I checked 15 psychology journals on Friday, October 24, 2025 using the Crossref API. For the period October 17 to October 23, I found 21 new paper(s) in 9 journal(s).

Behavior Research Methods

LexKO: A quick, reliable lexical test of Korean language proficiency
Charles B. Chang, Sunyoung Ahn, Youngjoo Kim
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To facilitate objective measures of proficiency for language users of diverse backgrounds, recent research in second language acquisition and multilingualism has developed short, yet reliable, tests of lexical knowledge in a wide range of languages. In this paper, we describe the development of LexKO, a brief lexically based test of Korean language proficiency, including its underlying logic, composition, intended use, and limitations. Three rounds of pilot and validation testing with first- and second-language Korean users resulted in a highly reliable Korean test comprising 60 items that can be completed in a few minutes. Freely available for other researchers to use, LexKO produces scores that correlate significantly with both first- and second-language Korean users’ scores on a standardized proficiency test (an abridged version of the Test of Proficiency in Korean) and may thus be helpful in multi-part studies for obtaining a quick, valid measure of proficiency in Korean, one of the world’s fastest-growing foreign languages.
Comparing Bayesian estimation and structural-after-measurement approaches for structural equation models with latent interactions and complex data structures
Kyle Cox, Benjamin Kelcey
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Bayesian and structural-after-measurement (SAM) approaches have been developed, in part, to address limitations of conventional estimators in the context of structural equation models (SEMs) with latent interactions. Although both approaches have shown promise in a variety of contexts including small-sample studies, there is very little literature systematically comparing the relative benefits, limitations, and trade-offs among these approaches. In this study, we (a) compared the performance of estimators under each approach in multilevel SEMs with a within-, between-, or cross-level latent interaction and (b) demonstrated the flexibility of SAM approaches by extending and investigating them in partially nested SEMs with latent moderated mediation. The results suggest substantial differences between estimator performance as a function of the type of latent interaction. SAM approaches performed well with a variety of latent interactions in multilevel and partially nested SEMs, while Bayesian approaches, including those with informative priors, struggled with models that included a cross-level latent interaction and were not easily extended to partially nested SEMs. Overall, the results suggest that SAM approaches are a versatile and highly adaptable alternative or complement to conventional full-information estimators. To conclude, we outline estimator considerations based on the SEM type, latent interaction, and data structure.
Validation of a force transducer-embedded platform as an alternative to handles in weight perception research
J. W. C. Harris, M. J. Murphy, P. A. Chouinard
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The recording and interpretation of lifting force data — such as load and grip forces — are central to studying weight perception. Typically, such data are collected using force transducer-embedded handles placed on top of objects. While effective, these handles may be impractical or undesirable for certain experimental paradigms. A potential alternative is a force transducer-embedded platform, but validation is needed to determine whether it captures force data with the same consistency and interpretability as the handle-based method, particularly given the potential for data loss around lift-off. In two experiments, we compared these methods by having participants lift light and heavy objects off a platform either directly or via handles to assess the convergent validity of experimental outcomes and the concurrent validity of the recorded data. Our findings indicate that the experimental outcomes and data from both methods were highly comparable, but only for the heavy objects. However, for the light object, platform-recorded force data showed lower agreement with handle-based measures, and several anticipated sensorimotor effects were not observed in the platform data. These discrepancies resulted in differences in experimental outcomes, particularly in the detection of switch effects, highlighting the platform’s limitations for capturing lighter-weight interactions. Therefore, we suggest that while handles remain preferable for capturing rich force data, the platform method broadens methodological options and presents a viable and valid alternative.
Interpretability of automated machine learning methods in psychological research: A tutorial with AutoGluon in Python
Haojie Fu, Xudong Zhao
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Spot the spy: An online game for exploring question-asking in the wild
Gal Sasson-Lazovsky, Vered Pnueli, Yoed N. Kenett
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Question-asking is a crucial aspect of human interaction. Questions fuel engagement, stimulate thought processes, foster learning, and facilitate information-seeking behavior. Yet, scarce empirical research exists on question-asking, or its relation to related cognitive capacities such as creativity, curiosity, and intelligence. The use of digital games as a research medium offers significant advantages for studying cognitive processes in natural settings. As such, this study empirically investigates how people ask questions in an online serious game. To do so, we developed an online game—Spot the Spy—where players are required to find a hidden spy amidst a crowded room, by asking a chatbot agent questions that guide them in their investigation. Our game thus offers to investigate question-asking in natural settings empirically, and optimal question-asking strategies, which we conducted in two studies. Study 1 (online, N = 103) focused on game development and exploratory validation, whereas Study 2 (in-lab, N = 100) focused on replication and extension. In both studies, participants completed a series of cognitive tasks assessing creativity, curiosity, and intelligence before playing the game. Our results highlight strategies related to optimal performance in the game, as well as how players’ gameplay correlates with their cognitive abilities, especially with intelligence. Specifically, we found that higher intelligence scores were associated with more effective questioning strategies and better game performance. These insights highlight the potential of gamified environments to enhance our understanding of cognitive processes and advance the development of educational and training tools that foster strategic thinking and question-asking capacities.
A mathematical formalization of the replaced elements model
Natham Aguirre
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Computers in Human Behavior

Game over: Unraveling the prevalence and associations between bruxism, TMD and psychosocial factors in the Esports arena
Flávia Paula Da Silva Cardoso, Golnaz Barjandi, Dyanne Medina Flores, Rodrigo Lorenzi Poluha, Nikolaos Christidis, Giancarlo De la Torre Canales
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Creative Personal Identity in the Age of Generative AI: A Social-Cognitive Pathway of AI Literacy, Self-Efficacy, and Mindset
Hanhui Li, Yurui Zhang, Mingwen Chen, Tao Zhao, Min Jou
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AI Tutors vs. Tenacious Myths: Evidence from Personalised Dialogue Interventions in Education
Brooklyn J. Corbett, Jason M. Tangen
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Biofeedback training can enhance esports players’ shooting performance in an aiming task: focusing on cortical activity and gaze movement
Inhyeok Jeong, Naotsugu Kaneko, Donghyun Kim, Ryogo Takahashi, Seitaro Iwama, Mayu Dohata, Junichi Ushiba, Kimitaka Nakazawa
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Group Processes & Intergroup Relations

Find the cause: Critical historical education affects racism attributions and policy support
Diana E. Betz
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Does education about historical racism land differently when accompanied by evidence of modern racial disparities? In Study 1, students from a United States (U.S.) university and an online survey platform were randomly assigned to hear a podcast about historical racist practices in higher education (e.g., states’ efforts to avoid integrating universities), modern racial disparities (e.g., Black student representation at flagship public universities), or both combined. Asked to evaluate attributions for current educational racial inequalities, participants in the combined and history conditions agreed more with structural and interpersonal racism attributions compared to participants in the modern disparities condition. Racism attributions—especially structural—mediated increases in reparative policy support. Study 2 also recruited nonstudents and added a control podcast. It replicated the effects of history versus modern information, and showed that history and (to a lesser extent) modern information each yielded more reparative policy support than the control condition. These findings support critical history’s utility in education.
Intergroup bias regulation strategies in non-Black Americans
Jennifer F. Beatty-Wright, Monika Lohani, Patrick L. Hill
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Intergroup biases perpetuate social inequality. Bias regulation can be a useful process to set, strive toward, and evaluate progress in relation to bias regulation goals. While previous work on bias regulation has demonstrated that individuals can regulate their biases in intergroup contexts, research has yet to explore the specific strategies that individuals use to do so. To capture a range of bias regulation strategies, we introduce an adapted and expanded measure of emotion regulation to the context of bias regulation, referred to as the Intergroup Bias Regulation Questionnaire (IBRQ). Across two studies, we validate this new measure of bias regulation and aim to understand some of the relevant correlates of bias regulation strategies, such as personality, identity, and other intergroup processes. This new measurement tool offers critical insight into how people report regulating intergroup bias. Importantly, this process can be consequential since some approaches can be more harmful than others. Understanding how individuals approach bias regulation can inform future bias regulation intervention recommendations.

Multivariate Behavioral Research

A Two-Step Estimator for Growth Mixture Models with Covariates in the Presence of Direct Effects
Yuqi Liu, Zsuzsa Bakk, Ethan M. McCormick, Mark de Rooij
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Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

Do People Listen to Cassandra? Persuasion and Accuracy in Geopolitical Forecasts
Yhonatan S. Shemesh, Avi Gamoran, David Leiser, Michael Gilead
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In a world marked by persistent uncertainty, accurately predicting the future is vital. While certain people (“superforecasters”) and practices (aggregation) can produce more accurate forecasts, the utility of these forecasts depends on whether they are persuasive enough to be heeded. This study investigates the relationship between persuasion and accuracy in geopolitical forecasts. In a forecasting competition, 153 forecasters predicted future global events and explained their rationales. Next, 474 evaluators rated these rationales for persuasiveness. Using a neural network–based language model, we found that although forecasting rationales contained valid cues for accuracy, evaluators were no more persuaded by accurate forecasts. Further analyses using large language models revealed that psychological attributes indicating expertise, trustworthiness, and emotional composure were associated with both persuasion and accuracy, while eloquence and confidence, though persuasive, were unrelated to accuracy. We conclude that people are sensitive to valid cues, but are misled by invalid ones, impairing overall calibration.
Gratitude and Self-Benefiting Obedience: Gratitude Eliciting Dishonest Behavior Out of Obedience
Eddie M. W. Tong, Gabriel R. Lau, Delia X. Q. Poh, Darren J. H. Chan, Crystal L. Lim, Matilda W. Y. Low, Bridget S. A. Tan
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There is robust evidence that gratitude encourages virtuous conduct. However, this research reveals that gratitude may also increase the likelihood of cheating for personal gain through a heightened tendency toward obedience. Across two studies, participants engaged in a performance-based task offering a monetary reward. Those induced to feel grateful toward the experimenter were more likely to obey a command to disregard their actual score and report an inflated score to secure the reward. The effect was not observed when the benefit arose from a positive chance event (Study 1) and appeared to be driven by the need to maintain social harmony (Study 2). The findings demonstrate that grateful individuals could be more susceptible to social influence—even to the extent of obeying morally dubious directives. These results call for a reevaluation of the link between gratitude and moral decision-making.
Passing and Panic: Investigating the Role of Passing and Perceived Deception in the Trans-Panic Defense
Angel D. Armenta, Demitri Aguilar, Kevin McAweeney, Shelby Nincehelser, Jessica R. Bray
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The trans-panic legal defense justifies violence against transgender individuals due to defendants’ alleged panic upon learning someone’s transgender identity. Perceived deception and one’s ability to present as the gender with which they identify are drivers of intergroup hostility between transgender and cisgender individuals. Based on expectancy violations theory, we conducted two experiments (Experiment 1, N = 808; Experiment 2, N = 1,006) that examined defendant- and victim-oriented consequences of passing status and the trans-panic defense. We found partial support for our predictions: poorer victim-oriented outcomes (e.g., victim blame) and more positive defendant-oriented outcomes (e.g., fewer guilty verdicts, more lenient sentencing) occurred for passing versus non-passing transgender (Experiments 1-2) and cisgender victims (Experiment 2) through increases in perceived deception and moral outrage (Experiment 2). Our findings underscore implications for how transphobia proliferates.

Psychological Methods

The many reliabilities of psychological dynamics: An overview of statistical approaches to estimate the internal consistency reliability of intensive longitudinal data.
Sebastian Castro-Alvarez, Laura F. Bringmann, Jason Back, Siwei Liu
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Psychological Science

Invariant Recognition Memory Spaces for Real-World Objects Revealed With Signal-Detection Analysis
Igor Utochkin, Daniil Azarov, Daniil Grigorev
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Recognition memory refers to the process of distinguishing between previously experienced and novel events. Apart from the objective quality of stored memories, recognition depends on the retrieval context produced by all items (foils) presented together with actually memorized targets and causing confusion. Memory models often conceptualize target-foil confusability via distances in psychological spaces where greater confusability originates from shorter interitem distances. We tested whether recognition spaces change when other foils are added to the retrieval context or when target memory strength is changed ( N = 1,311 adults). Using signal-detection modeling, we found that separately measured distances, d ′s, from each foil to the target provide a good linear prediction of those distances for all foils being presented together against that target. Those predictions stay accurate even when the absolute distances are scaled up or down because of a change in memory strength. This suggests strong metric invariance of spaces used for recognition decisions under variable retrieval contexts.

Psychology of Music

Examining the relationships between musical sophistication, musical engagement, and empathy in samples of Italian and Spanish preadolescents
Mariangela Lippolis, Benedetta Matarrelli, Giulio Carraturo, Peter Vuust, Elvira Brattico
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Music and empathy are intrinsically linked, both fostering communication. Research has shown that music serves as a nonverbal medium for mutual understanding and synchronization and that musical training and music-induced emotions correlate with empathy skills. In this study, we explored if musical sophistication and musical engagement can be predictors of the four Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) empathy subcomponents (i.e., Personal Distress, Perspective Taking, Empathic Concern, and Fantasy Scale), also in relation to gender and the musical cultural environment. We compared two samples of Italian (from Bari, Apulia; N = 260) and Spanish (from Valencian Community; N = 94) preadolescents (aged 10–14) of Italian music middle schools or Spanish extracurricular music schools of marching bands. Results showed positive, significant relationships of musical sophistication with all empathy subscales except for Personal Distress in both samples. For musical engagement, the two countries again reported similar results with some nuanced differences possibly due to the features of the two different types of training. In addition, in both samples, females displayed higher scores than males in all empathy domains. These findings suggest the importance of promoting music in preadolescence and the strong link between music and empathy traits regardless of context.

Psychology of Popular Media

The “ideal” body according to artificial intelligence: Body image implications for athletes and nonathletes.
Delaney E. Thibodeau, Sasha M. Gollish, Jessica E. Boyes, Edina Bijvoet, Catherine M. Sabiston
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The “ideal versus real” social media posts increase female adults’ body appreciation.
Zhiying Liu, Ewa Miedzobrodzka, Jolanda Veldhuis
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