Tag: Psychology

Know when to fold’em: The flip side of grit

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Author: Alaoui, Larbi; Fons-Rosen, Christian Description: This paper investigates the way different sides of grit influence behavior. In addition to grit’s upside in achieving economic success associated with not giving up, it might also have a downside associated with not letting go. We split grit into two new categories, tenacity and diligence, and hypothesize that tenacity can lead individuals to go beyond their own intended plan of action when making a loss. We test the predictions with an experiment that elicits each individual’s plan of action which we compare to…

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The psychological causes and societal consequences of authoritarianism

The psychological causes and societal consequences of authoritarianism

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Author: Osborne, Danny; Costello, Thomas H.; Duckitt, John; Sibley, Chris G. Description: Over the past two decades, citizens’ political rights and civil liberties have declined globally. Psychological science can play an instrumental role in both explaining and combating the authoritarian impulses that underlie these attacks on personal autonomy. In this Review, we describe the psychological processes and situational factors that foster authoritarianism, as well as the societal consequences of its apparent resurgence within the general population. First, we summarize the dual process motivational model of ideology and prejudice, which suggests…

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All cause and cause specific mortality in obsessive-compulsive disorder: nationwide matched cohort and sibling cohort study

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Author: Fernandez de la Cruz, Lorena; Isomura, Kayoko; Lichtenstein, Paul; Larsson, Henrik; Kuja-Halkola, Ralf; Chang, Zheng; D’Onofrio, Brian M.; Brikell, Isabell; Ruck, Christian; Sidorchuk, Anna; Mataix-Cols, David Description: OBJECTIVE: To estimate the risk of all cause and cause specific mortality in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) compared with matched unaffected people from the general population and with their unaffected siblings. DESIGN: Population based matched cohort and sibling cohort study. SETTING: Register linkage in Sweden. PARTICIPANTS: Population based cohort including 61 378 people with OCD and 613 780 unaffected people matched (1:10) on…

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Countering AI-generated misinformation with pre-emptive source discreditation and debunking

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Author: Spearing, Emily R.; Gile, Constantina I.; Fogwill, Amy L.; Prike, Toby; Swire-Thompson, Briony; Lewandowsky, Stephan; Ecker, Ullrich K. H. Description: Despite widespread concerns over AI-generated misinformation, its impact on people’s reasoning and the effectiveness of countermeasures remain unclear. This study examined whether a pre-emptive, source-focused inoculation–designed to lower trust in AI-generated information–could reduce its influence on reasoning. This approach was compared with a retroactive, content-focused debunking, as well as a simple disclaimer that AI-generated information may be misleading, as often seen on real-world platforms. Additionally, the extent to which…

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Bad is Stronger than Good

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Author: Baumeister, Roy F.; Bratslavsky, Ellen; Finkenauer, Catrin; Vohs, Kathleen D. Description: The greater power of bad events over good ones is found in everyday events, major life events (e.g., trauma), close relationship outcomes, social network patterns, interpersonal interactions, and learning processes. Bad emotions, bad parents, and bad feedback have more impact than good ones, and bad information is processed more thoroughly than good. The self is more motivated to avoid bad self-definitions than to pursue good ones. Bad impressions and bad stereotypes are quicker to form and more resistant…

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The Mechanics of Motivated Reasoning

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Author: Epley, Nicholas; Gilovich, Thomas Description: Whenever we see voters explain away their preferred candidate’s weaknesses, dieters assert that a couple scoops of ice cream won’t really hurt their weight loss goals, or parents maintain that their children are unusually gifted, we are reminded that people’s preferences can affect their beliefs. This idea is captured in the common saying, “People believe what they want to believe.” But people don’t simply believe what they want to believe. Psychological research makes it clear that “motivated beliefs” are guided by motivated reasoning–reasoning in…

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Stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination

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Author: Fiske, S. T. Description: Examines why stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination are enduring phenomena. Social psychological research, reviewed here in 4 major sections, explains that stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination have (1) some apparently automatic aspects and (2) some socially pragmatic aspects, both of which tend to sustain them. But, as research also indicates, change is possible, for (3) stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination seem individually controllable, and consequently, (4) social structure influences their occurrence. Past and present theoretical approaches to these issues are also discussed. Subject headings: Stereotypes; Prejudice; Discrimination; Psychology…

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The Psychology of Prejudice: Ingroup Love and Outgroup Hate?

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Author: Brewer, M. Description: Allport (1954) recognized that attachment to one’s ingroups does not necessarily require hostility toward outgroups. Yet the prevailing approach to the study of ethnocentrism, ingroup bias, and prejudice presumes that ingroup love and outgroup hate are reciprocally related. Findings from both cross-cultural research and laboratory experiments support the alternative view that ingroup identification is independent of negative attitudes toward outgroups and that much ingroup bias and intergroup discrimination is motivated by preferential treatment of ingroup members rather than direct hostility toward outgroup members. Thus to understand…

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The Psychology of Sexual Prejudice

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Author: Herek, Gregory M. Description: Sexual prejudice refers to negative attitudes toward an individual because of her or his sexual orientation. In this article, the term is used to characterize heterosexuals’ negative attitudes toward (a) homosexual behavior, (b) people with a homosexual or bisexual orientation, and (c) communities of gay, lesbian, and bisexual people. Sexual prejudice is a preferable term to homophobia because it conveys no assumptions about the motivations underlying negative attitudes, locates the study of attitudes concerning sexual orientation within the broader context of social psychological research on…

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Acute Affective Response to a Moderate-intensity Exercise Stimulus Predicts Physical Activity Participation 6 and 12 Months Later

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Author: Williams, D.M.; Dunsiger, S.; Ciccolo, J.T.; Lewis, B.A.; Albrecht, A.E.; Marcus, B.H. Description: Objective: Examine the relationship between acute affective responses during a moderate-intensity exercise stimulus and future physical activity participation. Design: Longitudinal, observational study in the context of a randomized controlled trial. Methods: Healthy, sedentary adults (n=37) reported their basic affective response (i.e., feel good versus bad) prior to and during an acute, moderate-intensity exercise stimulus presented prior to randomization in a controlled physical activity promotion trial. At 6 and 12 months, 31 of the 37 participants reported…

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