Psychological SciencePub Date : 2026-09-01Epub Date: 2026-08-25DOI: 10.1177/09567976261461522
Lyulei Zhang, Adam F Osth
{"title":"A Single Dimension of Memory Strength Underlies Semantic and Phonological False Memories.","authors":"Lyulei Zhang, Adam F Osth","doi":"10.1177/09567976261461522","DOIUrl":"10.1177/09567976261461522","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>False memory can arise from semantically or perceptually similar experiences, as demonstrated in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. Although semantic and phonological DRM tasks yield parallel false-recognition patterns, researchers have argued that they reflect distinct memory processes, based in part on findings that semantic associates elicit more false \"remember\" (R) judgments, whereas phonological associates elicit more false \"know\" (K) judgments. We directly tested this claim using semantic and phonological DRM tasks with old-new recognition followed by RK ratings (<i>N</i> = 227 English-speaking students from an Australian university). The R/K dissociation was replicated, yet both parametric and nonparametric analyses revealed a single underlying dimension. A signal-detection-theory model fitted the data nearly perfectly, where R judgments reflected a stricter response criterion than K. A state-trace analysis likewise showed a monotonic relation between old/new and R false alarms across tasks. These results challenge dual-process interpretations, instead suggesting that semantic materials simply produce higher rates of false recognition.</p>","PeriodicalId":20745,"journal":{"name":"Psychological Science","volume":" ","pages":"618-632"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13558978/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148819325","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Psychological SciencePub Date : 2026-09-01Epub Date: 2026-08-25DOI: 10.1177/09567976261467299
Oskari J Virtanen, Johanna K Kaakinen
{"title":"The WHO Said What? Interaction of Source Credibility and Readers' Prior Beliefs in the Reading of Social-Media Posts.","authors":"Oskari J Virtanen, Johanna K Kaakinen","doi":"10.1177/09567976261467299","DOIUrl":"10.1177/09567976261467299","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Evaluating sources is an essential skill in our misinformation-riddled media environment. However, previous studies suggest that people tend not to engage with source information during reading, and very little research exists on how source credibility and readers' beliefs interact on social media. We examined how source credibility and prior beliefs affect reading social-media posts. Finnish university students (<i>N</i> = 83) first filled out a questionnaire measuring beliefs on eight controversial topics and then read 76 mock-up tweets on these topics while their eye movements were recorded. The sources of the tweets were pretested to be either credible or noncredible sources for the topic. Eye-movement results indicate that when credible sources say something belief-inconsistent, or if noncredible sources something belief-consistent, reading of the tweet is slower, and more attention is paid to the sources. Findings suggest that these \"source-belief\" inconsistencies disrupt reading and elicit deeper processing of source information.</p>","PeriodicalId":20745,"journal":{"name":"Psychological Science","volume":" ","pages":"633-644"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13558984/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148819333","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Psychological SciencePub Date : 2026-09-01Epub Date: 2026-08-24DOI: 10.1177/09567976261470394
Tita Gonzalez Avilés, Franz J Neyer, Peter J Rentfrow, Tobias Ebert
{"title":"Ties That Bind, Places That Matter: The Life-Satisfaction Gap Between Partnered and Single Individuals Varies Across Regions.","authors":"Tita Gonzalez Avilés, Franz J Neyer, Peter J Rentfrow, Tobias Ebert","doi":"10.1177/09567976261470394","DOIUrl":"10.1177/09567976261470394","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>People in romantic relationships often report higher life satisfaction than single individuals. We propose that this life-satisfaction gap reflects, in part, alignment with the prevailing norm of being in a relationship. In a preregistered study with a large-scale data set (<i>N</i> = 382,078 adults across 379 regions in Great Britain), we replicated prior findings: partnered (vs. single) individuals reported higher life satisfaction. Notably, this life-satisfaction gap varied by region, being larger in regions with higher relationship rates and smaller in regions with lower relationship rates. This effect persisted after we controlled for various confounds; it passed robustness checks and replicated at a smaller scale across 218 London neighborhoods. Together, our findings emphasize the importance of situating relationship experiences within their geographic contexts, offering new insights into where and why differences in life satisfaction between partnered and single individuals emerge.</p>","PeriodicalId":20745,"journal":{"name":"Psychological Science","volume":" ","pages":"603-617"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13558998/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148813823","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Psychological SciencePub Date : 2026-08-01Epub Date: 2026-07-16DOI: 10.1177/09567976261462874
Yilin Liu, Fan Yang
{"title":"Moved by the Lightest Touch of Meaning: Even Minimal Significance Matters for Motivation From Childhood.","authors":"Yilin Liu, Fan Yang","doi":"10.1177/09567976261462874","DOIUrl":"10.1177/09567976261462874","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>How essential is a sense of significance for motivation-the feeling that our efforts matter beyond the trivial or momentary? Four studies (<i>N</i> = 604, children aged 4-9 years of age and 582 adults) show that no amount of significance is too small to matter, even for small actions from early in life. Children and adults strongly preferred artistic activities with minimal significance (i.e., where their work would be saved) over activities with no lasting existence. This preference held for both repetitive and one-time tasks and was specific to creating artwork, not just observing it. Anticipating even minimal significance motivated participants to engage in productive rather than effortless activities. When significance is absent, focusing on enjoying the process partially, but not fully, compensates for motivation. These findings illuminate the scope and sensitivity of significance, revealing it to be not a luxury concern but an essential, early-emerging motivational force in an increasingly fast-paced, transient world.</p>","PeriodicalId":20745,"journal":{"name":"Psychological Science","volume":" ","pages":"572-585"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13507643/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148471872","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Psychological SciencePub Date : 2026-08-01Epub Date: 2026-07-15DOI: 10.1177/09567976261460772
Kyle Hyndman, Alberto Bisin
{"title":"Replication of \"Procrastination, Deadlines, and Performance: Self-Control by Precommitment\".","authors":"Kyle Hyndman, Alberto Bisin","doi":"10.1177/09567976261460772","DOIUrl":"10.1177/09567976261460772","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We present the results of a replication of Study 2 from Ariely and Wertenbroch on the role of deadlines in mitigating procrastination. We show that our results do not replicate those of the original article. In our replication, with adult participants enrolled at a large public university in the United States, changes in the deadlines had a negligible effect on the three performance metrics and several survey metrics used in the original study. Evenly spaced deadlines, externally imposed on participants by the experimenters, did not stand out for their effectiveness in reducing procrastination in participants. The data further indicate consistency with several patterns of participant behavior that should be expected irrespective of our main replication results.</p>","PeriodicalId":20745,"journal":{"name":"Psychological Science","volume":" ","pages":"557-571"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13428879/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148456701","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Psychological SciencePub Date : 2026-08-01Epub Date: 2026-07-06DOI: 10.1177/09567976261453813
Lisa Oswald, Anastasia Kozyreva, Stefan M Herzog, Pietro Leonardo Nickl, Ralph Hertwig
{"title":"Boosting Media Literacy Using Lateral Reading and Online Search Interventions.","authors":"Lisa Oswald, Anastasia Kozyreva, Stefan M Herzog, Pietro Leonardo Nickl, Ralph Hertwig","doi":"10.1177/09567976261453813","DOIUrl":"10.1177/09567976261453813","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Empowering people to navigate online information competently is essential to complement systemic content moderation and platform regulation. A nationally representative randomized controlled study among adults in Germany (<i>N =</i> 2,666) compared two media-literacy interventions: a source-focused lateral-reading strategy to help participants distinguish trustworthy from untrustworthy news outlets, and a claim-focused search strategy to help them assess the credibility of specific claims. Both interventions showed small improvements in discernment, but not all effects were statistically distinguishable from zero. At a 2-week follow-up, discernment improved in all groups, and differences between the intervention and control groups were no longer statistically distinguishable. We found no evidence of backfire effects. An exploratory analysis of discernment pretreatment indicated the lowest performance for supporters of populist radical-right parties. Behavioral measures suggested increases in information search in both intervention groups. On average, lateral reading reduced trust in untrustworthy sources, and online search increased trust in trustworthy sources.</p>","PeriodicalId":20745,"journal":{"name":"Psychological Science","volume":" ","pages":"527-539"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13428869/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148391565","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Psychological SciencePub Date : 2026-08-01Epub Date: 2026-07-21DOI: 10.1177/09567976261461126
Rachel A Leshin, Aditi Kodipady, Grey F Raber, Natalie M Gallagher, Kristina R Olson
{"title":"Reduced Mental Health and Well-Being in Parents of Transgender Youth Following the 2025 U.S. Presidential Inauguration.","authors":"Rachel A Leshin, Aditi Kodipady, Grey F Raber, Natalie M Gallagher, Kristina R Olson","doi":"10.1177/09567976261461126","DOIUrl":"10.1177/09567976261461126","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The numerous executive orders directed at transgender youth in the weeks following the 2025 U.S. presidential inauguration were likely a signal to these youth-and their parents-that the federal government no longer supported them. Using a longitudinal design spanning 3 years prior to the inauguration (2022-2024) and 2 months surrounding the inauguration, we tested whether the mental health and well-being of U.S.-based transgender youth and their parents declined relative to that of cisgender youth and their parents in a sample that, on the whole, did not support the new administration (<i>N</i> = 160 youth, aged 12-17 years; <i>N</i> = 167 parents). Across preregistered analyses, we observed significant declines in the mental health and well-being of parents of transgender youth compared to parents of cisgender youth; we observed fewer differences over time between transgender versus cisgender youth themselves. Our findings identify an immediate potential cost of the current political environment for supportive parents of transgender youth.</p>","PeriodicalId":20745,"journal":{"name":"Psychological Science","volume":" ","pages":"586-599"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148550252","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Psychological SciencePub Date : 2026-08-01Epub Date: 2026-07-07DOI: 10.1177/09567976261459011
Ulrich Orth, Jasmin A Aebi, Richard W Robins
{"title":"No Evidence for Self-Esteem Effects on Aggression: Findings From a Multi-Year, Multi-Informant Longitudinal Study of Mexican-Origin Families.","authors":"Ulrich Orth, Jasmin A Aebi, Richard W Robins","doi":"10.1177/09567976261459011","DOIUrl":"10.1177/09567976261459011","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Researchers have long debated whether self-esteem is associated with aggression. In this preregistered research, we tested the effects of self-esteem on aggression by using statistical models that control for unmeasured time-invariant confounders. Data came from a multi-wave longitudinal study of 674 Mexican-origin families, including multi-informant assessments of children, mothers, and fathers at 1- or 2-year intervals. There was no evidence of systematic self-esteem effects on aggression, and the results held when we controlled for narcissism and when the influence of shared-method variance could be ruled out. Also, there was little evidence for effects in the reverse direction, that is, from engaging in aggression on self-esteem. One limitation was that in most cases it was not possible to test whether the self-esteem effects were curvilinear because of the nonconvergence of these models. Overall, the findings do not support either low or high self-esteem as a risk factor for aggression.</p>","PeriodicalId":20745,"journal":{"name":"Psychological Science","volume":" ","pages":"540-556"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148405532","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mengqi Hu, Wenbo Zhao, Meiyuan Cao, David R Shanks, Xiao Hu, Liang Luo, Chunliang Yang
{"title":"Does Overconfidence Really Confer Adaptive Benefits to Children's Learning?","authors":"Mengqi Hu, Wenbo Zhao, Meiyuan Cao, David R Shanks, Xiao Hu, Liang Luo, Chunliang Yang","doi":"10.1177/09567976261455283","DOIUrl":"10.1177/09567976261455283","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Does overconfidence really confer adaptive benefits to children's learning? Through a tripartite investigation involving a preregistered replication (Study 1; <i>N</i> = 30, children aged 6-8 years), computational simulation (Study 2), and an experimental intervention (Study 3; <i>N</i> = 64, children aged 6-8 years), we first replicated previous findings that highly overconfident (HO) children exhibited less negative performance change across a memory task than their low-overconfidence (LO) counterparts. However, this pattern was driven by participant-selection bias and regression-to-the-mean effects rather than by adaptive benefits of childhood overconfidence. When experimentally manipulating children's overconfidence levels to eliminate these methodological drawbacks, the difference in performance changes between HO and LO children disappeared. These findings challenge an influential hypothesis about the adaptive nature of childhood overconfidence, underscore the risks of median-split designs with difference scores, highlight the necessity of causal experimental approaches in developmental research, and raise concerns about educational practices promoting positive illusions in children.</p>","PeriodicalId":20745,"journal":{"name":"Psychological Science","volume":" ","pages":"477-492"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148369620","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}