immigrant, Arabs. High home country acculturation (also in combination with high host country acculturation) was the strongest predictor of collectivist self-construal. Immigrants' perception of the positive emotional expressivity of people in their host culture was the strongest predictor of their personal positive emotional expressivity. These results were replicated using the Euclidean distance method to measure acculturation. Hence, the study provides valuable insights into the relationships between self-construal, emotional expressivity and acculturation styles, specifically among Arab immigrants.