Autonomy is a central value in American democracy, but is not well integrated into civic and political engagement research as a psychological source of motivation. In this preregistered study, we applied a Self-Determination Theory framework to investigate autonomy as a motivator for civic action across four U.S. elections (N = 2,480). We assessed autonomy both as a trait and a context-specific motivational state and found that both trait and context-specific autonomy were related to stronger civic attitudes, intentions to vote, and actual voting behavior. In contrast, extrinsic or controlled motivations were weakly or not related to these outcomes. This study provides robust and replicable evidence for the role of autonomy in civic and political engagement. It extends our theoretical understanding of what motivates voting and civic engagement and offers practical insights that can be applied to increase the effectiveness of voter mobilization strategies.

In the United States, recent cuts to federal science funding have widespread negative consequences for research, healthcare, and the economy. Scalable behavioral interventions that communicate the impact of science funding cuts could support informed policy-related decisions and bridge partisan divides. In two preregistered psychological experiments (N=5,342) with politically-representative samples of U.S. adults, we tested novel text, quiz, and map-based interventions that illustrated economic losses associated with National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding cuts. Across the political spectrum, the interventions robustly and reliably decreased approval of funding cuts, and increased perceived knowledge and negative local impact. Interactive interventions featuring quizzes and maps selectively motivated further action (e.g., contacting congressional representatives, sharing information). We scaled these interventions via a public website (https://scienceimpacts.org/); a third study analyzing naturalistic user data (N=24,028) revealed converging evidence of effectiveness. Overall, scalable interventions that interactively communicated economic impact changed attitudes and motivated action to support science funding.

Concern about climate change is politically polarized. Some researchers attribute this divide to moral differences between liberals and conservatives, and find that reframing climate messages around moral values presumably aligned with the recipient's ideology (e.g., purity for conservatives) can increase support for environmental action. We tested whether tailoring messages to participants' actual top moral value is more effective than presuming their moral priorities. Across three experiments (N = 3,455; two preregistered, census-matched, politically balanced samples), most liberals and conservatives shared the same top moral value: care and compassion. Personalizing climate messages to each individual’s top moral value modestly increased climate outcomes (e.g., climate concern, efficacy beliefs, policy support) across the political spectrum. Crucially, however, misassuming someone’s top moral value backfired among moderates and conservatives. These findings challenge narratives of deep moral division and suggest that personalized moral reframing may help bridge the political divide on climate change.

A majority of people are concerned about climate change but under-engaged in climate action, especially civic or collective action. We integrated insights from multiple traditions of future-oriented psychological interventions focused on imagination and action planning, and we tested the resulting psychological intervention through three experimental conditions that targeted either a personal (e.g., driving less) or civic climate action (e.g., contacting elected officials about climate change), or neither. Participants then reported their intention to engage in personal and civic pro-environmental behaviors. Preregistered analyses (on N = 1,586 participants) showed that both personal and civic action interventions increased the targeted pro-environmental behavior. Furthermore, these effects extended to other other (non-targeted) pro-environmental behaviors, though only to the same category of action (personal vs. civic). In a second preregistered study, we replicated the intention effects of the civic action intervention. This study extends prior theory about the psychology of behavior change and provides practical insights to bridge the gap between climate concern and engagement in coordinated climate initiatives.

Social connection is important for physical and mental health across the lifespan. Friendships are a critical source of social connection that rely on effective interpersonal support. Emotion categories (e.g., happiness, disgust) serve to efficiently communicate internal states to others, but how does individual variation in these conceptual representations impact social connectivity? In a longitudinal social network sample of first-year university students, we investigated whether representing emotions more similarly to others predicts friendship accuracy, a foundation for forging social connection and effectively recruiting social support. We also explore relationships between friendship accuracy and markers of physical and mental wellbeing. We found that emotional normativity was predictive of friendship accuracy over time, which in turn was associated with social network centrality, reduced anxiety, and higher resting heart rate variability, a marker of reduced stress. Taken together, emotional normativity may play an important role in social connection and wellbeing, particularly during early adulthood.

Well-being is often defined in terms of a person’s comfort, happiness, functioning and flourishing. Scholars distinguish subjective well-being (i.e., perceiving one’s life as pleasant) from psychological well-being (i.e., perceiving one’s life as meaningful). Advances in natural language processing have yielded automated assessments of psychological states and traits from language alone, including subjective well-being. However, the strength of these tools for assessing psychological well-being remains unstudied. Across three studies (one preregistered), we examined the strength of language-based assessments of self-reported subjective and psychological well-being components. Participants gave verbal or written responses to queries regarding their satisfaction with life and autonomy, along with questionnaire measures of subjective and psychological well-being. We then tested the strength of contextual word embeddings generated from AI-based transformers applied to verbal responses in predicting self-reported satisfaction with life and psychological well-being. Predictions generated from word embeddings of open-ended assessments correlated significantly with questionnaire measures of corresponding well-being constructs (rs = .16 < r < .63) and they also generalized across well-being components (rs = .15 < r < .50). However, the strength of these relations was lower than previous studies (rs = .72 < r < .85), and sense of autonomy was consistently less predictable than satisfaction with life. These findings demonstrate that although linguistic measures can significantly correlate with one’s sense of autonomy, it appears to be more challenging to assess than other forms of well-being.

Abstract Background and aims Approximately 80% of all strokes are preventable through modification of risk factors, yet achieving and sustaining behavior change remains challenging. We aimed to identify which behavioral beliefs are most strongly associated with intentions to engage in stroke-prevention behaviors. Methods We conducted a survey in a U.S. population-representative sample recruited via Prolific, an online platform for paid study participation (prolific.co). Seventeen stroke-related health behaviors (e.g., diet, physical activity, sleep) were assessed using a validated instrument capturing modifiable risk factors. For each behavior, participants rated future intention to engage and seven behavioral beliefs—capability, difficulty, social norms, social approval, positive personal impact, negative personal impact, and perceived brain health impact—on 7-point Likert scales. Associations between z-standardized beliefs and intentions were examined using adjusted linear mixed-effects regression models. Results A total of 370 participants completed the survey (mean age 47.6 years; 49.7% female). Across all behaviors, participants reported higher intended future engagement. The strongest predictor of intention was perceived positive personal impact (β per SD: 0.25 [95% CI: 0.22, 0.28]; p<0.001), followed by brain-health impact (0.20 [0.17, 0.24]; p<0.001), capability (0.17 [0.14, 0.20]; p<0.001), social approval (0.16 [0.13, 0.19]; p<0.001), and social norms (0.07 [0.04, 0.10]; p<0.001). Negative personal impact was inversely associated with intention (-0.09 [-0.12, -0.05]; p<0.001). Conclusions Across stroke-related health behaviors, perceived positive personal impact, brain impact, and capability emerged as the strongest drivers of behavioral intentions. These findings suggest that behavioral interventions prioritizing personally meaningful benefits and capability enhancement may represent effective strategies for modifiable risk factor control for stroke. Conflict of interest Emily Falk serves on the scientific advisory board for Kumanu. Jonathan Rosand discloses funding from the US National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association. Christopher Anderson discloses grants from US National Institutes of Health, American Heart Association, and Massachusetts General Hospital, sponsored research support from Bayer AG, and consulting for ApoPharma and MPM BioImpact. Evy Reinders: nothing to disclose. Alyssa Sinclair: nothing to disclose. Tamara Kimball: nothing to disclose. Savvina Prapiadou: nothing to disclose. Marie-Gabrielle Duperron: nothing to disclose. William Brebner: nothing to disclose. Niklas Jung: nothing to disclose. Sanjula Singh: nothing to disclose. Figure 1 - belongs to Results

Curiosity motivates the consumption of new information and facilitates memory for information encountered. Given the prevalent strategy of using social media metrics to boost engagement with new information, this paper examined whether social value norms can change curiosity and memory. Consistent with previous work, higher than usual levels of curiosity during information exposure was associated with better memory, such that people were more likely to remember the information when they reported higher than usual levels of curiosity. Across the three studies, high social value norms had weak or inconsistent effects on curiosity, while low social value norms consistently decreased curiosity. Surprisingly, low social value norms boosted memory, an effect that was observed across two of the three studies, indicating a role for low social norms to impact memory beyond their effects on curiosity. Together, these studies advance understanding of how social value norms shape information processing and memory, and reveal that low social value norms can influence memory for information in ways that are not fully explained by their effects on curiosity.

Well-informed individual and collective decision-making is aided by access to high-quality, factual information. What motivates people to share high-quality news and how can these motives be leveraged to promote news sharing? Based on the theory that self-related and social motives encourage sharing behavior, we designed and tested interventions to increase news sharing. In the interventions, individuals were exposed to actual news stories and were prompted to identify why the content was relevant to themselves (self-relevance) or people they know (social relevance). Across four studies (N participants = 2,559, N observations = 18,780), we systematically examined the effectiveness of these interventions, their generalizability across news topics (climate change and health) and cultures (the United States of America and the Netherlands), their translation to more naturalistic contexts, and their underlying neuropsychological mechanisms. In all studies, we observed expected positive correlations among perceived self and social relevance and sharing intentions. In a neuroimaging study, we also observed corresponding increases in activity in self-referential and social cognitive brain regions. Using the content-framing interventions to test causal relationships, we found that the interventions increased sharing intentions and behavior. Furthermore, we observed generalizability across news topics and cultural contexts and translation to an ecologically valid news exposure context. These findings advance theory by adding neural and behavioral evidence that self-related and social motives prompt people to share information, and demonstrate the ability of content-framing interventions to harness these motives to encourage high-quality news sharing.

The present study investigated between-person differences in daily positive emotion dynamics and their associations with flourishing across two studies (Study 1: n=244, Study 2: n=265). Three between-person indices of daily positive emotion dynamics were created: average intensity, variability, and inertia. Using latent profile analysis, a data-driven technique that identifies subgroups (referred to as profiles) within a population, four common ways in which these three emotion dynamics cluster at the person level were identified. Testing for associations between flourishing and the observed profiles of emotion dynamics revealed that people with high levels of positive emotion that were stable over time were highest in flourishing, followed by low-intensity but variable positive emotions, followed by individuals with low-intensity positive emotions. By considering how three key emotion dynamic indices cluster within individuals, we find that understanding both the average intensity and the extent of stability in daily positive emotion is necessary for understanding flourishing.

Importance:The tobacco industry spends more than $8 billion annually in the US on marketing at the point of sale. Exposure to tobacco retail has been associated with smoking outcomes, but substantially less is known about how objectively logged everyday tobacco retail exposure is associated with smoking outcomes. Objective:To assess preregistered hypotheses that individuals would report (1) greater craving and (2) more cigarettes smoked on days when their exposure to tobacco retail is higher than usual. Design, Setting, and Participants:This multimodal, within-person cohort study combined objectively logged geolocation tracking, public tobacco retail location records, and ecological momentary assessment data. Eligible participants recruited from the GeoSmoking Study were aged 21 to 65 years, smoked at least 5 cigarettes per day over the previous 6 months, owned a smartphone, and were a resident of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, or Delaware. Data were collected from May 25, 2022, to June 10, 2024. Exposure:Exposure to tobacco retail stores was assessed using mobility data matched with locations of tobacco retailers across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Main Outcomes and Measures:Daily mean craving and daily number of cigarettes smoked were computed using ecological momentary assessment. Results:A total of 273 participants were included in the final analyses (mean [SD] age, 42.5 [10.7] years; 151 women [55.3%]). Multilevel models revealed support for both preregistered hypotheses. On days when individuals had more tobacco retail exposure than their own average, they reported significantly higher levels of craving (b = 0.04; 95% CI, 0.01-0.07; t3457 = 2.72; P = .01) and smoking significantly more cigarettes (b = 0.01; 95% CI, 0.0002-0.01; t3469 = 2.05; P = .04). Conclusions and Relevance:In this cohort study of individuals who smoke cigarettes daily, exposure to tobacco retail in their everyday lives was associated with increases in craving and smoking. These findings highlight the importance of retail exposure and smoking outcomes, information that is critical for developing effective tobacco control interventions and lays the foundation for broader health research on environmental factors that shape health behaviors.

Background: Cigarette smoking is one of the world’s main public health concerns, accounting for 1 in 5 deaths in the United States (U.S) per year. Exposure to tobacco retail has been linked to adverse smoking outcomes, but research utilizing naturalistic and causal approaches to quantify these effects in the real world remains relatively sparse. To address this, we used ecological momentary assessment, geolocation tracking, and neuroimaging to assess smoking outcomes in the real world, and conducted a randomized controlled trial focused on the effects of real-world exposure to tobacco retail.Objective: The GeoSmoking Study aimed to evaluate: (1) within-person associations between real-world tobacco retail exposure and cigarette craving and smoking; (2) causal effects of real-world tobacco retail exposure; and (3) neural cue reactivity as a mechanism for real-world tobacco retail effects.Methods: In a two-week baseline period, we used ecological momentary assessment to collect reports of craving and smoking multiple times per day. Simultaneously, we used geolocation tracking to quantify tobacco retail exposure, through creation of a tobacco retailer database across three U.S. states (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware). A four-week intervention period followed, in which participants were randomly assigned to enter either a non-tobacco retail store once per day (Non-tobacco retailer condition), a tobacco retail store once per day (Tobacco retailer condition), or follow their normal routines (Control condition). An optional functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) session concluded the study. Individuals participated remotely, unless they opted in to the fMRI session, which was conducted at the University of Pennsylvania.Results: The GeoSmoking Study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Pennsylvania on February 3rd, 2022. Data collection started on May 25th, 2022 and ended on June 10th, 2024. In total, 310 participants were enrolled, 282 participants completed the baseline phase, 244 participants completed the intervention phase, and 24 participants completed the fMRI scan.Conclusions: This novel and innovative study protocol was successfully implemented. Findings from planned analyses may have significant implications for health behaviors, outcomes, and policy.Trial Registration: Cancer Prevention through Neural and Geospatial Examination of Tobacco Marketing Effects in Smokers: 1R01CA229305-01A1; ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04279483

The core use of human language is to send complex ideas from one mind to another. In everyday conversations, comprehension and production are intertwined, as speakers and listeners alternate roles. Nonetheless, the neural systems underlying these faculties are typically studied in isolation, using paradigms that cannot capture interactive communication. Here, we used fMRI hyperscanning to simultaneously record dyads engaged in real-time conversations. We used language model embeddings to quantify the degree to which production and comprehension systems rely on shared neural representations, both within and across brains. We found that both processes key into overlapping neural systems, with similar neural tuning for both processes, spanning the cortical language network. Speaker-listener coupling extended beyond the language network into areas associated with social cognition. Our results suggest that the neural systems for speech comprehension and production align with common linguistic features encoded in a broad cortical network for language and communication.

Mitigating climate change requires urgent action at individual, collective, and institutional levels. However, individuals may fail to act because they perceive climate change as a threat that is distant or not personally relevant, or believe their actions are not impactful. To address these psychological barriers, we conducted a large-scale "intervention tournament." In a sample of 7,624 participants, we systematically tested 17 interventions that targeted psychological mechanisms described by three key themes: Relevance, Future Thinking, and Response Efficacy. Interventions that emphasized social relevance were the most effective for motivating people to share news articles and petitions about climate change. Interventions that targeted future thinking were the most effective for broadly motivating individual actions (e.g., driving less, eating vegetarian meals) and collective actions (e.g., donating, volunteering) to address climate change. Interventions that emphasized the environmental impact of these actions reliably increased the perceived impact of pro-environmental actions, but did not consistently motivate action. Notably, interventions that targeted two or more mechanisms-such as imagining a future scenario that involved oneself or close others-were most effective. Importantly, our leading interventions were substantially more effective than prevalent existing strategies (e.g., carbon footprint information). Our findings are relevant to theories of behavior change, motivation, and information sharing, with potential applications across domains. Insights from our tournament could be applied to develop scalable online interventions and mass communication campaigns to address climate change.

Conversation is one of the most powerful tools that people have for building and maintaining social connections. How does conversation bring two minds together? Here we tracked the neural dynamics between dyads during real-time conversation using fMRI hyperscanning, where both people were scanned simultaneously, to explore whether and how conversation aligns brains. Dyads engaged in natural, free-flowing conversation as they co-constructed the content of their dialogue. In a control condition, partners read aloud scripted dialogue from another dyad’s conversation, preserving the turn-taking structure while removing the co-construction. To examine neural alignment, we compared whole-brain intersubject correlation between partners in each condition, assessing both synchronous and predictive neural dynamics. Results showed that naturalistic conversation led to significant widespread neural alignment across brain regions implicated in attention, affect, executive control, and social cognition, compared to scripted conversation. Temporally refined analyses showed that during naturalistic conversation, relative to scripted conversation, both speakers and listeners anticipated each other within a short temporal window, with brain activity preceding their partner’s in the same neural systems. Conversation may help people communicate by aligning neural activity. This work lays the foundation for future research into how neural alignment allows people to create shared understanding and form social bonds.

Background Cigarette smoking continues to be a leading cause of preventable deaths in the USA, in part because the USA has not adopted the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. One way the tobacco industry counteracts tobacco control policies is by heavily advertising cigarettes at the point of sale in retailers (eg, at the cash register) and by offering discounts on cigarettes. Design A within-subject experimental design with adults who smoke cigarettes daily (n=281) investigated whether: (1) exposure to images of cigarette promotions in an online experiment is associated with greater cigarette craving relative to viewing images of non-smoking cues, and (2) if exposure to images of point-of-sale cigarette promotions with a discount (vs without) increases cigarette craving. The study also examined how participants’ subjective social status (compared with others in the USA) relates to cigarette craving after exposure to images of cigarette promotions with and without a discount. Results In an online experiment, exposure to images of smoking cues, including point-of-sale cigarette promotions, elicited greater craving relative to non-smoking cues (all p<0.001). In addition, images of promotions with a discount elicited higher levels of craving compared with those without a discount ( b =0.09, p=0.001). Although participants with a higher (vs lower) subjective social status craved cigarettes less overall ( b =−0.12, p=0.012), there was no difference in their craving between images of promotions with and without a discount, while craving was higher for images of promotions with a discount than without for participants with higher subjective social status ( b =0.06, p=0.021). Conclusion Viewing images of point-of-sale cigarette promotions can causally increase cravings to smoke, which may also apply to real-world retail settings that display cigarette promotions. Restricting point-of-sale promotions generally, and discounts specifically, could help reduce cigarette smoking and address tobacco use disparities in the USA.

In the United States, cuts to federal science funding will have widespread negative consequences for research, healthcare, and local economies. Communicating the impact of funding cuts is critical for informing policymakers and the public. In two preregistered psychological experiments (N=5,342), we tested text, quiz, and map-based interventions that illustrated economic losses associated with NIH funding cuts. Across the political spectrum, the interventions decreased approval of funding cuts, and increased perceived knowledge and perceived negative local impact. Interactive interventions featuring quizzes and maps increased action intentions (e.g., contacting congressional representatives). We scaled these interventions by creating a public website; user data revealed converging evidence of effectiveness. Overall, scalable interventions that interactively communicated economic impact changed attitudes and motivated action to support science funding.

Social interactions are a ubiquitous part of human life. They are also complex and dynamic, posing a challenge for traditional psychology methods. This article provides an overview of a dynamic systems approach to the study of social interactions that manages this complexity and enables the quantification of interdependence between people. We also discuss key empirical findings that demonstrate how different forms of interdependence and interaction dynamics shape social outcomes. Last, we highlight the utility of this approach for advancing theories of social behavior and practical application. By adopting this dynamic systems approach, researchers can gain a deeper understanding of the patterns underlying social interactions and test hypotheses about the mechanisms driving human connection and coordination.