Even experienced phone users drive worse while texting – A driving simulator study

Several studies have clearly shown that texting on a mobile phone increases crash risk (e.g. Dingus et al., 2006; Victor et al., 2014). However, the frequency of texting while driving still remains high (e.g. Vollrath, Huemer, Teller & Likhacheva, 2016). One reason may be that drivers are convinced that they are able to manage this dual task due to their competency in driving and texting. From a theoretical point of view, this may be true within limits – two well-learned, automatically processed tasks may require so few resources most of the time that interferences may not occur.In order to test this assumption, a study with a standardized driving simulator task (the lane change task, LCT; Mattes, 2003) was done with n = 40 drivers selected for their driving experience and tested for their texting abilities. The effect of driving experience (high vs. low) and texting competence (high vs. low) on driving performance was examined in single (driving only) and dual-task (driving and texting) conditions. Additionally, a subjective assessment of one’s task performance was obtained. Texting on the mobile phone significantly impaired driving performance. While driving experience did not have an influence, the deteriorating effect of texting was significantly less pronounced in highly competent phone users. Interestingly, this objective effect was not found in the subjective assessment. Drivers with a high texting competence felt as impaired as drivers with a low texting competence. This is in line with the finding that even in this simple driving task their performance was still significantly deteriorated as compared to driving, only. Thus, it seems that the reason why people text while driving is not that they are not aware of the performance loss. However, this awareness of the possible risk does not seem sufficient to prevent them from texting while driving.     

When the final whistle blows: Social identity pathways support mental health and life satisfaction after retirement from competitive sport

For many athletes, retirement from higher levels of competitive sport poses significant challenges. Research has shown that athletic identity is a key predictor of adjustment trajectories, but the mechanisms through which this affects outcomes are less clear. Added to this, there has been limited research on the role that wider social identities, and the resources they enable, play in adjustment. Addressing both these issues, we examined theoretically derived social identity pathways to retirement adjustment in athletes who had played sport at higher competitive levels and two potential mechanisms, or psychological resources, through which adjustment might be enabled. This was examined in two samples: retired athletes from countries in Western (n = 215) and Eastern (n = 183) regions. Loss of athletic identity, social group memberships (multiple, maintained and new), psychological resources (perceived meaning in life and control), and adjustment (life satisfaction, depression, and perceived physical health) were assessed. In both samples, the loss of athletic identity undermined adjustment by reducing meaning in life and perceived control. Path analysis showed that both maintained and gained social group memberships counteracted the negative effects of athletic identity loss on adjustment. Evidence that these pathways enabled access to psychological resources was found primarily in Chinese athletes, with maintained groups influencing personal control and new groups influencing meaning in life. These findings highlight the importance of social identity processes to retirement from higher levels of competitive sport and the mechanisms through which they can either support or undermine adjustment.     

Intuitive Dualism and Afterlife Beliefs: A Cross-Cultural Study

It is widely held that intuitive dualism—an implicit default mode of thought that takes minds to be separable from bodies and capable of independent existence—is a human universal. Among the findings taken to support universal intuitive dualism is a pattern of evidence in which “psychological” traits (knowledge, desires) are judged more likely to continue after death than bodily or “biological” traits (perceptual, physiological, and bodily states). Here, we present cross-cultural evidence from six study populations, including non-Western societies with diverse belief systems, that shows that while this pattern exists, the overall pattern of responses nonetheless does not support intuitive dualism in afterlife beliefs. Most responses of most participants across all cultures tested were not dualist. While our sample is in no way intended to capture the full range of human societies and afterlife beliefs, it captures a far broader range of cultures than in any prior study, and thus puts the case for afterlife beliefs as evidence for universal intuitive dualism to a strong test. Based on these findings, we suggest that while dualist thinking is a possible mode of thought enabled by evolved human psychology, such thinking does not constitute a default mode of thought. Rather, our data support what we will call intuitive materialism—the view that the underlying intuitive systems for reasoning about minds and death produce as a default judgment that mental states cease to exist with bodily death.     

The archetype of the apocalypse. Analysing the pandemics of racism,COVID-19 and climate change

What we are witnessing in the present time in human history, in the 2020’s, is a vortex of intersecting pandemics – jolting revelations that are unfolding with a terrific energy and force – so much so that we cannot ignore them or escape them. These include the world-wide pandemics of racism, COVID-19 and climate change. This paper argues that all of these swirling pandemics are manifestations of the archetype of the apocalypse, which is constellating now in a very powerful way. Any one of these phenomena could swallow humanity whole as a species. Together they represent a seemingly overwhelming challenge for us to meet over the next century of life on earth. If humanity cannot meet the challenge of these combined negative forces, it could simply perish. A multi-layered intersecting set of challenges such as this has never yet occurred in human history. We must therefore be very alert to what is going on, and as to how we can consciously mediate these threats, both individually and collectively. It also presents an unprecedented opportunity for humanity to evolve and grow psychologically both individually and collectively, nationally and globally.     

Investigating the Links Between Cultural Values and Belief in Conspiracy Theories: The Key Roles of Collectivism and Masculinity

Research suggests that belief in conspiracy theories (CT) stems from basic psychological mechanisms and is linked to other belief systems (e.g., religious beliefs). While previous research has extensively examined individual and contextual variables associated with CT beliefs, it has not yet investigated the role of culture. In the current research, we tested, based on a situated cultural cognition perspective, the extent to which culture predicts CT beliefs. Using Hofstede's model of cultural values, three nation-level analyses of data from 25, 19, and 18 countries using different measures of CT beliefs (Study 1, N = 5323; Study 2a, N = 12,255; Study 2b, N = 30,994) revealed positive associations between masculinity, collectivism, and CT beliefs. A cross-sectional study among U.S. citizens (Study 3, N = 350), using individual-level measures of Hofstede's values, replicated these findings. A meta-analysis of correlations across studies corroborated the presence of positive links between CT beliefs, collectivism, r = .31, 95% CI = [.15; .47], and masculinity, r = .39, 95% CI = [.18; .59]. Our results suggest that in addition to individual differences and contextual variables, cultural factors also play an important role in shaping CT beliefs.     

Disavowing White Identity: How Social Disgust can Change Social Identities

Recent work finds that the sense of solidarity some whites feel with their racial group is strongly associated with their political attitudes, particularly since the election of Barack Obama. Prior work has also noted that levels of this identity have been stable across time and data sources. We, however, document a notable decline in levels of white identity in both panel and cross-sectional national survey data immediately after the 2016 presidential election. Using a two-wave panel design, we examine the factors associated with this decline. We examine whether particular emotional reactions, especially disgust toward Donald Trump, pushed some whites away from their racial identity. We also consider the possibility that some whites may have felt that Trump's election reduced perceptions of racial or political threat, therefore lowering levels of white identity. We find the strongest support for the former hypothesis; the decline in white identity was driven mostly by whites expressing disgust toward Trump. Our results highlight the effect that the political environment can have on group identities and point in particular to the significant role that disgust may play in attenuating the strength of group solidarity.     

我国内地教师主观幸福感的变迁(2002~2019)：横断历史研究的视角

教师主观幸福感作为衡量教师群体心理健康状况的一项关键指标, 对其现状的调查和分析至关重要, 同时, 对其随社会变迁的动态变化趋势、及其与社会变迁的关系的监测也不可忽视。本研究对2002至2019年间的51篇采用总体幸福感量表(GWB)测量教师主观幸福感的研究报告(共包括13600名教师)进行横断历史的元分析。研究发现：(1)教师主观幸福感均值与年代呈显著负相关, 这说明我国教师主观幸福感在逐年下降。(2)来自社会经济条件(居民消费水平、房价、老年抚养比和教育经费)、社会联结(家庭规模数、离婚率和城镇化水平)和社会威胁(犯罪率)三方面的8项宏观社会指标的变化能显著预测教师主观幸福感的下降。(3)中小学教师的主观幸福感随年代下降的趋势更明显, 其主观幸福感得分要显著低于高校教师。本研究不仅探究了我国教师主观幸福感近20年的变迁趋势, 而且结合社会宏观发展的指标, 提出了影响我国教师主观幸福感的三维理论框架, 对群体社会心理的研究思路进行了纵向(随时代变迁)及横向(宏观社会指标)的拉伸, 拓展理论基础的同时, 在实践上, 为干预调节我国教师群体主观幸福感提供决策依据。     

中国社会转型过程中的心理变化：社会学视角的研究及其对心理学家的启示

社会心理学有着社会学和心理学两种取向。虽然多数时候相对独立发展, 但两者都对现代化带来的社会转型和变迁非常关注。社会学家从社会或社会结构的变化和人的变化两个方面对社会转型进行了大量研究, 前者主要涉及城市(镇)化、社会阶层、社会流动性、家庭结构等, 后者主要涉及中国体验、社会心态、群体心理、组织心理等。总体上, 现有研究显示, 现代社会个体主义上升, 同时许多传统集体主义价值在日渐式微。和心理学取向的研究相比, 社会学取向的研究具有这些特点：倾向于采用本位概念、质性研究方法, 特别关注中观群体心理, 关注政治和政策影响, 更具历史宏观视野等, 这些都是心理学取向的社会心理学家需要学习和借鉴的地方。期待两种取向的社会心理学家在未来的研究中能有更多的合作, 共同促进对转型过程中的中国和中国人的理解。     

Social cognition and social functioning in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s dementia

The aim of the present study was to examine social cognition and social functioning in a group of amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and Alzheimer’s dementia (AD) patients. Thirty one people with aMCI, 29 individuals with AD, and 45 healthy older adults participated in the study. Facial expressions of happiness, anger, fear, disgust, and surprise presented in different intensities had to be labelled. Mentalizing was assessed using first-order belief theory of mind (ToM) stories and everyday social functioning by the Inventory of Interpersonal Situations (IIS), completed by an informant. aMCI patients were impaired in recognizing the emotions anger, disgust, and fear, while AD patients were impaired in recognizing the emotions anger, disgust, and surprise. More importantly, no significant differences between aMCI and AD patients were found on overall emotion recognition. Both the aMCI and AD patients were impaired on the ToM task, but no differences between the aMCI and AD patients were found. On everyday social functioning, only the AD patients showed impairments. No associations between the IIS and ToM were found, but the IIS and emotion perception were significantly correlated. Regression analysis taking all potentially confounding variables into account showed that only mood, but not the social-cognitive task performance or any other cognitive variable, predicted social functioning. aMCI and AD patients demonstrated impairments in mentalizing and facial emotion perception, and showed decrements in everyday social functioning. Informing caregivers about these deficits may help them to understand deficits in social cognition that may be present already in the MCI stage of Alzheimer’s disease.     

Motor processing modulates word comprehension

We evaluated whether movement modulates the semantic processing of words. To this end, we used homograph words with two meanings, one associated with hand movements (e.g., ‘abanico’, ‘fan’ in Spanish) or foot movements (‘bota’, ‘boot’ in Spanish), and the other not associated with movement (‘abanico’, ‘range’ in Spanish; ‘bota’, ‘wineskin’ in Spanish). After the homograph, three words were presented, and participants were asked to choose the word related to one of the two homograph meanings. The words could be either related to the motor meaning of the homograph (‘fan-heat’), to the non-motor meaning of the homograph (‘range-possibility’) or unrelated (‘fan-phone’). The task was performed without movement (simple condition) or by performing hand (Experiment 1) and foot (Experiment 2) movements. Compared with the simple condition, the performance of movement oriented the preference towards the motor meaning of the homograph. This pattern of results confirms that movement modulates word comprehension.