Conditional bribery: Insights from incentivized experiments across 18 nations.

Bribery, a grand global challenge, often occurs across national jurisdictions. Behavioral research studying bribery to inform anticorruption interventions, however, has merely examined bribery within single nations. Here, we report online experiments and provide insights into crossnational bribery. We ran a pilot study (across three nations) and a large, incentivized experiment using a bribery game played across 18 nations (N = 5,582, total number of incentivized decisions = 346,084). The results show that people offer disproportionally more bribes to interaction partners from nations with a high (vs. low) reputation for foreign bribery, measured by macrolevel indicators of corruption perceptions. People widely share nation-specific expectations about a nation's bribery acceptance levels. However, these nation-specific expectations negatively correlate with actual bribe acceptance levels, suggesting shared yet inaccurate stereotypes about bribery tendencies. Moreover, the interaction partner's national background (more than one's own national background) drives people's decision to offer or accept a bribe-a finding we label conditional bribery.

Ambivalence in decision making: An eye tracking study.

An intuition of ambivalence in cognition is particularly strong for complex decisions, for which the merits and demerits of different options are roughly equal but hard to compare. We examined information search in an experimental paradigm which tasked participants with an ambivalent question, while monitoring attentional dynamics concerning the information relevant to each option in different Areas of Interest (AOIs). We developed two dynamical models for describing eye tracking curves, for each response separately. The models incorporated a drift mechanism towards the various options, as in standard drift diffusion theory. In addition, they included a mechanism for intrinsic oscillation, which competed with the drift process and undermined eventual stabilization of the dynamics. The two models varied in the range of drift processes postulated. Higher support was observed for the simpler model, which only included drifts from an uncertainty state to either of two certainty states. In addition, model parameters could be weakly related to the eventual decision, complementing our knowledge of the way eye tracking structure relates to decision (notably the gaze cascade effect).

Salience effects in information acquisition: No evidence for a top-down coherence influence.

The Integrated Coherence-Based Decision and Search (iCodes) model proposed by Jekel et al. (Psychological Review, 125 (5), 744-768, 2018) formalizes both decision making and pre-decisional information search as coherence-maximization processes in an interactive network. Next to bottom-up attribute influences, the coherence of option information exerts a top-down influence on the search processes in this model, predicting the tendency to continue information search with the currently most attractive option. This hallmark "attraction search effect" (ASE) has been demonstrated in several studies. In three experiments with 250 participants altogether, a more subtle prediction of an extended version of iCodes including exogenous influence factors was tested: The salience of information is assumed to have both a direct (bottom-up) and an indirect (top-down) effect on search, the latter driven by the match between information valence and option attractiveness. The results of the experiments largely agree in (1) showing a strong ASE, (2) demonstrating a bottom-up salience effect on search, but (3) suggesting the absence of the hypothesized indirect top-down salience effect. Hence, only two of three model predictions were confirmed. Implications for various implementations of exogenous factors in the iCodes model are discussed.

Personality psychology in times of crisis: Profile-specific recommendations on how to deal with COVID-19.

The early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic posed a twofold global health threat: Besides the evident danger to human life, the corona crisis is also a psychological crisis. Psychologists worldwide have contributed to cushion the distress that is laid on many societies and enforce adaptive coping strategies. However, psychological support in the past has often been broadly applied, has not been particularly parsimonious and has often been focused on severe psychological stressors. In this brief report we describe the development and application of a low-threshold tool that generates personality-specific recommendations on how to functionally cope with the psychological challenges of the corona crisis. The tool gained widespread attention in Germany and many other countries and was well received by users. It demonstrates how psychological knowledge from personality and health psychology can be combined to be of very concrete use for many people in a threatening situation. We also show that personality is related to health behavior in a crisis in a meaningful way, providing further evidence that personality-specific advice can be a useful approach for supporting persons to cope with the crisis.

Multinational investigation of cross-societal cooperation.

In a globalized world, establishing successful cooperation between people from different nations is becoming increasingly important. We present results from a comprehensive investigation of cross-societal cooperation in one-shot prisoner's dilemmas involving population-representative samples from six countries and identify crucial facilitators of and obstacles to cooperation. In interactions involving mutual knowledge about only the other players' nationalities, we demonstrate that people hold strong and transnationally shared expectations (i.e., stereotypes) concerning the cooperation level of interaction partners from other countries. These expectations are the strongest determinants of participant cooperation. Paradoxically, however, they turn out to be incorrect stereotypes that even correlate negatively with reality. In addition to erroneous expectations, participants' cooperation behavior is driven by (shared) social preferences that vary according to the interaction partner's nationality. In the cross-societal context, these social preferences are influenced by differences in wealth and ingroup favoritism, as well as effects of specific country combinations but not by spatial distance between nations.

Bonn eXperimental System (BoXS): An open-source platform for interactive experiments in psychology and economics.

The increased interest in complex-interactive behavior on the one hand and the cognitive and affective processes underlying behavior on the other are a challenge for researchers in psychology and behavioral economics. Research often necessitates that participants strategically interact with each other in dyads or groups. At the same time, to investigate the underlying cognitive and affective processes in a fine-grained manner, not only choices but also other variables such as decision time, information search, and pupil dilation should be recorded. The Bonn eXperimental System (BoXS) introduced in this article is an open-source platform that allows interactive as well as non-interactive experiments to be conducted while recording process measures very efficiently and completely browser-based. In the current version, BoXS has particularly been extended to enable conducting interactive eye-tracking and mouse-tracking experiments. One core advantage of BoXS is its simplicity. Using BoXS does not require prior installation for both experimenters and participants, which allows for running studies outside the laboratory and over the internet. Learning to program for BoXS is easy even for researchers without previous programming experience.

Detection of azole susceptibility patterns in clinical yeast strains isolated from 1998 to 2008.

4,860 clinical yeast isolates (25 genera, 47 species) were tested in parallel to fluconazole, itraconazole, ketoconazole, and voriconazole. After re-evaluation of all species according to their current valid taxonomic denominations, the range of the top four of the dermatology, gynaecology and paediatrics associated species from superficial infections was similar to those isolated from other wards with mainly systemic/invasive infections. Candida albicans (44.7%) was the most frequent pathogen followed by C. glabrata, C. tropicalis, and C. parapsilosis. The MIC-assessment revealed for the ten-year test period an overall azole-susceptibility of about 75%, and ~80% for their associated ICUs. The overall susceptibility of the isolates from systemic and superficial infections to the four azoles was 79% and 80% respectively, and demonstrates a high in vitro activity. When two test periods (1998-2001 and 2002-2008) were compared by characteristic MIC values and multi-azole resistance, no significant increase could be detected in azole susceptibility/resistance over the two periods, respectively, over the total investigation period of ten years. This holds true when the characteristic MIC values were compared with those from different azole susceptibility studies from similar time periods and from different investigators around the world (1991 to 2010). With a new method, susceptibility pattern analysis for fungi, detailed information of multi-resistant microorganism populations could be obtained, and different characteristic resistance patterns in clinical yeast species detected. Although at a relatively low level, multi-resistance was seen in individual species populations demonstrating resistance to two (6.7%), three (4.4%), or all four (4%) azoles tested. A level of 4% and 2% fourfold parallel resistance was also determined in Candia spp. and non-Candida spp. derived of blood culture isolates.

The organometallic chemistry of cycloheptatrienyl zirconium complexes.

This tutorial review summarizes the organometallic chemistry derived from the half-sandwich complex [(η(7)-C(7)H(7))ZrCl(tmeda)], which was used as an efficient and versatile starting material for the incorporation of monoanionic ligands into the cycloheptatrienyl zirconium coordination sphere by conventional salt metathesis reactions. A broad variety of ligands was employed, affording novel and previously inaccessible cycloheptatrienyl (sandwich) complexes of the type [(η(7)-C(7)H(7))Zr(Y)]; Y comprises pentadienyl, cyclopentadienyl, allyl, phospholyl, boratabenzene, imidazolin-2-iminato and amido systems. The cycloheptatrienyl ring in these systems usually acts as an "innocent spectator ligand", but reactivity can arise from the second ligand Y or the Lewis acidity of the, formally, Zr(+iv) center, which was probed in selected examples and put in perspective to related studies. The corresponding results emphasize why the use of [(η(7)-C(7)H(7))ZrCl(tmeda)] is clearly an advancement in the chemistry of the still fairly unexplored area of cycloheptatrienyl transition metal complexes.

Changes in social norms during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic across 43 countries.

The emergence of COVID-19 dramatically changed social behavior across societies and contexts. Here we study whether social norms also changed. Specifically, we study this question for cultural tightness (the degree to which societies generally have strong norms), specific social norms (e.g. stealing, hand washing), and norms about enforcement, using survey data from 30,431 respondents in 43 countries recorded before and in the early stages following the emergence of COVID-19. Using variation in disease intensity, we shed light on the mechanisms predicting changes in social norm measures. We find evidence that, after the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, hand washing norms increased while tightness and punishing frequency slightly decreased but observe no evidence for a robust change in most other norms. Thus, at least in the short term, our findings suggest that cultures are largely stable to pandemic threats except in those norms, hand washing in this case, that are perceived to be directly relevant to dealing with the collective threat.

Anger and disgust shape judgments of social sanctions across cultures, especially in high individual autonomy societies.

When someone violates a social norm, others may think that some sanction would be appropriate. We examine how the experience of emotions like anger and disgust relate to the judged appropriateness of sanctions, in a pre-registered analysis of data from a large-scale study in 56 societies. Across the world, we find that individuals who experience anger and disgust over a norm violation are more likely to endorse confrontation, ostracism and, to a smaller extent, gossip. Moreover, we find that the experience of anger is consistently the strongest predictor of judgments of confrontation, compared to other emotions. Although the link between state-based emotions and judgments may seem universal, its strength varies across countries. Aligned with theoretical predictions, this link is stronger in societies, and among individuals, that place higher value on individual autonomy. Thus, autonomy values may increase the role that emotions play in guiding judgments of social sanctions.

From a cycloheptatrienylzirconium allyl complex to a cycloheptatrienylzirconium imidazolin-2-iminato "pogo stick" complex with imido-type reactivity.

The reaction of the cycloheptatrienylzirconium half-sandwich complex [(η(7)-C(7)H(7))ZrCl(tmeda)] (1) (tmeda = N,N,N',N'-tetramethylethylenediamine) with Li(Im(Dipp)N), generated from bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazolin-2-imine (Im(Dipp)NH) with methyllithium, yields the imidazolin-2-iminato complex [(η(7)-C(7)H(7))Zr(Im(Dipp)N)(tmeda)] (2). The corresponding tmeda-free complex [(η(7)-C(7)H(7))Zr(Im(Dipp)N)] (5) can be synthesized via the 1,3-bis(trimethylsilyl)allyl complex [(η(7)-C(7)H(7))Zr{η(3)-C(3)H(3)(TMS)(2)}(THF)] (3; TMS = SiMe(3)), which undergoes an acid-base reaction with Im(Dipp)NH to form 5 and 1,3-bis(trimethylsilyl)propene. 5 exhibits an unusual one-legged piano stool ("pogo stick") geometry with a particularly short Zr-N bond of 1.997(2) Å. Addition of 2,6-dimethylphenyl or tert-butyl isocyanide affords the complexes [(η(7)-C(7)H(7))Zr(Im(Dipp)N)(CNR)] (R = o-Xy, 6; R = t-Bu, 7), while the reaction with 2,6-dimethylphenyl isocyanate results in a [2 + 2] cycloaddition to form the ureato(1-) complex [(η(7)-C(7)H(7))Zr{Im(Dipp)N(C═O)N-o-Xy}] (8). 5 can also act as an initiator for the ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone. These reactivity patterns together with density functional theory calculations reveal a marked similarity of the bonding in imidazolin-2-iminato and conventional imido transition-metal complexes.

Dynamic contact effects: Individuals' positive and negative contact history influences intergroup contact effects in a behavioral game.

Positive contact between members of different groups reduces prejudice and increases cooperation, findings known as intergroup contact effects. Yet in real-world settings not only positive, but also negative intergroup contact occurs, which have opposing effects. To date little is known about whether and how an individual's valenced history of intergroup contact influences contact effects and how this dynamic change happens during specific instances of intergroup contact. A pilot study examined the psychological impact of a novel paradigm to assess intergroup contact using a behavioral game. We then conducted two studies, which allowed us to observe a sequence of up to 23 in- and outgroup interactions and their behavioral outcomes in a continuous prisoner's dilemma behavioral game (N = 116, 2,668 interactions; N = 89, 1,513 interactions). As expected, participants showed a clear ingroup bias in expectations and cooperation. Furthermore, the quality of contact history moderated contact effects. Specifically, intergroup contact following a positive history of intergroup contact had a stronger effect on intergroup expectations than contact following a negative history thereof. Findings are discussed in view of the importance of considering the valenced history of intergroup contact, as well as new research questions on intergroup contact that can be addressed with this novel contact paradigm. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Cycloheptatrienyl zirconium sandwich complexes with lewis basic phospholyl ligands (phosphatrozircenes): synthesis, structure, bonding and coordination chemistry.

The transmetalation reaction between [(η(7) -C(7) H(7) )ZrCl(tmeda)] (1; tmeda=N,N,N',N'-tetramethylethylenediamine) and various phospholide anions leads to a new class of mixed sandwich complexes: [(η(7)-C(7)H(7))Zr(η(5)-C(4)PMe(4))] (2), [(η(7)-C(7)H(7))Zr(η(5)-C(4)PH(2)Me(2))] (3) and [(η(7)-C(7)H(7))Zr(η(5)-C(4)PPhHMe(2))] (4). The presence of Lewis basic phosphorus atoms and Lewis acidic zirconium atoms allows ambiphilic behaviour to be observed, and X-ray diffraction analysis reveals dimeric arrangements for 2 and 3 with long intermolecular Zr-P bonds, whereas 4 remains monomeric in the solid state. DFT calculations indicate that the metal-phosphorus interaction is weak, and accordingly, complexes 2-4 act as monodentate ligands upon reaction with [W(CO)(5)(thf)]. The resulting complexes [W(CO)(5)(L)] 5-7 (L=2-4) were studied by IR spectroscopy and compared with the [W(CO)(5) ] complex 9, containing the phosphane-functionalised trozircene [(η(7)-C(7)H(7))Zr(η(5)-C(5)H(4)PPh(2))] (8). They all show a close resemblance to simple phosphanes, such as PMe(3) , although molecular orbital analysis of 2 reveals that the free electron pair in the phosphatrozircenes is not the HOMO. Four equivalents of 2 can replace 1,4-cyclooctadiene (COD) in [Ni(cod)(2)] to form the homoleptic, distorted tetrahedral complex [Ni{2}(4)] (10).

Treatment and prophylaxis of invasive candidiasis with anidulafungin, caspofungin and micafungin:review of the literature.

Working by a distinct cell wall-specific mechanism of action, the echinocandin class of antifungals has substantially expanded the range of available treatments for invasive Candida infections. Anidulafungin, caspofungin and micafungin were investigated versus drugs from earlier antifungal classes in large clinical trials that demonstrated their excellent clinical and microbiological efficacy in the primary treatment of invasive candidiasis. Therefore, and supported by a number of favourable pharmacological characteristics, the echinocandins rapidly became established in guidelines and clinical practice as primary treatment options for moderately to severely ill patients with invasive candidiasis. This article reviews the relevant clinical evidence that forms the basis for the use of echinocandins in the management of invasive candidiasis, and discusses their current role in the context of recent guideline recommendations and treatment optimization strategies.

Diagnosis and therapy of Candida infections: joint recommendations of the German Speaking Mycological Society and the Paul-Ehrlich-Society for Chemotherapy.

Invasive Candida infections are important causes of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised and hospitalised patients. This article provides the joint recommendations of the German-speaking Mycological Society (Deutschsprachige Mykologische Gesellschaft, DMyKG) and the Paul-Ehrlich-Society for Chemotherapy (PEG) for diagnosis and treatment of invasive and superficial Candida infections. The recommendations are based on published results of clinical trials, case-series and expert opinion using the evidence criteria set forth by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). Key recommendations are summarised here: The cornerstone of diagnosis remains the detection of the organism by culture with identification of the isolate at the species level; in vitro susceptibility testing is mandatory for invasive isolates. Options for initial therapy of candidaemia and other invasive Candida infections in non-granulocytopenic patients include fluconazole or one of the three approved echinocandin compounds; liposomal amphotericin B and voriconazole are secondary alternatives because of their less favourable pharmacological properties. In granulocytopenic patients, an echinocandin or liposomal amphotericin B is recommended as initial therapy based on the fungicidal mode of action. Indwelling central venous catheters serve as a main source of infection independent of the pathogenesis of candidaemia in the individual patients and should be removed whenever feasible. Pre-existing immunosuppressive treatment, particularly by glucocorticosteroids, ought to be discontinued, if feasible, or reduced. The duration of treatment for uncomplicated candidaemia is 14 days following the first negative blood culture and resolution of all associated symptoms and findings. Ophthalmoscopy is recommended prior to the discontinuation of antifungal chemotherapy to rule out endophthalmitis or chorioretinitis. Beyond these key recommendations, this article provides detailed recommendations for specific disease entities, for antifungal treatment in paediatric patients as well as a comprehensive discussion of epidemiology, clinical presentation and emerging diagnostic options of invasive and superficial Candida infections.

Prosocial behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. The role of responsibility and vulnerability.

In two pre-registered and fully incentivized studies (N = 501), we investigate prosocial behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. Based on a comparison with pre-pandemic data, Study 1 shows that individuals' general prosociality measured with a (context-independent) Social Value Orientation Slider changed significantly before vs. during the early stage of the pandemic towards increased prosociality. In addition, we identified pandemic-specific context factors for prosocial behavior measured by a series of Dictator games with different recipients. Allocations in the Dictator game increased with the giver's responsibility and the recipients' vulnerability to the virus. Study 2 replicates and extends this finding in a sample representative for the adult German population in terms of age and gender. We show that, for different actors (self, recipient, politicians), different dimensions of responsibility (responsibility to help, responsibility for the problem cause, and for the solution) are associated with prosocial behavior. Contrary to what could be expected from diffusion of responsibility, prosocial behavior increased not only when individuals themselves felt responsible to help but also when they perceived politicians to be responsible to help. Assigning responsibility for the cause of the COVID-19 crisis to recipients and politicians was associated with a decrease in prosocial behavior. However, responsibility for the solution had no influence. We discuss implications for public policies.

Altruistic Giving Toward Refugees: Identifying Factors That Increase Citizens' Willingness to Help.

Over the past decade, the world has faced an unprecedented refugee crisis. The large number of incoming refugees represents a challenge for host societies and its citizens triggering reactions from a supportive welcome to brusque rejection and hostile behavior toward refugees. In a pre-registered study, we investigated factors that could promote altruistic behavior in fully incentivized one-shot Dictator Game toward various receiver groups including refugees. We find that host citizens behave more altruistically toward refugees and other receiver groups if they (a) share a local identity with them (i.e., live in the same city), and (b) perceive them to be close (to the self) and warm-hearted. Moreover, citizens that are (c) generally more prosocial and hold a more left-wing political orientation are more willing to give. Unexpectedly, from a theoretical point of view, altruistic giving toward refugees was not influenced in the predicted direction by a shared student identity, competition and perceived income differences (although the latter effect was significant when considering all receiver groups). For shared student identity we even observe a reduction of altruistic behavior, while the opposite effect was predicted. We discuss implications for public policies for successful refugee helping and integration.

Perceptions of the appropriate response to norm violation in 57 societies.

Norm enforcement may be important for resolving conflicts and promoting cooperation. However, little is known about how preferred responses to norm violations vary across cultures and across domains. In a preregistered study of 57 countries (using convenience samples of 22,863 students and non-students), we measured perceptions of the appropriateness of various responses to a violation of a cooperative norm and to atypical social behaviors. Our findings highlight both cultural universals and cultural variation. We find a universal negative relation between appropriateness ratings of norm violations and appropriateness ratings of responses in the form of confrontation, social ostracism and gossip. Moreover, we find the country variation in the appropriateness of sanctions to be consistent across different norm violations but not across different sanctions. Specifically, in those countries where use of physical confrontation and social ostracism is rated as less appropriate, gossip is rated as more appropriate.

The ABC of society: Perceived similarity in agency/socioeconomic success and conservative-progressive beliefs increases intergroup cooperation.

The dimensions that explain which societal groups cooperate more with which other groups remain unclear. We predicted that perceived similarity in agency/socioeconomic success and conservative-progressive beliefs increases cooperation across groups. Self-identified members (N = 583) of 30 society-representative U.S. groups (gays, Muslims, Blacks, upper class, women, Democrats, conservatives etc.) played an incentivized one-time continuous prisoner's dilemma game with one self-identified member of each of these groups. Players knew nothing of each other except one group membership. Consistent with the ABC (agency-beliefs-communion) model of spontaneous stereotypes, perceived self-group similarity in agency and beliefs independently increased expected and actual cooperation across groups, controlling for shared group membership. Similarity in conservative-progressive beliefs had a stronger effect on cooperation than similarity in agency, and this effect of similarity in beliefs was stronger for individuals with extreme (progressive or conservative) compared to moderate beliefs.

Paranormal beliefs and individual differences: story seeking without reasoned review.

In a sample of 599 participants (60% female, 18-81 years), we tested the hypotheses that cognitive ability and the big-six personality traits suffice to explain the individual-difference component of paranormal beliefs (belief in magic, astrology, esoterism, supernatural beings, and spirituality). Additionally, we measured 14 other potential predictors that were found to correlate with paranormal beliefs in prior research (e.g., ontological confusion). Although cognitive ability and the big-six explained 10% of the variance in individual belief, ontological confusion and causality understanding also were significant predictors in regression analyses. The resulting model, explaining 19 % of variance, consists of ontological confusion, cognitive ability (negative correlation), openness to new experiences, emotionality, conscientiousness (neg. corr.) and causality understanding (neg. corr.). We discuss the findings with reference to two hypothetical factors that drive individuals' acceptance of paranormal beliefs, inclination for story-telling, and tendency to evaluate belief content in terms of reason and conscientious evaluation.