The psychological science accelerator’s COVID-19 rapid-response dataset

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three large-scale psychological studies to examine the effects of loss-gain framing, cognitive reappraisals, and autonomy framing manipulations on behavioral intentions and affective measures. The data collected (April to October 2020) included specific measures for each experimental study, a general questionnaire examining health prevention behaviors and COVID-19 experience, geographical and cultural context characterization, and demographic information for each participant. Each participant started the study with the same general questions and then was randomized to complete either one longer experiment or two shorter experiments. Data were provided by 73,223 participants with varying completion rates. Participants completed the survey from 111 geopolitical regions in 44 unique languages/dialects. The anonymized dataset described here is provided in both raw and processed formats to facilitate re-use and further analyses. The dataset offers secondary analytic opportunities to explore coping, framing, and self-determination across a diverse, global sample obtained at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which can be merged with other time-sampled or geographic data

A global experiment on motivating social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic

Finding communication strategies that effectively motivate social distancing continues to be a global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-country, preregistered experiment (n = 25,718 from 89 countries) tested hypotheses concerning generalizable positive and negative outcomes of social distancing messages that promoted personal agency and reflective choices (i.e., an autonomy-supportive message) or were restrictive and shaming (i.e., a controlling message) compared with no message at all. Results partially supported experimental hypotheses in that the controlling message increased controlled motivation (a poorly internalized form of motivation relying on shame, guilt, and fear of social consequences) relative to no message. On the other hand, the autonomy-supportive message lowered feelings of defiance compared with the controlling message, but the controlling message did not differ from receiving no message at all. Unexpectedly, messages did not influence autonomous motivation (a highly internalized form of motivation relying on one’s core values) or behavioral intentions. Results supported hypothesized associations between people’s existing autonomous and controlled motivations and self-reported behavioral intentions to engage in social distancing. Controlled motivation was associated with more defiance and less long-term behavioral intention to engage in social distancing, whereas autonomous motivation was associated with less defiance and more short- and long-term intentions to social distance. Overall, this work highlights the potential harm of using shaming and pressuring language in public health communication, with implications for the current and future global health challenges

The Psychological Science Accelerator’s COVID-19 rapid-response dataset

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three large-scale psychological studies to examine the effects of loss-gain framing, cognitive reappraisals, and autonomy framing manipulations on behavioral intentions and affective measures. The data collected (April to October 2020) included specific measures for each experimental study, a general questionnaire examining health prevention behaviors and COVID-19 experience, geographical and cultural context characterization, and demographic information for each participant. Each participant started the study with the same general questions and then was randomized to complete either one longer experiment or two shorter experiments. Data were provided by 73,223 participants with varying completion rates. Participants completed the survey from 111 geopolitical regions in 44 unique languages/dialects. The anonymized dataset described here is provided in both raw and processed formats to facilitate re-use and further analyses. The dataset offers secondary analytic opportunities to explore coping, framing, and self-determination across a diverse, global sample obtained at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which can be merged with other time-sampled or geographic data

The Semantic Scale Network:An online tool to detect semantic overlap of psychological scales and prevent scale redundancies

Psychological measurement and theory are afflicted with an ongoing proliferation of new constructs and scales. Given the often redundant nature of new scales, psychological science is struggling with arbitrary measurement, construct dilution, and disconnection between research groups. To address these issues, we introduce an easy-to-use online application: the Semantic Scale Network. The purpose of this application is to automatically detect semantic overlap between scales through latent semantic analysis. Authors and reviewers can enter the items of a new scale into the application, and receive quantifications of semantic overlap with related scales in the application's corpus. Contrary to traditional assessments of scale overlap, the application can support expert judgments on scale redundancy without access to empirical data or awareness of every potentially related scale. After a brief introduction to measures of semantic similarity in texts, we introduce the Semantic Scale Network and provide best practices for interpreting its outputs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)

The Semantic Scale Network: An online tool to detect semantic overlap of psychological scales and prevent scale redundancies

Psychological measurement and theory are afflicted with an ongoing proliferation of new constructs and scales. Given the often redundant nature of new scales, psychological science is struggling with arbitrary measurement, construct dilution, and disconnection between research groups. To address these issues, we introduce an easy-to-use online application: the Semantic Scale Network. The purpose of this application is to automatically detect semantic overlap between scales through latent semantic analysis. Authors and reviewers can enter the items of a new scale into the application, and receive quantifications of semantic overlap with related scales in the application's corpus. Contrary to traditional assessments of scale overlap, the application can support expert judgments on scale redundancy without access to empirical data or awareness of every potentially related scale. After a brief introduction to measures of semantic similarity in texts, we introduce the Semantic Scale Network and provide best practices for interpreting its outputs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)

Does Passive Facebook Use Promote Feelings of Social Connectedness?

Previous research has shown that passive social media use does not have the same positive effects on well‐being as active social media use. However, it is currently unclear whether these effects can be attributed to the benefits of active use, the costs of passive use, or both. The current article investigated the effect of active and passive Facebook use on feelings of social connectedness after being ostracized. In two preregistered experiments, participants were first ostracized on a faux social media platform, followed by a measurement of social connectedness. In Experiment 1 they were then instructed to either use Facebook passively, use Facebook actively, or use a non‐social website (Wikipedia), after which social connectedness was measured again. Results indicated that active Facebook use can restore social connectedness after being ostracized as compared to using a non‐social website. While passive Facebook use also restored social connectedness, it did not change social connectedness significantly more so than Wikipedia use. In Experiment 2, we replicated Experiment 1, now focusing only on passive Facebook use compared to a non‐social website. Results showed again that passive Facebook use did not influence social connectedness more so than the use of Wikipedia. In exploratory analyses, we found that for participants who felt close to other Facebook users, passive Facebook use did increase social connectedness compared to using a non‐social website. These experiments suggest that, even though passive social media use does not restore social connectedness in the same way that active social media use does, it also does not harm social connectedness, and it may actually promote social connectedness under certain circumstances

Does Passive Facebook Use Promote Feelings of Social Connectedness?

Previous research has shown that passive social media use does not have the same positive effects on well-being as active social media use. However, it is currently unclear whether these effects can be attributed to the benefits of active use, the costs of passive use, or both. The current article investigated the effect of active and passive Facebook use on feelings of social connectedness after being ostracized. In two preregistered experiments, participants were first ostracized on a faux social media platform, followed by a measurement of social connectedness. In Experiment 1 they were then instructed to either use Facebook passively, use Facebook actively, or use a non-social website (Wikipedia), after which social connectedness was measured again. Results indicated that active Facebook use can restore social connectedness after being ostracized as compared to using a non-social website. While passive Facebook use also restored social connectedness, it did not change social connectedness significantly more so than Wikipedia use. In Experiment 2, we replicated Experiment 1, now focusing only on passive Facebook use compared to a non-social website. Results showed again that passive Facebook use did not influence social connectedness more so than the use of Wikipedia. In exploratory analyses, we found that for participants who felt close to other Facebook users, passive Facebook use did increase social connectedness compared to using a non-social website. These experiments suggest that, even though passive social media use does not restore social connectedness in the same way that active social media use does, it also does not harm social connectedness, and it may actually promote social connectedness under certain circumstances

The psychological science accelerator’s COVID-19 rapid-response dataset

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three large-scale psychological studies to examine the effects of loss-gain framing, cognitive reappraisals, and autonomy framing manipulations on behavioral intentions and affective measures. The data collected (April to October 2020) included specific measures for each experimental study, a general questionnaire examining health prevention behaviors and COVID-19 experience, geographical and cultural context characterization, and demographic information for each participant. Each participant started the study with the same general questions and then was randomized to complete either one longer experiment or two shorter experiments. Data were provided by 73,223 participants with varying completion rates. Participants completed the survey from 111 geopolitical regions in 44 unique languages/dialects. The anonymized dataset described here is provided in both raw and processed formats to facilitate re-use and further analyses. The dataset offers secondary analytic opportunities to explore coping, framing, and self-determination across a diverse, global sample obtained at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which can be merged with other time-sampled or geographic data

The Psychological Science Accelerator’s COVID-19 rapid-response dataset

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three large-scale psychological studies to examine the effects of loss-gain framing, cognitive reappraisals, and autonomy framing manipulations on behavioral intentions and affective measures. The data collected (April to October 2020) included specific measures for each experimental study, a general questionnaire examining health prevention behaviors and COVID-19 experience, geographical and cultural context characterization, and demographic information for each participant. Each participant started the study with the same general questions and then was randomized to complete either one longer experiment or two shorter experiments. Data were provided by 73,223 participants with varying completion rates. Participants completed the survey from 111 geopolitical regions in 44 unique languages/dialects. The anonymized dataset described here is provided in both raw and processed formats to facilitate re-use and further analyses. The dataset offers secondary analytic opportunities to explore coping, framing, and self-determination across a diverse, global sample obtained at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which can be merged with other time-sampled or geographic data