British journal of psychology最新文献

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Familiar faces elicit more confident and interactive behaviour in adults than unfamiliar faces. However, it remains unclear whether familiarity influences children's social functioning. Here, we investigated how face familiarity would affect 9- to 11-year-old children's perspective-taking ability. We assessed perspective-taking ability with an adapted version of the Director Task where the Director's face was a picture of a familiar peer or a stranger. In Study 1 (N = 34), children showed a higher perspective-taking ability when facing a familiar peer than a stranger. In Study 2 and Study 3 (N = 30 respectively), children built up familiarity with originally unfamiliar faces through either social interaction or person knowledge learning. Face familiarity developed through social interaction but not person knowledge learning promoted children's subsequent perspective-taking ability. Based on these findings, we propose a link between face familiarity and social functioning, which can quickly set the mind to different socially prepared states.

The objective was to provide up-to-date clinical and cost-effectiveness evidence investigating eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) for treatment or prevention of adult post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We conducted a systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and cost-effectiveness studies assessing PTSD symptoms in adults, published since the NICE 2018 guidelines. EMDR was compared with trauma-focused-cognitive behavioural therapy (TF-CBT), waitlist or usual care. Six databases were searched in September 2023. Risk of bias was assessed. Data synthesis included Bayesian meta-analyses of standardized mean differences if sufficient data were available from at least three RCTs. From 2038 records, 17 studies met the eligibility criteria. One modelling-based study reported cost-effectiveness, finding EMDR the most cost-effective intervention compared to 10 others, including TF-CBT. Sixteen RCTs (n = 1031) providing clinical PTSD outcome data were identified. Most studies had small sample sizes, and all but one was at high/moderate risk of bias. Additionally, 13 RCTs from NICE 2018 guidelines contributed to meta-analyses. EMDR treatment was generally of shorter duration with a lower burden on patient time. Meta-analyses found EMDR was statistically significantly better than waitlist/usual care. There was no significant difference in treatment effect between EMDR and TF-CBT, both reported significantly improved PTSD symptoms.