Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many activities and platforms have shifted to the virtual realm, including rituals and ceremonies. When it comes to psychedelic rituals, there are several important...Show moreDue to the COVID-19 pandemic, many activities and platforms have shifted to the virtual realm, including rituals and ceremonies. When it comes to psychedelic rituals, there are several important factors to take into account, such as the setting, dosage, and type of substance consumed. This paper examines the effects of virtual ceremonies on psychedelic experiences. The study utilized an online self-report questionnaire that was sent 1-2 days after the ceremony conducted by retreat company Spinoza. The gathered data were analyzed using thematic qualitative analysis. The categorization and themes were agreed upon by two independent researchers. The themes presented relate to the improvement of mental health and physical comfort along with insightful personal journeys. Further evaluation of the research suggested that the findings provide a general idea about the effects of digital format on the psychedelic experience. It has been found that with digital platforms on psychedelic experiences, individuals can experience clarity of unsolved issues, improved self-regulation, as well as improved emotional and mental states.Show less
Inaction inertia occurs when one is less likely to take an attractive opportunity, after refusing an even more attractive opportunity. In their experiment, van Putten and colleagues (2007) tried to...Show moreInaction inertia occurs when one is less likely to take an attractive opportunity, after refusing an even more attractive opportunity. In their experiment, van Putten and colleagues (2007) tried to decouple the inaction inertia effect by using ambiguous information. Their results yielded that ambiguous information did in fact decouple. However, the authors came to these conclusions by using optional stopping and p-hacking. This influenced the reliability of the results, so we decided to replicate this study, for good research practices and because it can give us valuable insight into how decoupling works when given an attractive offer. We made use of the replication recipe of Brandt and colleagues (2014) to conduct the replication.Show less
Disgust, rooted in human evolutionary history, serves as a vital defense mechanism against pathogens, manifesting in varied behaviors. This paper explores the intricate relationship between disgust...Show moreDisgust, rooted in human evolutionary history, serves as a vital defense mechanism against pathogens, manifesting in varied behaviors. This paper explores the intricate relationship between disgust and visual attention, employing the eye-tracking method. Drawing insights from primate studies, habituation, and human facial expressions, the research aims to address three key questions: Does gaze aversion occur in humans when exposed to disgusting stimuli, extending avoidance behavior into the visual domain? Do individuals exhibit prolonged attention to facial area, indicating a social imperative to assess the risk of pathogen contamination? How does gaze aversion change with repeated exposure to disgust-inducing stimuli? The study employs three conditions, including scenes of feces ingestion in the test condition, to assess total looking time. Results reveal significant gaze aversion towards feces as compared to control conditions, supporting the hypothesis of avoidance behavior. Participants displayed prolonged attention to faces during non-disgusting conditions, challenging assumptions about social necessity for risk assessment. Repeated exposure across trials to disgust-inducing stimuli did not significantly alter gaze behavior, highlighting the nuanced nature of responses to aversive stimuli. Discussion of the findings and implications are also addressed.Show less
Adolescence is characterized by a prominent increase in peer orientation and high sensitivity to peer evaluations. To date, explanations for individual differences in peer evaluation sensitivity...Show moreAdolescence is characterized by a prominent increase in peer orientation and high sensitivity to peer evaluations. To date, explanations for individual differences in peer evaluation sensitivity have not been thoroughly investigated. The present study examined whether a catastrophizing emotion regulation tendency and overprotective parenting could explain why some adolescents are more sensitive to negative peer evaluation than others. Sixty-four adolescents (mean age = 14.66; 49 females) took part in a Social Evaluative Learning through Feedback (SELF-) Profile task. Participants had to predict the valence of peer feedback in a 240-trial paradigm with four fictitious peers that differed in their probability of giving positive feedback. We hypothesized that through the mediating effect of catastrophizing, parental overprotection could predict the ratio of negative predictions of peer evaluations. We also expected that adolescents scoring higher on these self-reported concepts would have a higher ratio of negative predictions for the most negative vs. the most positive peer. Similarly, it was hypothesized that adolescents with higher catastrophizing and overprotection scores would expect more negative feedback in the SELF-Profile task beforehand and also estimate them to have been high afterward. Our results showed that total parental and paternal overprotection, but not maternal, predicted catastrophizing in adolescents. However, we did not find evidence for the hypothesized mediation models or associations between the self-reported concepts and the SELF-Profile pre- and post-ratings. Together, these findings suggest that parental overprotection and catastrophizing are related concepts but they are not sufficient in explaining negative biases in social reinforcement learning in adolescence.Show less
In recent years, classical psychedelics have become increasingly popular as a possible treatment method for mental health disorders. Optimizing set and setting during psychedelic use leads to the...Show moreIn recent years, classical psychedelics have become increasingly popular as a possible treatment method for mental health disorders. Optimizing set and setting during psychedelic use leads to the most beneficial outcomes. Trait mindfulness, which is the general tendency to experience mindfulness in daily life, could be seen as part of the set. Earlier research suggested that psychedelic drug intake could lead to increases in practicing mindfulness, trait mindfulness, and cognitive flexibility (CF), all factors associated with positive mental health outcomes. Moreover, these factors seem to be interconnected, as, for instance, trait mindfulness can predict higher CF. Since there has currently been no research yet on the influence of psychedelic drug intake on CF with trait mindfulness as a mediator, as well as on the impact of psychedelic drug intake on trait mindfulness controlling for current meditation practice, this paper aimed at filling this explanatory gap. The findings suggested that psychedelic-experienced individuals are more likely to currently be a meditator than psychedelic naives and that the positive association between psychedelic use and trait mindfulness remains after correcting for current meditation practice. Further, a significant indirect relationship between psychedelic drug intake and CF with trait mindfulness as a mediator has been found, though the direct effect is non-significant. Lastly, psychedelic use-related variables were investigated, showing that the dose could positively predict CF but other variables, including frequency, recency, and likelihood of next intake could not. Implications of these findings for current practice, future research, and psychedelic-based treatment were considered.Show less
Patients suffering from psoriasis are known to commonly experience stigmatization. Even though stigmatization negatively impacts patients’ mental and physical health, relatively little is known...Show morePatients suffering from psoriasis are known to commonly experience stigmatization. Even though stigmatization negatively impacts patients’ mental and physical health, relatively little is known about what prompts public stigmatization. This study aims to examine the extent of public stigma towards people suffering from psoriasis and the influence of scratching, as a possible predictor, on the extent of public stigmatization towards these patients. A cross-sectional survey using video-vignettes has been performed on a sample (n =153) of the Dutch population. Respondents were shown a baseline video with an actress without the visible skin condition showing and either a video-vignette with the visible skin condition showing or a video-vignette with the visible skin condition showing and the actress scratching. After each video-vignette, the level of public stigmatization was measured, using the adapted version of the 6-item Impact of Chronic Skin Disease on Daily Life Stigma questionnaire. The results showed, using a paired samples t-test, an increased level of public stigma when the skin condition is visible compared to when it is hidden with a moderate effect size; t(119) = 6.55, p < 0.001, d = .60 . No significant effect was found, using an independent samples t-test, between when a person with psoriasis is scratching their visible skin condition, as compared to when they are not scratching their visible skin condition; t(151) = 0.48, p = .63. These results suggest that patients suffering from psoriasis are subjected to an increased level of public stigma and that scratching can not be named a predictor for public stigma towards these patients.Show less
Abstract: This study examines the influence of individual and organizational features on the willingness to donate money to NPOs of individuals who are atypical of the organization. For this cross...Show moreAbstract: This study examines the influence of individual and organizational features on the willingness to donate money to NPOs of individuals who are atypical of the organization. For this cross-sectional study, participants who were atypical to the presented NPO were recruited online (n = 98). The research materials included information about international NPOs and a questionnaire that measured organizational morality, organizational competence, empathy, and collectivism of the individual, as well as general willingness to help and willingness to donate money to the organization. Multiple regression analyses showed that general willingness to help is predicted by organizational morality and the individual’s empathy. It has also been shown that empathy and general willingness to help have a direct effect on willingness to donate money to an NPO. Mediation regression analysis supported the hypotheses that empathy and organizational morality indirectly influence willingness to donate via willingness to help. Finally, practical recommendations for NPOs, as well as strengths, limitations, and implications of this online study were discussed.Show less
People’s attractiveness influences the honesty displayed by individuals towards them. This research investigates if this also holds for artificial agents. In the Psychology Lab on Wheels, 23...Show morePeople’s attractiveness influences the honesty displayed by individuals towards them. This research investigates if this also holds for artificial agents. In the Psychology Lab on Wheels, 23 participants played a coin toss game against a human, a robot, and an avatar on a screen, in which they had to make private predictions of the outcomes. This manipulation incentivized participants to lie. Based on the Uncanny Valley theory, it was expected that the human agent would be evaluated as most attractive, followed by the robot, and finally the avatar. Due to previous research, it was expected that participants would be most honest to the agent they rated as most attractive, thus most honest to the human, followed by the robot, and then the avatar. However, results show no difference in how participants rated the attractiveness of the human agent, the robot, and the avatar. Additionally, no discrepancy was found between the honesty of the participants towards the human agent, the avatar, and the robot. The discussion considers some trends in the data. Recommendations for future research are made.Show less
Background: Suicide rates have significantly increased in the Netherlands, particularly among adolescents. Suicidal ideation has been found a crucial predictor of self-destructive behavior, but...Show moreBackground: Suicide rates have significantly increased in the Netherlands, particularly among adolescents. Suicidal ideation has been found a crucial predictor of self-destructive behavior, but existing theoretical frameworks lack consideration of the role of the self in these thoughts. The psychoanalytic theory, which acknowledges the agency of the ego in its own destruction, offers an alternative perspective. Object relations, an important concept within this theory, has been linked to psychopathology. Objective: This study aims to address object relations as a predictor of suicidal ideation to investigate the ego involvement in selfdestruction and enrich the existing models of suicidal ideation and attachment. It was hypothesised that the dimensions of Insecure Attachment, Egocentricity and Social Incompetence would predict whether a respondent would be a suicidal ideator or not, while the dimension of Alienation was expected not to be found in the non-clinical sample. Methods: 132 students in the Netherlands participated in this cross-sectional study by filling in the Suicidal Ideation Attributes Scale and the Bells Object Relations and Reality Testing Inventory, of which the data was analysed by means of a Multiple Logistic Regression. Results: The full logistic model containing all predictors was statistically significant (𝜒 2 (15, N = 116) = 52.670, p = <.001). Sexual orientation and the dimension of Insecure Attachment were found to make unique significant contributions to the model. Conclusion: High scores on insecure attachment and a non-normative sexual orientation predicted whether someone was a suicidal ideator, indicating the relevance of these risk factors in detecting early warning signs in students and further research into applying these findings to psychotherapeutic practice.Show less
Being told by someone that you did a good or bad job can impact your self-esteem. More specifically, individuals can differ in the extent to which they preferentially process positively or...Show moreBeing told by someone that you did a good or bad job can impact your self-esteem. More specifically, individuals can differ in the extent to which they preferentially process positively or negatively valenced social feedback. The present study looked at how the variables of social self-perception and gender influence this social feedback processing. Through previous studies, we know that, on average, most people seek valenced feedback that is in line with their current sense of self to maintain their self- image. It was, therefore, expected that high social self-perceptions would be related to preferential processing of positive social feedback, and that low social self- perceptions would be related to negative social feedback processing. As well, an effect of gender was expected. Using the SELF-Speech paradigm task adapted from Koban et al. (2017), 80 adolescent and 175 adult participants had to give a speech which, they were told, was evaluated by judges. They had to rate their speech performance, were given the judges’ feedback, and were then asked to indicate how they felt about themselves. The higher an individual's learning rate, the more likely they were to update their self-image in response to social feedback. No significant results of gender or social self-perception on social feedback processing were found. Our findings contribute to the current literature on social feedback processing in that it appears that social self-perception does not play an influencing role in this. Furthermore, our findings give us a better understanding of how we function in a social context, as well as, how social feedback processing plays a role in the emergence and maintenance of disorders like SAD and MDD.Show less
Psychology is branching out into newer methods of ensuring the reliability and accuracy of data analysis. This thesis will focus on such a method, known as a multiverse analysis, which is used as a...Show morePsychology is branching out into newer methods of ensuring the reliability and accuracy of data analysis. This thesis will focus on such a method, known as a multiverse analysis, which is used as a robustness check by reviewing alternative pathways for statistical analysis. A multiverse analysis will be applied to Davoli and colleagues’ (2020) research on arithmetic learning and posture. The original study investigated if posture impacted an individual's reaction time and arithmetic accuracy. The re-analysis of the raw data showed that the authors accurately reported their statistical results, but they lacked in describing their reasoning behind reaction time exclusion methods, and the inclusion of different within- subjects variables for their mixed-model ANOVAs. Therefore, the multiverse analysis looked at seven different reaction time exclusion methods, including no exclusions, Tukey’s method, two and three standard deviations exclusion method, the absolute cutoffs exclusion method, the 5% trimmed exclusion method, and the median absolute deviation exclusion (MAD) method. The multiverse analysis continued by including three different within-subjects variables in the mixed model ANOVA. The three different within-subjects variables were the testing blocks, the individual equations, and the equations categories (easy, medium, and hard). Out of the twenty-one pathways, only five are significant. However, there were some important limitations with Tukey’s method and the MAD exclusion method that changed the interpretations of the results. In addition, there are some limitations with the second ANOVA analysis method, using individual equations that limit the interpretations of the results. Therefore, this multiverse analysis concluded that the results are not fully robust, and to further assess the robustness additional experimental work could be considered to confirm original findings.Show less
Abstract Social fears are highly prevalent, causing many functional limitations. Social fears in parents, transmitted via social learning, are one of the main risk factors contributing to the...Show moreAbstract Social fears are highly prevalent, causing many functional limitations. Social fears in parents, transmitted via social learning, are one of the main risk factors contributing to the development of social fears. This thesis is the first to investigate the effect of parental verbal expression of fear versus safety, in social situations, on child’s avoidance, in the developmental period where there is an increase in social fears, that is between 10-13 years of age. We additionally investigated whether parental social anxiety moderated the effect of parental verbal expression and child's avoidance. In the study, 76 children between 10 and 14 years old (M = 11.62) participated together with their parents. Both parents reported their social anxiety in online questionnaires. During a lab visit, only the primary caregivers provided their children with a fear and safety message about two strangers. The child was then confronted with the two strangers, during social tasks. The avoidant behavior was measured during the social performance task. Our findings revealed no significant difference in child’s avoidance towards the two strangers. In other words, when a parent verbally expressed fear about a stranger, the child did not show more avoidant behavior than when the parent verbally expressed safety. Also, the moderating role of parental social anxiety was not significant within this effect. We concluded that the parent's verbal information did not influence child’s avoidance, in the social situations constructed in this experiment. However, this thesis gave us insights in the intergenerational transmission of social fears and provided a baseline for future research investigating the influences of parental verbal expression of social fears on children's avoidance.Show less
