Epistemically suspect beliefs (ESBs) have deleterious effects on public health, social policy, political processes, and consensual understandings of the world. Although distinct fields' independent attempts to document and intervene on ESBs have yielded progress, increased cross talk with disciplines less regularly included in discussions and initiatives could accelerate innovation and translation of acquired knowledge into effective interventions. To encourage a more interdisciplinary, efficient, and effective approach, this commentary highlights insights and research directions that become apparent when integrating field-specific approaches and findings with the unique but relatively neglected perspective on ESBs offered by clinical psychology and psychiatry. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

The 2024 U.S. presidential election seemed to have the potential to profoundly impact the national economy, financial markets, and geopolitics. Did Donald Trump's re-election influence Americans' psychology as well? We conducted a 7-wave longitudinal survey tracking N = 623 Americans (36% male, Mage = 45.05 years (SDage = 22.97) from 3 weeks before the election to 16 weeks after. As the election results came in, Democratic supporters reported a decrease in well-being, optimism and personal control, lower institutional trust, higher cynicism, more experiences of disrespect, and a stronger conspiracy mentality-changes that persisted up to 4 months post-election. In contrast, Republican supporters experienced changes in the opposite direction, effectively reversing the previously observed liberal advantage in institutional trust and diminishing the liberal-conservative gap in other psychological outcomes. These results challenge the notion of inherent psychological differences between liberals and conservatives, highlighting how such differences can shift depending on which party holds power.

Can people accurately predict how major political events will affect their views of themselves and the world? We assessed people's accuracy in forecasting their affective reactions and changes in enduring psychological traits to the 2024 U.S. presidential election. In a three-wave longitudinal study, people made forecasts of their affective states and traits encompassing well-being (life satisfaction, meaning in life), views of the self (self-esteem, perceived control, optimism) and of the world (cynicism, experiences of disrespect, institutional trust) for the event of Democratic and Republican candidate victory twice: 3 weeks before the election (remote forecast) and on the election day (immediate forecast). Following the election results being called, people reported their experiences. Partisan losers overestimated the event impact on their affective reactions but also trait well-being, self-views and worldviews. Partisan winners did not display systematic forecasting errors. The results demonstrate that forecasting errors extend to predictions of changes in enduring traits.

The experiential advantage refers to the well-being people derive from experiences over material goods. This research took a psychological needs approach and tested whether well-being predicts seeing purchases and products as being able to offer experiences. Five studies, using trait and state measures of well-being and sampling people in Asia and North America, supported this hypothesis. Controlled studies found that people higher in trait well-being viewed purchases as more experiential (Studies 1 and 5). Momentary well-being, whether measured or manipulated, showed a similarly positive impact of higher well-being on experiential perceptions (Studies 2-4). The effect was specific to perceptions of the experiential nature of products, not their materiality, and was most consistent for the positive affect component of well-being. Combined with prior findings, results suggest a self-reinforcing, benevolent cycle: experiences improve well-being, and well-being orients people to the experiential, need-satisfying aspects of products, which may then further support well-being.

Prior research on status signaling reveals that consumers may select subtle or overt signals to convey their social status. In this research, the authors build on this insight in the context of auditory signaling and show that consumers use product volume as a status signal. Using the Dominance-Prestige Account of Rank Allocation framework, the authors propose that the path consumers take to achieve status will influence their choice of loud or quiet products. A combination of quantitative models, a lab experiment and a conjoint study demonstrates that consumers pursuing status via dominance are more likely to choose relatively louder products, while those who use a prestige path are more likely to choose relatively quieter products. The authors further demonstrated a boundary condition for prestige-driven consumers, the presence of other signals of social rank, such as education or profession. When no other markers of their social rank are present prestige-driven people reduce their preference for quiet signals (Study 4).

People commonly post content that is about others, for example, when they upload photographs of friends or tag family members in written posts. This article reviews the antecedents and outcomes of posting about others and proposes social mindfulness as a means of decision making that might enable people to avoid negative outcomes from online sharing (e.g., friends feeling betrayed). Social mindfulness entails being thoughtful of others and is enabled by attention and perspective taking. In the context of online postings, social mindfulness involves directing attention to content, taking the perspectives of the others involved, and making decisions that are thought to align with others' preferences. Two preregistered studies supplemented this conceptual work. One established the prevalence of the phenomenon, showing that nearly half of people's posts contain information about others. The second demonstrated that being socially mindful predicted being less likely to post content that others might object to sharing.

The present research shows that public (vs. anonymous) donations are viewed as a sign of egoistic motives, such as wanting to impress others. In addition, such public donations also are viewed as a sign of altruistic motives, such as wanting to encourage others to donate. These perceptions inform inferences of donors' communal traits, with egoistic motives suggesting weaker communal traits, and altruistic motives suggesting stronger ones. Inferences of communal traits impact behavior, with stronger communal traits predicting greater charitable donations. In sum, public modes of giving can decrease donations (through inferences of egoistic motives and weaker communal traits) and increase donations (through inferences of altruistic motives and stronger communal traits). These effects occur in the context of $100 and $10 donations (Study 1) and impact real contributions of money (Study 2) and volunteer work (Study 3). Platform managers can strengthen inferences of altruistic motives by communicating that public donations can motivate others to give (Study 4). Together, these findings enhance understanding of how public forms of giving influence others to donate, which has practical implications for donation platform managers.

Research has shown differences in pro-social and pro-environmental attitudes after exposure to different physical environments. It is unclear whether these perspective shifts are associated with changes in conscious thoughts and feelings about other people and the environment. In Study 1, we used a within-subject experiment to measure social and environmental thought content throughout 1-h environmental explorations of a nature conservatory and an indoor mall. At three survey time points, participants (N = 86, undergraduates and community members) reported whom they were thinking about and how connected they felt to the physical and social environment. Using Bayesian multi-level models, we found that while visiting the conservatory, participants were less likely to think about themselves, felt closer to people nearby and around the world, and felt higher connectedness to their social and physical environment. In Study 2, we used a correlational design to investigate the association between perceived naturalness of city parks and feelings of connection to nearby others and the physical environment while visiting. Participants (N = 303, Chicago residents) reported feeling higher levels of connection to nearby people and the physical environment when they were visiting city parks rated as more natural. These studies further our understanding of the ways in which natural environments influence conscious thoughts and feelings about the social and physical environment.

Research has consistently shown differences in affect and cognition after exposure to different physical environments. The time course of these differences emerging or fading during exploration of environments is less explored, as most studies measure dependent variables only before and after environmental exposure. In this within-subject study, we used repeated surveys to measure differences in thought content and affect throughout a 1-h environmental exploration of a nature conservatory and a large indoor mall. At each survey, participants reported on aspects of their most recent thoughts (e.g., thinking of the present moment vs. the future; thinking positively vs. negatively) and state affect. Using Bayesian multi-level models, we found that while visiting the conservatory, participants were more likely to report thoughts about the past, more positive and exciting thoughts, and higher feelings of positive affect and creativity. In the mall, participants were more likely to report thoughts about the future and higher feelings of impulsivity. Many of these differences in environments were present throughout the 1-h walk, however some differences were only evident at intermediary time points, indicating the importance of collecting data during exploration, as opposed to only before and after environmental exposures. We also measured cognitive performance with a dual n-back task. Results on 2-back trials replicated results from prior work that interacting with nature leads to improvements in working-memory performance. This study furthers our understanding of how thoughts and feelings are influenced by the surrounding physical environment and has implications for the design and use of public spaces.

Reviewing the literature of the past two decades, Orth and Robins (2022) conclude that high self-esteem yields reliable benefits. In this commentary, we caution that for objective outcome measures, these effects are variable- and domain-dependent. The allure of high self-esteem remains largely a matter of mind and memory, not behavior. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

What is the psychological value of consuming art? Four experiments tested whether and how art can lend meaning to life. This research relies on a rudimentary distinction between low art (presenting familiar objects in a simple, straightforward manner) and high art (presenting the same familiar objects with a dose of complexity). We predicted and found that high (vs. low) art elevates the sense that life has meaning, because it stimulates integrative complexity, a cognitive process in which disparate information is combined into unified, coherent representations. These integrated thoughts pique interest, leading to the sense of life’s meaningfulness. Moreover, the results of two experiments point to the psychological benefits of viewing low (vs. high) art, namely the sense that life is happy. It seems that the relative lack of complex, integrated thoughts stimulated by low art, along with facilitated processing fluency, befits positive feelings about one’s life.

Despite widespread recognition that conspiracy theories carry the potential for serious harm, relatively little research has investigated possible antidotes to conspiracy beliefs. Previous theorizing posits that belief in con-spiracy theories is driven in part by existential motives related to a sense of control and social motives aimed at maintaining a positive image of oneself and one's ingroup. Using electoral contests as the context, we investi-gated whether the act of voting (i.e., addressing existential motives) and seeing one's preferred candidate win (i. e., addressing social motives) were associated with a reduction in conspiracy beliefs. In two two-wave studies of high-profile U.S. elections, we measured endorsement of conspiracy beliefs before the election and after the results were known, thereby tracking change in conspiracy belief endorsement over time. Both Study 1 (2020 U. S. Presidential election) and Study 2 (2021 Georgia Senate runoff election) showed a significant decrease in conspiracy beliefs among people who supported the winning candidate, consistent with the importance of social motives. The findings highlight the merits of one's political ideology receiving support and recognition for potentially abating conspiracy beliefs.

How can people wisely navigate social conflict? Two preregistered longitudinal experiments (Study 1: Canadian adults; Study 2: American and Canadian adults; total N = 555) tested whether encouraging distanced (i.e., third-person) self-reflection would help promote wisdom. Both experiments measured wise reasoning (i.e., intellectual humility, open-mindedness about how situations could unfold, consideration of and attempts to integrate diverse viewpoints) about challenging interpersonal events. In a month-long experiment (Study 1), participants used either a third- or first-person perspective in diary reflections on each day's most significant experience. Compared with preintervention assessments, assessments made after the intervention revealed that participants reflecting in the third person showed a significant increase in wise reasoning about interpersonal challenges. These effects were statistically accounted for by shifts in diary-based reflections toward a broader self-focus. A week-long experiment (Study 2) replicated the third-person self-reflection effect on wise reasoning (vs. first-person and no-pronoun control conditions). These findings suggest an efficient and evidence-based method for fostering wise reasoning.

Adolescence is a developmental period characterized by heightened attraction to rewards and risk-taking propensities. Dual-systems models portray the adolescent brain in terms of a maturational mismatch whereby brain systems involved in sensitivity to incentives become potentiated before impulse-control systems have matured. That perspective implies that relying on impulse inhibition to overcome temptation is likely to yield uneven success during adolescence. Using the analogy of practice driving a race car, we propose another process that leads to achieving healthy outcomes: steering aimed at limiting or preventing motivational conflict and thereby lessening reliance on impulse control (termed braking). The focal idea is that the more adolescents can avoid troublesome contexts, the less they will need to depend on their relatively weak impulse-control abilities to avert problems and danger. Recent work links dispositional differences in self-control to indicators of steering, such as situation selection, habit cultivation, and proactive responding. Steering to curb or avoid motivational conflict could be key to promoting healthy outcomes during adolescence, a developmental period characterized by vulnerability to risk, and could have lasting importance given that enduring patterns of unhealthy, dangerous, and self-defeating behaviors often start during this period.

Abstract Objective Understanding how biological, cognitive, and self‐regulatory factors are related to obesity, and weight regulation is clearly needed to optimize obesity prevention and treatment. The objective of this investigation was to understand how baseline biological, cognitive, and self‐regulatory factors are related to adiposity at the initiation of a behavioral weight loss intervention among treatment‐seeking adults with overweight/obesity. Methods Participants (N = 107) in the Cognitive and Self‐regulatory Mechanisms of Obesity Study (Identifier‐NCT02786238) completed a baseline assessment with anthropometric, cardiometabolic, inflammatory, cognitive function, and self‐regulation measures as part of a larger on‐going trial. Data were analyzed with linear regression. Results At baseline, body mass index, body fat percentage, and waist circumference (WC) were positively associated with fasting insulin and insulin resistance. Higher WC was related to higher fasting glucose and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c). Higher glucose and insulin resistance levels were related to lower list sorting working memory. Higher glucose and HbA1c levels were negatively associated with reading scores. Cognitive function and self‐regulation indices were unrelated. Conclusions In adults with overweight/obesity entering a weight loss treatment study: (1) elevated WC and associated glycemic impairment were negatively associated with cognition, (2) poorer executive function and reading abilities were associated with poorer glycemic control, and (3) objectively measured cognitive functions were unrelated to self‐reported/behavioral measures of self‐regulation. Such findings increase understanding of the relationships between adiposity, biomarkers, cognition, and self‐regulation at treatment initiation and may ultimately inform barriers to successful obesity treatment response.

We conducted a preregistered multilaboratory project (k = 36; N = 3,531) to assess the size and robustness of ego-depletion effects using a novel replication method, termed the paradigmatic replication approach. Each laboratory implemented one of two procedures that was intended to manipulate self-control and tested performance on a subsequent measure of self-control. Confirmatory tests found a nonsignificant result (d = 0.06). Confirmatory Bayesian meta-analyses using an informed-prior hypothesis (δ = 0.30, SD = 0.15) found that the data were 4 times more likely under the null than the alternative hypothesis. Hence, preregistered analyses did not find evidence for a depletion effect. Exploratory analyses on the full sample (i.e., ignoring exclusion criteria) found a statistically significant effect (d = 0.08); Bayesian analyses showed that the data were about equally likely under the null and informed-prior hypotheses. Exploratory moderator tests suggested that the depletion effect was larger for participants who reported more fatigue but was not moderated by trait self-control, willpower beliefs, or action orientation.

The economic effects of COVID-19 have been far-reaching. Using a sample of adults from the United States (n = 513), the present study examined demographic and individual correlates of anxiety about financial hardship on March 17th, 2020, the day after historic stock market drops in response to the emerging COVID-19 crisis. Confirmatory factor analysis models determined that a unidimensional approach best accounted for covariation among types of economic anxiety. Zero-order and semi-partial correlations with economic anxiety were estimated. Younger adults tended to report greater anxiety than older adults. Black respondents reported significantly more anxiety, whereas respondents without children living at home reported less anxiety. Low collective self-esteem, low conscientiousness, and low openness to experience were associated with greater economic anxiety. High neuroticism, perceived vulnerability to disease, and belongingness stemming from large group activities also were associated with greater anxiety. The current study provides a first glance at individual differences in understanding who may experience economic anxiety due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Adults view past experiences as making them happier than material goods, yet products and brands are highly coveted by children, even at young ages. Using a child developmental framework, we reconcile these two perspectives. Across four studies with children and adolescents of ages 3-17 years, we show that children (ages 3-12) derive more happiness from goods than from experiences, but the effect changes over time. As children age, the happiness they derive from experiences increases, to the point that older adolescents derive more happiness from experiences than from material goods, consistent with adult findings. We show that these effects are mediated by increases in two cognitive skills: memory and theory of mind, which we posit are necessary for a sufficient comprehension of experiences and their implications, which in turn facilitates their enjoyment. (c) 2020 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Tomasello argues in the target article that, in generalizing the concrete obligations originating from interdependent collaboration to one's entire cultural group, humans become "ultra-cooperators." But are all human populations cooperative in similar ways? Based on cross-cultural studies and my own fieldwork in Polynesia, I argue that cooperation varies along several dimensions, and that the underlying sense of obligation is culturally modulated.