The Scroll of Approval: Recieving more likes on social media makes people feel more powerful

In this project, we explore the relationship between network size/likes and feelings of power online

No relationships between self-reported Instagram use or type of use and mental well-being: A study using a nationally representative online sample of UK adults.

Use of Instagram has grown rapidly in the last decade, but the effects of Instagram use on well-being are still unclear, with many studies based on younger samples with a female bias. The aim of this study was to examine the associations between Instagram use and levels of anxiety, depression, and loneliness in a nationally representative sample of UK adults by age and gender. An online sample of 498 UK adults were recruited using Prolific (Age: M = 49, SD = 15, range 19-82 years old; 52% female, 47% male). Participants stated whether or not they used Instagram, reported their frequency of Broadcast, Interaction and Browsing Instagram use and completed the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. A genetic matching algorithm was used to match Instagram users (n= 372) and non-Instagram users (n = 100) on age, gender, education and nationality. There were no significant differences between users versus non-users of Instagram in levels of anxiety, depression or loneliness. There were also no significant associations between type of Instagram use (Broadcast, Interaction or Browsing) and levels of anxiety, depression or loneliness. The Bayes Factors for these models moderately to strongly supported the null model of no effect for Depression and Loneliness. This research adds to recent findings that suggests that the overall effect of SNSs on well-being may be small to non-existent. Future research should examine how exposure to different types of content on social media are related to well-being

The role of sleep health and cognitive control in the occurrence of hallucinatory experiences

Poor sleep appears to play a causal role in the development of hallucinatory experiences in clinical and non-clinical populations. It has been suggested that cognitive control processes might mediate this relationship. This investigation explored the association between hallucinatory experiences, sleep health, and cognitive control within the general population. Two online studies using self-report measures and cognitive tasks were conducted to identify cognitive correlates of sleep health and hallucinatory experiences (N = 211), and investigate whether cognitive control mediated the relationship between sleep health and hallucinatory experiences (N = 216). Both studies found that sleep health and thought control ability, but not intentional inhibition or working memory, predicted hallucinatory experiences. Further analysis demonstrated that thought control partially mediated the relationship between sleep health and hallucinatory experiences. Future directions and clinical implications are discussed. Preregistrations, materials, data, and code are available at doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/XYU5D

Personal ideal, cultural ideal and optimal attractiveness: Are these the same or different constructs? Testing with a within-subjects design.

In the body image literature, there are three ways of thinking about the ideal body shape. The first is from a first-person perspective, the body shape an individual would ideally like to have. The other two possibilities take a third-person perspective. The second type of ideal is which body shape is judged to be the most attractive to a potential romantic partner. The third and final type is which body shape represents a given cultural ideal. To our knowledge, no empirical study has made a direct comparison between all three of these possibilities. Therefore, in this study, we ask whether, for women in the Western World on average, these three versions of an ideal body shape correspond to each other. In addition, we ask what individual differences may drive variation in the ideal body shape. Previously we have collected data using a between-subjects version for this study and now plan to replicate this study with a within-subjects design to see if the findings can be replicated. In this second study, we will use a repeated measures design and ask participants to make all three judgments of the "ideal body" using a matrix of 32 female bodies varying in two dimensions: muscle and adiposity. On each trial of the task, participants will be asked to select the position in the 2D body space represented by the body matrix that best represents: “your ideal body shape”, “the ideal body shape for Western culture”, and “the most attractive body shape”. The Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-4 (SATAQ-4; Schaefer et al., 2015), Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q; Fairburn & Beglin, 1994), Drive for Muscularity Scale (DMS; McCreary & Sasse, 2000) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck et al., 1961) will be used to assess individual differences drive variations in the ideal body

Personal ideal, cultural ideal and optimal attractiveness: Are these the same or different constructs?

In the body image literature, there are three ways of thinking about the ideal body shape. The first is from a first-person perspective, the body shape an individual would ideally like to have. The other two possibilities take a third-person perspective. The second type of ideal is which body shape is judged to be the most attractive to a potential romantic partner. The third and final type is which body shape represents a given cultural ideal. To our knowledge, no empirical study has made a direct comparison between all three of these possibilities. Therefore, in this study, we ask whether, for women in the Western World on average, these three versions of an ideal body shape correspond to each other. In addition, we ask what individual differences may drive variation in the ideal body shape. We aim to test this presumption by asking participants to make one of the three judgments using a matrix of 32 female bodies varying in two dimensions: muscle and adiposity. On each trial of the task, participants will be asked to select the position in the 2D body space represented by the body matrix that best represents: “your ideal body shape”, “the ideal body shape for Western culture” or “the most attractive body shape”. The Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-4 (SATAQ-4; Schaefer et al., 2015), Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q; Fairburn & Beglin, 1994), Drive for Muscularity Scale (DMS; McCreary & Sasse, 2000) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck et al., 1961) were used to assess individual differences drive variations in the ideal body

REPLICATION-21: Does the colour of the mug influence the taste of the coffee?

Northumbria University: MRes Psychology 2021 | Replication project for PY0795 Practical Research Skills and Techniques DATA IS CURRENTLY BEING ANALYSED FOR WRITE U