{"title":"When pursuing hedonic experiences leads to less hedonic outcomes: Hedonic sampling drives the persistence of false beliefs in reward-rich food environments.","authors":"Niklas Pivecka, Sonja Kunz, Arnd Florack","doi":"10.1037/xap0000575","DOIUrl":"10.1037/xap0000575","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Existing research explains the widespread belief that unhealthy food is tastier than healthy food by how food is portrayed in the media and social networks and by the notion that food cannot serve two purposes (health and pleasure) at the same time. However, these explanations cannot explain why people do not change this belief despite the increasingly large variety of healthy and tasty food options. We argue that it is the abundance of tasty foods in the environment, combined with people's motivation to eat palatable foods, that prevents individuals from changing their beliefs. In three online studies and one taste experiment (total <i>N</i> = 976), we show that individuals' food choices in reward-rich environments with many tasty foods, but not in reward-poor environments with few tasty foods, led to a consolidation of initial beliefs, even when there was no relationship between food healthiness and taste or a relationship that contradicted their beliefs in the experimental food environment. Our findings suggest that a basic hedonic sampling mechanism contributes to the persistence of food beliefs, such as the belief that unhealthy food tastes better, and should be considered when trying to change unhealthy diets. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48003,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Psychology-Applied","volume":" ","pages":"506-523"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147785773","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jeremy D Strueder, Inkyung Park, Sabrina Lacy, Paul D Windschitl
{"title":"Predecisional distortion of risk information seen in icon arrays.","authors":"Jeremy D Strueder, Inkyung Park, Sabrina Lacy, Paul D Windschitl","doi":"10.1037/xap0000546","DOIUrl":"10.1037/xap0000546","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In three studies, we tested whether icon arrays-which are a popular method of presenting risk information-can reduce predecisional information distortion that arises when early emerging preferences bias the evaluation of subsequently shown information. In Study 1, using traditional measures of information distortion, we found that risk-of-death information about two potential treatment options that was presented via icon arrays was distorted in favor of participants' leading alternative. The magnitude of distortion was similar to the level of distortion for other treatment information in the treatment scenario. Study 2 directly tested whether the presence versus absence of icon arrays when presenting risk information had any impact on levels of information distortion, this time using a dependent measure that targeted people's intuitive perceptions of risk. We found that the extent to which a 6% risk of death seemed riskier than a 3% risk of death was greater when the former risk was from a treatment option that was relatively undesired. This distortion was not significantly reduced by the presence of icon arrays. We replicated this pattern of results in a third study. These findings highlight the need for developing new tools and methods for presenting risk/likelihood information that can protect against the influence of predecisional information distortion. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48003,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Psychology-Applied","volume":" ","pages":"424-440"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147822256","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Øyvind Lund Martinsen, Morten Nordmo, Adrian Furnham, Ole Christian Lang-Ree
{"title":"Personality testing and response distortion in selection: A randomized, longitudinal field experiment to test the effects of selection, control, and warning instructions on job performance and career development.","authors":"Øyvind Lund Martinsen, Morten Nordmo, Adrian Furnham, Ole Christian Lang-Ree","doi":"10.1037/xap0000565","DOIUrl":"10.1037/xap0000565","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Response distortion (faking) on personality tests in high-stakes selection contexts, and the use of warnings to mitigate it, remain critical issues in industrial-organizational psychology. Research on these issues, however, has often been limited by practical and methodological constraints, leaving notable gaps in our understanding of the processes involved. To address these gaps, we conducted a study where 1,123 participants in a military selection setting were randomly assigned to three experimental groups: low-stakes control, high-stakes selection, and high-stakes warning. Performance indicators included admission to officer training, future officer rank, and job performance. The results showed that group-level trait means changed in the expected directions under high-stakes conditions, while the factorial invariance and predictive validity of the personality measure were preserved. The incremental validity of personality traits over general mental ability remained consistent across groups, supporting the robustness of personality assessments. While warnings reduced the mean score inflation, they failed to enhance predictive validity and negatively impacted convergent validity with an unaffected premeasure of personality. Warnings also resulted in other distortions, particularly among high-ability candidates. Overall, these findings indicate that personality assessments retain practical utility in high-stakes settings when excluding warnings, as such interventions may introduce unintended biases without improving selection outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48003,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Psychology-Applied","volume":" ","pages":"484-505"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145935719","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Self-reported spaced study: Associations with college students' grades and self-regulation.","authors":"Eric D Malain, Marissa K Hartwig","doi":"10.1037/xap0000562","DOIUrl":"10.1037/xap0000562","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Experimental evidence shows that spaced study (in which restudy is distributed across time) supports long-term retention of studied materials compared to less spaced or more massed study (i.e., the spacing effect). However, in surveys of students' study behavior in uncontrolled settings, self-reported spaced study rarely correlates with real-world outcomes, such as grades. In this article, we question whether previous self-reports have truly assessed spacing, since they do not address whether students revisit the same concepts. Immediately following each exam in a college course, two samples of students in different semesters (<i>N</i> = 185, Spring 2016; <i>N</i> = 194, Spring 2017) reported their spacing behavior via two survey items modeled after prior research and one novel item. The items addressed (a) whether students had spread their study across sessions, (b) whether they had crammed, and (c) whether they had restudied the same concepts (the novel item). In both samples, only the novel item predicted scores on all exams, even when controlling for total study time. The item also predicted indicators of self-regulation, likely a factor in whether students space their study. We emphasize that restudy is a defining feature of spacing that should not be overlooked when investigating self-reported spaced study. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48003,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Psychology-Applied","volume":" ","pages":"378-389"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145935721","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The mind-superiority hypothesis: From mind perception to reasoning disclosure in evaluations of artificial intelligence-generated creative work.","authors":"Ji Jill Xiong","doi":"10.1037/xap0000588","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000588","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping creative industries, raising questions about how people evaluate AI-generated work. Building on extant work, we synthesize what we term <i>the mind-superiority hypothesis,</i> which holds that entities perceived as possessing a \"mind\" receive more favorable evaluations, particularly in creative domains. We apply this framework to the novel context of AI-generated creative work. We first explore whether AI-generated creative work is judged less favorably than human-created work because generative AI is seen as having lower mental capabilities. We then examine whether mentalistic mindset prompts-instructions encouraging observers to interpret an entity in terms of mental activities such as thinking and feeling-can heighten perceived mental capabilities and, in turn, improve evaluations. We also identify reasoning disclosure as a practical intervention that enhances mind perception and boosts evaluations of AI's creative output. Across seven studies (<i>N</i> = 2,333), the results provide converging evidence supporting the mind-superiority hypothesis and provide a theoretically grounded account of why AI-generated creative work is often evaluated less favorably-and how such evaluations can be improved. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48003,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Psychology-Applied","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148799565","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Designing attention guidance for wide-field of view visual search: Local and dual cues improve search, but imperfect automation imposes costs.","authors":"Amelia C Warden","doi":"10.1037/xap0000585","DOIUrl":"10.1037/xap0000585","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Many real-world, safety-critical domains require searching for targets in complex scenes, like a pilot scanning a runway for hazards. Augmented reality (AR) displays show promise for faster, more accurate attention guidance during visual search, yet the effectiveness of cue properties and their failure modes remains underexplored. The current experiments simulate AR overlays on a wide-field-of-view (FOV) display to examine how cue properties affect search performance under perfect or imperfect automation. Across both studies, cues improved search performance relative to an unaided search. Spatial information outperformed identity information, and local cues outperformed global cues. Dual cues outperformed single cues, showing a greater benefit when targets were outside the immediate FOV. Imperfect automation degraded performance and produced an automation bias: Errors were higher when automation was incorrect than with a no-cue baseline (no automation). Miss-prone automation (Experiment 2) yielded larger response time costs than false-alarm-prone automation (Experiment 1), whereas costs to accuracy were comparable. Under miss-prone automation, dual cues slightly amplified the automation bias relative to single cues. These findings have implications for designing automated cueing aids, particularly in large search environments, where spatial precision and automation errors should be considered carefully. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48003,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Psychology-Applied","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148799568","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Using process tracing to predict charitable donations.","authors":"Geoffrey Fisher, Matthew Chao","doi":"10.1037/xap0000584","DOIUrl":"10.1037/xap0000584","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Prospective donors to charitable organizations must balance prosocial motives against self-interested financial considerations. Two laboratory experiments tracked mouse cursor trajectories during online donation decisions to dynamically examine how these conflicting motives shape choices. Cursor movements revealed the timing at which prosocial versus self-interested attributes influenced decision making; earlier consideration of prosocial attributes was associated with higher donation rates, suggesting prosociality can operate rapidly. Cursor-derived measures of decision conflict also significantly predicted donation outcomes in ways that distinguished distinct donor types: Some participants exhibited consistently higher (lower) conflict in cursor trajectories when opting not to donate, even after controlling for stated willingness to donate, and this predicted greater (less) generosity in unrelated donation contexts. Additionally, cursor movement data better predicted out-of-sample donation decisions compared to response times or traditional behavioral measures and retained predictive strength even after controlling for these variables. These results underscore the value of cursor-tracking methodologies in providing richer theoretical insights and predictive accuracy regarding donor behavior. Specifically, dynamic cursor metrics offer charitable giving researchers a nuanced approach to understanding how donors process and resolve trade-offs between self-interested and prosocial motivations during donation solicitations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48003,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Psychology-Applied","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148766432","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Muhammad Junaid Shahid Hasni, Luigi Mittone, Lucia Savadori
{"title":"When do Nutri-Score labels shift food choices? Evidence for moderation by health-goal activation and prior beliefs.","authors":"Muhammad Junaid Shahid Hasni, Luigi Mittone, Lucia Savadori","doi":"10.1037/xap0000582","DOIUrl":"10.1037/xap0000582","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Nutri-Score front-of-package labels are designed to guide consumers toward healthier food choices, yet evidence on their effectiveness is mixed. We examined when Nutri-Score shifts purchasing choices and whether its impact depends on making health goals salient at the moment of choice and whether Nutri-Score ratings confirm versus contradict consumers' preexisting beliefs about which product is healthier. In a randomized online experiment with Italian adults (<i>N</i> = 792), participants made purchase choices across 30 pairs of familiar grocery products. Nutri-Score presence (present vs. absent) and a brief health-goal prompt (\"Which product is healthier?\"; present vs. absent) were manipulated between participants. We also categorized product pairs based on whether Nutri-Score ratings aligned with participants' prelabel healthiness judgments. Overall, displaying Nutri-Score increased the selection of the higher Nutri-Score option. This shift was largest when the label confirmed prior beliefs and the health-goal prime was present. When Nutri-Score contradicted prior beliefs, the label shifted choices even without the prime. These findings suggest that Nutri-Score effectiveness depends on goal salience and on whether the label provides expectation-consistent versus expectation-inconsistent information; in some cases, unexpectedly favorable ratings on tempting products may also be experienced as more permissible, a possibility that policymakers should consider. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48003,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Psychology-Applied","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148521282","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Steven Stelz, Marc-Andreas Edel, Mareike Altgassen
{"title":"The impact of process- versus outcome-focused episodic future thinking on everyday prospective memory in individuals with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).","authors":"Steven Stelz, Marc-Andreas Edel, Mareike Altgassen","doi":"10.1037/xap0000586","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000586","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Prospective memory (PM) deficits are common in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and are often linked to impairments in executive control. Strengthening encoding during intention formation may therefore serve as a compensatory strategy. The present study examined whether episodic future thinking (EFT) with different instructional foci (process-focused vs. outcome-focused) enhances the execution of everyday self-assigned PM intentions in adults with and without ADHD, relative to a standard encoding condition. A total of 196 adults (98 ADHD, 98 controls) were recruited in Autumn 2025 and randomly assigned to one of three encoding conditions, yielding six experimental groups (outcome-focused: <i>n</i> = 34 per group; process-focused: <i>n</i> = 32 per group; standard: <i>n</i> = 32 per group). PM performance was assessed using a modified version of the diary task across three online sessions. Overall, individuals with ADHD showed lower everyday PM performance. Across groups, EFT-based encoding improved PM performance relative to standard encoding. Contrary to predictions, outcome-focused EFT led to the strongest PM enhancement, while process-focused EFT yielded moderate benefits only for adults with ADHD. These findings provide first evidence that manipulating EFT focus during intention formation can enhance everyday PM in adults with ADHD, underscoring EFT as a practical strategy for improving daily functioning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48003,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Psychology-Applied","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148521256","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ruhan Zhao, Lingyan Xu, Jianguo Du, Francis Tang Dabuo
{"title":"Configurational antecedents of employee green behavior: A mixed methods study.","authors":"Ruhan Zhao, Lingyan Xu, Jianguo Du, Francis Tang Dabuo","doi":"10.1037/xap0000583","DOIUrl":"10.1037/xap0000583","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>As organizations confront the global imperative of ecological transition, the psychological gap between organizational green policies and voluntary individual green behavior remains a major obstacle to sustainable development. Employee green behavior is central to bridging this gap. Grounded in the ability-motivation-opportunity framework, this study integrates partial least squares structural equation modeling and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to examine how antecedent conditions, including green self-efficacy, personal norms, green leadership, and organizational green supportive atmosphere, are jointly associated with employee green behavior. The results indicate that each of these variables is positively associated with employee green behavior. The configurational analysis identified three patterns associated with high employee green behavior: (a) ability-opportunity synergy, with green self-efficacy and organizational green supportive atmosphere as core conditions; (b) motivation-opportunity synergy, linking personal norms, green leadership, and organizational green supportive atmosphere; and (c) comprehensive synergy involving green self-efficacy, personal norms, and organizational green supportive atmosphere. This study extends the ability-motivation-opportunity framework in the context of employee green behavior and provides practical implications for organizations seeking to support workplace sustainability. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48003,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Psychology-Applied","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148346932","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}