Why Forced-Choice and Likert Items Provide the Same Information on Personality, Including Social Desirability.

The forced-choice response format is often considered superior to the standard Likert-type format for controlling social desirability in personality inventories. We performed simulations and found that the trait information based on the two formats converges when the number of items is high and forced-choice items are mixed with regard to positively and negatively keyed items. Given that forced-choice items extract the same personality information as Likert-type items do, including socially desirable responding, other means are needed to counteract social desirability. We propose using evaluatively neutralized items in personality measurement, as they can counteract social desirability regardless of response format.

Patient attachment and reflective functioning as predictors for therapist in-session feelings.

Therapists' in-session feelings in psychotherapy can be seen as indications of the development of the therapeutic relationship and the therapeutic process. To manage them appropriately, it is important to know to what extent they may be influenced by patients' pretreatment characteristics. This study aims to improve the understanding of therapists' emotional reactions in the psychotherapeutic setting by investigating if patients' pretreatment mentalization ability and attachment style predicted therapist in-session feelings. In a sample of 87 therapy dyads treated with interpersonal psychotherapy and cognitive behavioral therapy for depression, patient attachment was measured using self-reported Experiences in Close Relationships (ECR) and mentalization using Reflective Functioning (RF). ECR and RF were hypothesized to predict therapist feelings measured by the Feeling Word Checklist-24 at different treatment phases over the full course of treatment. Treatment method, patient age, gender, and pretreatment depression were evaluated as potential confounders. Multilevel modeling was used to analyze the data. Lower RF in patients predicted more negative therapist feelings in the mid- to late-treatment phases and less positive feelings in the late-treatment phase. Self-reported attachment anxiety or avoidance did not predict therapist feelings. Findings indicate that patients' ability to mentalize is important to consider when conducting psychotherapy, as it can influence therapists' feelings in the therapeutic process. Limitations of the present study's approach are discussed, and directions for future research are considered. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

"Programming Is Not That Hard!" When a Science Center Visit Increases Young Women's Programming Ability Beliefs.

To increase engagement with science and technology, young people around the world are encouraged to attend activities at science centers. But how effective are these activities? Since women have weaker ability beliefs and interest in technology than men, it is especially important to learn how science center visits affect them. In this study, we tested if programming exercises offered to middle school students by a Swedish science center would increase ability beliefs and interest in programming. Students in grades 8 and 9 (n = 506) completed a survey before and after visiting the science center, and their ratings were compared to a wait-list control group (n = 169). The students participated in block-based, text-based, and robot programming exercises developed by the science center. The results showed that programming ability beliefs increased for women, but not men, and that interest in programming decreased for men, but not women. The effects persisted at a follow-up (2-3 months). The young men reported stronger ability beliefs and interest than the young women at all timepoints. The results imply that science center activities can make programming feel less hard, but adaptations may be needed to also increase interest. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41979-023-00094-w.

Fear and anxiety differ in construal level and scope.

The fear-anxiety distinction has been extensively discussed and debated among emotion researchers. In this study, we tested this distinction from a social-cognitive perspective. Drawing on construal level theory and regulatory scope theory, we examined whether fear and anxiety differ in their underlying level of construal and scope. Results from a preregistered autobiographical recall study (N = 200) that concerned either a fear situation or an anxiety situation and a large dataset from Twitter (N = 104,949) indicated that anxiety was associated with a higher level of construal and a more expansive scope than fear. These findings support the notion that emotions serve as mental tools that deal with different challenges. While fear prompts people to seek immediate solutions to concrete threats in the here and now (contractive scope), anxiety prompts them to deal with distant and unknown threats that require more expansive and flexible solutions (expansive scope). Our study contributes to a growing literature on emotions and construal level and points to interesting avenues for further research.

Rationale and design of switch Swedeheart: A registry-based, stepped-wedge, cluster-randomized, open-label multicenter trial to compare prasugrel and ticagrelor for treatment of patients with acute coronary syndrome.

BACKGROUND: European treatment guidelines recommend prasugrel over ticagrelor for treating patients with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (ACS), prompting several Swedish administrative regions to transition from ticagrelor to prasugrel as the preferred treatment for patients with ACS. We aim to systematically evaluate this transition to determine the relative efficacy of prasugrel versus ticagrelor in a real-world cohort of patients with ACS. STUDY DESIGN AND OBJECTIVES: The SWITCH SWEDEHEART trial is a prospective, multicenter, open-label, cross-sectional, stepped-wedge cluster-randomized clinical trial, in which administrative regions in Sweden will constitute the clusters. At the start of the study, all clusters will use ticagrelor as the P2Y12 inhibitor drug of choice for ACS. The order in which the clusters will implement the transition from ticagrelor to prasugrel will be randomly assigned. Every 9 months, 1 cluster will switch from ticagrelor to prasugrel as the P2Y12 inhibitor of choice for patients with ACS. The primary endpoint is the composite 1-year rate of the death, stroke, or myocardial infarction. CONCLUSIONS: The SWITCH SWEDEHEART study will provide an extensive randomized comparison between ticagrelor and prasugrel. Novel therapies are frequently costly and supported by evidence from few or small studies, and systematic evaluation after the introduction is rare. This study will establish an important standard for introducing and evaluating the effects of health care changes within our societies.

The intent and extent of collective threats: A data-driven conceptualization of collective threats and their relation to political preferences.

The purpose of the present article is to systematically investigate how people perceive collective threat and how such threat perceptions relate to political preferences. Existing threat taxonomies are mostly derived from top-down analyses and little attempt has been made to examine bottom-up how people spontaneously perceive threats. One area where this is of central importance is the relationship between political preferences and threat perception. Prevailing theories in social psychology primarily study security and stability threats and conclude that conservatives are more sensitive to threats than liberals. Other perspectives, however, have criticized this position and maintain that the relationship between threat and political preferences depends on how both constructs are defined. To resolve this issue, we carried out a systematic, data-driven investigation of how collective threats are perceived. In five preregistered, data-driven studies, carried out on representative cross-cultural samples (aggregate N = 24,341), we show that people tend to categorize collective threats along two dimensions-their intent (omission/commission) and extent (local/global). We show that whereas liberals are more concerned than conservatives by omission-based and global threats, conservatives are more concerned than liberals by commission-based and local threats. These results suggest that collective threat is a multidimensional construct and that political leftists and rightists do not necessarily differ in the extent to which they perceive threats, but rather in the way they prioritize different threats facing society. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Stereotype Content at the Intersection of Gender and Sexual Orientation.

According to the Stereotype Content Model (SCM), the content of stereotypes differs on two dimensions: communion and agency. Research shows that for stereotypes about the general gender categories of "women" and "men," there is an ambivalent pattern of communion and agency, where high levels on one dimension are associated with low levels on the other. For sexual minority stereotypes, a gender inversion has been found, whereas homosexual women are seen as more similar to men in general than to women in general, whereas homosexual men are seen as more similar to women in general than to men in general. However, there is limited research on how stereotype content for general groups relate to stereotype content for subgroups with intersecting category memberships. This research addresses this gap by investigating stereotype content at the intersection of gender and sexual orientation, including stereotype content for general gender groups, heterosexual groups, homosexual groups, and bisexual groups. In Study 1, a community sample from Sweden (N = 824) rated perceived communion and agency for women and men in general, as well as hetero-, homo-, and bisexual women and men. In Study 2, a nationally representative Swedish sample (N = 424) performed the same rating task, and in addition completed Single-Category IATs (SC-IATs) for warmth and competence. Results from both studies show that the stereotype content for the general categories "women" and "men" overlap with the stereotype content for heterosexual same-gender targets. Homosexual and bisexual groups were rated as more similar to their non-congruent gender category than same gender heterosexual categories were, but stereotype content for sexual minority groups did not overlap with either general gender categories, thus showing only incomplete gender inversion of stereotype content. Implicit associations between "women" and "warmth" were significantly stronger than associations between "men" and "warmth." There were no other significant relations between implicit associations to warmth/competence and gender or sexual orientation. Theoretical and methodological implications for future research into intersectional stereotype content are presented, including how the findings inform the co-dependent relationship between a binary gender structure and a heteronormative ideology.

Fear From Afar, Not So Risky After All: Distancing Moderates the Relationship Between Fear and Risk Taking.

A growing line of research has shown that individuals can regulate emotional biases in risky judgment and decision-making processes through cognitive reappraisal. In the present study, we focus on a specific tactic of reappraisal known as distancing. Drawing on appraisal theories of emotion and the emotion regulation literature, we examine how distancing moderates the relationship between fear and risk taking and anger and risk taking. In three pre-registered studies (N total = 1,483), participants completed various risky judgment and decision-making tasks. Replicating previous results, Study 1 revealed a negative relationship between fear and risk taking and a positive relationship between anger and risk taking at low levels of distancing. Study 2 replicated the interaction between fear and distancing but found no interaction between anger and distancing. Interestingly, at high levels of distancing, we observed a reversal of the relationship between fear and risk taking in both Study 1 and 2. Study 3 manipulated emotion and distancing by asking participants to reflect on current fear-related and anger-related stressors from an immersed or distanced perspective. Study 3 found no main effect of emotion nor any evidence of a moderating role of distancing. However, exploratory analysis revealed a main effect of distancing on optimistic risk estimation, which was mediated by a reduction in self-reported fear. Overall, the findings suggest that distancing can help regulate the influence of incidental fear on risk taking and risk estimation. We discuss implications and suggestions for future research.

Five-Factor Personality Inventories Have a Competence-Related Higher-Order Factor Due to Item Phrasing.

This research examines whether the items of some of the most well-established five-factor inventories refer to competence. Results reveal that both experts and laymen can distinguish between items that refer to how competently a behavior is performed and items that do not (Study 1). Responses to items that refer to competence create a higher-order factor in the personality inventories (Study 2), and the variability in responses to competence-related items in personality self-ratings is best modeled as a general factor rather than as also tied to the specific Big Five factors (Studies 3 and 4). We suggest that a focused debate on what personality items should refer to is likely to have considerable positive consequences for both theory and measurement of personality.

A General Model of Dissonance Reduction: Unifying Past Accounts via an Emotion Regulation Perspective.

Cognitive dissonance has been studied for more than 60 years and many insightful findings have come from this research. However, some important theoretical and methodological issues are yet to be resolved, particularly regarding dissonance reduction. In this paper, we place dissonance theory in the larger framework of appraisal theories of emotion, emotion regulation, and coping. The basic premise of dissonance theory is that people experience negative affect (to varying degrees) following the detection of cognitive conflict. The individual will be motivated to alleviate these emotional reactions and could do so by reducing dissonance in some manner. We argue that detection of dissonance will follow the same principles as when people interpret any other stimuli as emotionally significant. Thus, appraisal theory of emotion, which argues that emotions are generated via the cognitive evaluation of surrounding stimuli, should be applicable to the dissonance-detection process. In short, we argue that dissonance-reduction strategies (attitude change, trivialization, denial of responsibility, etc.) can be understood as emotion-regulation strategies. We further argue that this perspective contributes to reconciling fragmented (and sometimes contrary) viewpoints present in the literature on dissonance reduction. In addition to proposing the general model of dissonance reduction, we illustrate at the hand of empirical data how research on dissonance reduction can be performed without relying on experimental paradigms that focus on a specific reduction strategy.

The Properties and Utility of Less Evaluative Personality Scales: Reduction of Social Desirability; Increase of Construct and Discriminant Validity.

Evaluative neutralization implies rephrasing items such that it is less clear to the respondent what would be a desirable response in the given population. The current research compares evaluatively neutralized scales measuring the FFM model with standard counterparts. Study 1 reveals that evaluatively neutralized scales are less influenced by social desirability. Study 2 estimates higher-order factor models for neutralized vs. standard five-factor scales. In contrast to standard inventories, there was little support for higher-order factors for neutralized scales. Study 3 demonstrates the convergent and discriminant validity for the neutralized scales, e.g., by less inflated correlations to external measures. It is argued that evaluatively neutralized inventories help researchers come to grips with social desirability in personality measurement, and are particularly useful when the factor structure is central to the research question and there is a focus on discriminant validity.

Survival of Patients With Angina Pectoris Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention With Intracoronary Pressure Wire Guidance.

BACKGROUND: Intracoronary pressure wire measurement of fractional flow reserve (FFR) provides decision-making guidance during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). However, limited data exist on the effect of FFR on long-term clinical outcomes in patients with stable angina pectoris. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine the association between the usage of FFR and all-cause mortality in patients with stable angina undergoing PCI. METHODS: Data was used from the SCAAR (Swedish Coronary Angiography and Angioplasty Registry) on all patients undergoing PCI (with or without FFR guidance) for stable angina pectoris in Sweden between January 2005 and March 2016. The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality, and the secondary endpoints were stent thrombosis (ST) or restenosis and peri-procedural complications. The primary model was multilevel Cox proportional hazards regression adjusted with Kernel-based propensity score matching. RESULTS: In total, 23,860 patients underwent PCI for stable angina pectoris; of these, FFR guidance was used in 3,367. After a median follow-up of 4.7 years (range 0 to 11.2 years), the FFR group had lower adjusted risk estimates for all-cause mortality (hazard ratio: 0.81; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.73 to 0.89; p < 0.001), and ST and restenosis (hazard ratio: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.57 to 0.96; p = 0.022). The number of peri-procedural complications did not differ between the groups (adjusted odds ratio: 0.96; 95% CI: 0.77 to 1.19; p = 0.697). CONCLUSIONS: In this observational study, the use of FFR was associated with a lower risk of long-term mortality, ST, and restenosis in patients undergoing PCI for stable angina pectoris. This study supports the current European and American guidelines for the use of FFR during PCI and shows that intracoronary pressure wire guidance confers prognostic benefit in patients with stable angina pectoris.

The introduction of ticagrelor is associated with lower rates of recurrent ischemic stroke after myocardial infarction.

BACKGROUND: Previous ischemic stroke is a predictor of recurrent ischemic stroke after an acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Dual antiplatelet therapy, including a P2Y12-inhibitor, is important in secondary prevention after AMI. Ticagrelor, a P2Y12-inhibitor, is more potent than the commonly used clopidogrel. Here, we evaluated the impact of ticagrelor on the risk of ischemic stroke following AMI in patients with previous ischemic stroke. METHODS: Data for patients with AMI that had a previous ischemic stroke were obtained from the Swedish Registry of Information and Knowledge about Swedish Heart Intensive Care Admissions. Patients were assigned to early and late cohorts, each covering a two-year time period before and after, respectively, the introduction of ticagrelor prescriptions (20 Dec 2011). Patients in the early cohort (n = 1633) were treated with clopidogrel (100%); those in the late cohort (n = 1642) were treated with either clopidogrel (66.3%) or ticagrelor (33.7%). We assessed the risk of ischemic stroke and intracranial bleeding over time with Kaplan-Meier analyses. We identified predictors of ischemic stroke with multivariable Cox regression analyses. RESULTS: Of 3275 patients, 311 experienced ischemic stroke after AMI. Cumulative Kaplan-Meier incidence estimates of ischemic stroke within one year after AMI were 12.1% versus 8.6% for the early and late cohorts, respectively (p<0.01). Intracranial bleeding incidences (1.2% versus 1.5%) were similar between the two cohorts. CONCLUSIONS: Ticagrelor introduction was associated with a lower rate of ischemic stroke, with no increase in intracranial bleeding, in an AMI population with a history of ischemic stroke.

Dissonance reduction as emotion regulation: Attitude change is related to positive emotions in the induced compliance paradigm.

The aim of this study was to clarify how positive and negative emotions are related to the common attitude-change effect in cognitive dissonance research. Drawing on appraisal theories of emotion, and emotion-regulation research, we predicted that negative emotions would be inversely related to attitude change, whereas positive emotions would be positively related to attitude change in the induced compliance paradigm. In two studies, participants (N = 44; N = 106) wrote a counter-attitudinal essay under the perception of high choice, and were later asked to state their emotions in relation to writing this essay, as well as to state their attitude. Results confirmed the predictions, even when controlling for baseline emotions. These findings untangled a previously unresolved issue in dissonance research, which in turn shows how important emotion theories are for the understanding of cognitive dissonance processes.

How a terror attack affects right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and their relationship to torture attitudes.

Self-reported level of right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), the two facets of social dominance orientation (SDO-Dominance and SDO-Egalitarianism) and pro-torture attitudes were measured both in the immediate aftermath (terror salience, N = 152) of the terror attacks in Paris and Brussels and when terrorism was not salient (non-salience, N = 140). Results showed that RWA and pro-torture attitudes, but not SDO-Dominance and SDO-Egalitarianism, were significantly higher immediately after. Furthermore, RWA and SDO both predicted pro-torture attitudes more strongly under terror salience. We argue that the reason why RWA is higher under terror salience is a response to external threat, and that SDO-Dominance may be more clearly related to acceptance of torture and other human-rights violations, across context. Future research on the effects of terror-related events on sociopolitical and pro-torture attitudes should focus on person-situation interactions and also attempt to discriminate between trait and state aspects of authoritarianism.

How predictions of economic behavior are affected by the socio-economic status of the target person.

We investigate how the stereotype of the poor (vs. middle class) influences behavioral predictions. In Study 1, participants made predictions regarding another person's economic behavior in scenarios pertaining to rate of time preferences (loss, gain of smaller and larger amount). We find that participants, across scenarios, expect individuals with low SES to show more short-sightedness-i.e., steeper temporal discounting. This pattern persisted until strong diagnostic information about previous economic behavior was provided. These results are novel but consistent with previous work on stereotype application. Study 2 probed stereotype accuracy. Participants with lower vs. higher SES reported how they would act in scenarios matching those of Study 1. We find that they respond very similarly, which is in contrast to the stereotype that poor people are more short-sighted and may possibly be taken to suggest that the association between low SES and short-sightedness is biased.

Tools for fairness: Increased structure in the selection process reduces discrimination.

Employment discrimination causes problems at the labor market, and is hard to combat. Can increasing the degree of structure when selecting applicants increase fairness? Students were asked to perform a computerized selection task and were either provided with tools for systematizing information about the applicants (structured selection) or no such tools (unstructured selection). We hypothesized and found that a structured process, where employing recruitment tools rather than the recruiter's impressionistic judgment is key, improves the ability to identify job-relevant criteria and hence selecting more qualified applicants, even when in-group favoritism is tempting (e.g. when the outgroup applicants are more competent). Increasing structure helped recruiters select more competent applicants and reduced ethnic discrimination. Increasing the motivation to carefully follow the structured procedure strengthened these effects further. We conclude that structure pays off, and that motivational factors should be taken into account in order for it to have the optimal effect.

Will I Fit in and Do Well? The Importance of Social Belongingness and Self-Efficacy for Explaining Gender Differences in Interest in STEM and HEED Majors.

Throughout the world, the labor market is clearly gender segregated. More research is needed to explain women's lower interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) majors and particularly to explain men's lower interest in HEED (Health care, Elementary Education, and the Domestic spheres) majors. We tested self-efficacy (competence beliefs) and social belongingness expectations (fitting in socially) as mediators of gender differences in interest in STEM and HEED majors in a representative sample of 1327 Swedish high school students. Gender differences in interest in STEM majors strongly related to women's lower self-efficacy for STEM careers and, to a lesser degree, to women's lower social belongingness expectations with students in STEM majors. Social belongingness expectations also partly explained men's lower interest in HEED majors, but self-efficacy was not an important mediator of gender differences in interest in HEED. These results imply that interventions designed to lessen gender segregation in the labor market need to focus more on the social belongingness of students in the gender minority. Further, to specifically increase women's interest in STEM majors, we need to counteract gender stereotypical competence beliefs and assure women that they have what it takes to handle STEM careers.

Self-control depletion impairs goal maintenance: A meta-analysis.

Initial exertion of self-control has been suggested to impair subsequent self-regulatory performance. The specific cognitive processes that underlie this ego depletion effect have rarely been examined. Drawing on the dual-process theory of executive control (Engle & Kane, ; Kane & Engle, ), the current meta-analysis revealed that initial self-control exertion impairs participants' capacities of maintaining the task goal but its effect on capacities of resolving response competition is in need of further investigation. Our results are more consistent with recent theoretical views that consider ego depletion as a switch cost and a result arising from reduced motivation to engage in further self-control.

Increasing systematicity leads to better selection decisions: Evidence from a computer paradigm for evaluating selection tools.

A computerized paradigm was created to allow for testing in the laboratory whether increasing systematicity helps the recruiter make better selection decisions. Participants were introduced to the job and the applicants on the computer screen and asked to select who they thought should be considered for the job and who should not. Level of systematicity, i.e. the extent to which the recruitment is methodical and uses prepared tools, was manipulated between subjects. Depending on experimental condition participants were helped by means of a tool for extracting judgment criteria (job analysis) and a tool for making judgments related to selected criteria (including calculation of a final score). The general prediction that increased systematicity leads to the selection of more qualified candidates was supported by the results, particularly when the motivation to put time and effort into the task was higher. The results support the claim from Industrial/Organizational psychologists that systematicity is a desirable characteristic in selection processes. The fact that increasing systematicity led to better selection decisions in a controlled laboratory experiment, along with process-related measures, suggests that this kind of paradigm could be useful when evaluating new tools for improving selection decisions, before they are tested in large (and costly) field studies of actual personnel selection.