British journal of psychology最新文献

In everyday life, listeners spontaneously and rapidly form first impressions from others' voices. Previous research shows that, compared to non-autistic people, autistic people show similarities and differences in how they evaluate others based on their faces. However, it remains unclear whether autistic people form first impressions from voices in the same way as non-autistic people. We asked both autistic and non-autistic listeners to rate an inferred characteristic (trustworthiness) and an apparent characteristic (age) from voice recordings to establish how they form first impressions from voices. Non-autistic and autistic listeners formed first impressions for age and trustworthiness in similar ways. Specifically, both groups showed comparable overall ratings of age and trustworthiness of voices. Further, both autistic and non-autistic listeners required similar amounts of information to form an impression. Finally, when comparing trait impressions within- and across-groups, we again found no systematic evidence of impression formation differing between autistic and non-autistic people. These findings indicate that first impression formation is potentially a relative social strength in autism. This suggests that the social challenges encountered by autistic people may be confined to specific areas of social perception rather than being universally pervasive.

The relative contribution of decision-making and motor engagement at encoding, on route memory, was examined using virtual reality (VR). During encoding, participants explored 12 virtual environments for 40 s each. Navigation strategy during encoding was manipulated within-subjects. On Active trials, participants made decisions about their route of travel. On Guided trials, they followed a pre-determined path overlaid on the road, removing the need for decision-making. On Passive trials, participants simply viewed a set route, without initiating decision-making nor engaging movement during encoding. Following exploration of each environment, participants were asked to ‘re-trace their steps’ using the exact route they had just travelled. We also manipulated type of VR implementation (Desktop VR, Headset VR) between subjects. Movement in a Desktop-VR group was controlled via keyboard input, limiting motoric engagement. Movement in a Headset-VR group occurred using a VR-compatible steering wheel, requiring relatively greater motoric engagement. We found an effect of navigation strategy only in the Headset-VR group: route memory was significantly better following Active and Guided relative to Passive trials. Memory did not differ following Active relative to Guided trial types, suggesting that decision-making does not underlie the memory benefit. We suggest route memory is enhanced when initiating physical movement during encoding.

Theories of cultural evolution suggest that humans may learn to represent others' minds through cultural practices including verbal instruction. It has been demonstrated that humans use less sophisticated mental state words when describing out-group members compared to in-group members, but whether this impacts on how out-group members' minds are represented has not yet been determined. The media is one of the main ways in which information about out-groups is shared; therefore, across three experiments we explored whether the language used in the media to describe out-groups, specifically language about mental states, shapes how recipients represent the minds of out-group members. All three experiments measured the extent to which participants represented out-group members as individuals with distinctive minds. Experiment 1 compared language in a left-leaning versus a right-leaning UK news source. Experiment 2 tested the effect of including or omitting mental states or first-person language, while Experiment 3 examined the impact of varying the amount of mental state language. We show that participants are more prone to take into account each out-group member's mind when inferring their mental states when mental state language is used to introduce them. This demonstrates the clear role of cultural learning on how people think about others' minds.

Reduction of red meat consumption is urgently needed, but there is concern that meat-reduction appeals may lead to reactance. Across three studies (total N = 2978), two of which were preregistered, participants were shown a meat-reduction appeal that was paired with an image that linked meat to its animal origins, a meat-only image or no image to test whether different message characteristics affected how messages were processed. Results show that reactance mediates the relationship between empathy and meat-related attitudes and intentions. Additionally, results provide some evidence that Democrats (vs. Republicans) are more likely to have indirect effects of message condition (seeing a meat-animal association image vs. a meat-only image or a no image condition) on meat-related attitudes and intentions through empathy and reactance. Results have implications for the design of meat reduction appeals as they may elicit both empathy and reactance, leading to opposing effects on persuasion.

This study investigated how social (faces and eyes) and non-social (arrows) stimuli modulate attentional orienting in a spatial Stroop task, using a distributional approach. Data from 11 studies (N = 705) were analysed through cumulative distribution functions (CDF), delta functions, and polynomial trend analyses. Three models were applied: (1) a reaction time (RT) model comparing social (faces and eyes) vs. non-social stimuli under congruent and incongruent conditions, (2) a delta model assessing conflict effects across quantiles, and (3) a trend model identifying specific delta function patterns. Non-social targets produced a standard congruency effect (SCE), with faster responses in congruent trials but no consistent conflict reduction across the distribution. In contrast, social stimuli exhibited a reversed congruency effect (RCE), with faster responses in incongruent trials, emerging from the second quantile onward and minimal conflict among the fastest responses. Social targets exhibited comparable reaction times in the RT model and similar early delta plot patterns, suggesting shared initial perceptual and attentional mechanisms between faces and eyes. However, faces eventually induced a larger RCE, possibly due to their more complex configuration. These findings highlight distinctive patterns between social and non-social processing in the spatial Stroop task.

To better understand how inconsistent beliefs persist and whether the tendency to endorse them (labelled doublethink) is malleable, we conducted five preregistered studies and a qualitative follow-up (total N = 1635 Serbian participants). We first found and replicated that doublethink was robustly related to both a more intuitive, superficial information processing style and a lack of ability to spot contradictions (r = .20 and r = .21, ps < .001). We next tested three progressively more direct interventions to reduce doublethink, all unsuccessful – the first one tried to increase sensitivity to contradictions in irrelevant material, the second pushed respondents to reconcile pairs of newly provided inconsistent beliefs and the third made them cross-reference their own inconsistent beliefs. When asked to elaborate on their inconsistencies in semi-structured interviews, respondents did not evaluate them negatively, but instead employed circumvention strategies – attributing incompatibility to the response format or diluting the content of the claims. The most commonly used strategy was to rely on adding additional logical conditions to the beliefs (in 34% of the cases). Although these strategies could reflect rational belief safeguarding mechanisms, they also might allow for moral relativization, double standards or incompatible expectations from others (e.g. posing irreconcilable standards for minority groups).

This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate (1) the effectiveness of the method of loci (MoL) in enhancing recall in adults, (2) its underlying cognitive mechanisms, and (3) its neurobiological correlates. Studies on adult populations were included from multiple databases. Risk of bias was assessed, and the GRADE approach and RoBMA_PSMA were used for qualitative and quantitative synthesis. The MoL showed strong evidence for a large effect on immediate serial recall compared with rehearsal (d = 0.88, 95% CI [0.47, 1.25], P(M|data) = 0.994, BF = 161.94) in adult populations. Its general effectiveness is supported by multiple cognitive mechanisms, all of which align with the levels of processing framework. Neuroimaging studies have shown consistent activation of brain regions primarily associated with spatial memory and navigation – namely, the hippocampus, parahippocampus, and retrosplenial cortex. MoL training also induces structural and functional brain changes. However, the evidence is rated as low to very low quality, mainly due to the high risk of bias and other limitations. The MoL is a powerful mnemonic for enhancing recall in adults, grounded in robust cognitive and neural mechanisms, though more rigorous studies are needed.

The perceived similarity between objects has often been attributed to their physical and conceptual features, such as appearance and animacy, and the theoretical framework of object space is accordingly conceived. Here, we extend this framework by proposing that subjective object space may also be defined by embodied features, specifically action possibilities that objects afford to an agent (i.e. affordance) and their spatial relation with the agent (i.e. situatedness). To test this proposal, we quantified the embodied features with a set of action atoms. We found that embodied features explained the subjective similarity among familiar objects along with the objects' visual features. This observation was further replicated with a separate set of novel objects. Our study demonstrates that embodied features, which place objects within an ecological context, are essential in constructing object space in the human visual system, emphasizing the importance of incorporating embodiment as a fundamental dimension in our understanding of the visual world.

Previous research is mixed as to whether listeners perceive higher- or lower-pitched voices as more financially trustworthy. These mixed results may be owing to variation in the degree of risk implied in the scenarios used to measure perceptions of financial trustworthiness. I tested whether the degree of risk in the type of trust game used to elicit such perceptions (i.e., potential profit/loss versus equal/unequal division of money) and/or perceptions of financial risk-taking clarifies the influence of voice pitch on perceptions of financial trustworthiness. I found that listeners preferred partners with higher- rather than lower-pitched voices, regardless of the degree of risk involved in the trust game. Listeners also sent more money to both proposers and responders with higher-pitched voices. In contrast, listeners perceived lower-pitched voices as more likely to take financial risks and as more generally trustworthy. Perceptions of financial trustworthiness were positively associated with perceptions of general trustworthiness but were not related to perceptions of financial risk-taking. These findings suggest that speakers with higher-pitched voices are perceived as relatively financially trustworthy, independently of implied or perceived financial risk.

Research on perfectionism in graduate school found inconsistent associations between perfectionistic standards and psychological outcomes. Such unanticipated results led to the Model of Excellencism and Perfectionism (MEP), which differentiates between people pursuing excellence and those pursuing perfection. Recent studies with undergraduate students have shown that excellencism and perfectionism are distinct constructs, differentially associated with achievement and psychological outcomes. In this study, we aimed to offer the first empirical test of the MEP in graduate school with a sample of 376 graduate students (i.e. 81% masters, 19% doctoral). Results of confirmatory factor analyses on the Scale of Perfectionism and Excellencism provided evidence for the conceptual separation of excellencism and perfectionism. Results of multiple regression showed that perfection strivers (compared to excellence strivers) reported higher research self-efficacy and satisfaction with their research productivity. When accounting for satisfaction with research productivity, perfection strivers experienced more academic burnout and dropout intentions. Perfectionistic students also used more perfectionistic self-presentation strategies when interacting with their supervisors. Perfectionism was associated with both beneficial and harmful outcomes, which suggests that perfectionism in graduate school is paradoxical and operates like a double-edged sword. These findings are interpreted in light of the need to help graduate students strike a balance between their academic achievements and psychological adjustment.