I checked 15 psychology journals on Sunday, March 29, 2026 using the Crossref API. For the period March 22 to March 28, I found 36 new paper(s) in 12 journal(s).

Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science

Chatbots Are Undermining Crowdsourced Research in the Behavioral Sciences: Detecting Artificial Intelligence–Assisted Cheating With a Keystroke-Based Tool
Michael W. Asher, Gillian Gold, Eason Chen, Paulo F. Carvalho
Full text
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) poses a significant threat to data integrity on crowdsourcing platforms, such as Prolific, which behavioral scientists widely rely on for data collection. Large language models (LLMs) allow users to generate fluent and relevant responses to open-ended questions, which can mask inattention and compromise experimental validity. To empirically estimate the prevalence of this behavior, we analyzed keystroke data from three studies ( N = 928) on Prolific between May and July 2025. Using an embedded JavaScript tool, we flagged participants who pasted text or whose keystroke count was anomalously low compared with their response length. For each flagged participant, we manually compared detected keystrokes with their final response to determine if the text could have been typed. This confirmed that despite deterrence measures, approximately 9% of participants submitted responses consistent with AI assistance or other forms of outsourced responding. These participants outperformed noncheaters (by up to 1.5 SD ), were more than twice as likely to share geolocations with other participants (suggesting possible proxy use), and exhibited lower internal consistency on questionnaire scales. Simulated power analyses indicate that this level of undetected cheating can diminish observed effect sizes by 10% and inflate required sample sizes by up to 30%. These findings highlight the urgent need for new detection methods, such as keystroke logging, which offers verifiable evidence of cheating that is difficult to obtain from manual review of LLM-generated text alone. As AI continues to evolve, maintaining data quality in crowdsourced research will require active monitoring, methodological adaptation, and communication between researchers and platforms.

Behavior Research Methods

Measuring naturalistic speech comprehension in real time
Irmak Ergin, Jill Kries, Shiven Gupta, Maria Papworth Burrel, Laura Gwilliams
Full text
Speech comprehension has been described as an effortless and robust process; yet, in real-world contexts, it is common for a listener to misunderstand what was said or fail to derive meaning entirely. Typically, methods of measuring speech comprehension are applied ‘post hoc’ - that is, after the comprehension has happened. This approach fails to capture comprehension as it occurs, limiting the field’s understanding of the cognitive processes involved in real-time comprehension. To overcome these challenges, we designed and tested a novel method of measuring real-time speech comprehension during naturalistic listening. We built a slider device that synchronizes with experimental software and provides millisecond read-out. In three experiments, participants listened to audiobook segments while providing continuous comprehension ratings using the slider. To vary comprehension success, we presented speech segments at speed factors of 1–5 times faster than normal. We validated the time-resolved slider data against established speech comprehension assessment methods. Overall, our findings validate our novel time-resolved comprehension measure and demonstrate that it is possible to derive an online behavioral measure of real-time speech comprehension. We also confirmed numerous limitations of static post hoc assessments, including challenges with multiple-choice question design and the confounding of potential effects due to recency bias and comprehension for summarization. The measure proposed here overcomes the constraints of static post hoc assessments and can be effectively integrated with neuroimaging techniques, offering a valuable tool for future research on dynamic processes during naturalistic listening.
Network psychometrics in practice: A practical framework for designing empirical studies that utilize a psychological network approach
Monique Chambon, Jonas Dalege, Janneke E. Elberse, Frenk van Harreveld
Full text
A psychological network approach enables the study of psychological phenomena as networks of interacting elements by utilizing network psychometrics. This approach is gaining increasing popularity in different domains of empirical psychological research such as clinical and social psychology. Simultaneously, a scientific debate has emerged on the added value and application of employing such an approach. The current paper contributes to this debate by providing an applied perspective on designing empirical studies that employ a psychological network approach and does so based on best practices in previous empirical psychological research. With a practical framework, we aim to support researchers who want to employ a psychological network approach to mitigate potential criticism in the design phase of their study. The framework can be summarized in three iterative steps. This paper describes each step in detail, including illustrative examples and practical considerations. First, researchers are advised to evaluate their argumentation for adopting a psychological network approach and whether this is the best approach for their research aim. This approach is suitable for aims ranging from descriptive accounts of complex survey data to testing hypotheses about the network’s structure. Second, researchers should carefully evaluate which variables the psychological network should contain. Such decisions should be informed by previous research (e.g., theoretical frameworks). Third, researchers should consider which research design and type of data are optimal to answer their research questions, as different designs provide different insights. Adopting a psychological network approach in accordance with the framework presented in this paper can further advance empirical psychological research.

Computers in Human Behavior

Generic title: Not a research article
Corrigendum to “The influence of cyber descriptive norms on immoral online behavior: The moderating role of moral conviction” [Computers in Human Behavior, 181 (2026) 108991]
Jin Wang, Chang Liu, Tumaresi Paerhati, Zhuo Wang, Xilei Zhang, Yu Ku
Full text
Time to (Re)visualise Victims? Introducing Shadow Victims of Digital Misinformation
Souvik Mukherjee, Lennon Yao-Chung Chang
Full text
Development of digital empathy: Non-linear relationships between daily digital communication time and digital empathic tendencies
Andrew M. Collins, Wayne A. Warburton, Naomi Sweller, Kay Bussey
Full text
From AI Psychosis to Brain Rot: How pseudo-diagnoses endanger genuine psychological and medical discovery in challenging times
Christian Montag, Daniel L. King, Benjamin Becker, Joël Billieux
Full text
Physiological synchrony in elite esports matches driven by competitive motivation
Ken Watanabe, Sorato Minami, Naoki Saijo, Makio Kashino
Full text

Group Processes & Intergroup Relations

Social pain minimization mediates weight discrimination’s effects on interpersonal well-being in the workplace
Brielle N. Johnson, Gargi Sawhney, Jonathan W. Kunstman
Full text
Workplace weight discrimination is pervasive and negatively impacts employees and organizations. Yet, little is known about the psychological processes linking weight discrimination and work outcomes. The current research addresses this gap in the research literature by testing emotion invalidation as a mediator of weight stigma’s negative effects on employees. Dehumanizing aspects of weight stigma include the denial of complex emotions, higher-order mental faculties, and professional potential, which were theorized to leave heavy employees feeling invalidated, an experience termed social pain minimization (SPM). Three studies ( N total = 1,097) with cross-sectional, experimental, and multi-wave designs provide convergent support that workplace weight discrimination triggered actual and expected SPM, which in turn negatively impacted perceived organizational support (POS), workplace belonging, and workplace ostracism. These results offer insights into psychosocial processes linking workplace weight discrimination and key indicators of worker well-being. In conjunction with efforts to eliminate workplace weight stigma, organizations need to foster a supportive and emotionally validating climate.
The importance of antiprejudice in protesting and collective action for disadvantaged groups’ rights
Danielle R. Krusemark, Jennifer LaCosse, E. Ashby Plant
Full text
In the past decade, collective action advocating for a disadvantaged group’s rights has increased exponentially. However, only a fraction of supporters of a disadvantaged group’s rights takes collective action. What drives some to take collective action for a disadvantaged group’s rights while others do not? We argue that antiprejudice, the belief that one should proactively fight discrimination and injustice faced by a group, is a critical component of promoting collective action for that group and differentiating between those who are engaged and those who are not. Across field and online studies, we examined antiprejudice’s role in driving protesting and intentions to take collective action for a disadvantaged group’s rights among causes associated with liberals (e.g., racial equality) and conservatives (e.g., pro-life rights). Antiprejudice repeatedly emerged as a key construct for differentiating between protestors and non-protestors and for predicting collective action intentions.
Presidential candidate endorsements by scientific journals decrease trust in science especially for moderate and conservative Americans
Stylianos Syropoulos, Kyle Fiore Law, Crystal Li, Bernhard Leidner, Kevin L. Young
Full text
Before the 2020 and 2024 US Presidential elections, several scientific journals publicly endorsed the Democratic candidates or opposed the Republican candidate. We conducted three highly-powered, pre-registered online experiments ( N = 6,281) to examine how these endorsements affected trust in science. Results revealed significant declines in trust in science, driven primarily by moderate and conservative Americans. Drawing upon on the theoretical perspective that trust in science is not monolithic, but rather composed of distinct dimensions, we examined and observed effects across a range of trust-related domains, including perceptions of scientific integrity (impartiality), competence (ability), benevolence, and generalized trust in scientific institutions. These findings highlight how motivated reasoning can amplify existing skepticism when individuals who already perceive science as aligned with opposing political ideologies read political endorsements from within the scientific community. Amidst increasing science-skepticism and politicization, journals must consider the unintended consequences of political messaging on public perceptions of science.

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

Generic title: Not a research article
Corrigendum to “A trust inoculation to protect public support of governmentally mandated actions to mitigate climate change” [Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 115 (2024) 104656]
Tobia Spampatti, Tobias Brosch, Evelina Trutnevyte, Ulf J.J. Hahnel
Full text
Gossip or confrontation? Sanctioning environmental norm violations and the reputation of punishers
Xiyan Song, Catherine Molho, Paul A.M. Van Lange
Full text
Not all stimuli are conditioned equal – Larger evaluative conditioning effects for fluent stimuli
Claudine Pulm, Anne Gast
Full text
When rightness is wrong: Chronic prevention orientation predicts cardiovascular threat responses under regulatory fit
Deborah E. Ward, Mark D. Seery, Thomas L. Saltsman, Cheryl L. Kondrak
Full text
Does ignorance love company? The social dynamics of information avoidance
Katharina Reher, Martin Götz, Filippo Toscano, Jörg Gross
Full text
Using intersectional implicit association measures does not consistently improve the predictive validity of the implicit association test
Jeffrey To, Jordan Axt
Full text
When society feels broken: How perceptions of anomie shape donation tendencies across cultures
Fei Gao, Lan Xia
Full text

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Cultural differences in the Personality Triad: The interplay of personality traits, situation characteristics, and behavioral states around the world.
Niclas Kuper, character(0), Gwendolyn Gardiner, Erica Baranski, David C. Funder, John F. Rauthmann
Full text
Individual differences in risk preference: Selection and socialization effects.
Yunrui Liu, David Richter, Rui Mata
Full text

Multivariate Behavioral Research

Multi-Group Multidimensional Classification Accuracy Analysis (MMCAA): A General Framework for Evaluating the Practical Impact of Partial Invariance
Meltem Ozcan, Mark H. C. Lai
Full text
Multivariate Location-Scale Models for Meta-Analysis
Katrin Jansen, Steffen Nestler
Full text

Organizational Research Methods

Applying Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing Methods to Support Taxonomy Development and Maintenance
Nathaniel M. Voss, Jiayi Liu, Saron Demeke, Martin C. Yu, Harrison J. Kell, Brian Prost, Dan J. Putka
Full text
Taxonomies provide a systematic way to organize phenomena and have various practical and theoretical benefits for organizational researchers and practitioners. While taxonomy development and maintenance is often a burdensome process (e.g., time-consuming, costly, and prone to judgmental error), advances in natural language processing (NLP) have the potential to streamline this process. In this study, we employed various evaluation metrics (e.g., cosine similarity) to investigate how machine learning (ML) methods and large language models (LLMs) can automate taxonomy development and maintenance. We examined two embedding models, six clustering algorithms, and three generative LLMs (for creating cluster labels) to construct taxonomies and compared their alignment with four established taxonomies (CABIN, IPIP-NEO-120, ATAF, and O*NET). The confirmatory taxonomic method we examined resulted in effective clustering (i.e., similar text statements were consistently grouped), frequently yielded structures similar to the original taxonomies for ATAF, IPIP-NEO-120, and CABIN (with O*NET being more variable), and resulted in extremely efficient taxonomy title generation. These findings can provide researchers with a foundation for how to approach NLP-based taxonomy development and maintenance activities for their own contexts.

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

Around But Not Close? Mapping Normative Trends in Cross-Race Contact During Adulthood
Stephen Antonoplis, Claude S. Fischer
Full text
How do people form cross-race relationships in everyday life, and do people vary from each other in this process? Answering these questions can yield useful insights for scholars interested in encouraging cross-race contact. We investigated how people ( N = 1,156 Bay Area adults) met their different-race (vs. same-race) contacts, the roles that different-race contacts occupied in their personal networks, and the content and quality of their relationships with their different-race contacts. We found that different-race contacts were, on average, “around but not close.” They were met in less intimate settings; they occupied less intimate roles; and they were felt less close to. Importantly, processes varied across people. People who formed cross-race kin relationships were the most likely to have stable cross-race contact, and people who engaged in “high effort” activities with their different-race contacts (e.g., confiding in) had closer relationships with them. We highlight insights of these results for encouraging cross-race contact.
Broken Promises: Betrayal and Support for Violence in Intergroup Relations
Josephine Gellersen, Eran Halperin, Tamar Saguy
Full text
In diverse societies, minority groups may face challenges when events signal exclusion from a superordinate identity (SOI) shared with the relevant majority groups. We examine how such SOI threats relate to hardline political attitudes, focusing on betrayal as a potential mechanism. A cross-sectional study of Ethiopian Jews in Israel ( N = 276) showed that priming an SOI threat was associated with support for violent resistance via betrayal. A two-wave study of Arab-Muslims in Israel ( N = 165) showed that a real-time SOI-threatening event predicted betrayal and, in turn, increased support for violence, particularly among those with stronger baseline SOI. An additional two-wave study of Israeli Jewish women ( N = 584) during the recent Gaza war extended this framework to a broader SOI shared with women worldwide: stronger baseline SOI predicted higher expectations of solidarity, which, when undermined by SOI threat, was associated with greater betrayal and hawkish wartime policy support.
Narratives About Deported Migrants Who Served in the U.S. Military Reduce Animosity Toward Migrants in the United States
Samantha L. Moore-Berg, Opeyemi S. Adeojo, Roman A. Gallardo, Nour Kteily, Boaz Hameiri
Full text
Animosity toward immigrants, especially those who are undocumented, has reached high levels in many parts of the United States. What can be done to counteract anti-immigrant hostility? One solution is to implement media interventions, which are uniquely positioned to reduce animosity. We thus conducted two studies to assess the efficacy of three media interventions to reduce anti-immigrant attitudes. In Study 1 ( N = 2,050), we conducted an intervention tournament and found that one video was particularly effective at reducing anti-immigrant hostility and support for anti-immigrant policies, especially among Republicans. This video shared the story of undocumented immigrants who served in the U.S. military but were subsequently deported due to their legal status. In Study 2 ( N = 3,000), we replicated these findings among nationally representative partisan voters. These results suggest that a simple media intervention has the power to improve attitudes toward undocumented immigrants across the political spectrum.
Unintentional Outcomes as a Catalyst for Brainstorming
Taly Reich, Alexander G. Fulmer, Kelly B. Herd
Full text
Companies increasingly engage in ideation exercises both with their employees and the public. One field experiment with Marketing and Sales employees at a candy company and four laboratory studies demonstrate a novel strategy to promote ideation quantity and quality. They reveal that prompting people to reflect on a history of their own unintentional outcomes in different domains can promote subsequent ideation in brainstorming tasks. This occurs because reflection on one’s unintentional outcomes can incite motivation to regain threatened control. We demonstrate this effect in various domains and in several different contexts that have practical implications for both organizational managers and individuals. Further, we identify a theoretically driven moderator of this effect, showing that the promotion of ideation occurs subsequent to control threats in domains perceived as relatively malleable, in which there is an expectation that control can be regained, but does not in domains perceived as relatively non-malleable.

Psychological Science

How Does Turning to AI for Companionship Predict Loneliness and Vice Versa?
Dunigan Folk, Elizabeth Dunn
Full text
Advances in AI have enabled chatbots to provide warm, personalized support. Yet little is known about the long-term consequences of AI companionship. Across a 12-month longitudinal study with more than 2,000 adults from four Western countries, we examined the bidirectional relationships between social chatbot use and loneliness.We found evidence that increased social chatbot use predicted increased loneliness, using a single-item measure of emotional isolation. When we used a broader and more stable measure of social connection, we found evidence that feeling less socially connected predicted subsequent increases in social chatbot use; however, chatbot use did not significantly predict decreases in social connection. Taken together, these findings provide initial evidence that being lonely may spur people to seek companionship through chatbots but that such use may, over time, exacerbate feelings of loneliness. We urge caution, however, in drawing strong conclusions given the exploratory nature of our analyses.
Local Economic Inequality and Depression: Evidence From Longitudinal Data on Local Residential Contexts and Antidepressant Use
Kim Mannemar SÞnderskov, Tobias Heide-JÞrgensen, SÞren Dinesen Østergaard, Peter Thisted Dinesen
Full text
We studied the consequences of economic inequality for depression among adults using individual-level longitudinal administrative data from Denmark ( n = 60,654,690 person time points). The data allow us to (a) measure depression without nonresponse (by proxy of redemption of prescriptions for antidepressants), (b) measure income inequality at a low level of aggregation to capture individuals’ everyday experiences, (c) conduct within-individual analyses from stable individual characteristics to address confounding, and (d) test whether inequality has similar consequences for people located differently in the local income distribution. In contrast to previous work, we found a modest negative average effect of economic inequality (a 1- SD increase in inequality is associated with a 1%–2% relative decrease in the probability of depression). However, this average masks substantial heterogeneity: The negative effect was confined to the locally relatively well-off, whereas those with the lowest relative income tended to become more depressed as inequality rose.

Psychology of Popular Media

Which platforms count? The diverse meanings of “social media” in the United States.
Stephanie Torres-Pantoja, Lisa Rhee, Julian Unkel, Muniba Saleem, Joseph B. Bayer
Full text
Reliving 10 years old: Descriptive insights into retro gaming.
Nick Ballou, Nicholas David Bowman, Thomas Hakman, Andrew K. Przybylski
Full text
Exploring the evolving portrayal of #Ozempic content on TikTok.
Megan Sutton, Zachary Staffell, Karen Leung, Eva Pila
Full text

Technology, Mind, and Behavior

Emotional and cognitive factors in the relationship between autistic traits and emotional attachment to AI chatbots.
Rossella Suriano, Alessio Plebe, Valentina Furfari, Rosa Angela Fabio
Full text
The role of online disinhibition on social media users’ privacy concerns and behaviors.
Lisa M. Thompson Lee, Sinyong Choi
Full text
From virtual sparks to reality: How virtual reality exposure influences skill learning intentions.
Daphne Xin Hou, Meaghan Tracy, Bradley D. Pitcher, Benjamin Blachly, Ahleah F. Miles, Tara S. Behrend
Full text
God or the machine? Personal religiosity and negative attitudes to AI.
Cristian G. Rodriguez, Allon Vishkin, Yochanan E. Bigman
Full text
Psychological interventions for mis/disinformation detection: A systematic–narrative review of their effectiveness for older adults.
Holly K. Barnett, Lara Warmelink, Sophie J. Nightingale, Faraz Ahmed, Trevor Crawford
Full text
Psychology-in-the-loop.
Richard N. Landers
Full text