Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
closed access
Humans regularly face collective problems calling for cooperation. To solve such problems, people can establish public goods that require contributions from individual members and benefit the whole...Show moreHumans regularly face collective problems calling for cooperation. To solve such problems, people can establish public goods that require contributions from individual members and benefit the whole group, e.g. public health care and infrastructure. It has been suggested that in modern society people have become less dependent on the creation of public goods and more able to solve problems individually (Santos, Varnum, & Grossmann, 2017). Nevertheless, solving shared problems individually is tied to resources that are often unequally distributed between people. Inequality (Zelmer, 2003) and individualism (Gross & De Dreu, 2019) can complicate cooperation, however, their interplay is largely unknown. We confronted 50 groups (N = 200) with a public goods game with the additional option to solve a shared problem individually through a private solution. Across groups, group members had either an equal or an unequal resource distribution. The private solution allowed wealthier group members to leave the group and avoid contributing to the public good. This resulted in increased inequality. Specifically, the easier it was to opt for a private solution, the higher the inequality was. We further investigated voting preferences and fairness perceptions by having sixty-one impartial raters complete the task from a third-party perspective. The third-party players preferred a more equitable solution that would result in lower inequality. While group members dependent on the public solution voted for delegating allocation decisions to the third party, the wealthier, and thus, more independent members voted against it revealing self-serving motives. Our findings highlight unique problems emerging with self-reliance in the face of global issues, such as a pandemic and global warming, that require cooperation. Especially, when self-reliance is only affordable for some, collective action can fail and further increase wealth gaps.Show less
Background. Sensory processing problems and impaired social skills are often seen in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Moreover, understanding the gender gap in ASD prevalence and...Show moreBackground. Sensory processing problems and impaired social skills are often seen in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Moreover, understanding the gender gap in ASD prevalence and symptomatology is still not achieved. Studies are inconsistent in findings regarding gender specific ASD symptomatology and possible underlying mechanisms of gender differences. This study investigated the relationship between sensory processing and impaired social skills, and whether a mean difference exists in sensory processing symptoms between ASD boys and girls with similar social skills. Method. In this cross-sectional study 169 children (aged 7-12) participated, of which 96 typically developing (TD) and 58 ASD children. All were tested on social skills, measured through the Social Responsiveness Scale and on sensory processing problems, which was mapped out by measures of tapping accuracy, using the DrumPad 2.0 as a rhythmic measurement device. The relationship between sensory processing and social skills was investigated with the use of a Spearman’s Rho test. Mean differences in sensory processing between ASD boys and girls with similar social skills were investigated with the use of a 2x2 ANCOVA. Results. After performing Spearman's Rho test, a significant positive relationship was found in the overall sample between social skills and tapping accuracy. The 2x2 ANCOVA did not prove a significant effect of gender on mean tapping accuracy, but a significant main effect of social skills on the mean tapping accuracy was found. No significant interaction effect of gender and social skills was found. Discussion. Results indicated that social skills and tapping accuracy are associated, and that – after correction for age – social skills have an effect on tapping accuracy, irrespective of gender. To our knowledge, this is the first time that sensory processing was measured through a rhythmic device. This study contributes to the existing literature regarding gender-specific symptomology in ASD.Show less
In times of rapid change, like what the world is currently going through, certain organizational circumstances might facilitate adapting to novel situations, especially in complex organizations...Show moreIn times of rapid change, like what the world is currently going through, certain organizational circumstances might facilitate adapting to novel situations, especially in complex organizations like health care. Health care workers having an innovative mindset might be one of these circumstances. Further, this mindset and health care workers’ innovative work behaviours (IWB) might be facilitated by the existence of psychological safety within their work teams. However, to understand the relationship between psychological safety and IWB and to be able to induce it, it is crucial to understand what dynamics underlie this relationship. In this study, the relationship between psychological safety and IWB, and whether this relationship was mediated by tacit and/or explicit knowledge sharing, were investigated. The sample consisted of 182 health care workers (120 females, 62 males, Mage = 36.25) and they were recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform. Participants filled out an online questionnaire consisting of 36 questions about psychological safety, tacit and explicit knowledge sharing, and IWB within their work teams. Results indicated that while explicit knowledge sharing had an indirect effect on the relationship between psychological safety and innovative work behaviours, indicating mediation, tacit knowledge sharing did not have a significant indirect effect. The cognitive effort involved in sharing knowledge is discussed as a potential reason why a mediating effect was not observed for tacit knowledge sharing. Recommendations for further research and the limitations of the current study are discussed.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
closed access
As the negative consequences of debts are substantial, it is important that indebted people seek and accept help. However, people in debt are often reluctant to contact the creditor and identify...Show moreAs the negative consequences of debts are substantial, it is important that indebted people seek and accept help. However, people in debt are often reluctant to contact the creditor and identify shame as a barrier. Moreover, they experience a lack of acknowledgement when communicating with creditors. Given the human need for acknowledgement and the suggestion that acknowledgement can reduce shame, the current study examined the effect of acknowledgement on indebted people’s willingness to contact the creditor and explored the role of financial shame. To this end, 206 native English-speaking people with current or past debts completed an online experiment in which they read either a standard creditor letter or a creditor letter in which the creditor acknowledged the situation of the person in debt. Willingness to contact the creditor and financial shame did not differ between participants who read a creditor letter in which their situations were acknowledged and those whose read a standard creditor letter. However, higher financial shame was associated with lower willingness to contact. We conclude that acknowledging indebted people’s situations is not enough to increase their willingness to contact the creditor. Future research could test other ways to address and reduce the financial shame.Show less
Objective: In addition to the well-known motor symptoms, Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients also frequently experience disabling non-motor symptoms, such as impulse control disorders (ICDs). The...Show moreObjective: In addition to the well-known motor symptoms, Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients also frequently experience disabling non-motor symptoms, such as impulse control disorders (ICDs). The present study aimed to assess the predictive value of depression and anxiety, and the interaction of these factors with dopaminergic replacement therapy (DRT), for ICD development in de novo PD patients. Methods: Using the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative database, a total of 334 de novo PD patients with a negative ICD screen at baseline (assessed with the Questionnaire for Impulsive‐ Compulsive Disorders short form QUIP-S) were included in the present study. Baseline depression and anxiety were measured by the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) and the State-Trait-Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Y), respectively. The outcome measures were ICD presence (a positive QUIP-S score) at follow-up visits, and ICD onset duration (time in months from baseline until ICD development). Binominal logistic regression and multiple regression analyses were performed to assess predictors for ICD presence and duration until ICD onset, respectively. Results: In total, 149 participants (44.6%) developed an ICD and the time of ICD onset was on average 34.54 months (SD=24.74) after baseline. Baseline STAI-Y scores were a significant predictor of ICD presence at follow-up visits, and higher scores were associated with an increased likelihood of developing an ICD (OR=1.02, 95% CI 1.00,1.05, p=.036). The first DRT type also significantly predicted ICD incidence, and dopamine agonists were associated with 2.34 higher odds (95% CI 1.45,3.86, p=.001) of developing an ICD, compared to levodopa or other medication types. Both effects were not confounded by age, gender or UPDRS motor score. GDS-15 scores and the interaction terms GDS-15 x DRT type and STAI-Y x DRT type did not significantly predict ICD presence (all ps>.299). None of the investigated factors significantly predicted ICD onset duration (all ps>.091). Implications: The finding that increased anxiety levels in de novo PD patients represent an ICD risk factor highlights the need for early and routine based anxiety screening in these patients. Additionally, clinicians should carefully consider the first choice of DRT, given that patients who received dopamine agonists as their first medication type encountered an increased ICD risk.Show less
To help finding solutions to the growing prevalence of overweight and obesity, this field study examined the human tendency to approach food and its relation to BMI. Using a newly developed...Show moreTo help finding solutions to the growing prevalence of overweight and obesity, this field study examined the human tendency to approach food and its relation to BMI. Using a newly developed behavioral measurement method, food approach tendencies of 89 participants were assessed in states of hunger and satiation. Just as earlier lab studies, our results showed that people had approach tendencies to food. As expected, we also showed that participants with a high BMI had stronger food approach tendencies than participants with a low BMI. However, this study failed to confirm the expectation that the increased tendencies for people with a high BMI were more pronounced in states of satiation than in states of hunger. This failure could be attributed to (a) the fact that participants’ BMI did not vary enough, (b) the general disadvantages of our chosen statistical analysis, (c) contextual factors that we could not control for, or (d) the non-optimal exploitation of hunger state effects. Suggestions for future research are given.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
Throughout the last 50 years the Spanish countryside has emptied due to the rural migration from villages to main industrial cities such as Madrid, Bilbao or Barcelona. Now, after decades of...Show moreThroughout the last 50 years the Spanish countryside has emptied due to the rural migration from villages to main industrial cities such as Madrid, Bilbao or Barcelona. Now, after decades of demographic decline, depopulation has become central in public and academic debate about rural development. This growing concern of emptying villages has raised questions about the precarious life and the sense of threat to people who live in these spaces and who are exposed to a loss of services and stable livelihood. This research is an ethnographic analysis of locals’ perspective living in the depopulated village of Yanguas, in Tierras Altas in the province of Soria, the most depopulated area in Spain. Departing from the concept of precarity within global capitalism I will focus on how people of Yanguas sustain a livelihood and how they perceive the village’s livability, while addressing the future perspective of development based on infrastructure creation. The findings in this research suggest that the struggles some people experienced while living in a depopulated village were not derived strictly from the fact that they live in a small community. On the contrary, the experience of depopulation, rather than being the source of precarity, was very often a symptom of other large-scale issues and social changes such as industrialization, delocalization, and patterns of social mobility and migration. This thesis combines audiovisual and text, and the outcome is this article and a film.Show less
