{"title":"Unsupervised Anomaly Detection in Sequential Process Data","authors":"Okan Bulut, Guher Gorgun, Surina He","doi":"10.1027/2151-2604/a000558","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1027/2151-2604/a000558","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: In this study, we present three types of unsupervised anomaly detection to identify anomalous test-takers based on their action sequences in problem-solving tasks. The first method relies on the use of the Isolation Forest algorithm to detect anomalous test-takers based on raw action sequences extracted from process data. The second method transforms raw action sequences into contextual embeddings using the Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) model and then applies the Isolation Forest algorithm to detect anomalous test-takers. The third method follows the same procedure as the second method, but it includes an intermediary step of dimensionality reduction for the contextual embeddings before applying the Isolation Forest algorithm for detecting anomalous cases. To compare the outcomes of the three methods, we analyze the log files from test-takers in the US sample ( n = 2,021) who completed the problem-solving in technology-rich environments (PSTRE) section of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) 2012 assessment. The results indicated that different groups of test-takers were flagged as anomalous depending on the representation (raw action sequences vs. contextual embeddings) and dimensionality of action sequences. Also, when the contextual embeddings were used, a larger number of test-takers were flagged by the Isolation Forest algorithm, indicating the sensitivity of this algorithm to the dimensionality of input data.","PeriodicalId":263823,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift für Psychologie","volume":"13 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140787373","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Identifying Careless Responding in Web-Based Surveys","authors":"A. Pokropek, Tomasz Żółtak, Marek Muszyński","doi":"10.1027/2151-2604/a000555","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1027/2151-2604/a000555","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: The increasing use of web-based surveys in social sciences research has brought forth the challenge of effectively identifying and managing inattentive/careless responding. The existing detection methods have shown limited success, highlighting the need for improved methodologies. This study introduces a novel approach that utilizes time-stamped action sequence data of mouse movements and employs deep learning models to detect careless responding. It introduces the concept of Approximate Areas of Interest (AAOIs) along with the application of Gated Recurrent Units (GRUs) and Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (BiLSTM) models. This research presents a flexible and efficient tool that can be applied across different scales and survey contexts. The results demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed approach in identifying group membership, achieving up to 95% accuracy when tested on experimental data with induced inattentiveness. The presented approach offers a potentially promising tool for overcoming the pervasive challenge of detecting careless responding in computer-based surveys.","PeriodicalId":263823,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift für Psychologie","volume":"181 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140792381","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"External Correlates of Adult Digital Problem-Solving Process","authors":"Susu Zhang, Xueying Tang, Qiwei He, Jingchen Liu, Zhiliang Ying","doi":"10.1027/2151-2604/a000554","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1027/2151-2604/a000554","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: Computerized assessments and interactive simulation tasks are increasingly popular and afford the collection of process data, i.e., an examinee’s sequence of actions (e.g., clickstreams, keystrokes) that arises from interactions with each task. Action sequence data contain rich information on the problem-solving process but are in a nonstandard, variable-length discrete sequence format. Two methods that directly extract features from the raw action sequences, namely multidimensional scaling and sequence-to-sequence autoencoders, produce multidimensional numerical features that summarize original sequence information. This study explores the utility of action sequence features in understanding how problem-solving behavior relates to cognitive proficiencies and demographic characteristics. This is empirically illustrated with the process data from the 2012 PIAAC PSTRE digital assessment. Regularized regression results showed that action sequence features are more predictive of examinees’ demographic and cognitive characteristics compared to final outcomes. Partial least squares analysis further aided the identification of behavioral patterns systematically associated with demographic/cognitive characteristics.","PeriodicalId":263823,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift für Psychologie","volume":"253 23","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140762470","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“Theory Specification and Theory Building in Psychology”","authors":"Andreas Glöckner, S. Fiedler","doi":"10.1027/2151-2604/a000541","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1027/2151-2604/a000541","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":263823,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift für Psychologie","volume":"16 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140520844","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Victimizing Effects of Conspiracy Beliefs","authors":"Paul Bertin","doi":"10.1027/2151-2604/a000542","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1027/2151-2604/a000542","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: Victimhood has been linked to conspiracy beliefs in various contexts. However, the causal relationship between these constructs remains unclear. Following previous work, conspiracy beliefs could be described as victimized beliefs that are consequences of perceiving one’s ingroup as especially suffering from a situation (i.e., exclusive forms of collective victimhood, comprising competitive victimhood). However, in the absence of causal examination, it might also be that conspiracy beliefs are victimizing beliefs that increase perceptions of victimhood. In Studies 1 and 2, which experimentally tested the widespread victimized beliefs interpretation ( Ntotal = 730), induced exclusive victimhood increased neither specific nor generic conspiracy beliefs. In Study 3 ( N = 335), I tested the reversed causal relations and found that exposure to specific or generic conspiracy theories in a fictitious society increased neither individual nor collective forms of victimhood. However, in Study 4 ( N = 465), exposure to a specific conspiracy theory about a real-world conflict, compared to a generic conspiracy theory, increased exclusive forms of collective victimhood. By contrast, individual-level victimhood about systemic issues increased in both conspiratorial conditions. The goal of Study 5 ( N = 561) was to distinguish the victimizing effects of exposure to a specific conspiracy theory from those of an intergroup conflict situation. Exposure to a conspiracy theory and to an intergroup conflict increased exclusive victimhood to the same extent, but the conspiracy condition again triggered more individual-level victimhood. Together, these results document that conspiracy beliefs have a self-oriented victimizing effect and that it is crucial to account for intergroup conflicts when studying the link between these beliefs and collective-level victimhood. Victimizing one’s status through conspiracy allegations might seek to gain advantages in crisis situations.","PeriodicalId":263823,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift für Psychologie","volume":"55 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140515745","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Analyzing the Causation Between Conspiracy Mentality and Belief in Conspiracy Theories","authors":"Kenzo Nera","doi":"10.1027/2151-2604/a000533","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1027/2151-2604/a000533","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: The dispositional approach to conspiracy mentality suggests that it causally precedes belief in conspiracy theories. I identify two potential pitfalls when analyzing this causal relationship: circular reasoning (in which the two constructs are conflated and interchangeable) and black box explanations (in which conspiracy mentality is merely defined as a disposition to believe in conspiracy theories). I argue that avoiding black box explanations requires theoretical and empirical works to clarify the content and antecedents of conspiracy mentality. To guide future research, I formulate two hypotheses based on a philosophical analysis of conspiracy thinking and empirical research. In doing so, I question common assumptions on conspiracy mentality. First, against the assumption that conspiracy mentality is unidimensional, I propose that it may be better conceptualized as a multidimensional construct. Second, against the assumption that conspiracy mentality unidirectionally causes conspiracy theory beliefs, I propose that this relationship might be bidirectional.","PeriodicalId":263823,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift für Psychologie","volume":"14 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140519149","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jesper Strömbäck, Elena Broda, Y. Tsfati, Malgorzata Kossowska, R. Vliegenthart
{"title":"Disentangling the Relationship Between Conspiracy Mindset Versus Beliefs in Specific Conspiracy Theories","authors":"Jesper Strömbäck, Elena Broda, Y. Tsfati, Malgorzata Kossowska, R. Vliegenthart","doi":"10.1027/2151-2604/a000546","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1027/2151-2604/a000546","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: While there is ample evidence showing that people who believe in one conspiracy theory are more likely to believe in other conspiracy theories, and many studies that show that some people have a stronger general propensity to believe in conspiracy theories – i.e., conspiracy mindset – than others, the empirical relationship between conspiracy mindset and beliefs in specific conspiracy theories is unclear. This paper thus aims to investigate this relationship using a unique three-wave panel study. Among other things, the findings suggest that a conspiracy mindset empirically can be distinguished from beliefs in specific conspiracy theories, and that conspiracy mindset is a stronger predictor of beliefs in specific conspiracy theories than the other way around.","PeriodicalId":263823,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift für Psychologie","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140516888","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"On the Usefulness of the Conspiracy Mentality Concept","authors":"Roland Imhoff","doi":"10.1027/2151-2604/a000550","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1027/2151-2604/a000550","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: The current commentary aims at defending the usefulness of the conspiracy mentality construct and emphasize its advantages over other ways to conceptualize and measure conspiracy beliefs. In contrast to specific conspiracy theories, items tapping into conspiracy mentality are typically not ideologically laden and are typically neither true nor false. They thus provide a purer measure of endorsing a conspiracy worldview – independent of ideological leaning or concerns of accuracy. Responding to Nera’s complaint about a Black Box definition of conspiracy mentality, the current commentary argues that the current state of the literature goes beyond that. Far from defining conspiracy mentality only in terms of agreeing with specific conspiracy theories, scholars have postulated its constituents (e.g., anti-elitism) and established some associates (e.g., generalized distrust). Whether a more fine-grained approach to conspiracy mentality as a multi-faceted construct will provide more useful is to be conceptually argued and empirically demonstrated instead of merely claimed.","PeriodicalId":263823,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift für Psychologie","volume":"40 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140520540","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Thinking the Relationships Between Conspiracy Mentality and Belief in Conspiracy Theories","authors":"Kenzo Nera","doi":"10.1027/2151-2604/a000551","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1027/2151-2604/a000551","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: In this response, I synthetize and expand on key points of agreement and on nuances brought up by Imhoff, Pummerer, and Sutton and colleagues in this issue ( 2024 ). I also attempt to further clarify the concept of conspiracy mentality. Building on Imhoff and Bruder’s (2014) conceptualization of conspiracy mentality as a generalized political attitude, I propose to adopt the working assumption that conspiracy mentality consists in a worldview, that is, a set of descriptive beliefs and assumptions about how the world functions. Adopting this assumption clarifies the questions of the constituents (descriptive beliefs – whose content remains to be investigated) and associates (e.g., prescriptive beliefs, behaviors) of conspiracy mentality. It also clarifies the causal mechanisms through which conspiracy mentality may foster the endorsement of specific conspiracy beliefs (e.g., through motivated reasoning), and vice versa (e.g., through inductive reasoning). I propose five basic working assumptions to facilitate research on this topic.","PeriodicalId":263823,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift für Psychologie","volume":"1 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140522943","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Michael Bosnjak, Robert Dimbleby, B. Hilbig, Andreas Kiesel, Iris-Tatjana Kolassa, S. Pohl, Barbara Schober, Birgit Schyns, Christiane Spiel, Elsbeth Stern
{"title":"Online Only – The Next Big Thing for Zeitschrift für Psychologie","authors":"Michael Bosnjak, Robert Dimbleby, B. Hilbig, Andreas Kiesel, Iris-Tatjana Kolassa, S. Pohl, Barbara Schober, Birgit Schyns, Christiane Spiel, Elsbeth Stern","doi":"10.1027/2151-2604/a000544","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1027/2151-2604/a000544","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: The Zeitschrift für Psychologie is the oldest psychological journal in Europe and the second oldest in the world. It was founded in 1890 by Hermann Ebbinghaus, Arthur König, and colleagues 3 years after the American Journal of Psychology and is a publication organ for all fields of empirical psychology. Until 2006, it was published in German. In 2007, the journal took a decisive step toward internationalization by publishing all contributions exclusively in English. The editors are convinced that the time has now come to take another step and make the journal appear exclusively online. Various advantages for authors and readers are being sketched, namely fast publication times, enhanced replicability and reproducibility, and extended impact assessment.","PeriodicalId":263823,"journal":{"name":"Zeitschrift für Psychologie","volume":"25 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140525514","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}