Communications Psychology最新文献

The ability to ignore salient yet irrelevant stimuli is essential to accomplishing even simple tasks. Previous research has shown that observers are better able to suppress distracting stimuli via experience; yet the precise mechanisms of this learned suppression is a subject of debate. The current study (n = 230) employed a psychophysical approach combined with computational modeling to examine how learned spatial suppression affects perception and performance. The results show that items presented at suppressed locations are perceived as less bright than those in non-suppressed areas, suggesting that learned suppression directly affects the perceived saliency of items. To determine how this saliency change affects visual search, a computational modeling approach was used to compare various models of attentional selection. This analysis favored a model in which learned suppression reduces the saliency of objects presented at suppressed locations in the initial salience calculation. Since the saliency of these items is reduced, they are less able to compete for attentional processing and capture attention less often.

Despite the fact that law-breaking or violent climate action tactics receive enormous media coverage, the psychological predictors of intentions to engage in these tactics remain poorly understood. This study examined demographic and psychological factors theoretically associated with conventional and radical climate intentions among 1427 self-identified supporters of climate action, tracked in three waves over 12 months. Conventional activism intentions were predicted by established models emphasising the role of moral conviction, anger, group identification, and group efficacy in shaping action. However, in the case of radical climate action, these variables were either weak predictors or non-significant predictors. Contrary to the notion that radical climate actors are driven by outgroup antipathy and ideological intensity, radical action intentions were positively associated with warmth and empathy toward climate change opponents, unrelated to political ideology, and negatively related to belief in climate change. Radical action intentions were also predicted by youth, personality, and-most strongly-the perception that people who support action on climate change have suffered more than opponents (collective victimhood). These findings suggest that theories require updating to account for the unique motivations associated with support for radical tactics in the climate change context. Findings have implications for activists and researchers seeking to understand the evolving landscape of climate protest and public support for disruptive activism.

Real-world memories often include our internal thoughts and feelings, yet memory research has largely centered on experimentally controlled external stimuli. As a result, it remains underexplored how such internal experiences are preserved or transformed in naturalistic autobiographical recall, and whether they serve functional roles. To address this gap, we analyzed a large-scale dataset of autobiographical narratives in which 210 crowdsourced participants recalled a specific memorable life event twice, several weeks apart, and rated their memories along multiple dimensions. We combined manual annotation with natural language processing to identify and analyze individual memory details, categorized as either observable external experiences or subjective internal experiences. We found that internal experiences were more prone to omission and semantic distortion over time compared to external ones. However, those with higher emotional intensity and stronger semantic connections to external event features were more likely to be retained. Memories richer in internal experiences were also judged as more important, and semantically precise reinstatement of internal experiences across recalls predicted increased importance over time. Together, these findings show that although memories of internal thoughts and feelings are relatively fragile, they nonetheless play a meaningful role in shaping the subjective significance of autobiographical memory.

Climate activists' tactics range from relatively moderate (e.g., authorised marches) to more radical (e.g., vandalism), but the presence of a 'radical flank' on wider public support for moderate 'centre' groups is poorly understood. In a pre-registered experiment, a sample of non-activist Austrian adults, representative on age, gender, and region (N = 1407), responded to two hypothetical climate protest scenarios. We found that: a) the presence of a radical flank resulted in greater support for a centre activist group; but b) only when the centre group actively distanced themselves from (vs. endorsed) the radicals' actions. Pre-registered path analysis supported the plausibility of a proposed moderated serial mediation model, suggesting that centrists who actively distanced from the radicals were potentially more supported, because: a) they were seen as less radical themselves; and b) respondents identified more with them. Results suggest public support for moderate pro-climate actions is enhanced through the presence of a radical flank when moderates distance themselves from the radical flank.

The ability to infer character from behavior is an essential skill that adults use to navigate the social world. We investigated 12- to 24-month-old infants' (Experiment 1, n = 160; Experiment 2, n = 96) ability to infer an agent's moral character from a complex social situation using a behavioral generalization paradigm that capitalized on infants' visual attention. Infants observed a social event involving an aggressor, victim, and protector or bystander (Experiment 1; Experiment 2 replicated the aggressor and protector conditions). Then, infants saw one of these agents distribute resources fairly (i.e., equally) versus unfairly (i.e., unequally) between two recipients. We found that infants selectively expected protectors and victims to distribute resources fairly and had no significant expectations for bystanders. Infants either expected aggressors to be unfair (Experiment 1) or displayed no significant expectations for aggressors (Experiment 2). Exploratory analyses revealed that infants' moral character inferences were tied to infants' social contact: infants with siblings and daycare experience showed greater moral role differentiation (Experiment 2). These results suggest that infants can make broad character inferences in complex multi-agent social situations, and that their ability to differentiate moral roles strengthens with social experience.

Whether psychosocial interventions containing active psychological components prolong survival in cancer patients has been studied for decades, yet findings from primary (RCTs) and secondary research (meta-analyses) remain inconclusive. Our preregistered systematic review, meta-analysis, and multiverse meta-analysis aimed to clarify this research question using contemporary methods of research synthesis. We searched Web of Science, Scopus, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Embase, and Google Scholar for RCTs of structured psychosocial interventions for cancer patients published until October 17, 2025. We calculated the overall effect; assessed its robustness; estimated a median survival benefit, characterized the psychological components included in the interventions; examined risk of bias, study quality, meta-analytic post hoc power, and sponsorship bias; explored 25 substantive and methodological moderators; and considered publication bias as well as p-hacking. Using multiverse meta-analysis, we calculated multiple overall effects based on reasonable specifications employed in prior meta-analyses (descriptive analysis) and compared them with the 95% CI band of 1000 simulated overall effects assuming no true effect (inferential analysis). Psychosocial interventions, provided alongside medical treatment, demonstrated a small, positive and robust overall effect on survival in cancer patients, with an HR of 0.80, 95% CI [0.71, 0.90] across 32 RCTs comprising 5704 participants. Heterogeneity was moderate to substantial with an I² = 48% and a wide 95% PI (HR 0.49-1.29). Median survival time benefit was estimated at 3.9 months, 95% CI [ - 0.7, 8.5], based on data from 16 trials. The psychological components most frequently applied were educational, cognitive-behavioral, emotionally expressive, and group-based social support. Low average meta-analytic post hoc power (17%) likely contributed to inconsistent findings among trials. Multiverse meta-analysis confirmed the presence of a general overall survival effect and indicated that previously conflicting meta-analytic conclusions primarily stemmed from differences in effect size metrics and analytic decisions. Psychosocial (psychological) interventions appear to improve survival in cancer patients, with effect sizes comparable in magnitude to effects previously reported in the literature for medical cancer treatments such as chemo-, radio-, and hormone therapy. The certainty of evidence was rated moderate, primarily due to statistical heterogeneity, hence effects might not generalize equally to all populations. Considering survival impact, established psychological benefits, favorable safety profile, and comparatively low cost, the findings support a paradigm shift toward establishing psychosocial interventions alongside medical therapy as a standard component of comprehensive cancer care; potentially guiding future research and clinical practice.

Prior research shows that individuals with higher cognitive ability tend to be more patient and less risk-averse, while childhood environments also exert a strong influence on the development of these preferences. This raises the question of whether associations between cognition and economic preferences are consistent across early-life contexts. I test this using incentivized experimental ($N=$ 624) and survey ($N=$ 5,881; 11,521 person-wave observations) measures of risk and time preferences, detailed indicators of childhood environments, and a polygenic score for educational attainment-capturing genetic variances associated with cognitive and non-cognitive traits relevant to educational success. I find that genetic variance related to educational success is associated with lower risk aversion and greater patience, but only among individuals raised in more advantaged childhood environments. Among those who experienced childhood adversity, this genetic variance instead predicts greater risk aversion, and its association with patience is substantially attenuated. These patterns suggest that early adversity may canalize, constrain, or redirect the developmental expression of cognitive-relevant genetic variances in ways that are adaptive to context. Causal research is needed to ascertain if such environmentally contingent expression of genetic variances can reinforce patterns of social immobility.

Anxiety has been linked to increased generalisation of threat expectations to perceptually similar stimuli. Such generalisation can arise either from a failure to distinguish threatening from non-threatening stimuli (perceptual mechanism) or from the transfer of learned values between stimuli (value-based mechanism). Yet, how these mechanisms contribute to generalisation remains unclear. Here we assess how participants (n = 140) generalise outcome expectancies to perceptually similar stimuli, using personalised stimulus spaces. Computational modelling revealed that individuals differ in the extent to which they generalise value and in the underlying value function. We further found that stronger generalisation in trait anxiety was best explained by greater reliance on value transfer. In this work, we characterise individual differences in the generalisation of aversive stimuli and link stronger generalisation in trait anxiety to preferential reliance on value transfer.

Youth are often framed as victims or perpetrators of conflict. Yet, they also can disrupt conflict cycles as peacebuilders. Motivated by SDG 16 and UN Security Council Resolutions 2250, 2419, and 2535 - recognising and facilitating youth participation in fostering peace and social inclusion - we developed and validated a global Youth Peacebuilding Beliefs Scale (YPBS), a novel measure of different types of peacebuilding across levels of the social ecology (i.e., microsystem, mesosystem, and macrosystem). We used a sequential mixed-methods, cross-cultural design with adolescents (ages 14-17) and young adults (ages 18-26) across two studies (Study 1: Focus groups, N = 199, Northern Ireland n = 78, Colombia n = 60, Israel n = 41, Switzerland n = 20; Study 2: Survey, N = 2771, Northern Ireland n = 514, Colombia n = 806, Israel n = 833, Switzerland n = 618) across four diverse cases to explore youth's contributions along the peace continuum from active conflict to stable democracy. The YPBS provided an empirical test of the Developmental Peacebuilding Model and can be used by policymakers and researchers to support youth-driven quality peace.