Narrative impact: How stories change minds

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An exploratory test of an intuitive evaluation method of perceived argument strength

According to Mercier and Sperber (2009, 2011, 2017), people have an immediate and intuitive feeling about the strength of an argument. These intuitive evaluations are not captured by current evaluation methods of argument strength, yet they could be important to predict the extent to which people accept the claim supported by the argument. In an exploratory study, therefore, a newly developed intuitive evaluation method to assess argument strength was compared to an explicit argument strength evaluation method (the PAS scale; Zhao et al., 2011), on their ability to predict claim acceptance (predictive validity) and on their sensitivity to differences in the manipulated quality of arguments (construct validity). An experimental study showed that the explicit argument strength evaluation performed well on the two validity measures. The intuitive evaluation measure, on the other hand, was not found to be valid. Suggestions for other ways of constructing and testing intuitive evaluation measures are presented

Anecdotal, statistical and causal evidence: Their perceived and actual persuasiveness

ABSTRACT: Claims about the occurrence of future events play an important role in pragmatic argumentation. Such claims can be supported by inductive arguments employing anecdotal, statistical, or causal evidence. In an experiment, the actual and perceived persuasiveness of these three types of evidence were assessed. A total of 324 participants read a newspaper article in which it was claimed that the building of a cultural centre would be profitable. This claim was supported by either anecdotal, statistical or causal evidence. The statistical evidence proved to be more convincing than the anecdotal and causal evidence. Although the latter two evidence types were equally unconvincing, the anecdotal evidence was perceived as less persuasive than the causal evidence. Therefore, the actual and perceived persuasiveness of the evidence did not correspond. These results partly replicate the results obtained in previous experiments. They also underscore the need to distinguish between the perceived and the actual persuasiveness of an argument

Review of the burden of eating disorders:mortality, disability, costs, quality of life, and family burden

Purpose of review To review the recent literature on the burden of eating disorders in terms of mortality, disability, quality of life, economic cost, and family burden, compared with people without an eating disorder. Recent findings Estimates are that yearly over 3.3 million healthy life years worldwide are lost because of eating disorders. In contrast to other mental disorders, in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa years lived with disability (YLDs) have increased. Despite treatment advances, mortality rates of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa remain very high: those who have received inpatient treatment for anorexia nervosa still have a more than five times increased mortality risk. Mortality risks for bulimia nervosa, and for anorexia nervosa treated outside the hospital, are lower but still about twice those of controls. In people with an eating disorder, quality of life is reduced, yearly healthcare costs are 48% higher than in the general population, the presence of mental health comorbidity is associated with 48% lower yearly earnings, the number of offspring is reduced, and risks for adverse pregnancy and neonatal outcomes are increased. People with a current or former eating disorder are at risk of increased mortality, high YLD rates, a reduced quality of life, increased costs, and problems with childbearing

Review of the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the occurrence of eating disorders

Purpose of review To review the recent literature on the impact of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on incidence and severity of symptoms of eating disorders (EDs). Recent findings A worrying increase of EDs in- and outpatients has been reported since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2019/2020. Restrictions implemented during the pandemic to protect populations against COVID-19 increased the risk for onset and for worsening of EDs by disrupting eating and exercise routines, social isolation, lack of support, and limited access to healthcare. Substantial increases since the start of the pandemic have been reported for overall incidence (15%), hospital admissions (48%) and emergency department visits (11%) for EDs, with even higher increases among women and children or adolescents with an ED. During the pandemic, ED patients reported increased severity of ED-specific symptoms and increased anxiety, depression and suicidal ideations and -attempts. Treatments shifted largely toward online methods for continuity of care, despite concerns about the quality of care provided and difficulties in self-monitoring. Our review provides preliminary evidence for a similar effectiveness of online treatment to prepandemic face-to-face treatment. In-person assessment remains essential for detecting EDs and for those requiring medical admission. Although the ongoing COVID-2019 pandemic affected mental health globally, research shows that it particularly affected individuals with an ED diagnosis or at risk for an ED, especially women, children and adolescents, and those with anorexia nervosa

Incidence, prevalence and mortality of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa

To review the recent literature on the epidemiology of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa in terms of incidence, prevalence and mortality. RECENT FINDINGS: Although the overall incidence rate of anorexia nervosa is considerably stable over the past decades, the incidence among younger persons (aged <15 years) has increased. It is unclear whether this reflects earlier detection or earlier age of onset. Nevertheless, it has implications for future research into risk factors and for prevention programs. For bulimia nervosa, there has been a decline in overall incidence rate over time. The lifetime prevalence rates of anorexia nervosa might be up to 4% among females and 0.3% among males. Regarding bulimia nervosa, up to 3% of females and more than 1% of males suffer from this disorder during their lifetime. While epidemiological studies in the past mainly focused on young females from Western countries, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are reported worldwide among males and females from all ages. Both eating disorders may carry a five or more times increased mortality risk. SUMMARY: Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa occur worldwide among females and males of all age groups and are associated with an increased mortality risk

The reconstructability of persuasive message variables affects the variability of experimental effect sizes: evidence and implications

Whereas the persuasive impact of message variables such as weaker versus stronger threat appeals, vivid versus pallid messages, and one-sided versus two-sided messages has received much research attention, more abstract properties of such message variables have gone largely unexamined. This article reports an analysis of one such property, reconstructability: the degree to which one of the two messages in an experimental pair can be deduced from the other. Evidence is offered from research on persuasive communication that as message variables become less reconstructable, the variability of the associated effect sizes increases—which creates distinctive challenges for theoretical progress and practical message design. Attention to message-variable properties such as reconstructability promises to shed light on how and why effects differ across message variables

Narrative Elements in Expository Texts: A Corpus Study of Educational Textbooks

While the use of narrative elements in educational texts seems to be an adequate means to enhance students’ engagement and comprehension, we know little about how and to what extent these elements are used in the present-day educational practice. In this quantitative corpus-based analysis, we chart how and when narrative elements are used in current Dutch educational texts (N=999). While educational texts have traditionally been considered prime exemplars of expository texts, we show that the distinction between the expository and narrative genre is not that strict in the educational domain: prototypical narrative elements – particularized events, experiencing characters, and landscapes of consciousness – occur in 45% of the corpus’ texts. Their distribution varies between school subjects: while specific events, specific people, and their experiences are often at the heart of the to-be-learned information in history texts, narrativity is less present in the educational content of biology and geography texts. Instead publishers employ narrative-like strategies to make these texts more concrete and imaginable, such as the addition of fictitious characters and representative entities

An exploratory test of an intuitive evaluation method of perceived argument strength

According to Mercier and Sperber (2009, 2011, 2017), people have an immediate and intuitive feeling about the strength of an argument. These intuitive evaluations are not captured by current evaluation methods of argument strength, yet they could be important to predict the extent to which people accept the claim supported by the argument. In an exploratory study, therefore, a newly developed intuitive evaluation method to assess argument strength was compared to an explicit argument strength evaluation method (the PAS scale; Zhao et al., 2011), on their ability to predict claim acceptance (predictive validity) and on their sensitivity to differences in the manipulated quality of arguments (construct validity). An experimental study showed that the explicit argument strength evaluation performed well on the two validity measures. The intuitive evaluation measure, on the other hand, was not found to be valid. Suggestions for other ways of constructing and testing intuitive evaluation measures are presented

Addressing the student: Voice elements in educational texts

Voice elements are those elements of educational texts that authors use to interact with students, such as questions, evaluations, or direct address forms (‘you’). These elements are intended to enhance students’ engagement and comprehension, but we know little about the extent to which they are used in present-day educational texts. Using a corpus of Dutch biology, geography, and history texts for grade 5 and grade 8 (N = 1055), this study shows that voice elements are barely differentiated over grade levels. Conversely, voice elements are generally varied over school subjects, as they are less frequent in history texts – which convey readily imaginable and relatable content – compared to biology and geography texts – which discuss less relatable content for which students need to exert more effort to connect it to their own world. This finding suggests that authors of educational texts have intuitions about the conditions under which voice elements are a desirable attribute