The current study focuses on the influence of giftedness and pubertal phase on prosocial giving. Specifically, it was examined whether young adolescents differentiate between different targets in...Show moreThe current study focuses on the influence of giftedness and pubertal phase on prosocial giving. Specifically, it was examined whether young adolescents differentiate between different targets in prosocial giving, whether gifted young adolescents show more prosocial giving than non-gifted young adolescents and whether young adolescents in pubertal phase show more prosocial giving than young adolescents in pre-pubertal phase. The participants were 145 young adolescents (9-12 years old) who performed the Prosocial Donation Task (PDT) and filled out the Pubertal Development Scale (PDS). In the PDT participants divided ten coins between themselves and a specific target (friend, disliked peer, anonymous peer, father and mother). We measured their pubertal development with the PDS, after which we compared it to the Tanner Stages. This study found that young adolescents differentiate in prosocial giving towards the different targets, and that disliked peers and anonymous peers receive fewer coins than friends or parents. However, we did not find that gifted adolescents engage in more prosocial giving than non-gifted adolescents. The results of puberty showed that the pubertal phase itself does not affect prosocial giving, but that young adolescent girls do differentiate differently towards the targets than young adolescent girls in pre-pubertal phase do. For boys we found that young adolescent boys in pre-pubertal phase give fewer coins towards anonymous peers than young adolescent boys in pubertal phase. These findings suggest that targets influence young adolescents’ prosocial giving, which is insightful for social development in young adolescents. Young adolescents can act upon the person facing them and indicate that they show more prosocial giving towards their in-group than an out-group, which is in line with earlier research.Show less
Neural gain is the mechanism underlying the stability/flexibility trade-off, which is fundamental for goal-directed yet adaptive behavior. Inspired by the development of a computational model that...Show moreNeural gain is the mechanism underlying the stability/flexibility trade-off, which is fundamental for goal-directed yet adaptive behavior. Inspired by the development of a computational model that estimates gain, we assessed whether people rationally modulate gain to demands for stability and flexibility. We designed two task-switch digit-classification experiments with 60 participants each, in which we manipulated the proportion incongruency (PI) in experiment one and cue-to-stimulus interval (CSI) in experiment two. Our results indicated that PI manipulation did not significantly affect gain, yet incongruency costs and switch costs demonstrated an increase in stability in response to high PI. CSI manipulation significantly affected both gain and incongruency costs, demonstrating increased flexibility in response to a short preparation time. Furthermore, we used questionnaires to assess participants' ASD and ADHD trait scores and tested whether these predicted biases in gain and/or impairments in gain modulation. Despite the lack of conclusive findings, this study offers insight in the relation between ASD and ADHD and neural gain. More studies that overcome our limitations may discover the impairments in neurocognitive mechanisms underlying psychological disorders and inform treatment. Altogether, our results indicate that people rationally adapt to demands for stability and flexibility following an antagonistic trade-off. Therefore, this study contributes to the research on neuromodulation and adds to the general understanding of attention. Our findings may also help to inform applied research on the benefits and drawbacks of stability and flexibility in the workplace. Thereby, managers could be made aware of the number of tasks assigned to their employees and whether the demand to switch between them is proportional to their difficulty.Show less
The primary goal of the present study is to investigate whether reducing feelings of financial shame and financial stigma increases the willingness to seek financial support. To do so, two websites...Show moreThe primary goal of the present study is to investigate whether reducing feelings of financial shame and financial stigma increases the willingness to seek financial support. To do so, two websites from the same organization offering financial support were designed. The first used neutral wording, whereas the second included language that aimed to reduce feelings of financial shame and financial stigma. Although results showed that the willingness to contact the organization was not significant between conditions, we found that participants visiting the modified website were more willing to recommend the organization to relatives and friends experiencing financial hardship than those on the neutral condition. Additionally, we found that participants visiting the modified website perceived the organization as more supportive and trustworthy and showed more adaptive coping mechanisms regarding their own financial situation. Lastly, results revealed that participants experiencing higher feelings of financial stigma perceived the organization as less competent.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
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Prediction-based learning is an effective teaching method for building factual knowledge, i.e., semantic learning. Its effectiveness likely depends on its potential to elicit surprise in learners....Show morePrediction-based learning is an effective teaching method for building factual knowledge, i.e., semantic learning. Its effectiveness likely depends on its potential to elicit surprise in learners. Only a few studies tested this hypothesis using a prediction-based learning framework comparable to semantic learning in the classroom. Most of these studies used physiological measures of surprise. However, the link between prediction-based semantic learning and learners' metacognitive surprise remains to be investigated. Using mixed models, we tested and explored to what degree participants' (N = 41; Mage = 21.9 years, SD = 1.5, 73% female) metacognitive surprise about the learning material (numerical trivia facts) explained how well participants learned (continuous metric) and recalled (binary metric) this material during a numerical-fact learning task designed to resemble classroomlike prediction-based learning. In line with our hypothesis, preregistered analyses showed that the more surprising participants found a fact, the more they learned from it. Extending previous work, we found that this link remained when controlling for a) between-fact differences in learning potential and b) facts already known to the participants and when c) participants failed to recall a fact correctly. Further extending previous work, our exploratory analyses suggested that learning also improved when participants perceived the facts as nonsurprising. So, the link between metacognitive surprise and learning may be u-shaped rather than linear. Altogether, these findings hint that learners'surprise about the learning material is one of the factors explaining to what degree learners learn from their prediction mistakes to update their factual knowledge. We forgo conclusions about the link between metacognitive surprise and recall accuracy since the confirmatory and exploratory results were ambiguous and negligibly small.Show less
One of the current challenges to increase patient safety is to improve the patient safety culture (Verbakel et al., 2014). An important factor in a good patient safety culture is psychological...Show moreOne of the current challenges to increase patient safety is to improve the patient safety culture (Verbakel et al., 2014). An important factor in a good patient safety culture is psychological safety (Edmondson & Lei, 2014). It is important that personnel feels free to speal up about mistakes or possible improvement to enhance patient safety. However, speaking up about mistakes may harm the perception towards your competence as an individual. Therefore, the perception of others is important when speaking up about mistakes, and may harm the psychological safety someone experiences. To increase the psychological safety it is therefore important to understand the influence of the perception of others on psychological safety. In this study two goals are formulated: 1) map the perception of others in the three departments in Hospital A. 2) Investigate the relation between the perception of others and psychological safety. The second goal is investigated with use of the following hypotheses: 1) Physician Assistants have a high perceived competence score, compared to Nurses, 2) Nurses have a high warmth score and low competence score, compared to Physician Assistants, 3) Specialists gave a high competence score, as perceived by Physician Assistants and Nurses, 4) The psychological safety level is lower in Nurses, compared to Physician Assistants. To answer these hypotheses mixed-methods design is used, gathering data from online questionnaires (N = 39), which were the SCM questionnaire (Fiske et al., 2002) and the Psychological safety questionnaire (Garvin et al., 2008), observations of quality meetings (N = 13) and semi-structured interviews (N = 3). The questionnaires were first tested on a M-Turk sample of healthcare personnel, to identify the internal consistency of the questionnaires in a healthcare setting. Results showed a significant difference in perception of the competence score of Physician Assistants, with Nurses perceiving the competence level lower than the Physician Assistants. Moreover, the perceived warmth score of Nurses were found to be significantly higher within Physician Assistants, compared to Nurses. This result was not found in the perceived competence score of the Nurses. Furthermore, the perceived competence score of Specialists was found to be non-significant when comparing the perception of Nurses and Physician Assistants. At last, the psychological safety level of Nurses and Physician Assistants did not differ significantly. These results indicate that the experienced hierarchy in Hospital A is less present than originally thought. Furthermore, no correlation was found between the perception of others and psychological safety within Hospital A. However, due to the small sample size we must be cautious with drawing conclusion of the results and more research is needed to gain more insight in the current situation at Hospital A.Show less
Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the accessibility of mental healthcare was severely disrupted. One specific part of psychological diagnostics that proved to be challenging without an in-...Show moreBackground: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the accessibility of mental healthcare was severely disrupted. One specific part of psychological diagnostics that proved to be challenging without an in- person visit, was the conductance of a neuropsychological assessment (NPA). NPAs are often performed using paper-and-pencil tasks, which leaves room for innovation in using digital tools, increasing accuracy of test scores. Therefore, the present study was aimed to investigate a small part of the remote and digital assessment of cognitive functioning, in specific: concept shifting. Usually, the Trail Making Task (TMT) is used to assess concept shifting, however, previous studies pointed out problems regarding the structural non-equivalence of the two trials in the TMT, resulting in inequal motor skills needed to complete the subtests. The current study aims to investigate whether an alternative task, the Concept Shifting Task (CST), might be a superior alternative for the TMT to measure concept shifting. The CST claims to be able to control for motor speed, and this claim was tested. To do so, a Finger Tapping Task (FFT) was included in the study as a measure of motor speed. Methods: A cross-sectional study, using a within-subject design was performed: all participants were asked to complete the FTT, the TMT and the CST. Thirty-two healthy adult participants completed these three tasks using software that allowed for digital and remote assessment. Linear regression models and correlation analyses were used to answer the research questions. Results: Motor speed did not explain a significant amount of variance in the TMT outcome measure (p = .821). Additionally, there was no significant correlation between the TMT and CST outcome measures (p = .68). A strong correlation between a CST motor variable and motor speed as measured through the FTT was found (r = -.70; p = <.001). Conclusions: There were no issues regarding the remote and digital testing set-up. The results revealed that, contrary to expectation, motor speed was not associated with TMT performance. Also, TMT performance and CST performance were not correlated, indicating that the tests are not interchangeable. The CST has, however, proven to be able to control for speed.Show less
Deze studie onderzocht in welke mate aanwezige psychopathische trekken bij gedragsgestoorde (CD) delinquente jongeren in verband staan met sociale disfunctie en het empathisch vermogen, terwijl er...Show moreDeze studie onderzocht in welke mate aanwezige psychopathische trekken bij gedragsgestoorde (CD) delinquente jongeren in verband staan met sociale disfunctie en het empathisch vermogen, terwijl er rekening wordt gehouden met leeftijd en socio-economische status (SES). Een beperkte empathie wordt gezien als het waarmerk van psychopathie in de volwassenheid. In dit onderzoek werden 52 gedetineerde jeugdigen tussen de 15 en 19 jaar onderzocht op psychopathische kenmerken, het empathisch vermogen en sociale disfunctie. Aan de hand van drie vragenlijsten werden deze eigenschappen in kaart gebracht. Voor psychopathie kenmerken werd de Youth Psychopathic Inventory (YPI) gebruikt, voor de sociale disfunctie de Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS-A) en voor het empathisch vermogen de Basic Empathy Scale (BES). Van alle jongeren met een gedragsstoornis moest ten minste één symptoom van agressief gedrag aanwezig zijn. Hoewel het overkoepelende regressie model met daarin alle onafhankelijke variabelen in staat bleek om een deel van de variantie in psychopathische trekken te verklaren, konden de individuele onafhankelijke variabelen dit niet. Anders gezegd, er werd geen significant bewijs gevonden voor de vooraf verwachte link die psychopathische trekken met sociale disfunctie of empathisch vermogen zou hebben. Toekomstig onderzoek in grotere en meer diverse samples moeten deze onverwachte bevinding verder exploreren en valideren. Sleutelwoorden: Psychopathie, Antisociale persoonlijkheidsstoornis, Conduct Disorder, Oppositionele opstandige stoornis, Jeugdige delinquenten, Gedragsproblemen, Empathie, Sociale cognitie.Show less
Students with autism report higher rates of depression and anxiety and are more likely to drop out of higher education compared to their neurotypical peers. Students with autism can benefit from...Show moreStudents with autism report higher rates of depression and anxiety and are more likely to drop out of higher education compared to their neurotypical peers. Students with autism can benefit from support provided by the university, but effective support requires an understanding of their specific needs. Little is known about how the living situation of students with autism affects their well-being. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between living situation and mental well-being of students with autism. Data were gathered using an online survey. Participants were 221 university students, 58 of whom reported a diagnosis of autism. They completed questionnaires regarding their living situation, and feelings of depression, anxiety, and loneliness. A relationship was found between living situation and loneliness. Students with autism reported feeling less lonely when living alone compared to living with flatmates, but not compared to living with parents. students without an autism diagnosis reported feeling less lonely when living alone, compared to both living with flatmates and living with their parents. The self-report nature of the questionnaire limits the validity of the gathered data. Selection bias as a result of the snowball sampling method make for limited generalisability: the members of the target population that are the most isolated may be more difficult to reach with this method. Another limitation is that the data only shows a correlation, not a causal effect between the studied variables. The study found that students with autism who live alone report less feelings of loneliness compared to living with flatmates. A future study that follows a cohort of autistic students before they enrol at a university and throughout their first years of university could provide insight into a possible causal relationship. If it is found that living alone improves the well-being of students with autism, accommodations could be provided.Show less
Leisure time reading is often stimulated in primary and secondary school, because of its expected benefits in language and reading development. In this thesis, a meta-analysis was performed to...Show moreLeisure time reading is often stimulated in primary and secondary school, because of its expected benefits in language and reading development. In this thesis, a meta-analysis was performed to examine the relationship between reading behaviour and receptive vocabulary, expressive vocabulary, combined vocabulary and reading comprehension in primary and secondary school students. A total number of 30 studies (4.769 students) were included. As expected, a medium to large effect was found for all four outcome measures. This is in line with results from previous research. Since girls happen to read more and more often than boys, it was expected that gender would be a significant predictor of the effects. This hypothesis was not confirmed in this meta-analysis. This may be explained by the fact that the reported gender percentages in the respective studies were not similar to the actual gender distribution in the final analyses. Researchers sometimes reported that participants were excluded in the analysis of our variables of interest, without stating the exact number of boys and girls. Overall, this study confirms that reading plays a positive role in acquiring vocabulary and reading comprehension.Show less
International migration has reached record levels over the past five decades, and the expectation is that these levels will continue to proliferate. As immigration is at the forefront of the world...Show moreInternational migration has reached record levels over the past five decades, and the expectation is that these levels will continue to proliferate. As immigration is at the forefront of the world’s agenda, a burgeoning literature is interested in exploring the drivers of public attitudes toward immigrants. The scholarly literature mainly focusses on two sources of immigration attitudes: economic and cultural threat perceptions. However, these studies generally focus on developed countries, even though there are similar levels of migration in developing countries. This study addresses this sample bias by conducting a large-N observational analysis of the effect of economic and cultural threat perceptions on public attitudes toward immigrants in developing countries. Furthermore, this study conducts a second analysis to explore how countries’ development status affects the relationship between economic or cultural threat and immigration attitudes. The findings suggest that perceptions of economic and cultural threat are important explanatory factors for citizens’ immigration attitudes in developing countries. Moreover, the second analysis indicates that both economic and cultural threat have a stronger effect on immigration attitudes in developed countries than in developing countries. Taken together, these findings reinforce the relevance of the existing economic and cultural threat theories and shed light on the formation of public attitudes toward immigrants in developing countries.Show less
In dit scriptie-onderzoek wordt kwantitatief onderzoek gedaan naar of kiezers die een gebrek aan regionale vertegenwoordiging voelen in de nationale politiek in Nederland daardoor eerder op nieuwe...Show moreIn dit scriptie-onderzoek wordt kwantitatief onderzoek gedaan naar of kiezers die een gebrek aan regionale vertegenwoordiging voelen in de nationale politiek in Nederland daardoor eerder op nieuwe partijen zullen stemmen. De uitkomst in dit scriptie-onderzoek is dat met de verzamelde data (Nationaal Kiezersonderzoek van 2017 en 2021) geen conclusies hierover kunnen worden getrokken, maar de verwachting blijft staan dat het een eventueel invloed kan hebben op het ander.Show less
The human-canine bond exists for over 15,00 years ago, when humans began to socialize the European wolf-dogs. The influence of humans on the appearance of dogs created the extraordinary variety of...Show moreThe human-canine bond exists for over 15,00 years ago, when humans began to socialize the European wolf-dogs. The influence of humans on the appearance of dogs created the extraordinary variety of phenotypic diversity among the modern dog. Humans seem to be particularly interested in certain paedomorphic features in animals, such as a round face and large pupils, which is related to the Kindchenschema. Remarkably, one of the characteristics in dogs is an extra dark colouring around the pupil which seems to create an enlarging effect of the existing pupil. This so-called ring might be part of the human influence within the domestication of the modern dog. As well as a higher contrast between the iris and the ring, which creates a more visible ring and therefore strengthens the influence of the ring. The current study hypothesized and expected that 1) the ring is a predictor of the level of perceived cuteness in humans, 2) contrast is a moderator of this relationship and 3) attitude is correlated with the level of perceived cuteness. The 1100 participants were asked to rate 36 pictures of dogs on cuteness via an online questionnaire. The results showed that the larger the ring, the higher the level of perceived cuteness, as well as a positive correlation between attitude and the level of perceived cuteness. However, the contrast between the ring and the iris did not influence the relationship between the ratio ring/iris and the level of perceived cuteness. These results carefully confirm the influence of humans on a dog’s appearance. Future research could focus on gazing as a predictor of perceived cuteness, including isolating the eyes as presented stimuli.Show less
