How do people remember when something occurred? One obvious possibility is that, in the absence of explicit cues, people remember on the basis of memory strength. If a memory is fuzzy, it likely occurred longer ago than...How do people remember when something occurred? One obvious possibility is that, in the absence of explicit cues, people remember on the basis of memory strength. If a memory is fuzzy, it likely occurred longer ago than a memory that is vivid. Here, we demonstrate a robust illusion of time that stands in stark contrast with this prediction. In six experiments testing adults via an online research platform, we show that experiences that are repeated (and, consequently, better remembered) are counterintuitively remembered as having initially occurred further back in time. This illusion is robust (amounting to as much as a 25% distortion in perceived time), consistent (exhibited by the vast majority of participants tested), and applicable at the scale of ordinary day-to-day experience (occurring even when tested over one full week). We argue that this may be one of the key mechanisms underlying why people's sense of time often deviates from reality.
Awareness of past atrocities is widely seen as critical for restoring justice and building resilient democracies. Going beyond information provision, an increasing number of memorial sites, museums, and historical archiv...Awareness of past atrocities is widely seen as critical for restoring justice and building resilient democracies. Going beyond information provision, an increasing number of memorial sites, museums, and historical archives offer opportunities for public participation. Yet little empirical evidence exists on the impact of participation in the collective remembrance of past atrocities. Two experimental studies, a field-in-the-lab study with 552 university students in Germany and an online randomized control trial with 900 digital workers in Germany, showed that participating in a large-scale, digital-history project about Nazi persecution increased peoples' collective-action intentions for further commemoration activities and for activities that strengthen intergroup relations today. These effects persisted for 2 weeks. The findings suggest that digital-history projects can motivate collective action that is critical for symbolic justice and positive intergroup relations, thus contributing to well-functioning, pluralistic democracies.
Knowing the similarities among others is critical for navigating our social environments and building relationships. However, people can evaluate the similarity among others using two perspectives: other-to-other differe...Knowing the similarities among others is critical for navigating our social environments and building relationships. However, people can evaluate the similarity among others using two perspectives: other-to-other differences (allocentric similarity) or self-to-other differences (egocentric similarity). Here, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test whether the similarity of brain-response patterns when thinking of others and the self is predicted by behavioral models of allocentric and egocentric similarity in the representations of acquainted peers from 20 independent groups of adults (total = 108; within-subjects design). Results show that both allocentric and egocentric similarity during person representation are reflected in brain-response similarity patterns when thinking of others, but they do so differentially and in nonoverlapping brain systems. These results suggest that the brain independently processes both allocentric and egocentric reference frames to encode trait information about conspecifics that we use to represent person knowledge about others within real-world social networks.
Influential campaigns in the United Kingdom and the United States have argued that same-language television subtitles may help children learn to read. In this study, we investigated the extent to which primary-school chi...Influential campaigns in the United Kingdom and the United States have argued that same-language television subtitles may help children learn to read. In this study, we investigated the extent to which primary-school children pay attention to and read subtitles and whether this is related to their reading proficiency. We tracked the eye movements of 180 British children in Years 1 to 6 who watched videos with and without subtitles. Results showed that attention to subtitles was associated with reading proficiency: Superior readers were more likely to look at subtitles than less proficient readers and spent more time on them. When children looked at words in the subtitles, they showed evidence of reading them. We conclude that some degree of reading fluency may be necessary before children pay attention to subtitles. However, by the third or fourth year of reading instruction, most children read sufficiently quickly to follow same-language subtitles and potentially learn from them.
Recently, it has been demonstrated that taking a disagreeing perspective increases the accuracy of inner crowds by enhancing estimation diversity. An insightful commentary reanalyzed the data using maximal random structu...Recently, it has been demonstrated that taking a disagreeing perspective increases the accuracy of inner crowds by enhancing estimation diversity. An insightful commentary reanalyzed the data using maximal random structure models and found no increase in accuracy when taking a disagreeing perspective. These findings present a curious challenge for inner-crowd research and hint at the importance of question variability. Here, we present the results of three preregistered experiments (total = 2,884, with online adult participants from the United States and the United Kingdom) that reconcile these findings by discerning between the ease and difficulty of questions. The results support the notion that taking a disagreeing perspective is beneficial for difficult questions, yet harmful for easier questions. We emphasize that question difficulty is a key factor to consider when evaluating the effectiveness of any intervention designed to improve the accuracy of aggregate estimates through the enhancement of diversity.
The study aimed to investigate the within-person relationship between religious-service attendance and mental health using data from the British Household Panel Survey ( = 29,298), a longitudinal survey of adult British...The study aimed to investigate the within-person relationship between religious-service attendance and mental health using data from the British Household Panel Survey ( = 29,298), a longitudinal survey of adult British households between 1991 and 2009. The outcome variables were mental health (as measured with the General Health Questionnaire) and life satisfaction. Using random-intercept cross-lagged panel models over 10 waves of data spanning over 18 years, the associations between religious-service attendance and mental health at the within-person level were mostly nonsignificant. The few significant findings indicated that an increase in religious-service attendance is associated subsequently with either higher or lower levels of mental health, suggesting both detrimental and beneficial effects. A series of robustness analyses (including the use of marginal structural models) mainly supported these findings. The results suggest that there is a need to question the assumption that religious-service attendance provides mental health benefits.
A common-sense moral intuition is that bad acts should be condemned according to severity. Yet seven experiments ( = 6,075 U.S. adults) show that the extent to which people differentiate between transgressions hinges on...A common-sense moral intuition is that bad acts should be condemned according to severity. Yet seven experiments ( = 6,075 U.S. adults) show that the extent to which people differentiate between transgressions hinges on the direction of comparison. When scaling up from a less severe transgression to a more severe one, people readily express stronger condemnation of the worse transgression. But when scaling down from a more severe transgression to a less severe one, they differentiate less, often condemning the lesser transgression just as strongly as one that is transparently worse. Indicating that one transgression is less bad than another can be construed as downplaying such transgressions, signaling bad moral character. Supporting this account, the asymmetry is larger for judgments that implicate moral character and for transgressions that seem especially important to condemn. Observers' moral-character judgments reveal a similar pattern, suggesting that the asymmetry is reinforced by social incentives.
Understanding how the structure of cognitive abilities changes depending on age and ability (age and ability differentiation) has critical implications for cognitive-ability assessments and cognitive-developmental theori...Understanding how the structure of cognitive abilities changes depending on age and ability (age and ability differentiation) has critical implications for cognitive-ability assessments and cognitive-developmental theories. Most differentiation research has focused on general intelligence; however, we argue that the investments children make in specific domains and school-taught subjects should rather affect their domain-specific ability structures. Leveraging a representative longitudinal sample of 17,979 U.S. children who were assessed in mathematics, reading, science, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, we found that loadings on a general intelligence factor remained similar, whereas most domain-specific factor loadings increased over time. Hence, age and ability differentiation are conceptually distinct, with the former pertaining to specific abilities and the latter to general intelligence. We find some evidence that domain-specific abilities can compensate for lower general intelligence. Overall, our results encourage a nuanced understanding of children's cognitive development.
ADHD, dyslexia, and dyscalculia often co-occur, and the underlying continuous traits are correlated (ADHD symptoms, reading, spelling, and math skills). This may be explained by trait-to-trait causal effects, shared gene...ADHD, dyslexia, and dyscalculia often co-occur, and the underlying continuous traits are correlated (ADHD symptoms, reading, spelling, and math skills). This may be explained by trait-to-trait causal effects, shared genetic and environmental factors, or both. We studied a sample of ≤ 19,125 twin children and 2,150 siblings from the Netherlands Twin Register, assessed at ages 7 and 10. Children with a condition, compared to those without that condition, were 2.1 to 3.1 times more likely to have a second condition. Still, most children (77.3%) with ADHD, dyslexia, or dyscalculia had just one condition. Cross-lagged modeling suggested that reading causally influences spelling (β = 0.44). For all other trait combinations, cross-lagged modeling suggested that the trait correlations are attributable to genetic influences common to all traits, rather than causal influences. Thus, ADHD, dyslexia, and dyscalculia seem to co-occur because of correlated genetic risks, rather than causality.
Automatic evaluation has emerged as a central concept in contemporary thinking about prejudice. The current research tested a quintessential aspect of prejudice: whether group affiliation dominates the automatic evaluati...Automatic evaluation has emerged as a central concept in contemporary thinking about prejudice. The current research tested a quintessential aspect of prejudice: whether group affiliation dominates the automatic evaluation of individual group members even when diagnostic evaluative information about the individuals is available. Participants read a list of descriptions about the behaviors of two individuals: one from a typically liked group and one from a typically disliked group. The list portrayed one individual more positively than the other, and we manipulated the extremity and direction of that difference. We conducted six studies ( = 11,572) with samples consisting of U.S. adults across different regions and group types (age, gender, and race) and two indirect measures that purportedly measure automatic evaluation: the implicit association test (IAT) and the evaluative priming task (EPT). Group affiliation (relative to personal characteristics) influenced the IAT and the EPT more than it influenced the self-reported evaluation. These results may suggest that the automatic evaluation of individuals is more prejudiced than nonautomatic evaluation.
Much of the previous research examining sex differences in human mate preferences has relied exclusively on heterosexual participants. Consequently, prior work overlooks a critical limitation: In heterosexual populations...Much of the previous research examining sex differences in human mate preferences has relied exclusively on heterosexual participants. Consequently, prior work overlooks a critical limitation: In heterosexual populations, participant sex and partner sex are perfectly confounded. Here, we tease apart this fundamental problem by separately examining ideal preferences for male and female partners across two studies-one using a large bisexual sample ( = 442) and another using a sample of both bisexual and heterosexual participants ( 380). The results revealed that sex differences in mate preferences were largely driven by the participants' own sex. However, both males and females set higher standards overall for the traits of male partners. These findings suggest that a person's mate-preference psychology is shaped by both one's own sex and the sex of the target being evaluated. More broadly, these results expand our understanding of the proximate psychology underlying human mate preferences.
Prosocial interventions grounded in social interactions have shown limited effectiveness in alleviating depressive symptoms, possibly because of the discomfort and unease that depressed individuals experience during such...Prosocial interventions grounded in social interactions have shown limited effectiveness in alleviating depressive symptoms, possibly because of the discomfort and unease that depressed individuals experience during such interactions. We developed and examined an innovative prosocial intervention-an online micro-charitable giving intervention, in which individuals voluntarily donated at least one Chinese cent (¥0.01, or about $0.0014) daily. We conducted three preregistered, 2-month randomized controlled trials with depressed individuals (Sample 1: = 125, Sample 2: = 296, Sample 3: = 462). Results showed that, compared with the waitlist group, the intervention group exhibited significantly greater improvements in both depressive symptoms (Cohen's s = -0.19 to -0.46) and emotional positivity (Cohen's s = 0.22 to 0.49), and that emotional positivity mediated the intervention's effect on the reduction of depressive symptoms. Exploratory analysis found a slightly larger intervention effect for generous donors than for minimal donors. This low-cost, easily accessible prosocial intervention holds potential for the prevention of depression.[Box: see text].
Intelligence is known to predict survival, but it remains unclear whether cognitive abilities differ in their relationship to survival in old age. We analyzed longitudinal data of 516 healthy adults (age: = 84.92 years,...Intelligence is known to predict survival, but it remains unclear whether cognitive abilities differ in their relationship to survival in old age. We analyzed longitudinal data of 516 healthy adults (age: = 84.92 years, = 8.66 years at Wave 1) from the Berlin Aging Study (Germany) on nine tasks of perceptual speed, episodic memory, verbal fluency, and verbal knowledge, and a general composite intelligence score. There were eight waves, with up to 18 years of follow-up; all participants were deceased by the time of analysis. We used a joint multivariate longitudinal survival model to estimate the unique contribution of each cognitive ability in terms of true (i.e., error-free) current value and current rate of change when predicting survival. Additional survival covariates included age at first occasion, sex, sociobiographical status, and suspected dementia. Only the two verbal-fluency measures were uniquely predictive of mortality risk. Thus, verbal fluency showed more salient associations with mortality risk than did measures of perceptual speed, episodic memory, and verbal knowledge.
There are many ways to describe and represent the visuospatial world. A space can be described by its euclidean properties-the size of objects, the angles of boundaries, the distances between them. A space can also be de...There are many ways to describe and represent the visuospatial world. A space can be described by its euclidean properties-the size of objects, the angles of boundaries, the distances between them. A space can also be described in nonspatial terms: One could explain the layout of a city by the order of its streets. Somewhere in between, -such as those commonly depicted in public-transit maps-capture coarse relational structure without precise euclidean detail, offering a relatively efficient, low-dimensional way of capturing spatial content. Here, we ask whether human adults quickly and automatically perceive such relations. In six experiments, we show that differences in simple topological features influence a range of visual tasks from object matching to number estimation to visual search. We discuss the possibility that topological relations are a kind of visual primitive that supports visuospatial representation.
What does it take to become an adult in Africa? Life-span-development literature includes little exploration on this transition outside Western countries. A qualitative approach was used to identify locally relevant topi...What does it take to become an adult in Africa? Life-span-development literature includes little exploration on this transition outside Western countries. A qualitative approach was used to identify locally relevant topics and variables in an understudied African context. Fifty 18- to 25-year-old Ovambo Namibians from rural and urban areas were interviewed. Results of reflexive thematic analysis suggest the significance of gender and birth order in defining adult roles and the completion of one's education as a new rite of passage. Full adult personhood means providing for and engaging with a larger community as well as one's children and extended family, reflecting the ongoing relevance of African communalism in today's society. Youth in Namibia, and likely in sub-Saharan Africa more broadly, balance traditional and contemporary demands as they come of age in a postindependence, globalizing society. Our findings reflect the centrality of community and the intermingled nature of agentic and communal values in this process.
Humanity spends an increasing proportion of its time interacting online, yet-given the importance of social media to human welfare-the external factors that regularly shape online behavior remain markedly understudied. D...Humanity spends an increasing proportion of its time interacting online, yet-given the importance of social media to human welfare-the external factors that regularly shape online behavior remain markedly understudied. Do environmental factors alter rates of online social activity? We conducted two large natural experiments to investigate how worse weather conditions affect social-media use in the United States, analyzing over 3.5 billion posts from Facebook and Twitter (now X) between 2009 and 2016. We found that extreme temperatures and added precipitation each independently amplified social-media activity, effects that persisted within individuals. Compounded weather extremes produced markedly larger increases in social-media activity. Days colder than -5 °C with 1.5 to 2 cm of precipitation elevated social-media activity by 35%, nearly triple the surge seen on New Year's Eve in New York City. Our study highlights that environmental conditions play a critical-but overlooked-role in shaping digital social interaction.
Liang Y, Blaser E, Yi JY
… +2 more, Sai L, Kaldy Z
Psychol Sci
· 2025 Jan · PMID 39870052
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Full text
Most work on working memory development has children remember a set of items as well as they can. However, this approach sidesteps the , the integration of external information with memory. Indeed, adults prefer to use e...Most work on working memory development has children remember a set of items as well as they can. However, this approach sidesteps the , the integration of external information with memory. Indeed, adults prefer to use external resources (e.g., lists, models) but will remember more as the cost to access them increases. Here, in our shopping game, we investigated this trade-off in 5- to 8-year-olds. Using a touchscreen, children shopped in a virtual store. Their shopping list and the store were not visible simultaneously but could be toggled. We manipulated access cost by varying a delay (0-4 s) before the list's reappearance. Across three preregistered experiments at two sites (the United States and China, = 141), a pattern emerged: When it was costlier to do so, children revisited the list less often, studied it longer, and selected more correct items. Also, children recognized the costs, identifying the no-delay condition as easier. Young children showed a cost-dependent trade-off of external-resource use versus working memory.
Using data from a geopolitical forecasting tournament, Mellers et al. (2014) [Psychological strategies for winning a geopolitical forecasting tournament. , 1106-1115] concluded that forecasting ability was improved by al...Using data from a geopolitical forecasting tournament, Mellers et al. (2014) [Psychological strategies for winning a geopolitical forecasting tournament. , 1106-1115] concluded that forecasting ability was improved by allowing participants to work in teams and providing them with probability training. Here, we reevaluated Mellers et al.'s conclusions using an item response theory framework that models latent ability from forecasting choices. We found that the relationship between latent ability estimates and forecast accuracy differed from the interpretation of the original findings once key extraneous variables were statistically controlled. The best fit models across the first 2 years of the tournament included one or more extraneous variables that substantially eliminated, reduced, and, in some cases, even reversed the effects of the experimental manipulations of teaming and training on latent forecasting ability. We also show that latent traits associated with strategic responding can discriminate between superforecasters and non-superforecasters, making it difficult to identify the latent factors that underlie the superforecasters' superior performance.
In light of popular accounts in the United States of "mansplaining," we investigated the effects on women when others give them "unresponsive" advice (i.e., unsolicited, generic, and prescriptive recommendations). We sho...In light of popular accounts in the United States of "mansplaining," we investigated the effects on women when others give them "unresponsive" advice (i.e., unsolicited, generic, and prescriptive recommendations). We show using both vignettes (Study 1) and live interactions (Study 2) that unresponsive advice (vs. responsive questions) from men negatively affected women's self-perceptions, leaving them feeling less respected, powerful, and trusting and having a smaller size of self. The advice giver's gender did not moderate these self-perception outcomes (Study 3), although women anticipated greater stereotype threat only when men, and not when women, gave them unresponsive advice. Similar effects were found using responsive advice instead of questions as the comparison condition (Study 4). Overall, these findings ( = 4,394 U.S. adult women) suggest that it is the unresponsive nature of advice-and for certain outcomes the advice giver's gender-that explain its effects on women. They point to the value of a responsive suggestion or question during conversations, particularly during cross-gender ones.
How does informal care affect caregivers' well-being? Theories and existing research provide conflicting answers to this question, partly because the temporal processes and conditions under which different aspects of wel...How does informal care affect caregivers' well-being? Theories and existing research provide conflicting answers to this question, partly because the temporal processes and conditions under which different aspects of well-being are affected are unknown. Here, we used longitudinal data from Dutch, German, and Australian representative panels (281,884 observations, 28,663 caregivers) to examine theoretically derived hypotheses about changes in caregivers' life satisfaction, affective experiences, depression/anxiety, and loneliness. Overall, results provided evidence for negative well-being effects after the transition into a caregiver role, with more pronounced and longer-lasting well-being losses in women than in men. We further found that well-being losses were larger with more time spent on caregiving, in both men and women. These results were robust across moderators of the caregiving context (care tasks, relationship with care recipient, and full-time employment). Together, the present findings support predictions of stress theory and highlight lingering questions in theoretical frameworks of care-related well-being costs.