Social psychological research is increasingly interested in the cognitive and affective processes underlying human behavior in social environments. To match this emerging interest, social psychology ...is embracing new methodological approaches. We identify eye-tracking as an unobtrusive, direct and fine-grained process tracing technique with promising implications for these new developments. In particular, eye-tracking helps researchers avoid relying on self-report measures alone and otherwise necessary interruptions of the processes they aim to observe and understand. In order to enable social psychologists to effectively use eye-tracking, we provide a systematic review of commonly used measures. Following an introduction of the basic principles and assumptions underlying the use of eye-tracking generally, we review eye-tracking measures addressing concepts of interest for many core theories of social psychology. Specifically, we introduce options to measure processing depth and decision effort, information weighting, search strategies, cognitive load and arousal. We showcase potential uses in exemplary research questions, providing a starting point for how to select appropriate measures and tailor designs to future applications of eye-tracking to social psychology. Further, we critically discuss the limitations and auxiliary assumptions on which the introduced measures are based. Finally, we illustrate the use of eye-tracking with examples from contemporary psychological research with relevance for social psychology, and conclude with an outlook for potential benefits of the use of eye-tracking methods in core topics of social psychology.
•Information search and processing are important parts of social interactions•Recordings of eye gaze provide unobtrusive measures of cognitive and affective processes•Eye-tracking is compatible with many existing social psychological research paradigms•Eye-tracking harbors promising future research avenues for social psychology
Successful cooperation is tightly linked to individuals’ beliefs about their interaction partners, the decision setting, and existing norms, perceptions, and values. This article reviews and ...integrates findings from judgment and decision-making, social and cognitive psychology, political science, and economics, developing a systematic overview of the mechanisms underlying motivated cognition in cooperation. We elaborate on how theories and concepts related to motivated cognition developed in various disciplines define the concept and describe its functionality. We explain why beliefs play such an essential role in cooperation, how they can be distorted, and how this fosters or harms cooperation. We also highlight how individual differences and situational factors change the propensity to engage in motivated cognition. In the form of a construct map, we provide a visualization of the theoretical and empirical knowledge structure regarding the role of motivated cognition, including its many interdependencies, feedback loops, and moderating influences. We conclude with a brief suggestion for a future research agenda based on this compiled evidence.
In recent years, there has been growing interest in capturing, manipulating, and analyzing the effects of decision-making processes that underlie economic choice. This editorial discusses these ...recent developments by contextualizing the six contributions to the special issue “Cognition and Economic Behavior” within the broader scope of the existing literature.
Ingroup favoritism and discrimination against outgroups are pervasive in social interactions. To uncover the cognitive processes underlying generosity towards in- and outgroup members, we employ ...eye-tracking in two pre registered studies. We replicate the well-established ingroup favoritism effect and uncover that ingroup compared to outgroup decision settings are characterized by systematic differences in information search effort (i.e., increased response times and number of fixations, more inspected information) and attention distribution. Surprisingly, these results showed a stronger dependency on the in- vs. out-group setting for more individualistic compared to prosocial participants: Whereas individualistic decision makers invested relatively less effort into information search when decisions involved out-group members, prosocial decision makers' effort differed less between in- and outgroup decisions. Therein, choice and processing findings showed differences, indicating that inferences about the decision process from choices alone can be misleading. Implications for intergroup research and the regulation of intergroup conflict are discussed.
Norm violators demonstrate that they can behave as they wish, which makes them appear powerful. Potentially, this is the beginning of a self-reinforcing loop, in which greater perceived power invites ...further norm violations. Here we investigate the possibility that sanctions can break this loop by reducing the power that observers attribute to norm violators. Despite an abundance of research on the effects of sanctions as deterrents for norm-violating behavior, little is known about how sanctions may change perceptions of individuals who do (or do not) violate norms. Replicating previous research, we found in two studies (N.sub.1 = 203, N.sub.2 = 132) that norm violators are perceived as having greater volitional capacity compared to norm abiders. Qualifying previous research, however, we demonstrate that perceptions of volition only translate into attributions of greater power in the absence of sanctions. We discuss implications for social hierarchies and point out avenues for further research on the social dynamics of power.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
One piece of the puzzle to prosocial behavior is understanding its underlying cognitive and affective processes. We discuss how modeling behavior in social dilemmas can be expanded by integrating ...cognitive theories and attention-based models of decision processes, and models of affective influences on prosocial decision-making. We review theories speaking to the interconnections of cognition and affect, identifying the need for further theory development regarding modeling moment-by-moment decision-making processes. We discuss how these theoretical perspectives are mirrored in empirical evidence, drawn from classical outcome-oriented as well as contemporary process-tracing research. Finally, we develop perspectives for future research trajectories aiming to further elucidate the processes by which prosocial decisions are formed, by linking process measures to usually unobservable cognitive and affective reactions.
Introduction The replication crisis in the behavioral and social sciences spawned a credibility revolution, calling for new open science research practices that ensure greater transparency, including ...preregistrations, open data and code, and open access. Statement of the Problem Replications of published research are an important element in this revolution as part of the self-correcting process of scientific knowledge production; however, the teaching value of replications is still underutilized thus far. Literature Review Pedagogical knowledge points to the value of replication as critical to the scientific method of test and retest. Psychology has already begun mass efforts to reproduce previous experiments. Yet, we have very few examples of how analytical and reanalysis replications, after the data come in, contribute to the reproducibility crisis and can be integrated into undergraduate and graduate courses. Teaching Implications Replications with quantitative data can be a pedagogical tool for improving student research method skills and introducing them to best research practices via learning-by-doing. Conclusion This article aims to start filling this gap by offering guidance to instructors in designing and teaching replications for students at various levels and disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences, including a supplementary teaching companion.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The open and transparent documentation of scientific processes has been established as a core antecedent of free knowledge. This also holds for generating robust insights in the scope of research ...projects. To convince academic peers and the public, the research process must be understandable and retraceable (
reproducible
), and repeatable (
replicable
) by others, precluding the inclusion of fluke findings into the canon of insights. In this contribution, we outline what reproducibility and replicability (R&R) could mean in the scope of different disciplines and traditions of research and which significance R&R has for generating insights in these fields. We draw on projects conducted in the scope of the Wikimedia "Open Science Fellows Program" (
Fellowship Freies Wissen
), an interdisciplinary, long-running funding scheme for projects contributing to open research practices. We identify twelve implemented projects from different disciplines which primarily focused on R&R, and multiple additional projects also touching on R&R. From these projects, we identify patterns and synthesize them into a roadmap of how research projects can achieve R&R across different disciplines. We further outline the ground covered by these projects and propose ways forward.
Research funding determines the course of science and thus shapes future knowledge. However, funding allocation is inherently biased, non-optimal and costly. We present a Shiny app that simulates the ...effects of funding scenarios on costs, diversity and quality. We advocate a lottery at the beginning to promote inclusion.
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