The same dataset can be analysed in different justifiable ways to answer the same research question, potentially challenging the robustness of empirical science1-3. In this crowd initiative, we investigated the degree to which research findings in the social and behavioural sciences are contingent on analysts' choices. We examined a stratified random sample of 100 studies published between 2009 and 2018, in which, for one claim per study, at least five reanalysts independently reanalysed the original data. The statistical appropriateness of the reanalyses was assessed in peer evaluations, and the robustness indicators were inspected along a range of research characteristics and study designs. We found that 34% of the independent reanalyses yielded the same result (within a tolerance region of ±0.05 Cohen's d) as the original report; with a four times broader tolerance region, this indicator increased to 57%. Of the reanalyses conducted, 74% reached the same conclusion as the original investigation, 24% yielded no effects or inconclusive results and 2% reported the opposite effect. This exploratory study indicates that the common single-path analyses in social and behavioural research should not be simply assumed to be robust to alternative analyses4. Therefore, we recommend the development and use of practices to explore and communicate this neglected source of uncertainty.

Though profanity is inherently taboo, it seems to be appearing in more advertisements, but does it help or hurt sales? In three studies, participants were shown mock-up advertisements with varying degrees and instances of profane and non-profane intensifiers and varying spokespeople. Across all studies, only implicit, low-intensity profanity was found to be more persuasive than the non-profane control; additional intensifiers decreased persuasiveness in each condition except the control. Furthermore, spokesperson dress did not influence persuasiveness, but a significant interaction between spokesperson sex and explicitness of the profanity was found. Sense of humor did not impact perceived persuasiveness of ads in Study 2 but was found to increase perceived persuasiveness in Study 3. Findings and implications are discussed.

The Family Systems Circumplex Model posits that balanced levels of cohesion and adaptability are associated with positive familial outcomes, whereas extremely high or low levels of these factors are associated with deleterious outcomes. Despite the popularity and utility of this model in Western cultures, there is a dearth of empirical data supporting its use in more culturally diverse contexts. The current, preregistered study assessed the Family Circumplex Model, cultural factors, and emerging adult outcomes across 7 countries (i.e., China, Iran, Nigeria, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States). Participants were N = 3,593 emerging adults, mostly self-identifying as women (71.3%). Collaborators were participants in Psi Chi’s Network for International Collaborative Exchange (NICE) and administered measures related to family dynamics and cultural orientation to participants in a random order. Results indicated that the Family Circumplex Model did not fit cross-culturally. As such, a new model was adapted, the Expanded Circumplex Model, which demonstrated invariance across samples and between women and men. The Expanded Circumplex Model retained 6 constructs with differences regarding the separation of disengagement into 2 variables and the combining of adaptive flexibility and cohesion. The current study suggests that the cultural context in which family dynamics occur should be taken into consideration when conceptualizing family dynamics theory and measurement. Future work should seek to replicate and further apply the Expanded Circumplex Model to familial outcomes.

As part of the Systematizing Confidence in Open Research and Evidence (SCORE) program, the present study reassesses the claim made in Navarrete et al. (2010) Study 1, that women's voter preference for male candidates who demonstrate cues of strong genetic fitness increases across the reproductive cycle as a function of conception risk. We report an attempt to conceptually replicate these findings, modifying the outcome variables for voter preference to reflect the 2020 election rather than the 2008 election, while maintaining fidelity to the original study by including Barack Obama as a candidate. Contrary to the original findings, conception risk did not predict greater voter support for Obama as a younger, more attractive alternative to Donald J. Trump, nor was conception risk a significant factor in other matchups we presented to participants. Candidate intelligence and participant psychopathy scores on the Dark Triad were found to be factors in preference for Obama/Biden or Trump, respectively. We discuss these results in the context of evolutionary and political psychology, suggesting the need for further research that takes political factors into account.

Social support has long been associated with positive physical, behavioral, and mental health outcomes. However, contextual factors such as subjective social status and an individual’s cultural values, heavily influence social support behaviors (e.g., perceive available social support, accept support, seek support, provide support). We sought to determine the current state of social support behaviors and the association between these behaviors, cultural values, and subjective social support across regions of the world. Data from 6,366 participants were collected by collaborators from over 50 worldwide sites (67.4% or n = 4292, assigned female at birth; average age of 30.76). Our results show that individuals cultural values and subjective social status varied across world regions and were differentially associated with social support behaviors. For example, individuals with higher subjective social status were more likely to indicate more perceived and received social support and help-seeking behaviors; they also indicated more provision of social support to others than individuals with lower subjective social status. Further, horizontal, and vertical collectivism were related to higher help-seeking behavior, perceived support, received support, and provision of support, whereas horizontal individualism was associated with less perceived support and less help-seeking and vertical individualism was associated with less perceived and received support, but more help-seeking behavior. However, these effects were not consistently moderated by region. These findings highlight and advance the understanding of how cross-cultural complexities and contextual distinctions influence an individual's perception, processing, and practice of social support embedded in the changing social landscape.

Replications are important for assessing the reliability of published findings. However, they are costly, and it is infeasible to replicate everything. Accurate, fast, lower-cost alternatives such as eliciting predictions could accelerate assessment for rapid policy implementation in a crisis and help guide a more efficient allocation of scarce replication resources. We elicited judgements from participants on 100 claims from preprints about an emerging area of research (COVID-19 pandemic) using an interactive structured elicitation protocol, and we conducted 29 new high-powered replications. After interacting with their peers, participant groups with lower task expertise ('beginners') updated their estimates and confidence in their judgements significantly more than groups with greater task expertise ('experienced'). For experienced individuals, the average accuracy was 0.57 (95% CI: [0.53, 0.61]) after interaction, and they correctly classified 61% of claims; beginners' average accuracy was 0.58 (95% CI: [0.54, 0.62]), correctly classifying 69% of claims. The difference in accuracy between groups was not statistically significant and their judgements on the full set of claims were correlated (r(98) = 0.48, P < 0.001). These results suggest that both beginners and more-experienced participants using a structured process have some ability to make better-than-chance predictions about the reliability of 'fast science' under conditions of high uncertainty. However, given the importance of such assessments for making evidence-based critical decisions in a crisis, more research is required to understand who the right experts in forecasting replicability are and how their judgements ought to be elicited.

A pre-registered, crowd-sourced, multicultural study assessed how the personal need for structure (PNFS) predicted perceptions, behaviors, and coping mechanisms in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Collaborators, invited to collect online survey data through Psi Chi's Network for International Collaborative Exchange crowd-sourcing initiative (Edlund et al., 2019), recruited approximately 100 participants across 22 data-collection locations (final N = 4620). Participants completed randomized online surveys, which inquired about an individual's PNFS, and current perceptions, behaviors and knowledge surrounding the pandemic. Results indicated that individuals with higher PNFS fared better at navigating the rules and restrictions that came with the pandemic. Specifically, and contrary to hypotheses, higher PNFS positively predicted knowledge of COVID-19 and support for government restrictions and negatively predicted belief in pandemic misinformation. Additionally, PNFS significantly positively predicted the use of problem and emotion-focused coping strategies and did not predict dysfunctional coping mechanisms. Our findings emphasize the role individual differences play in navigating the pandemic, and future research should evaluate PNFS in light of COVID-19 and in relation to other behavioral and psychological outcomes.

Replication is an important “credibility control” mechanism for clarifying the reliability of published findings. However, replication is costly, and it is infeasible to replicate everything. Accurate, fast, lower cost alternatives such as eliciting predictions from experts or novices could accelerate credibility assessment and improve allocation of replication resources for important and uncertain findings. We elicited judgments from experts and novices on 100 claims from preprints about an emerging area of research (COVID-19 pandemic) using a new interactive structured elicitation protocol and we conducted 35 new replications. Participants’ average estimates were similar to the observed replication rate of 60%. After interacting with their peers, novices updated both their estimates and confidence in their judgements significantly more than experts and their accuracy improved more between elicitation rounds. Experts’ average accuracy was 0.54 (95% CI: [0.454, 0.628]) after interaction and they correctly classified 55% of claims; novices’ average accuracy was 0.55 (95% CI: [0.455, 0.628]), correctly classifying 61% of claims. The difference in accuracy between experts and novices was not significant and their judgments on the full set of claims were strongly correlated (r=.48). These results are consistent with prior investigations eliciting predictions about the replicability of published findings in established areas of research and suggest that expertise may not be required for credibility assessment of some research findings.

The Miranda warning was drafted in order to inform people of their rights upon arrest in an easy to understand manner. However, to understand the warning a person needs a high school level reading comprehension (which is above the level of most offenders). Among these offenders, deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) individuals are particularly prone to misinterpreting the Miranda warning due to language barriers with law enforcement and below average English literacy compared to hearing individuals. Two studies were performed. The first compared Miranda warning comprehension between hearing and DHH participants, and it was found that DHH participants showed overall lower comprehension. The second study, consisting only of DHH participants, compared the effectiveness of four different presentations of the Miranda warning: signed in American Sign Language (ASL), signed in Signed Exact English (SEE), oral presentation, and written presentation. The written presentation demonstrated the lowest comprehension scores while the other three methods showed no significant difference in comprehension. The results suggest that the Miranda warning is best administered to DHH individuals with the assistance of a certified sign language interpreter. Limitations of the sample and directions for future research are discussed.

In cases of euthanasia, determinations of guilt may be influenced by legal and extra-legal factors. This study explores the role that nullification instructions play in juror decision making. A defendant may be viewed as less culpable if the act was done out of mercy and jury nullification may occur as a result. We anticipated that these determinations may be influenced by the manner of death and the relational distance between the defendant and the decedent. It is unknown how euthanasia is viewed when it is performed by a physician compared to a family member or friend. To answer these questions, participants acted as mock jurors in a euthanasia case. The descriptions of the case varied by the presence of nullification instructions, the manner of death, and the defendant's relationship to the decedent. The results revealed significant effects of method of euthanasia and the type of defendant on juror verdicts. Jurors were most likely to acquit in a case that provided nullification instructions and involved a spouse using lethal injection for euthanasia. This finding suggests that different circumstances of a euthanasia case will affect jurors' propensity to focus on personal sympathies and interpretations. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

AbstractSex differences in jealousy are a well-established research finding that suggests men (relative to women) will find the sexual components of an infidelity more distressing, whereas women (relative to men) will find the emotional components of an infidelity more distressing. This study uses a relatively novel sample of participants (individuals who engage in consensual non-monogamy) to test both cultural and evolutionary influences on jealousy. In our study using hypothetical scenarios, we found that men (relative to women) were more upset about the sexual components of the infidelity and that women (relative to men) were more upset about the emotional components of the infidelity. This occurred in both samples to the same magnitude suggesting that the differences between the men and women may be driven by evolutionary influences. Additionally, we found a main effect of relationship type such that participants who engaged in consensual non-monogamy had lower levels of jealousy overall. As such, this study provides relatively unique evidence for the ultimate origins of sex differences in jealousy.

The sciences have been perennially interested in understanding similarities and differences between the sexes. Among humans, both males and females seek to secure serially monogamous partnerships with kind and intelligent mates similar to themselves. However, the sexes differ in the relative value placed on resources and physical attractiveness, their willingness to engage in short-term liaisons, and jealousy in response to emotional and sexual infidelities. Consideration of cultural factors, modern relationship innovations, and diversity in sexual orientation and gender identity provides further complexity to our understanding of similarities and differences. Recommendations are made for future research in these areas, and the societal implications of evolutionary work on the sexes is discussed.

Although numerous studies have looked at what lay people think of sex workers, comparatively few studies have directly looked at the sex workers themselves. The current study compared a cohort of predominantly female sex workers with a matched control across several personality constructs (including the Big Five, the Dark Triad, and Life History). Some of the observed differences in personality included higher scores of conscientiousness and higher scores of openness to experience in the sex worker group. The sex worker group also showed higher scores in machiavellianism. A variety of indicators of a faster Life History Strategy were also found in the sex worker cohort including an earlier age of first menarche and age of first drug use.

Although retractions have been occurring in journals for many years, there is little standardization on what should warrant a retraction and how the retraction should be handled. In this manuscript, we lay out six broad classes for why retractions should be considered. We also lay out best practices for journals approaching a manuscript for which concerns have been raised.

The scientific enterprise has long been based on the presumption of replication, although scientists have recently become aware of various corruptions of the enterprise that have hurt replicability. In this article, we begin by considering three illustrations of research paradigms that have all been subject to intense scrutiny through replications and theoretical concerns. The three paradigms are one for which the corpus of research points to a real finding, one for which the corpus of research points to a significantly attenuated effect, and one for which the debate is ongoing. We then discuss what scientists can learn—and how science can be improved—through replications more generally. From there, we discuss what we believe needs to be done to improve scientific inquiry with regard to replication moving forward. Finally, we conclude by providing readers with several different approaches to replication and how these approaches progress science. The approaches discussed include multilab replications of many effects, multilab replications of specific effects, adversarial collaborations, and stand-alone applications.

In the early months of the COVID pandemic, numerous studies were done on the psychological implications of the pandemic. This paper details two independent replications of studies that were posted in PsyArXiv in March and April of 2020. These data reported in this manuscript were collected during the summer of 2020 and look at two separate phenomena associated with the COVID crisis (looking at conspiracy beliefs and COVID; looking at empathy and contagion control behaviours). The data reported in this manuscript are stored on the Open Science Framework and could allow for an evaluation of evolving nature of the psychological response to the COVID epidemic.

Research has long noted that there are differences between men's and women's responses to casual sexual requests. In this study, we sought to replicate and extend the Clark and Hatfield paradigm while exploring the influence of requestor attractiveness, sexual orientation, and two individual difference measures: sociosexuality (which is how open to sexuality a person is) and personal mate value (which is how high quality of a mate the person is). We found that attractiveness matters in the likelihood of a request being accepted (the more attractive the requester, the higher the proportion of agreement); sexual orientation matters for the overall proportion of responses agreed to (heterosexuals were most impacted by the attractiveness of the target), and that sociosexuality moderates the likelihood of agreeing to the requests (such that participants with higher sociosexuality scores were more likely to agree to requests).

Although the benefits of crowdsourcing research models have been outlined elsewhere, very little attention has been paid to the application of these models to cross-cultural behavioral research. In this manuscript, we delineate two types of crowdsourcing initiatives—researcher crowdsourced and participant crowdsourced. Researcher crowdsourced refers to initiatives where researchers are gathered to work toward a shared goal. Participant crowdsourced refers to those which allow a researcher to gather a large number of participants within a short time frame. We explore the utility of each type of initiative while providing readers with a framework that can be used when deciding whether researcher or participant crowdsourcing initiatives would be most fruitful for their work. Perceived strengths of a researcher crowdsourced initiative with a cross-cultural focus is based on contributor data from Psi Chi’s Network for International Collaborative Exchange (NICE) and is integrated into this framework. Claims are made for the utility of both researcher and participant crowdsourcing as a way to increase generalizability and reliability, decrease time burdens, democratize research, educate individuals on open science, and provide mentorship. These claims are supported with data from NICE contributors.