"It doesn't matter if you are in charge of the trees, you always miss the trees for the forest": Power and the illusion of explanatory depth.

Power can increase overconfidence and illusory thinking. We investigated whether power is also related to the illusion of explanatory depth (IOED), people's tendency to think they understand the world in more detail, coherence, and depth than they actually do. Abstract thinking was reported as a reason for the IOED, and according to the social distance theory of power, power increases abstract thinking. We linked these literatures and tested construal style as a mediator. Further, predispositions can moderate effects of power and we considered narcissism as a candidate because narcissism leads to overconfidence and may thus increase the IOED especially in combination with high power. In three preregistered studies (total N = 607), we manipulated power or measured feelings of power. We found evidence for the IOED (regarding explanatory knowledge about devices). Power led to general overconfidence but had only a small impact on the IOED. Power and narcissism had a small interactive effect on the IOED. Meta-analytical techniques suggest that previous findings on the construal-style-IOED link show only weak evidential value. Implications refer to research on management, power, and overconfidence.

Examining the links between self-tracking and perfectionism dimensions.

BACKGROUND: Self-tracking - the collection, storage, analysis, and evaluation of self-related data (e.g., on one's diet, fitness activities, sports performance, or finances) - is a recent and widespread trend. Less is known about who engages in self-tracking. We expected perfectionism to be linked to self-tracking because performance optimization is central to this activity. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE: A German convenience sample (N = 145; 64% women, mean age = 32 years) was recruited for this cross-sectional study. The sample comprised a mix of students and community participants. Participants completed an online questionnaire with scales on self-tracking (Self Quantification Scale), perfectionism (Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale with subscales striving for achievement and evaluative concerns), and personality (Big Five Inventory-10). RESULTS: Using a two-dimensional conceptualization of perfectionism and controlling for the Big Five, we found that striving for achievement was strongly positively related to self-tracking, whereas evaluative concerns was not significantly linked. Apparently, people who set high goals and want to meet high standards are more likely than others to engage in self-tracking. However, people's engagement in self-tracking was independent of their personality. CONCLUSIONS: The results point to the importance of distinguishing between different perfectionism dimensions in relation to self-tracking. Future research could explore additional performance-related traits (e.g., grit) to expand the understanding of self-tracking.

Predicting School Grades: Can Conscientiousness Compensate for Intelligence?

Intelligence and noncognitive factors such as conscientiousness are strongly related to academic performance. As theory and research differ with respect to their interplay in predicting performance, the present study examines whether conscientiousness compensates for intelligence or enhances the effect of intelligence on performance in 3775 13th grade students from Germany. Latent moderation analyses show positive main effects of intelligence and conscientiousness on grades. Further, analyses reveal synergistic interactions in predicting grades in biology, mathematics, and German, but no interaction in predicting grades in English. Intelligence and grades are more strongly linked if students are conscientious. Multigroup models detected gender differences in biology, but no differences with respect to SES. In biology, conscientiousness has especially strong effects in intelligent men. Conscientiousness thus enhances the effect of intelligence on performance in several subjects.

Training Emotional Intelligence Online: An Evaluation of WEIT 2.0.

With the growing popularity of online courses, there is an increasing need for scientifically validated online interventions that can improve emotional competencies. We addressed this demand by evaluating an extended version of the Web-Based Emotional Intelligence Training (WEIT 2.0) program. Based on the four-branch model of emotional intelligence, WEIT 2.0 focuses on improving participants' emotion perception and emotion regulation skills. A total of 214 participants were randomly assigned to the training group (n = 91) or a waiting list control group (n = 123) to evaluate short-term (directly after WEIT 2.0) and long-term intervention effects (8 weeks later). Two-way MANOVAs and mixed ANOVAs showed significant treatment effects for self-reported emotion perception of the self, as well as emotion regulation of the self and others, after 8 weeks. No significant treatment effects were found for self-reported emotion perception in others or for performance-based emotion perception or emotion regulation. Moderator analyses revealed no significant effects of digital affinity on training success from the pretest to the posttest. The findings suggest that components of self-reported emotional intelligence can be enhanced through WEIT 2.0, but performance-based emotional intelligence cannot. Further research is needed on the online training of emotional intelligence and the mechanisms that underlie training success.

IAT faking indices revisited: Aspects of replicability and differential validity.

Research demonstrates that IATs are fakeable. Several indices [either slowing down or speeding up, and increasing errors or reducing errors in congruent and incongruent blocks; Combined Task Slowing (CTS); Ratio 150-10000] have been developed to detect faking. Findings on these are inconclusive, but previous studies have used small samples, suggesting they were statistically underpowered. Further, the stability of the results, the unique predictivity of the indices, the advantage of combining indices, and the dependency on how faking success is computed have yet to be examined. Therefore, we reanalyzed a large data set (N = 750) of fakers and non-fakers who completed an extraversion IAT. Results showed that faking strategies depend on the direction of faking. It was possible to detect faking of low scores due to slowing down on the congruent block, and somewhat less with CTS-both strategies led to faking success. In contrast, the strategy of increasing errors on the congruent block was observed but was not successful in altering the IAT effect in the desired direction. Fakers of high scores could be detected due to slowing down on the incongruent block, increasing errors on the incongruent block, and with CTS-all three strategies led to faking success. The results proved stable in subsamples and generally across different computations of faking success. Using regression analyses and machine learning, increasing errors had the strongest impact on the classification. Apparently, fakers use various goal-dependent strategies and not all are successful. To detect faking, we recommend combining indices depending on the context (and examining convergence).

Dominance and Prestige as Self-Concept Facets.

Two basic strategies can be applied to navigate hierarchies: (a) dominance, which involves the induction of fear, intimidation, or coercion to obtain status, or (b) prestige, which involves using one's skills, knowledge, or expertise to pursue status. In the present research, we refined the original dominance and prestige account and the respective self-report scale and conceptualized and assessed both variables as stable self-concept facets. By doing so, we extended the explanatory power of the model. Four studies (total N = 1,993) showed good psychometric properties for the newly developed dominance and prestige questionnaire (DPQ). Both dominance and prestige showed high temporal stability. In testing associations with 72 personality variables and 14 objective criteria, nomological and criterion validity were supported. For the first time, the concepts were shown to predict friendship satisfaction. Further, in testing a truth and bias model, we found high self-other agreement for both self-concept facets. Thus, self-perceptions of dominance and prestige proved to be stable, valid, accurate, and relevant in contexts beyond leadership. Future research concerning the self-perception of these concepts could test the relevance of dominance and prestige in additional spheres of life (e.g. families, academia).

The gender pay gap is smaller in occupations with a higher ratio of men: Evidence from a national panel study.

Gender differences in career success are still an issue in society and research, and men typically earn higher incomes than women do. Building on previous theorizing and findings with the Theory of Gendered Organizations and the Theory of Tokenism, we used a large sample of the adult starting cohort in the German National Educational Panel Study and a multilevel approach to test how the interaction between gender and the gender ratio in occupations was associated with income. We wanted to know whether the male advantage in terms of income would be equal in magnitude across occupations (as suggested by the Theory of Gendered Organizations) or if it would vary with the gender ratio in occupations (as suggested by the Theory of Tokenism and reasoning regarding person-job fit), such that people benefit either (a) from resembling the majority of employees in a field by working in a gender-typical occupation or (b) from standing out by working in a gender-atypical occupation. Analyses supported the hypothesis that employees' incomes may benefit if they belong to the gender minority in an occupation, but this finding applied only to women. By contrast, men did not benefit from working in a gender-atypical occupation. Thus, women earned less than men earned overall, but the gender pay gap was smaller in occupations with a higher ratio of male employees. The findings can advance the understanding of gender-related career decisions for both employers and employees.

Reading Emotions in Faces With and Without Masks Is Relatively Independent of Extended Exposure and Individual Difference Variables.

The ability to read emotions in faces helps humans efficiently assess social situations. We tested how this ability is affected by aspects of familiarization with face masks and personality, with a focus on emotional intelligence (measured with an ability test, the MSCEIT, and a self-report scale, the SREIS). To address aspects of the current pandemic situation, we used photos of not only faces per se but also of faces that were partially covered with face masks. The sample (N = 49), the size of which was determined by an a priori power test, was recruited in Germany and consisted of healthy individuals of different ages [M = 24.8 (18-64) years]. Participants assessed the emotional expressions displayed by six different faces determined by a 2 (sex) × 3 (age group: young, medium, and old) design. Each person was presented with six different emotional displays (angry, disgusted, fearful, happy, neutral, and sad) with or without a face mask. Accuracy and confidence were lower with masks-in particular for the emotion disgust (very often misinterpreted as anger) but also for happiness, anger, and sadness. When comparing the present data collected in July 2021 with data from a different sample collected in May 2020, when people first started to familiarize themselves with face masks in Western countries during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, we did not detect an improvement in performance. There were no effects of participants' emotional intelligence, sex, or age regarding their accuracy in assessing emotional states in faces for unmasked or masked faces.

When Mindfulness Becomes a Mental Health Risk: The Relevance of Emotion Regulation Difficulties and Need Frustration.

Although a great deal of research has shown the positive effects of mindfulness on mental health, some studies have provided evidence that mindfulness can have negative consequences. However, not much is known about the conditions that can account for such negative effects. We examined the moderating roles of difficulties in emotion regulation and basic psychological need frustration in the relationship between mindfulness and psychological ill-being. Longitudinal data were collected at three points in time during a 6-month period from two adult samples in Turkey and Germany. Self-report measures were used to measure ill-being, mindfulness, emotion regulation difficulties, and need frustration. In the German sample, difficulties in emotion regulation and need frustration were related to ill-being, but there were no significant interactions. In the Turkish sample, need frustration predicted ill-being, and the interaction between mindfulness and difficulties in emotion regulation also predicted ill-being. Mindfulness was a protective factor among people with no major difficulties in emotion regulation, whereas it was a risk factor among those with emotion regulation difficulties. The findings suggest that the relationship between mindfulness and ill-being may be more complex than previously thought.

Lying on the Dissection Table: Anatomizing Faked Responses.

Research has shown that even experts cannot detect faking above chance, but recent studies have suggested that machine learning may help in this endeavor. However, faking differs between faking conditions, previous efforts have not taken these differences into account, and faking indices have yet to be integrated into such approaches. We reanalyzed seven data sets (N = 1,039) with various faking conditions (high and low scores, different constructs, naïve and informed faking, faking with and without practice, different measures [self-reports vs. implicit association tests; IATs]). We investigated the extent to which and how machine learning classifiers could detect faking under these conditions and compared different input data (response patterns, scores, faking indices) and different classifiers (logistic regression, random forest, XGBoost). We also explored the features that classifiers used for detection. Our results show that machine learning has the potential to detect faking, but detection success varies between conditions from chance levels to 100%. There were differences in detection (e.g., detecting low-score faking was better than detecting high-score faking). For self-reports, response patterns and scores were comparable with regard to faking detection, whereas for IATs, faking indices and response patterns were superior to scores. Logistic regression and random forest worked about equally well and outperformed XGBoost. In most cases, classifiers used more than one feature (faking occurred over different pathways), and the features varied in their relevance. Our research supports the assumption of different faking processes and explains why detecting faking is a complex endeavor.

Mobile Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback as a Complementary Intervention After Myocardial Infarction: a Randomized Controlled Study.

BACKGROUND: To enhance effective prevention programs after myocardial infarction (MI), the study examined the effects and feasibility of mobile biofeedback training on heart rate variability (HRV-BF). METHODS: Forty-six outpatients aged 41 to 79 years with a documented MI were randomized to HRV-BF versus usual care. Generalized estimating equation (GEE) analyses were performed to test improvements in measures of short- and long-time HRV, namely, the standard deviation of the normal-to-normal intervals (SDNN) and well-being after 12 weeks of HRV-BF. RESULTS: There were intervention effects for short-time HRV (d > 0.4, p < 0.04), which were partly replicated in the GEE models that accounted for control variables: In the HRV-BF group, the high-frequency HRV (group × time interaction: ß = 0.59, p = 0.04) compensated for significantly lower baseline levels than the group with usual care. In an optimal dose sample (on average two HRV-BF sessions a day), SDNN significantly increased after HRV-BF (p = 0.002) but not in the waitlist control group. Compensatory trends of HRV-BF were also found for high-frequency HRV and self-efficacy. No adverse effects of the intervention were found but neither were effects on long-time HRV measures. CONCLUSION: The results showed the feasibility of self-guided HRV-BF for almost all post-MI patients. HRV-BF as an adjunctive behavioral treatment increased HRV, which is an indicator of lower cardiovascular risk, and self-efficacy, which suggests heightened psychological resilience. These benefits warrant confirmation and tests of sustainability in larger studies. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial has not been registered due to its starting point in 2017 predating the publication of the applicable CONSORT extension for reporting social and psychological intervention trials in 2018.

The induction of social pessimism reduces pain responsiveness.

OBJECTIVES: Past work has found that optimism reduces a person's responsiveness to pain, but the effects of pessimism are not clear. Therefore, we gave pessimistic forecasts of participants' future social life and measured changes in their pain responsiveness. In particular, some participants were told that they would end up alone in life. METHODS: Seventy-five subjects were investigated in three conditions (negative forecast, positive forecast, no forecast) for changes in pain threshold and pain tolerance threshold. Pressure pain induction was accomplished by either human- or machine-driven algometers. A randomly assigned bogus forecast promising either a lonely or a socially satisfying future was ostensibly based on a personality questionnaire and an emotional dot-probe task. As potential covariates, questionnaires assessing dispositional optimism (LOT-R), pain catastrophizing (PCS), and self-esteem (SISE) were given. RESULTS: Pain thresholds suggested a change toward unresponsiveness only in the negative forecast condition, with only small differences between the modes of pain induction (i.e., human or machine). The results for pain tolerance thresholds were less clear also because of limiting stimulation intensity for safety reasons. The covariates were not associated with these changes. CONCLUSIONS: Thus, people expecting a lonely future became moderately less responsive to pain. This numbing effect was not modulated by personality measures, neither in a protective fashion via dispositional optimism and self-esteem nor in a risk-enhancing fashion via trait pain catastrophizing. Alternative mechanisms of action should be explored in future studies.

Commentary on Elkjær et al.'s (2020) Meta-Analysis on Expansive Versus Contractive Nonverbal Displays.

We offer a critical perspective on the meta-analysis by Elkjær et al. (2020) by pointing out three constraints: The first refers to open-science practices, the second addresses the selection of studies, and the third offers a broader theoretical perspective. We argue that preregistration and adherence to the highest standards of conducting meta-analyses is important. Further, we identified several missing studies. Regarding the theoretical perspective, we suggest that it may be useful to tie body positions into the dominance-prestige framework and, on that basis, to distinguish two types of body positions. Such an approach has the potential to account for discrepancies in previous meta-analytical evidence regarding the effects of expansive versus contractive nonverbal displays. Future research may thus be able to provide not only methodological but also theoretical innovations to the field of body positions.

Understanding the Motives for Terrorism-Does it Have an Effect on Psychological Reactions? A Replication and Extension.

The collective communication model of terrorism (CCMT) proposes that understanding terrorists' motives influences appraisal (threat perception and emotional well-being) and reaction to terrorism (intention to retaliate). Fischer et al. (2011) presented evidence from two experiments for the assumption that understanding motives of terrorism influences appraisal. The present preregistered experiment aimed to replicate their second experiment, validate the measures they used, and also test the second proposition of the CCMT. Ensuring sufficient power for multiple tests and the given effect size, we collected data from 188 participants. The findings by Fischer et al. (2011) were partly replicated, but the comparison of the original effect sizes and the effect sizes from the replication attempt does not provide convincing evidence for the hypothesis that understanding the motives for terrorism reduces the perceived threat or negative emotional impact of acts of terrorism. Correlations with other risk-perception measures call into question the validity of the items used to assess perceived threat. Results suggest that understanding the motives for terrorism may influence whether the targeted populations want to retaliate.

Satisfaction with life among university students from nine countries: Cross-national study during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: A cross-sectional study was performed to examine life satisfaction differences between university students from nine countries during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-national comparison of the association between life satisfaction and a set of variables was also conducted. METHODS: Participants in the study were 2349 university students with a mean age of 23 years (M = 23.15, SD = 4.66). There was a predominance of women (69.26%) and individuals studying at the bachelor level (78%). The research was conducted between May and July 2020 in nine countries: Slovenia (n=209), the Czech Republic (Czechia)(n=308), Germany (n=267), Poland (n=301), Ukraine (n=310), Russia (n=285), Turkey (n=310), Israel (n=199), and Colombia (n=153). Participants completed an online survey involving measures of satisfaction with life (SWLS), exposure to COVID-19, perceived negative impact of coronavirus (PNIC) on students' well-being, general self-reported health (GSRH), physical activity (PA), and some demographics (gender, place of residence, level of study). A one-way ANOVA was used to explore cross-national differences in life satisfaction. The χ2 independence test was performed separately in each country to examine associations between life satisfaction and other variables. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used to identify life satisfaction predictors among a set of demographic and health-related variables in each of the nine countries. RESULTS: The level of life satisfaction varied between university students from the nine countries. The results for life satisfaction and the other variables differed between countries. Numerous associations were noted between satisfaction with life and several variables, and these showed cross-national differences. Distinct predictors of life satisfaction were observed for each country. However, poor self-rated physical health was a predictor of low life satisfaction independent of the country. CONCLUSIONS: The association between life satisfaction and subjective assessment of physical health seems to be universal, while the other variables are related to cross-cultural differences. Special public health attention should be focused on psychologically supporting people who do not feel healthy.

Exposure to COVID-19 during the First and the Second Wave of the Pandemic and Coronavirus-Related PTSD Risk among University Students from Six Countries-A Repeated Cross-Sectional Study.

This study aimed to reveal differences in exposure to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) during the first (W1) and the second (W2) waves of the pandemic in six countries among university students and to show the prevalence and associations between exposure to COVID-19 and coronavirus-related post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) risk during W2. The repeated cross-sectional study was conducted among university students from Germany, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Turkey, and Ukraine (W1: n = 1684; W2: n = 1741). Eight items measured exposure to COVID-19 (regarding COVID-19 symptoms, testing, hospitalizing quarantine, infected relatives, death of relatives, job loss, and worsening economic status due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Coronavirus-related PTSD risk was evaluated by PCL-S. The exposure to COVID-19 symptoms was higher during W2 than W1 among students from all countries, except Germany, where, in contrast, the increase in testing was the strongest. Students from Poland, Turkey, and the total sample were more frequently hospitalized for COVID-19 in W2. In these countries, and Ukraine, students were more often in quarantine. In all countries, participants were more exposed to infected friends/relatives and the loss of a family member due to COVID-19 in W2 than W1. The increase in job loss due to COVID-19 was only noted in Ukraine. Economic status during W2 only worsened in Poland and improved in Russia. This was due to the significant wave of restrictions in Russia and more stringent restrictions in Poland. The prevalence of coronavirus-related PTSD risk at three cutoff scores (25, 44, and 50) was 78.20%, 32.70%, and 23.10%, respectively. The prediction models for different severity of PTSD risk differed. Female gender, a prior diagnosis of depression, a loss of friends/relatives, job loss, and worsening economic status due to the COVID-19 were positively associated with high and very high coronavirus-related PTSD risk, while female gender, a prior PTSD diagnosis, experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, testing for COVID-19, having infected friends/relatives and worsening economic status were associated with moderate risk.

Science-utility and science-trust associations and how they relate to knowledge about how science works.

Knowledge about how science works, trust in scientists, and the perceived utility of science currently appear to be eroding in these times in which "alternative facts" or personal experiences and opinions are used as arguments. Yet, in many situations, it would be beneficial for the individual and all of society if scientific findings were considered in decision-making. For this to happen, people have to trust in scientists and perceive science as useful. Still, in university contexts, it might not be desirable to report negative beliefs about science. In addition, science-utility and science-trust associations may differ from explicit beliefs because associations were learned through the co-occurrence of stimuli rather than being based on propositional reasoning. We developed two IATs to measure science-utility and science-trust associations in university students and tested the psychometric properties and predictive potential of these measures. In a study of 261 university students, the IATs were found to have good psychometric properties and small correlations with their corresponding self-report scales. Science-utility and science-trust associations predicted knowledge about how science works over and above self-reported beliefs. The results suggest that indirect measures are useful for assessing beliefs about science and can be used to predict outcome measures.

Mental health prevalence and predictors among university students in nine countries during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-national study.

The student population has been highly vulnerable to the risk of mental health deterioration during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. This study aimed to reveal the prevalence and predictors of mental health among students in Poland, Slovenia, Czechia, Ukraine, Russia, Germany, Turkey, Israel, and Colombia in a socioeconomic context during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study was conducted among 2349 students (69% women) from May-July 2020. Data were collected by means of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), Gender Inequality Index (GII), Standard & Poor's Global Ratings, the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT), and a sociodemographic survey. Descriptive statistics and Bayesian multilevel skew-normal regression analyses were conducted. The prevalence of high stress, depression, and generalized anxiety symptoms in the total sample was 61.30%, 40.3%, and 30%, respectively. The multilevel Bayesian model showed that female sex was a credible predictor of PSS-10, GAD-7, and PHQ-8 scores. In addition, place of residence (town) and educational level (first-cycle studies) were risk factors for the PHQ-8. This study showed that mental health issues are alarming in the student population. Regular psychological support should be provided to students by universities.

Does facial redness really affect emotion perception? Evidence for limited generalisability of effects of facial redness on emotion perception in a large sample.

We conducted a preregistered study (N = 609) to conceptually replicate and extend prior research regarding the effects of facial redness on emotion perception. In a within-subjects design, participants saw emotion faces (anger, happiness, fear, neutral) of a random female and a random male target with default facial colouration and increased facial redness and were asked to simultaneously rate the intensity of six emotions (happiness, surprise, sadness, fear, disgust, anger) for each emotion face. The emotion intensity was rated higher, when the emotion face and the rated emotion matched than when the emotion face and the rated emotion did not match. However, increased facial redness did not influence the intensity of the rated emotion. The results of this conceptual replication limit the generalisability of previous findings, challenge the assumption that facial redness is used as a cue to infer emotions, and point to the necessity to develop a more nuanced theoretical account of contextual boundaries.

A Comparison of Depression and Anxiety among University Students in Nine Countries during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The mental health of young adults, particularly students, is at high risk during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to examine differences in mental health between university students in nine countries during the pandemic. The study encompassed 2349 university students (69% female) from Colombia, the Czech Republic (Czechia), Germany, Israel, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Turkey, and Ukraine. Participants underwent the following tests: Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), Exposure to COVID-19 (EC-19), Perceived Impact of Coronavirus (PIC) on students' well-being, Physical Activity (PA), and General Self-Reported Health (GSRH). The one-way ANOVA showed significant differences between countries. The highest depression and anxiety risk occurred in Turkey, the lowest depression in the Czech Republic and the lowest anxiety in Germany. The χ2 independence test showed that EC-19, PIC, and GSRH were associated with anxiety and depression in most of the countries, whereas PA was associated in less than half of the countries. Logistic regression showed distinct risk factors for each country. Gender and EC-19 were the most frequent predictors of depression and anxiety across the countries. The role of gender and PA for depression and anxiety is not universal and depends on cross-cultural differences. Students' mental health should be addressed from a cross-cultural perspective.