Disciplinary Repository for Psychological Science

PsychArchives is a disciplinary repository for psychological science and neighboring disciplines. Accommodating 20 different digital research object (DRO) types, including articles, preprints, research data, code, supplements, preregistrations, tests and multimedia objects, PsychArchives provides a digital space that integrates all research-related content relevant to psychology. PsychArchives is committed to the FAIR principles, facilitating the findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability of research and research data.

Please find all content regarding the COVID-19 Snapshot MOnitoring (COSMO) project in a special collection.

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  • Article Version of Record

    “Too posh to push?” Self-stigmatization in childbirth

    Hoffmann, Lisa & Berner, Elisa & Hilger, Norbert, PsychOpen GOLD

    Self-stigmatization after intervention-rich births (e.g., via C-section) is an anecdotally well-documented phenomenon. The aim of the present paper was to address this issue empirically. In doing so, we assessed 1,743 mothers who had required medical interventions to give birth and developed a psychometrically sound questionnaire—the Labor and Birth Self-Stigmatization Scale (LBS)—to measure birth-related self-stigmatization. We tested and confirmed the hypothesis that birth-related self-stigmatization was associated with a more negative birth experience, explaining incremental validity over, e.g., neuroticism and self-esteem. Results further revealed that the strongest, but not the only, predictor of self-stigmatization was having a C-section. Participants’ birth-related mindset moderated the negative correlation between self-stigmatization and birth experience, with a more natural mindset strengthening the negative association. The results of the present study illustrate the close association of birth and psychological factors and highlight the importance of studying and understanding self-stigmatization after childbirth.

  • Article Version of Record

    A new identity: Enhancing life skills and work-readiness for those with a sexual offending history

    Tarpey, Emma & Ogden, Rachel, PsychOpen GOLD

    The purpose of this research was to examine the experiences of individuals, with a sexual offending history, who have engaged with a community-based life skills and work-readiness programme. With a view to understand the impact of such programmes on their rehabilitation and to inform a growing body of research around the approaches needed for promoting rehabilitation within this group. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four participants about their experiences of accessing a community-based charity and three themes were identified using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis: “a place to belong without fear or judgement;” “creating an identity away from offending;” and “space and time to realise own potential.” These findings were discussed in relation to the Good Lives Model; previously identified protective factors for people with a history of sexual offending; and desistance research. The research offers a number of recommendations for practice which can be used by organisations to help them develop an inclusive and meaningful approach to supporting individuals with a history of sexual offending.

  • Article Version of Record

    How early onset of COVID-19 changed vaccine-related attitudes: A longitudinal study

    Maciuszek, Józef & Polak, Mateusz & Doliński, Dariusz & Stasiuk, Katarzyna, PsychOpen GOLD

    The paper investigates how the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the attitudes and beliefs of a previously anti-vaccine and vaccine-undecided population: how it changed their anti-vaccine beliefs and related arguments, perceptions of scientists’ credibility, as well as what their beliefs about COVID-19 are and what protective action they undertake against it. We used preexisting data from a 2018 study, where we identified groups of anti-vaccine and vaccine-undecided individuals (N = 365) whom we reached out to again in April/May 2020 (during the first months of the pandemic, when no COVID-19 vaccine was available). An online survey was used to measure changes in attitudes toward vaccination, reasons for vaccine rejection, attitudes toward scientists, and (at Measure 2) to measure attitudes toward COVID-19 and protective action against it. Results indicated a general pro-vaccine shift in attitudes, as well as reduced support for all anti-vaccine arguments. Surprisingly, we also found a negative shift in the sample’s perceptions of scientists’ agency and communion. Anti-vaccine individuals were also much less likely to employ any protective measures and had the lowest levels of fear associated with COVID-19. These results show that the initial stages of the COVID-19 outbreak caused a positive change in vaccine attitudes, especially in the vaccine-undecided group. At the same time, strongly anti-vaccine individuals were likely to reject protection against COVID.

  • Article Version of Record

    Profit motives, environmental motives, and perceived corporate greenwashing revisited: A replication and extension of de Vries et al. (2015)

    Høstaker, Markus & Løhre, Erik & Hoprekstad, Øystein Løvik, PsychOpen GOLD

    As the climate change crisis has become more evident, a growing number of businesses and organizations have gotten involved in sustainability efforts. But not all corporate sustainability efforts are applauded: sometimes the public accuses companies of greenwashing, i.e., overstating the extent to which the company is environmentally friendly. There is little research on the factors that influence perceived greenwashing amongst the public. Here, we report a replication and extension of one of the few studies of this topic, Experiment 2 in de Vries et al. (2015, https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.1327). The original study found that people perceived more greenwashing when an oil company communicated an environmental motive for a sustainability investment (carbon capture and storage), as opposed to a profit motive, d = 0.98 [0.37, 1.59]. The present pre-registered replication (n = 516) did not find support for this effect, with very little difference in perceived greenwashing depending on communicated motive, d = -0.09 [-0.38, 0.21]. As extensions, we included a condition where a mixed motive (both environment and profits) was communicated, tested the effect using a different type of company than the original, included a measure of general attitudes to the company in addition to perceived greenwashing, and included measures of individual differences in attitudes towards corporate social responsibility and belief in climate change. The most noteworthy exploratory finding was that attitudes were more positive when an environmental or a mixed motive was communicated rather than a profit motive.

  • Article Version of Record

    Tweeting about a revolution? A cross-national analysis of tweets on climate change during the rise of “Fridays for Future”

    Salvador Casara, Bruno Gabriel & Rizzoli, Valentina & Sarrica, Mauro, PsychOpen GOLD

    In 2018, thanks to the use of social media, the Fridays for Future (FFF) movement brought global attention to climate change. However, in the post-Covid era, the rhetoric of a return to normality seems to have marginalized those issues from the media debate. Looking at the emergence of FFF, the paper applies topic detection to analyze 19,112 tweets on climate change. The emerging contents of social representations are examined in relation to sociocultural (power distance; individualism; uncertainty avoidance; long-term orientation) and structural (level of pollution) factors associated with the country of origin of the tweets. The primary topic among those identified focuses on calls to action, particularly related to the FFF movement. When this topic is absent, others address efforts to mitigate global warming or strategies for adapting to climate change impacts. The main results indicate that tweets from the most polluted countries and from countries high in short-term orientation are more centered on topics concerning a posteriori response to climate change, also denying it as a defense mechanism. This could prevent imagining alternative futures and the projection of concrete means of countering climate change. The study suggests the importance of transcending the on-line and off-line distinction, not only for mobilization but also to form an arena for debate toward social change.

  • Article Version of Record

    Tolerating injustice when feeling in control: Personal control enhances the link between collectivism and coercion in the face of disease threats

    Li, Yang & Chang, Lei & Zhu, Nan, PsychOpen GOLD

    Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, authorities worldwide imposed coercive regulations aimed at curbing the virus’s spread, often at the expense of individuals who were considered potential threats to public health. We argue that individual differences in their support for such actions can be understood from the perspective of an evolved “behavioral immune system”. We conducted two studies within the context of the “zero-COVID” policy in Mainland China. Study 1 recruited 819 Shanghai residents during a strict citywide lockdown and found that individuals’ collectivistic orientation and personal control over their lives predicted their tolerance of injustices involved in disease-control measures. Moreover, the effect of psychological collectivism was enhanced by personal control. Study 2 (N = 403) partly replicated these findings using hypothetical scenarios related to various fictitious viruses. Notably, the effects found in Study 1 only manifested in scenarios involving ambivalent pathogens, which are seldom fatal but highly contagious. Building on the functional flexibility principle of the behavioral immune system theory, we discussed the unique role of ambivalent pathogen signals in generating within-society variability and fine-tuning behavioral immune responses.

  • Article Version of Record

    Examining whether risk factors influence student perceptions of campus sexual violence

    Dickinson, Dakota D. & Wesenberg, Madison & Haugen, Dana R. & Rubachuk, Katerina & Jung, Sandy, PsychOpen GOLD

    The present study examined university students’ perceptions of a campus sexual violence scenario, and specifically determined whether the presence of known risk factors for sexual perpetration would influence their views of an individual who caused harm. Two hundred and seventy-five student participants read a vignette that either included the present or absence of the following three risk factors: Frequent alcohol use, attitudes supportive of rape, and negative peer influence. The findings indicated that the risk factors did not have a significant relationship with students' risk perceptions, indicating that students’ perceptions of risk may not be influenced by the presence of known risk factors. The results suggest that students may use intuition or other non-scientific approaches when assessing instances of interpersonal violence, at least in campus settings. Implications for students, post-secondary institutional safety, and prevention of campus sexual violence are discussed.

  • Article Version of Record

    Assessing The Agonistic Continuum Scale as a measure of sexual sadism in a sample of community members and BDSM practitioners

    Healey, Jay & Davidson, Myles, PsychOpen GOLD

    Sexual sadism refers to a sexual preference for fantasies and behaviours involving the infliction of humiliation, degradation, and suffering onto others. The conceptualization of sexual sadism remains a contentious issue in the literature, with some believing sexual sadism is qualitatively distinct from other deviant sexual preferences, while others suggest it lies on a continuum of sexually aggressive behaviours. This second approach, known as the Agonistic Continuum, is a relatively novel conceptualization of sexual sadism. Its companion scale, The Agonistic Continuum Scale (TACS), was created to measure sexual sadism as a dimensional construct in both forensic and community samples. Despite several validation studies being conducted, the factor structure of the TACS has yet to be independently assessed. As such, the current study sought to assess the factorial validity and measurement invariance of the TACS in a community sample made up of primarily BDSM practitioners using a series of confirmatory factor analyses and latent profile analyses. 248 Canadian adults (65.3% females, 75.6% BDSM practitioners) completed a survey containing a demographic questionnaire and several measures of paraphilic interest including the TACS. Results of the factor analyses suggested a four-factor model provided the best fit to the data. However, incorporating sex as a multigroup analysis factor rendered this model a significantly worse fit. Further, latent profile analysis results supported the ability of the TACS to identify groups differing in sexual sadism severity but returned significantly different fit statistics across sex groups. Taken together, while the results of past studies were partially replicated, our findings call into question the appropriateness of the TACS in mixed-sex and non-community samples.

  • Article Version of Record

    Vulnerability to incest – Findings from a comparative single-case study of the onset of intrafamilial child sexual abuse

    Thomas, Jana & Iffland, Judith A., PsychOpen GOLD

    Previous research about intrafamilial child sexual abuse was not able to identify specific risk factors that distinguish this unique subgroup from other sexual offending subgroups. In comparison to other groups of sexual offenders, men convicted of intrafamilial sexual child abuse (ICSA) are found to exhibit more similarities to non-offending fathers than extrafamilial sexual offenders. Consequently, the risk assessment of sexual recidivism among “incest offenders” lacks evidence-based evaluation criteria. Given the suggestion that family system factors should be included in research on the onset of ICSA, we employed the Vulnerability to Incest Model proposed by Trepper and Barrett (1989, https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203776605) in a qualitative single-case analysis. A comparative analysis of ten court evaluations of ICSA offenders revealed that all families in which ICSA has occurred demonstrated at least two vulnerability factors. The analyzed offenders exhibited comparable patterns of masculine sexual entitlement. The utility of this recently developed construct for sexual violence research is discussed and implications for further research proposed.

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