{"title":"Perceived control and the pleasantness of choosing: How much choice is too much choice?","authors":"Katharina A. Schwarz","doi":"10.1016/j.crbeha.2025.100174","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.crbeha.2025.100174","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We can choose between various options in a multitude of situations every day. General consensus states that the ability to choose between different alternatives enhances our sense of agency, i.e., our perceived control and perceived causality over our environment. As sense of agency is thought to be a rewarding experience, abundant choice options might be preferable to fewer choice options. However, too much choice could also lead to increased cognitive effort and an overburdening of individuals, e.g., when engaging in consumer behaviour. The present experiments elucidate the interplay of sense of agency, pleasantness of choice, and perceived effort dependent on the available number of choice options. Results indicate that, surprisingly, sense of agency and pleasantness of choice peak around four choice options, with further choice options decreasing pleasantness and increasing perceived effort of the selection process. Moreover, perceived control and pleasantness of choice were strongly associated, further supporting the notion of sense of agency as a rewarding experience.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":72746,"journal":{"name":"Current research in behavioral sciences","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100174"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143593064","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tanisse Epp , Gord Garner , Robyn J. McQuaid , Sara Atif , Chealsea DeMoor , Kim Hellemans
{"title":"Mental health, substance use, and stigmatization: A comparison of Canadian university students who abstain from or consume alcohol","authors":"Tanisse Epp , Gord Garner , Robyn J. McQuaid , Sara Atif , Chealsea DeMoor , Kim Hellemans","doi":"10.1016/j.crbeha.2025.100172","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.crbeha.2025.100172","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Purpose</h3><div>While alcohol consumption among young adults in Canadian post-secondary settings has been widely studied, the experiences of students who abstain from alcohol remain significantly overlooked. This study addresses this critical gap by examining how alcohol abstinence relates to mental health symptoms, substance use patterns, and loneliness among Canadian undergraduates. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of stigma dynamics on university campuses and inform strategies to foster more inclusive, supportive environments for students who do not drink alcohol.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among Canadian undergraduate students between November 2020 and May 2021. Demographic, mental health, and substance use differences between students who were alcohol-abstinent and non-abstinent were analyzed with chi-squared and <em>t</em>-tests. Pearson correlations examined the links between motivations for abstaining and self-stigma and between alcohol use and attitudes toward those who abstain. Additional <em>t</em>-tests assessed gender differences in motivations for abstinence, self-stigma, and attitudes toward those who are alcohol abstinent.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Of the 180 participants, 48.9% were alcohol abstinent. Indifference was the primary motive for abstinence (<em>M</em> = 2.7, <em>SD</em> = 1.2). Students who were alcohol abstinent reported significantly lower cannabis use (<em>p</em> < 0.001) but higher levels of loneliness (<em>p</em> = .02) compared to those who were not abstinent. Fear of negative consequences and dispositional risk were significantly associated with higher levels of self-stigma (<em>p's</em> < 0.05). Men demonstrated significantly higher levels of awareness and self-application of negative stereotypes related to alcohol use compared to women (<em>p</em>’s < 0.05), reflecting a greater internalization of public stigma. Additionally, alcohol use was positively correlated with negative attitudes toward those who are alcohol abstinent (<em>p</em> < .005).</div></div><div><h3>Discussion</h3><div>This study reveals the social and psychological challenges faced by students who abstain from alcohol, particularly the heightened levels of loneliness compared to their peers who drink. By identifying the factors contributing to self-stigmatization and social exclusion, our research fills a critical gap in understanding how abstinence is perceived in environments where alcohol consumption is the norm, such as university campuses. These findings are essential for informing targeted destigmatization efforts and shaping public health campaigns that challenge negative stereotypes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":72746,"journal":{"name":"Current research in behavioral sciences","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100172"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143463431","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The causal role of numerical and non-numerical order processing abilities in the early development of mathematics skills: Evidence from an intervention study","authors":"Kinga Morsanyi , Jort Peters , Eleonora Battaglia , Delphine Sasanguie , Bert Reynvoet","doi":"10.1016/j.crbeha.2023.100144","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crbeha.2023.100144","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Understanding the basis of mathematical development is essential for supporting mathematics learning and to develop efficient interventions for remediating early problems. In the past decade, evidence has accumulated in support of the importance of ordering skills (i.e., tasks that tap into children's ability to recall the order of items or to judge the correctness of the order of items) in predicting early mathematics performance. Nevertheless, so far these studies have only provided correlational evidence, and intervention studies are lacking. The aim of the current study was to fill this gap by investigating the potential causal role of three types of ordering abilities (number ordering, daily event ordering and order working memory) in the development of mathematics skills during the first year of primary school. Children participated in six brief training sessions over a three-week period, and their mathematics skills and mathematics anxiety were measured before and after the training. In addition to the three training conditions, an active control group was also involved, with children completing reading comprehension exercises. Our findings showed that children's performance improved substantially on all ordering tasks as a result of training. Additionally, training in daily event ordering and number ordering has led to large increases in children's formal mathematics skills. Mathematics anxiety was not affected by the interventions. The current results provide initial evidence for the usefulness of order processing training in developing children's early mathematics skills. They also show that these results are not specific to the domain of numerical ordering.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":72746,"journal":{"name":"Current research in behavioral sciences","volume":"6 ","pages":"Article 100144"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666518223000487/pdfft?md5=7964ae7e630e0c690684ebb174982eda&pid=1-s2.0-S2666518223000487-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139100032","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Discrete memories of a continuous world: A working memory perspective on event segmentation","authors":"Berna Güler , Zeynep Adıgüzel , Bilge Uysal , Eren Günseli","doi":"10.1016/j.crbeha.2023.100145","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crbeha.2023.100145","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We perceive the world in a continuum but remember our past as discrete episodic events. Dominant models of event segmentation suggest that prediction errors or contextual changes are the driving factors that parse continuous experiences into segmented events. These models propose working memory to hold a critical role in event segmentation, yet the particular functioning of working memory that underlies segmented episodic memories remains unclear. Here, we first review the literature regarding the factors that result in the segmentation of episodic memories. Next, we discuss the role of working memory under two possible models regarding how it represents information within each event and suggest experimental predictions. Clarifying the contributions of working memory to event segmentation is important to improve our understanding of the structure of episodic memories.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":72746,"journal":{"name":"Current research in behavioral sciences","volume":"6 ","pages":"Article 100145"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666518223000499/pdfft?md5=3b2e8cab473373d19d1532e9a0a6a13e&pid=1-s2.0-S2666518223000499-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139100033","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Caffeine Use and Attentional Engagement in Everyday Life","authors":"Tyler B. Kruger, Mike J. Dixon, Daniel Smilek","doi":"10.1016/j.crbeha.2024.100152","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.crbeha.2024.100152","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Caffeine is a common component of various beverages and foods with approximately 80% of the world's population consuming caffeinated products daily. Here we examined how caffeine consumption and different motivations for consuming caffeine (e.g., cognitive enhancement, negative affect relief, reinforcing effects, and weight control) relate to self-reported inattention, mind-wandering, and deep, effortless concentration (i.e., flow) in everyday life in a university student population via two online surveys (<em>N</em> = 224 and <em>N</em> = 234). Our results indicated that, contrary to what one might expect, the amount of caffeine consumed in a typical day (estimated in milligrams) was not related to attention-related experiences in everyday life. However, we found that those who are more likely to ingest caffeine to potentially enhance their cognition, or to experience the reinforcing effects of caffeine, or to help relieve negative affect showed higher levels of inattention in everyday life.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":72746,"journal":{"name":"Current research in behavioral sciences","volume":"7 ","pages":"Article 100152"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666518224000068/pdfft?md5=7af71f256da7a5198e472d77bd5e8a26&pid=1-s2.0-S2666518224000068-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141398732","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Picture perfect: Exploring the relationship between problematic TikTok use, physical appearance perfectionism, and upward physical appearance comparison on body appreciation","authors":"Katie O'Connor , Johannes Karl , Simon Dunne","doi":"10.1016/j.crbeha.2024.100156","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crbeha.2024.100156","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Physical appearance perfectionism and upward physical appearance comparisons have a potential role in explaining how the use of popular social networking sites can negatively impact a person's body image. Although there is considerable research on the relationship between body image and problematic Instagram usage, there is little reported on TikTok use. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the mediating relationship of physical appearance perfectionism and upward physical appearance comparison between problematic TikTok use and body appreciation. The sample included 185 TikTok users. Serial mediation analysis revealed a significant indirect negative relationship between problematic TikTok use and body appreciation through physical appearance perfectionism, but not upward physical appearance comparison, or physical appearance perfectionism and upward physical appearance comparison in serial. Thus, with the rapid growth of TikTok, this study highlights the importance of identifying the individuals who may be more vulnerable to the effects of the app. We suggest possible practice implications such as the implementation of screening strategies to identify those high in physical appearance perfectionism, and the development of workshops aimed at promoting positive body image in the face of SNS use.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":72746,"journal":{"name":"Current research in behavioral sciences","volume":"7 ","pages":"Article 100156"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266651822400010X/pdfft?md5=361a74b02793da8cb892ecc0d8f8fcee&pid=1-s2.0-S266651822400010X-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141438386","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Gender differences in impostor phenomenon: A meta-analytic review","authors":"Paul C. Price, Brandi Holcomb, Makayla B. Payne","doi":"10.1016/j.crbeha.2024.100155","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crbeha.2024.100155","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The present study was a meta-analysis of research on female-male gender differences in impostor phenomenon—the tendency for high-achieving people to feel like “impostors” who are undeserving of their success. Although it was originally suggested that women experience impostor phenomenon more frequently and intensely than men do, the results of empirical research have been mixed, and contradictory claims appear throughout the literature. The present research shows, however, that the original suggestion is correct. Across 115 effect sizes and over 40 thousand participants, women scored higher than men with a mean effect size (Cohen's <em>d</em>) of 0.27. There was no evidence that this difference has decreased over time, but there was evidence that it varies across fields, that it is smaller in studies conducted in Asia than in studies conducted in Europe and North America, and that it is smaller in studies that use the Harvey Impostor Scale than studies that use the more common Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale. These results have important implications for research on gender differences in the impostor phenomenon, and research on the impostor phenomenon more generally.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":72746,"journal":{"name":"Current research in behavioral sciences","volume":"7 ","pages":"Article 100155"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666518224000093/pdfft?md5=7e296ecfaedb89286d0fdb38e177ab1c&pid=1-s2.0-S2666518224000093-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141540540","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Disentangling the “crypto fever”: An exploratory study of the psychological characteristics of cryptocurrency owners","authors":"Matteo Robba, Angela Sorgente , Paola Iannello","doi":"10.1016/j.crbeha.2024.100151","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crbeha.2024.100151","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Cryptocurrencies are innovative digital assets that became significantly popular in recent years. Despite their popularity, literature about cryptocurrencies is still lacking. Specifically, little is known about the psychological profile of cryptocurrency owners. The present paper aims to investigate the role of financial literacy, self-efficacy, risk tolerance, and impulsivity in cryptocurrency ownership in a representative sample of 1,153 Italian consumers. In particular, a Latent Profile Analysis was performed on cross-sectional data to identify different psychological profiles of consumers, and test which of these profiles is more likely to hold cryptocurrencies. Results indicate the presence of six different psychological profiles and that the psychological profile that best describes those who hold cryptocurrencies is characterized by high levels of financial literacy, risk tolerance, and self-efficacy in investment domains. Instead, a configuration of low financial literacy and high self-efficacy, risk appetite, and impulsivity scores is mostly associated with having owned cryptocurrencies in the past. These findings would suggest that psychological characteristics play a key role in cryptocurrency ownership.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":72746,"journal":{"name":"Current research in behavioral sciences","volume":"6 ","pages":"Article 100151"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666518224000056/pdfft?md5=a35d258e7973d55aecff8734086bc425&pid=1-s2.0-S2666518224000056-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140816499","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Shuyan Liu , Min Zhao , Ruihua Li , Chuanning Huang , Jiang Du , Daniel J. Schad , Stephan Heinzel
{"title":"A wandering mind reflects a lonely mind: A cross-cultural study","authors":"Shuyan Liu , Min Zhao , Ruihua Li , Chuanning Huang , Jiang Du , Daniel J. Schad , Stephan Heinzel","doi":"10.1016/j.crbeha.2024.100153","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crbeha.2024.100153","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Our minds wander for half of our waking time, and evidence suggests that a wandering mind is often an unhappy one. However, the specific contents of unpleasant thoughts and feelings during mind wandering remain undiscovered. Here, we aim to investigate if mind wandering may closely relate to feelings of loneliness, such as experiencing a sense of being left out and isolated from others, within a cross-cultural context. Our study involved participants from the general populations of China (<em>N</em>= 1123) and Germany (<em>N</em>= 1018), surveyed between December 2021 and February 2022. Using an online survey tool, we assessed self-reported mind wandering (measured by the Mind Wandering Spontaneous and Deliberate Scale) and loneliness (measured by the UCLA Loneliness Scale), while controlling for self-esteem (measured by the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale), self-efficacy (measured by the General Self-efficacy Scale), and mental health status (measured by the General Health Questionnaire). Strikingly, we found that approximately half of the respondents in both China and Germany reported feelings of loneliness (49.8% in China versus 49.5% in Germany, <em>p</em>= 0.936). Regression analysis further revealed that higher levels of self-reported spontaneous (<em>β</em> = 0.04, <em>p</em>= 0.047) and deliberate mind wandering (<em>β</em> = 0.05, <em>p</em>= 0.009) were associated with higher levels of loneliness, even after controlling for sociodemographic variables, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and mental health status. These findings suggest that loneliness is a pervasive experience across cultures and may serve as a driving factor underlying unpleasant thoughts and feelings during episodes of mind wandering.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":72746,"journal":{"name":"Current research in behavioral sciences","volume":"6 ","pages":"Article 100153"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266651822400007X/pdfft?md5=162e9a9833f52d42b15e9334d161028e&pid=1-s2.0-S266651822400007X-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141302815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"From intersectional invisibility to visibility: Black women in Health Disparity Data and Quantitative Intersectional Models","authors":"Rima Wilkes, Aryan Karimi","doi":"10.1016/j.crbeha.2024.100149","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crbeha.2024.100149","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Intersectionality, in its original conceptualization, asserted that the combination of categories can lead to unknown experiences and to invisibility. Over time, to capture the effects which explain Black women's intersectional experiences, quantitative operationalizations of intersectionality made two changes to the concept: first, they reformulated intersectionality to a known difference in outcomes such as health status; second, they began to measure how groups experience such differences under the effect of particular categories. In this paper we demonstrate that, despite these methodological reformulations, intersectionality as invisibility still manifests in quantitative health modelling, thereby not capturing Black women's unique experiences. We use the U.S. 1972–2022 integrated General Social Survey data and the overall self-rated heath, race, and gender variables. We, step by step, outline how intersectional invisibility arises in additive, interactive, and multiplicative models with White male, or the most dominant group, set as the intercept. To visibilize Black women's experience we propose changing the intercept to Black female.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":72746,"journal":{"name":"Current research in behavioral sciences","volume":"6 ","pages":"Article 100149"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666518224000032/pdfft?md5=eefc8236ee637cc26e79219b0633104c&pid=1-s2.0-S2666518224000032-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140558058","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}