How body balance influences political party evaluations: A wii balance board study

Embodied cognition research has shown how actions or body positions may affect cognitive processes, such as autobiographical memory retrieval or judgments. The present study examined the role of body balance (to the left or the right) in participants on their attributions to political parties. Participants thought they stood upright on aWii™ Balance Board, while they were actually slightly tilted to the left or the right. Participants then ascribed fairly general political statements to one of 10 political parties that are represented in the Dutch House of Representatives. Results showed a significant interaction of congruent leaning direction with left-or right-wing party attribution. When the same analyses were performed with the political parties being divided into affiliations to the right, center, and left based on participants' personal opinions rather than a ruling classification, no effects were found. The study provides evidence that conceptual metaphors are activated by manipulating body balance implicitly. Moreover, people's judgments may be colored by seemingly trivial circumstances such as standing slightly out of balance

The prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms (ADS), persistent and chronic ADS among the adult general population and specific subgroups before and during the COVID-19 pandemic until December 2021

BackgroundIt is unclear to what extent the prevalence of moderate and severe anxiety and depression symptoms (ADS) is higher during the first 20 months after the COVID-19 outbreak than before the outbreak. The same holds for persistent and chronic ADS among the adult general population and subgroups (such as employed, minorities, young adults, work disabled).MethodsData were extracted from six surveys conducted with the Dutch longitudinal LISS panel, based on a traditional probability sample (N = 3493). Biographic characteristics and ADS (MHI-5 scores) were assessed in March–April 2019, November–December 2019, March–April 2020, November–December 2020, March–April 2021, and November–December 2021. Generalized estimating equations were conducted to examine differences in the prevalence of post-outbreak ADS, persistent and chronic ADS compared to the pre-outbreak prevalence in similar periods. The Benjamini-Hochberg correction for multiple testing was applied.ResultsAmong the general population chronic moderate ADS increased significantly but slightly in the period March–April 2020 to March–April 2021 compared to a similar period before the pandemic (11.9 % versus 10.9 %, Odds Ratio = 1.11). In the same period a somewhat larger significant increase in chronic moderate ADS was observed among 19–24 years old respondents (21.4 % versus 16.7 %, Odds Ratio = 1.35). After the Benjamini-Hochberg correction several other differences were no longer significant.LimitationsNo other mental health problems were assessed.ConclusionsThe Dutch general population and most of the assessed subgroups were relatively resilient given the limited increase or absence of increases in (persistent and chronic) ADS. However, young adults suffered from an increase of chronic ADS

Neurobiological correlates of antisociality across adolescence and young adulthood: a multi-sample, multi-method study

Background Antisociality across adolescence and young adulthood puts individuals at high risk of developing a variety of problems. Prior research has linked antisociality to autonomic nervous system and endocrinological functioning. However, there is large heterogeneity in antisocial behaviors, and these neurobiological measures are rarely studied conjointly, limited to small specific studies with narrow age ranges, and yield mixed findings due to the type of behavior examined. Methods We harmonized data from 1489 participants (9-27 years, 67% male), from six heterogeneous samples. In the resulting dataset, we tested relations between distinct dimensions of antisociality and heart rate, pre-ejection period (PEP), respiratory sinus arrhythmia, respiration rate, skin conductance levels, testosterone, basal cortisol, and the cortisol awakening response (CAR), and test the role of age throughout adolescence and young adulthood. Results Three dimensions of antisociality were uncovered: 'callous-unemotional (CU)/manipulative traits', 'intentional aggression/conduct', and 'reactivity/impulsivity/irritability'. Shorter PEPs and higher testosterone were related to CU/manipulative traits, and a higher CAR is related to both CU/manipulative traits and intentional aggression/conduct. These effects were stable across age. Conclusions Across a heterogeneous sample and consistent across development, the CAR may be a valuable measure to link to CU/manipulative traits and intentional aggression, while sympathetic arousal and testosterone are additionally valuable to understand CU/manipulative traits. Together, these findings deepen our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms underlying different components of antisociality. Finally, we illustrate the potential of using current statistical techniques for combining multiple datasets to draw robust conclusions about biobehavioral associations

A many-analysts approach to the relation between religiosity and well-being

The relation between religiosity and well-being is one of the most researched topics in the psychology of religion, yet the directionality and robustness of the effect remains debated. Here, we adopted a many-analysts approach to assess the robustness of this relation based on a new cross-cultural dataset (N=10,535 participants from 24 countries). We recruited 120 analysis teams to investigate (1) whether religious people self-report higher well-being, and (2) whether the relation between religiosity and self-reported well-being depends on perceived cultural norms of religion (i.e., whether it is considered normal and desirable to be religious in a given country). In a two-stage procedure, the teams first created an analysis plan and then executed their planned analysis on the data. For the first research question, all but 3 teams reported positive effect sizes with credible/confidence intervals excluding zero (median reported β=0.120). For the second research question, this was the case for 65% of the teams (median reported β=0.039). While most teams applied (multilevel) linear regression models, there was considerable variability in the choice of items used to construct the independent variables, the dependent variable, and the included covariates

A Many-analysts Approach to the Relation Between Religiosity and Well-being

The relation between religiosity and well-being is one of the most researched topics in the psychology of religion, yet the directionality and robustness of the effect remains debated. Here, we adopted a many-analysts approach to assess the robustness of this relation based on a new cross-cultural dataset (N = 10, 535 participants from 24 countries). We recruited 120 analysis teams to investigate (1) whether religious people self-report higher well-being, and (2) whether the relation between religiosity and self-reported well-being depends on perceived cultural norms of religion (i.e., whether it is considered normal and desirable to be religious in a given country). In a two-stage procedure, the teams first created an analysis plan and then executed their planned analysis on the data. For the first research question, all but 3 teams reported positive effect sizes with credible/confidence intervals excluding zero (median reported β = 0.120). For the second research question, this was the case for 65% of the teams (median reported β = 0.039). While most teams applied (multilevel) linear regression models, there was considerable variability in the choice of items used to construct the independent variables, the dependent variable, and the included covariates