The aim of the present study was to determine whether autistic individuals self-report their autistic symptomology similar to how a significant other and clinician does. Of further interest was investigating whether requiring autistic individuals to self-report on assessment tools which require them to hold insight as to how their behaviours are perceived by others contributed to low concordance between self-reports and reports provided by significant others. Archival diagnostic data of 62 autistic adults were extracted from a private psychology practice’s online database. These data included SRS-2 self and informant raw item scores, and standardised and raw subscale scores. Adaptive functioning data, and demographic variables including age and gender of the autistic person were extracted. Further, a clinician’s impression of the self-reporter’s autistic characteristics was measured via the Autism Behaviour Inventory – Clinician Version. We found low concordance between self and informant SRS-2 reports on all SRS-2 subscales, including items requiring insight. This low concordance was driven by females who tended to report lower SRS-2 scores relative to their informant. Limited evidence was found in support of a relationship between SRS-2 self and informant-reports when compared to a clinician’s impression. Although tools such as the SRS-2 are used by clinicians to gather information during autism diagnoses, self-reports and informant reports in this study were not always concordant. Further they did not map well with clinician’s impressions. Perceptions of difficulty vary between persons doing the reporting, highlighting the need for a multi-faceted and multi-informant approaches to diagnostic assessments.

We applied a two-stage Bayesian analysis to examine the relationship between the jumping to conclusions (JTC) bias (measured on the beads, box, fishing, and/or survey tasks) and delusional ideation (measured on the Peters et al. Delusions Inventory or the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences). MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science, and five previous JTC reviews were searched for eligible studies published between 1988 and December 2024. Risk of bias was assessed using an adapted version of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality assessment tool. Forty-two studies (n = 7604) were identified as meeting inclusion criteria, with four subgroups: general population (n = 7538), psychosis with current delusions (n = 449), psychosis without current delusions (n = 29), and clinical control (n = 77). Our first analysis presented a meta-analysis of correlations between delusional ideation and JTC. Our second analysis presented a zero-inflated Poisson regression, assessing change in JTC across variable delusional ideation scores. Impact of data quality was assessed in both analyses. No meaningful relationships between JTC and delusional ideation were found in the full dataset or any subgroup, but the subgroup with current delusions showed a relatively greater JTC bias than the general population subgroup. Data-quality procedures did not impact results. Overall, results suggest that the JTC bias is not related to delusional ideation, or indexes of delusional ideation and/or JTC used in this meta-analysis are poor measures of these constructs. Our results did not assess delusional severity, thus interpretations in clinical populations are limited. PROSPERO https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD42021266402.

PURPOSE:This study investigated the impact autism and difficulties with theory of mind (ToM) have on one's ability to reason about the wrongfulness of criminal behaviour, and whether this relationship was affected when explicit information was given about the intentionality behind, and harmful outcome of a behaviour. It was hypothesised that when intent and harm information were absent, ToM would mediate the autism and reasoning ability relationship. METHOD:The ToM and reasoning ability of 57 non-autistic and 55 autistic adult participants was assessed. To test reasoning ability, participants read criminal scenarios with intent and harm information absent or present and reasoned why the behaviour was or was not 'wrong'. Their responses were then scored based on the level of information they provided about intent and harm in their reasoning. RESULTS:Overall, autistic participants scored lower on the reasoning task than non-autistic participants. When intent and harm information were absent, evidence for the group difference remained, albeit weaker, and ToM did not mediate this relationship. The gap in reasoning ability between groups was smaller when harm information was included, compared to when it was absent. CONCLUSION:The lower reasoning ability of autistic compared to non-autistic participants suggests that autistic individuals may not consider the intentionality or potential harmfulness when engaging in illegal activity or confronted with wrongful situations. However, if informed about the intent and potential harm, the difficulties in reasoning experienced by autistic people are reduced, suggesting that anticipating the potential outcome of behaviour may not be intuitive for some.

Research indicates that autistic individuals are at increased risk compared to their non-autistic peers of receiving harsher treatment and penalties when interacting with the criminal justice system. Given that remorse is highly regarded in the criminal judicial system and features strongly in comments made by adjudicative constituents when issuing proposed punishments, the present study investigated whether this harshness may be attributed to autistic people being perceived by non-autistic individuals as less remorseful. It was also investigated whether educating people about autism would moderate any mediating relationship between autism diagnosis, perceived remorse, and penalty harshness. Five autistic and five non-autistic individuals participated in video recordings and were instructed to convey remorse for two hypothetical crimes. Non-autistic participants (N = 195) were then randomly allocated one autistic video and one non-autistic video to view and asked to indicate perceived remorse and degree of appropriate penalty harshness. Participants were then educated regarding autistic characteristics and given the option to re-rate perceived remorse and penalty harshness. Results supported the hypothesis that perceived remorse would mediate the relationship between autism diagnosis and penalty harshness. Further, education resulted in a reduction on the harshness of penalty imposed, through improving perceived remorse. These results suggest that autistic individuals may be unfairly disadvantaged within the forensic setting when perceived by non-autistic individuals, due to potential difficulties or differences in displaying remorse. However, the presentation of education regarding autism may mitigate these adverse outcomes, indicating that educating decision makers on potential differences in autistic presentation may be beneficial.

Despite widespread speculation that conspiracy beliefs foster anti-democratic outcomes, the empirical picture is inconsistent. To clarify this literature, we examine the relationships that conspiracy beliefs have with commitment to reactionary action and criticism of democracy, focusing on a global issue: immigration. We expected that people who believe that their government uses immigration to diversify the population against citizens’ wishes (anti-migration conspiracy beliefs) would be more committed to conventional and violent action to oppose immigration, and more critical of democracy. However, societal-level factors – economic performance and democratic functioning – were expected to influence (strengthen, weaken) these links. As hypothesized, multi-level analyses (N = 4353) from 21 countries revealed that economic prosperity attenuated the positive link between anti-migration conspiracy beliefs and commitment to reactionary action. Paradoxically, more democratic societies evidenced stronger links between conspiracy beliefs and conventional (but not violent) action to oppose immigration. Thus, more democratic societies appear to invite conventional forms of action to oppose immigration which may, in turn, weaken democratic norms of inclusion. Results highlight the interplay of individual- and societal-level factors underlying illiberal movements. The link between conspiracy beliefs and reactionary movements that promote intolerance and undermine democracy was investigated in 21 countries. Economic prosperity and democratic functioning moderated the positive link between anti-migration conspiracy beliefs and commitment to reactionary action.

INTRODUCTION:People with psychosis place greater confidence in errors and less confidence in accurate judgements relative to controls. This overconfidence in errors bias is theorised to contribute to the formation and maintenance of delusions. However, no research has examined whether people with psychosis have an impaired ability to judge whether they are confident or not, known as resolution. This study aimed to establish whether psychosis populations show a resolution deficit. METHOD:We used hierarchical Bayesian modelling and Type 2 Signal Detection Theory to explore whether participants with schizophrenia (n = 25) had poorer resolution and higher overconfidence than high delusion-prone (n = 25) and low delusion-prone participants (n = 25) when making confidence judgements. A discrimination index and over/underconfidence statistic examined resolution and overconfidence, respectively. RESULTS:While all participants showed a low discrimination index, schizophrenia participants had a meaningfully lower discrimination index than low delusion-prone participants, indicating poorer resolution. All groups were overconfident, with schizophrenia participants showing the greatest level of overconfidence. CONCLUSIONS:Results suggest schizophrenia patients show impairments in using confidence judgements to discriminate between correct and incorrect judgements. Resolution deficits in psychosis could have theoretical and clinical implications for our approach towards delusions.

Previous research indicates that difficulties with expressing remorse may contribute to the longer sentences autistic individuals receive within the criminal justice system. These differences in remorse expression may stem from their reduced ability to perceive emotions in others. This study investigated the association between an individual's level of autistic traits and their remorse perception ability. We also examined the influence of Affective Theory of Mind (ToM), the ability to understand others' emotional experiences, in remorse perception. We thought that the more autistic traits with which a person presented, the poorer their ability to perceive remorse would be, with overall ToM and affective ToM serving as mediating factors. Forty-five autistic and 47 non-autistic individuals assessed a series of facial expressions to determine the perceived level of remorse in each face. Results revealed that neither the combination of autistic traits nor any individual trait was significantly correlated with remorse perception ability. Additionally, autistic traits did not indirectly impact the perception of remorse through either overall ToM or affective ToM. These findings imply that individuals with high autistic traits, regardless of their perspective-taking abilities, exhibit similar capacities for perceiving remorseful expressions to those with less autistic traits-at least when the stimuli are static. Future research should investigate the differences between autistic and non-autistic individuals in perceiving remorse through different modalities of emotional expression, including behavioral and verbal cues.

In this study, we revised the comprehensive autistic trait inventory (CATI)—a self-report inventory of autistic traits, in collaboration with autistic people and provided preliminary evidence for its validity as a self-report measure of autistic traits in the general population. An established strength of the CATI is its ability to capture female autistic traits. Our project aimed to extend this further, to increase the inventory’s accessibility, and to minimise stigma induced by deficit-based representations of autistic experience. Together with 22 individuals from the autism and autistic communities, we created the Revised Comprehensive Autistic Trait Inventory (CATI-R). Revisions included rewording items to increase clarity or reduce stigma and expanding items to capture diverse autistic experiences. We also present a series of guidelines for developing self-report inventories of subclinical neurodivergent traits. We validated the CATI-R within a large sample (n = 1439), comprising people with a self-reported autism diagnosis (n = 331), people who self-identified as autistic (n = 44), and non-autistic participants (n = 1046). We successfully validated a revision of the CATI. A confirmatory factor analysis supported the six-subscale structure (two-factor bifactors model: Chi-squared = 2705.73, p < .001, RMSEA = .04, SRMR = .03, CFI = .95, TLI = .94). Spearman’s rank correlations showed positive relationships between all subscales (all rs > .56, ps < .001). Convergent validity was demonstrated by significant correlations between the CATI-R and two contemporary inventories of autistic traits: the AQ (rho = .86, p < .01) and BAPQ (rho = .82, p < .01). Finally, a measurement invariance analysis indicated that total-scale scores can be compared across genders. Our study presents only initial evidence for the validity of the CATI-R that should be enriched with further analyses and types of data, including a larger number of participants who do not identify as male or female. This project provides a revised trait inventory that resonates with actual autistic experience, along with guidelines for creating self-report measures that are sensitive, accessible, and non-stigmatising. Autistic people know what it means to be autistic. So autistic people may be especially well-placed to determine how autistic traits and experiences should be measured and described. Until now, most autism questionnaires have been made by non-autistic people. In our project, autistic people—including those with and without academic research backgrounds—edited an autism questionnaire called the ‘Comprehensive Autistic tTrait Inventory’, or ‘CATI’ for short. This is a survey that requires people to read a list of statements and indicate how much each relates to their own experiences. It is used to measure the extent to which people in the general population (including those who are not autistic) have experiences associated with autism. In a large online study, we found that the edited measure consistently and accurately measured autistic traits. We also propose basic guidelines for developing measures that better capture autistic people’s experiences by using questions that are respectful and follow language preferences of the community.

Little is currently known about the autism spectrum disorder (ASD)-related difficulties of females narrowly below the ASD diagnostic threshold and whether the disorder conceptualisation should be broadened to capture their presentations. We extracted fine-grained information from the assessment reports of 222 children who were either diagnosed with ASD (n = 156) or not diagnosed despite many ASD traits (n = 78). Females were less likely than males to meet Criterion B3 (restricted interests), and this was especially the case for subclinical (non-ASD) females. Non-ASD females lacked sufficient atypicality for diagnosis in several key domains, particularly Criterion A1 (social-emotional reciprocity). Evidence of sex/gender1-specific restricted interests and stereotypical behaviours was found. Many behaviours differed in the extent to which they predicted the ASD diagnostic result for males and females, perhaps suggesting that sex/gender influences how ASD-related behaviours are perceived. We discuss these findings in the context of underdiagnosis of ASD in females and propose adjustments to assessment protocols. Lay Abstract Most research about autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in females has looked at autistic features in people who have already received diagnoses. Because our understanding of ASD has been shaped by the difficulties of males, females may experience different difficulties and may not meet the criteria for diagnosis because of a skewed concept of ASD. We extracted detailed information from the assessment reports of 222 children who were either diagnosed with ASD (156 children) or not diagnosed despite many ASD traits (78 children). Females were less likely to have restricted interests, especially females who did not receive an ASD diagnosis. Females who did not receive an ASD diagnosis tended to show more ability in social and emotional reciprocity than what would qualify them for a diagnosis. We also found sex-/gender-specific profiles of body use and speech mannerisms. Many behaviours were more closely linked with an ASD diagnosis for males and others for females, suggesting that behaviours may be interpreted differently depending on the child's sex/gender. We discuss implications for assessing females for ASD in the context of this evidence.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS:The inclusion of gaming disorder (GD) in the International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision (ICD-11) has generated scholarly debate, including claims about its potential stigmatizing effects on the wider gaming population. The present study aimed to estimate the effect of addiction-based and non-addiction-based conceptualizations of problem gaming on stigma of gamers.DESIGN:This preregistered experiment involved a 2 (health information: addiction-related or non-addiction-related) × 3 (vignette: problem, regular or casual gamer) randomized, between-subjects design.SETTING:An international sample of participants was recruited via Prolific in June and July 2021.PARTICIPANTS:Participants were eligible (n = 1228) if they were aged 35 to 50 years, played video games for no more than 6 hours per week and did not endorse DSM-5 or ICD-11 criteria for GD.INTERVENTION AND COMPARATOR:Participants were provided with an explanation of problem gaming as related to either an addictive disorder (i.e. 'addiction' explanation) or personal choice and lifestyle factors (i.e. 'non-addiction' explanation).MEASUREMENTS:The Attribution Questionnaire (AQ) and Universal Stigma Scale (USS) assessed stigma toward each gamer vignette. Vignettes described a problem gamer (with features of GD); a regular gamer (frequent gaming; some life interference); and a casual gamer (infrequent gaming; no life interference).FINDINGS:Problem gamer vignettes (mean [M] = 113.3; 95% CI = 111.5-115.4) received higher AQ stigma ratings than regular (M = 94.0; 95% CI = 91.9-95.9) and casual gamers (M = 80.1; 95% CI = 78.2-82.1). Although significant, the effect of health information type on AQ stigma ratings was negligible (addiction group [M = 97.6; 95% CI = 95.9-99.1], non-addiction group [M = 94.1; 95% CI = 92.6-95.8]). However, the addiction information group scored lower on USS blame and responsibility than the non-addiction information group with at least a small effect (99.1% confidence).CONCLUSIONS:Framing of problem gaming as an addictive disorder or non-addictive activity appears to have a negligible effect on stigma of different gamers among middle-age adults with minimal gaming experience. The concept of 'gaming addiction' seems unlikely to be an important influence on public stigma of gaming.

Growing evidence suggests that autistic females are more likely to be diagnostically overlooked than males, perhaps due to differences in ASD presentations (van Wijngaarden-Cremers in JAMA 44:627-635, 2014). To investigate specific behaviours in which differences lie, we analysed profiles of 777 children using the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (Scholper in JAMA 29:489-493, 2010) or Gilliam Autism Rating Scale (Gilliam, 2014). Males demonstrated greater difficulty in six CARS2-ST items and seven behaviours on the GARS-3, mostly reflecting restricted and repetitive behaviours. Across all instruments, the only area in which females showed greater difficulty was fear or nervousness (CARS2-ST). No meaningful differences emerged from the CARS2-HF analysis. Where males showed greater difficulty, females were more likely to present with developmentally typical behaviour.

Most social movements will encounter setbacks in their pursuit of sociopolitical change. However, little is known about how movements are affected after protestors fail to achieve their aims. What are the effects of failure on subsequent engagement in various conventional and radical actions? Does failure promote divergent reactions among protestors and/or dissatisfaction with democracy? A meta-analysis of nine experiments ( N = 1,663) assessed the effects of one-off failure on protestors’ reactions, subsequent tactical choices, and support for democracy; and iterative stochastic simulations modeled the effects of failure over multiple protests over time. Results indicated that initial failure gives rise to divergent, somewhat contradictory responses among protestors and that these responses are further influenced by the repeated failure (vs. success) over time. Further, the simulations identified “tipping points” in these responses that promote radicalization and undermine support for democracy.

ObjectivesAssociations between awareness of one’s own aging and wellbeing have received increasing attention in the field of gerontology over the last decade. The current study examines how between-person differences and within-person fluctuations of awareness of age-related change (AARC) relate to daily negative affect and vitality. Of key interest was the extent to which fluctuations in AARC moderated reactivity to stressor exposure. We predicted that higher positive perceptions of aging (AARC-gains) would buffer the relationship between daily stressors and negative affect/vitality. Conversely, we expected that higher negative perceptions (AARC-losses) may exacerbate the relationship between daily stressors and the outcome variables.MethodsData were collected from a community-based sample of 152 Australian adults aged 53–86 (M = 69.18, SD = 5.73). For 10 consecutive days, participants completed surveys on their smartphones measuring daily stressors, AARC, and affect (positive and negative). Bayesian hierarchical linear models were used to examine whether AARC-gains and AARC-losses moderated within-person associations of daily stressors and affect (i.e., stress reactivity).ResultsAt the between-person level, higher AARC-gains was associated with lower negative affect and higher vitality, whereas those reporting higher AARC-losses scored higher on negative affect and lower on vitality. Within-person variables revealed that on days when AARC-gains was higher and AARC-losses was lower, this corresponded with lower negative affect and higher vitality. There was no evidence in support of individual moderating effects of within-person AARC-losses or within-person AARC-gains on stress reactivity. A trend was evident in support of a three-way WP Stress severity × WP AARC-gains × WP AARC-losses interaction in the prediction of negative affect, indicating that on days when AARC-losses was higher, the association of stress severity with negative affect was weaker if AARC-gains was higher. Follow-up analyses modeling quadratic stress severity revealed a trend suggesting an interaction of within-person stress severity and within-person AARC-losses.DiscussionResults indicate that both individual differences and short-term fluctuations in AARC are associated with daily negative affect and vitality. The results provided qualified support for a possible protective role of AARC-gains in the context of stress reactivity.

In this paper we examine how offline protests attended by members of the Australian far-right shape online interactions. Tweets about the 2019 St Kilda beach rally were collected. Users were manually classified as supporters (n = 104) or opponents of the rally (n = 872). Network analysis demonstrated that interactions between the two groups increased at the time of the rally. Natural language processing showed that both groups became angrier and used more "othering" language during the rally. However, there were stark differences in the moral worldviews, highlighting the very different moral positions that underpin engagement with, and opposition to, the far-right agenda.

The high prevalence of chronic sleep restriction in adolescents underscores the importance of understanding how adolescent sleep is regulated under such conditions. One component of sleep regulation is a homeostatic process: if sleep is restricted, then sleep intensity increases. Our knowledge of this process is primarily informed by total sleep deprivation studies and has been incorporated in mathematical models of human sleep regulation. Several animal studies, however, suggest that adaptation occurs in chronic sleep restriction conditions, showing an attenuated or even decreased homeostatic response. We investigated the homeostatic response of adolescents to different sleep opportunities. Thirty-four participants were allocated to one of three groups with 5, 7.5, or 10 h of sleep opportunity per night for five nights. Each group underwent a protocol of nine nights designed to mimic a school week between two weekends: two baseline nights (10 h sleep opportunity), five condition nights (5, 7.5, or 10 h), and two recovery nights (10 h). Measures of sleep homeostasis (slow-wave activity and slow-wave energy) were calculated from frontal and central EEG derivations and compared to predictions derived from simulations of the homeostatic process of the two-process model of sleep regulation. Only minor differences were found between empirical data and model predictions, indicating that sleep homeostasis is preserved under chronic sleep restriction in adolescents. These findings improve our understanding of effects of repetitive short sleep in adolescents.

Despite the importance of clinical judgement in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) assessment, little is currently known about challenges faced by diagnosticians when the client is female, any sex/gender biases during the assessment process, and how these issues affect diagnostic outcomes. Forty-seven ASD diagnosticians completed a questionnaire containing two hypothetical case studies (a ‘male’ and ‘female’ ASD presentation), with sex/gender randomly assigned within each. Diagnosticians reported greater ASD symptom severity when female sex/gender pseudonyms were allocated to the case studies, but their confidence in ASD diagnosis was similar regardless of condition. Diagnosticians identified a large number of challenges associated with assessing females for ASD. Many of these related to sex/gender differences in ASD presentation and limitations of diagnostic instruments.

Eyewitnesses to multiple-culprit crimes are often asked to try to identify the culprits from different lineups during a police investigation. In 2 experiments (N = 557), we show that disconfirming feedback after an identification attempt for 1 culprit can impair identification performance on a subsequent lineup for a different culprit. In each experiment, witnesses viewed a simulated, 2-culprit crime, followed by 2 police lineups: A culprit-absent lineup for 1 culprit and either a culprit-present or culprit-absent lineup for the second culprit. Following the first lineup, witnesses received disconfirming feedback or no feedback. For witnesses who correctly rejected the first lineup, disconfirming feedback impaired identification performance on the subsequent lineup. For witnesses who incorrectly chose someone from the first lineup, disconfirming feedback impaired subsequent performance when the feedback unambiguously implied poor ability to identify the culprit in the first identification test (Experiment 2) but not when it could have been interpreted as implying poor criterion setting (Experiment 1). Across both experiments, disconfirming feedback also reduced the difference in confidence between correct and incorrect identifications. These results add to evidence that postidentification feedback can affect subsequent identification performance by influencing witnesses’ beliefs about their ability to identify a culprit. Current policy recommendations state that postidentification feedback should be withheld from witnesses until confidence has been documented. These should be updated to recommend withholding feedback for longer if the witness may be asked to view additional lineups, and to ensure that lineup administrators are blind to the results of any previous lineups.

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and Behavioural Activation Therapy (BA) were used to treat individuals with comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD). Fifty-two individuals (48 women, 4 men) were randomized to CPT alone (n = 18), CPT then BA for MDD (n = 17), or BA then CPT (n = 17). Presenting trauma was primarily interpersonal (87 %). Participants were assessed at pre-, posttreatment, and 6-month follow-up. PTSD and MDD symptoms were the main outcome of interest; trauma cognitions, rumination, and emotional numbing were secondary outcomes. All groups showed sizeable reductions in PTSD and depression (effect sizes at follow-up ranging between 1.02-2.54). A pattern of findings indicated CPT/BA showed better outcomes in terms of larger effect sizes and loss of diagnoses relative to CPT alone and BA/CPT. At follow-up greater numbers of the CPT/BA group were estimated to have achieved good end-state for remission of both PTSD and depression (49 %, CI95 [.26,.73]) relative to CPT alone (18 %, CI95 [.03,.38]) and BA/CPT (11 %, CI95 [.01,.29]). Although tempered by the modest sample size, the findings suggest that individuals with comorbid PTSD and MDD may benefit from having PTSD targeted first before remaining MDD symptoms are addressed.

Problems associated with eyewitness identification decisions have long been highlighted by memory researchers (e.g., Loftus, 1979), with overwhelming evidence that witnesses can err, sometimes with disastrous consequences. Guided by the rationale that witnesses have access to potentially probative memorial information not captured by the traditional categorical lineup responses, an alternative procedure was examined in 6 experiments with adult (N = 1,669) and child (N = 273) witnesses. Instead of witnesses being asked to identify the offender from the lineup, they rated their confidence in the match between the offender and each lineup member and then variations in the maximum (max) confidence values assigned (i.e., the highest rated lineup members) were examined. Specifically, we evaluated how well max confidence values predicted suspect guilt or innocence. When suspects (guilty or innocent) in a lineup received the max confidence rating, the probability of guilt increased with the max. When the suspect received a rating lower than the max, they were generally more likely to be innocent. Max confidence patterns also predicted guilt where a traditional positive identification would have been unlikely: for example, when the max was low, when the witness gave the max to multiple lineup members, or when a filler received the max but the suspect also received a high rating. The data indicate that witnesses have access to probative memorial information often not captured by the traditional lineup responses when identifying someone or rejecting the lineup. Guidelines for the use and interpretation of this theoretically informed futuristic alternative to existing lineup procedures are provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).