“We Grind Each Other as Stones and Get Rid of Sharp Edges”: Young People’s Reported Positive Change, Learnings, and Growth Through Romantic Relationships

Romantic and intimate experiences serve as a crucial learning ground for individual and relational development, yet many aspects of this learning process remain underexplored. The present qualitative study explores romantic relationship-induced learning among 104 participants between 18 and 35, which may foster better navigation of their future relational interactions. Data, i.e., 37 in-depth and 67 written interviews, were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, applying an inductive, semantic, and experiential approach. The report of themes created in the analysis describes how romantic experience positively affected the participants in: (i) identity (self-knowledge, personal growth, and self-evaluation), (ii) relational competence (communication, socio-emotional skills, and problem-solving), and (iii) partner decisions (relationship expectations, relationship boundaries)

Testing the Reliability of Anchoring Susceptibility Scores

Whereas anchoring is a very robust and well-known effect that refers to the assimilation of numeric estimates toward previously considered numbers, the psychological mechanisms behind it have yet to be fully clarified. Research on theories on how susceptibility to anchoring is related to other personality parameters has not been able to provide sufficient empirical evidence of such relationships. A probable explanation is that anchoring scores lack reliability in most anchoring experiments. The present research examined whether reliability depends on the type of score used to capture anchoring susceptibility. In a classical anchoring experiment, men and women aged between 14 and 67 years (N = 78) were asked to estimate the true values of certain numbers (e.g., height of the Zugspitze mountain) after being confronted with either a high or a low anchor number. Four different anchoring scores that are commonly used to measure susceptibility to anchoring in anchoring research were computed for every person, as well as the scores’ reliabilities. The number and types of items were chosen to allow for reliable and valid measurement. Anchoring effects were present, but the reliabilities of all four scores were either very low or zero. These results reinforce the reliability problem that was also described by previous research. So far, there are no conditions under which anchoring susceptibility can be measured reliably, suggesting the development of new measures or even questioning the existence of individual differences in susceptibility to anchoring. In further research, other person-independent factors that may influence anchoring strength should be investigated to develop theories that can explain the psychological mechanisms behind anchoring

Psychiatric Morbidity Among Youth Patients at Nakuru County Referral and Teaching Hospital in Kenya: A Cross-Sectional Study

There is a decreased life span of 10 – 15 years in persons with psychiatric illnesses in contrast with the public population; hence interventions on first onset may improve some end results. This article explores the psychiatric morbidity among youth patients of age group 18 – 35 years. The study implemented a cross-sectional descriptive design. The study was carried out at Nakuru County Referral and Teaching Hospital in Kenya: 385 youth patients were sampled for this study using simple random sampling. There were more female (55.3%) participants compared to male (44.7%). Marital status and employment status were found to have a statistically significant association with psychiatric morbidity. The singles (p = .024) had an OR (4.771) higher chance of having a psychiatric morbidity as compared to the married. On the other hand, those who were widow/widower (p = .016) had an OR (5.650) times of developing a mental illness compared to the married. In conclusion, the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity among youth outpatients of the age bracket 18 – 35 years at Nakuru County Referral and Teaching Hospital stands at 46.5%. Marital status and employment status were noted to have a statistically significant link with psychiatric morbidity. Regular psychological assessments should be conducted as part of treatment evaluations for patients to get other more interventions necessary for them, bettering their health outcome broadly

Voters’ Attributions of Psychopathic Traits to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton After the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election and the 2020 Trump Impeachment Trial

We sought to determine if voters’ personological characteristics influence perceptions of psychopathic traits in political candidates and predict vote choice. Our first dataset was collected soon after the 2016 U.S. presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The sample, 159 Trump voters and 154 Clinton voters, rated their own authoritarian beliefs and their perceptions of psychopathic tendencies in both candidates, and reported their vote. As predicted, Clinton voters perceived low levels of psychopathic tendencies in Clinton and high levels of psychopathic tendencies in Trump, and Trump voters displayed the opposite pattern. A concurrent mediation analysis found that highly authoritarian voters perceived Trump to be low on psychopathic tendencies, and they tended to vote for Trump. These results were replicated from a different sample of 300 voters about three years later, soon after Trump’s first impeachment. The results suggest that authoritarian beliefs profoundly color perceptions of psychopathy in political candidates

Who Cares If Not Supposed To? Moral Foundations, Consideration of Immediate Consequences, and Mask-Wearing Intentions After Revocation of the Legal Obligation To Do So

After two years of obligation to wear masks during the pandemic, in March 2022, the legal requirement was revoked for public spaces (except for medical facilities) in Poland. The aim of the study was to find out how individualizing moral foundations (focused on avoiding harm to others and concern for justice) shaped the intention to wear masks despite the revocation and how binding moral foundations (concentrated on respect for authorities, loyalty to the ingroup, and purity) and consideration of immediate consequences modify this relationship. For exploratory purposes, the same model was also tested for a retrospective declaration about the refusal to wear protective masks when legally required to do so. In both models, gender was controlled. N = 557 people from the general population participated in the online survey. Results showed that in the case of intention to wear masks after the obligation was revoked, individualizing moral foundations and female gender were positive predictors.The lower the binding moral foundations and consideration of immediate consequences, the higher the effect of individualizing moral foundations. No interaction effects were found for a retrospective declaration of participants refusing to wear masks during the pandemic. However, positive predictors were male gender, binding moral foundations, and consideration of immediate consequences, whereas individualizing moral foundations were a negative predictor. The results suggest morality plays a role in forming health-related communication. Men should be targeted in order to enhance their acceptance of preventive measures

Exploring Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Relationship Quality as Protective Factors of Mental Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19’s global impact on mental health has been profound. To better understand factors that mitigate effects of stress, particularly during quarantine periods, this study examined roles of basic psychological need satisfaction and relationship quality in mental well-being in the context of COVID-19-related stress. Conducted from March to May 2020, this online questionnaire research involved 805 individuals in romantic relationships (mean age = 37.88 ± 12.50 years; 70.19% female). Path analysis revealed that higher mental well-being was associated with satisfaction of basic psychological needs, positive relationship quality, and lower COVID-19-related stress. Higher autonomy satisfaction was linked to lower COVID-19-related stress, whereas increased relatedness satisfaction and better relationship quality predicted higher COVID-19-related stress. The findings implicate complex associations among basic psychological need satisfaction, relationship quality, and mental well-being. While better relationship experiences might even heighten perceived stress during a global crisis, they simultaneously function as protective factors for overall mental health

Unveiling the Dark: Exploring the Nomological Consistency of the Short Dark Triad and Dirty Dozen Scales

We examined the consistency of the Short Dark Triad (SD3) and the Dirty Dozen (DD) scales, which are widely used for assessing Dark Triad traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy), in a community Italian sample of 504 individuals aged 18 to 89 years. The findings revealed strong convergence for Machiavellianism and psychopathy across the two scales. In contrast, narcissism demonstrated weaker convergence, with moderate correlations between the SD3 and DD scales. Nomological consistency, the degree to which different indicators of a construct share similar associations with external criteria, was assessed using four sets of criteria: psychopathy or empathy, the Five-Factor Model of personality, mental health (psychological well-being, anxiety, and depression), and social disinhibition. Both scales showed moderate consistency with empathy, the Big Five, and social disinhibition criteria but displayed inconsistency concerning mental health criteria. Psychopathy and Machiavellianism exhibited distinct patterns in relation to social disinhibition. Narcissism demonstrated the most divergence from other traits and the highest inconsistency between SD3 and DD. The SD3 appeared to focus predominantly on grandiose narcissism, whereas the DD scale likely encompasses both grandiose and vulnerable aspects of narcissism. Consequently, SD3 and DD cannot be considered fully equivalent measures of Dark Triad traits

Influence of Mind Wandering and Increased Attentional Demands on Multitasking and Implicit Learning

The goal of the current study was to replicate resent findings that suggest mind wandering is associated with impaired explicit learning but not implicit learning, and to extend those finding by investigating whether explicit learning is impaired under attentional load, but implicit learning is not. We used a sequential learning task, specifically a serial reaction task (SRT), to determine if mind wandering would interfere with learning a task that does not require attentional resources (implicit learning). Participants completed the serial reaction time task while watching a 13-minute video lecture. At the end of the video participants answered 10 multiple-choice questions regarding the content presented in the video. At specific intervals during the task, participants responded to mind wandering probes. The probes required participants to report where their attention was in the moments before the probe appeared. Implicit learning was measured by decreased reaction time over the course of several blocks of trials of the SRT. In two experiments, it was observed that participants implicitly learned a sequence of 12 items, regardless of their performance on the multiple-choice item regarding the concurrent video content. Even those who appeared to actively engage with the video and performed well on the multiple-choice questions showed improved performance on the implicit learning task (SRT). These results suggest implicit learning can occur when one is engaged in a concurrent explicit learning task

Psychometric Evaluation of the Serbian Adaptation of the Presentation of Online Self Scale (POSS) and Further Construct Validation

The Presentation of Self Scale (POSS) was designed to measure four aspects of online self-presentation behaviour: Ideal self, Multiple selves, Consistent self, and Online presentation preference. Very few scales have been developed to measure online-self presentation attitudes and behaviour in Serbia. Thus, there is a need to validate a Serbian language version of the POSS to support further investigation of an increasingly ubiquitous aspect of the daily lives of Serbian people. This study aimed to examine psychometric properties of the POSS in the Serbian context i.e., its reliability, factor validity, and construct validity. The study was conducted on a sample of 360 adults. The four-factor model was confirmed, and it is invariant across genders. The Ideal self, Multiple selves, and Online presentation preference scales converge and show a similar pattern of relationships with validity variables, with Ideal self and Multiple selves showing high profile similarity. These three scales are associated with less sensitivity to the expressive behaviour of others, greater fear of negative evaluation, social media addiction, anxiety, lower self-esteem, and less loneliness. On the other hand, the Consistent self-scale is generally unrelated to the other POSS scales and correlates with better sensitivity to the expressive behaviours of others, less fear of negative evaluation, but greater loneliness. The POSS proved to be useful for examining self-presentation behaviours in the Serbian cultural context. The study revealed two main self-presentational patterns: one that is inauthentic and facilitated by the features of online communication and the other that is authentic and related to better social sensitivity

Shared Construction of Social Pretend Play Sequences at the Kindergarten

Pretend play is usually defined as an activity wherein objects and actions (but also affective expression, at times) are separated from their original meanings. Its developmental appearance is set around the second year of life, and increases dramatically in duration, frequency and quality when play episodes start becoming more complex, both linguistically and interactionally reaching its peak in preschool years. To date, however, little attention has been paid to how social pretend play emerges and develops before the age of three. Our study aims to investigate early spontaneous pretend play interactions between children aged 19 to 28 months attending the same kindergarten. We used micro-analytical coding of video-recorded interactions to explore sequences of interaction where children coordinated their actions to engage in social pretend play with objects. Our analyses showed that co-constructed sequences appeared organised by a turn-alternation structure already at 19 months, and children used embodied and material resources afforded by the sequential organisation of actions to dynamically manage their participation. Although explorative, our results seem in line with previous reports suggesting an early onset of social pretend play developing over a continuum from being predominately an individual activity to progressively becoming a co-constructed endeavour