[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0315011.].

IntroductionConducting research to better understand the role of extralegal factors in courtroom decision-making requires either labor intensive methods, such as simulating a trial, or approaches that are not ecologically valid, such as using short written case vignettes. If avatars could be used in simulated courtrooms, experiments could more easily manipulate extralegal variables for study without requiring significant resourcing, for example hiring actors and having access to a courtroom. The current study used previously developed stimulus materials of a human eyewitness in a courtroom and created a comparable avatar eyewitness and virtual courtroom to assess ratings of the human and avatar.MethodParticipants (N = 703) saw one of 12 videos depicting an eyewitness on the stand at a criminal trial recounting a burglary. The design was a 2 × 2 × 3, mode of presentation (human or avatar), accent (General American English or non-standard) and country of origin (Germany, Mexico or Lebanon). Three actors voiced each human and avatar pair using General American English and one of the non-standard accents (German, Mexican or Lebanese) so that variation in ratings could be attributed to presentation mode, accent and country of origin.ResultsAn analysis of covariance revealed that the avatar witnesses were rated more favorably than the humans and there were no main effects of accent nor country of origin, contrary to previous research using the human video stimuli. A three-way interaction showed the Lebanese human non-standard accented witness was rated more poorly than her standard-accented counterpart, her avatar counterpart, and the Mexican and German human non-standard accented witnesses.DiscussionFindings reveal that avatar witnesses cannot yet reliably replace their human counterparts. Discussion as to what can be done in future to further investigate how to create courtroom stimulus materials is presented along with possible explanations as to the reasons for different findings in this research than previous studies.

The paper presents the most comprehensive and large-scale global study to date on how higher education students perceived the use of ChatGPT in early 2024. With a sample of 23,218 students from 109 countries and territories, the study reveals that students primarily used ChatGPT for brainstorming, summarizing texts, and finding research articles, with a few using it for professional and creative writing. They found it useful for simplifying complex information and summarizing content, but less reliable for providing information and supporting classroom learning, though some considered its information clearer than that from peers and teachers. Moreover, students agreed on the need for AI regulations at all levels due to concerns about ChatGPT promoting cheating, plagiarism, and social isolation. However, they believed ChatGPT could potentially enhance their access to knowledge and improve their learning experience, study efficiency, and chances of achieving good grades. While ChatGPT was perceived as effective in potentially improving AI literacy, digital communication, and content creation skills, it was less useful for interpersonal communication, decision-making, numeracy, native language proficiency, and the development of critical thinking skills. Students also felt that ChatGPT would boost demand for AI-related skills and facilitate remote work without significantly impacting unemployment. Emotionally, students mostly felt positive using ChatGPT, with curiosity and calmness being the most common emotions. Further examinations reveal variations in students' perceptions across different socio-demographic and geographic factors, with key factors influencing students' use of ChatGPT also being identified. Higher education institutions' managers and teachers may benefit from these findings while formulating the curricula and instructions/regulations for ChatGPT use, as well as when designing the teaching methods and assessment tools. Moreover, policymakers may also consider the findings when formulating strategies for secondary and higher education system development, especially in light of changing labor market needs and related digital skills development.

Previous studies have shown that a candidate with a visible facial difference (VFD) may experience discrimination during recruitment. This study investigated whether a VFD imposes a disadvantage in a simulated job interview and whether prefamiliarization with the candidate's appearance can reduce the disadvantage. Participants (n = 128) observed a video of a job interview in one of three conditions: a short audio prefamiliarization and no VFD at interview (control); audio prefamiliarization and VFD at interview (unexpected); and video prefamiliarization then VFD at interview (familiarized). Participants subsequently evaluated the candidate on personal and professional traits. Results revealed higher evaluations in the unexpected compared to control conditions for Professional Skills, Emotional Stability, and especially strongly for Warmth, attributed to positive discrimination. In the familiarized condition, the evaluations lay between control and unexpected, the only significant difference being lower Warmth in familiarized than unexpected. Of particular interest, different traits were associated with the key variable of Role Suitability in the three conditions: in control, Role Suitability correlated with the job-relevant traits of Emotional Stability and Professional Skills; in unexpected, the association with Professional Skills was weaker, and there was a significant association with Warmth; in familiarized, there were no significant associations. In the familiarized condition, compared to the unexpected, participants found the candidate's appearance less distracting and believed the prefamiliarization would help the interviewer. These results were interpreted as suggesting that a VFD may harm the candidate's chances of being evaluated fairly on their merits, but this disadvantage may be partially overcome by prefamiliarization.

Academic integrity (AI) is of increasing importance in higher education. At the same time, students are becoming more consumer-oriented and more inclined to appeal against, or complain about, a penalty imposed for a breach of AI. This combination of factors places pressure on institutions of higher education to handle alleged breaches of AI in a way acceptable to students that motivates them to continue to engage with their studies. Students (n = 8) were interviewed to discover their perceptions of the process for dealing with breaches of AI. All students were based in one university in a very diverse area of London which has many first-generation students from non-traditional academic backgrounds. Students reported strong emotional reactions featuring high levels of anxiety and stress. Some found the process to be threatening and demotivating and questioned continuation on their course of study, while others used more adaptive coping strategies. Students also went to great pains to make it clear that their own, and their friends’, breaches of AI were unintentional, while expressing the view that other people were deliberately cheating and should be penalised. Key recommendations include: support for students to re-engage after the intervention; support for students to develop effective self-regulatory learning strategies and time management; provision of specific examples to clarify what is, and is not, acceptable academic practice; recognition of the strong emotions likely to be invoked, especially if accompanied by declarations of unintentionality.

Veganism has become increasingly popular in recent years in many countries including the UK and the USA. Studies have found that vegans tend to be female, lower in Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) and Social Dominance Orientation (SDO), and higher in feminist perspectives (FPS). Study 1 (n = 311) investigated the relationships among meat consumption, ethical veganism (using a custom-written scale), RWA, SDO, and FPS, in a series of questionnaires completed online. RWA, SDO, and meat consumption correlated together in one group of variables; FPS and ethical veganism correlated together in a distinct group. In Study 2 participants also completed the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ) as a potential mediator variable. The relationship between RWA, SDO, and FPS as predictors, and ethical veganism as target, was partially mediated by empathy. This pattern of results suggests that individuals who hold egalitarian and inclusive views as regards human-human relationships also tend to have similar views as regards human-animal relationships, with empathy as an underlying common factor.

The well-established preference for people with typical faces over those with disfigured faces has several potential causes relating to perceptions of attractiveness, health, social skills, emotional stability, or contribution to society. The aim was to compare which of these facets of evaluation would have the stronger impact on the preference for typical faces over disfigured faces. A standard measure of unconscious associations, the implicit association test (IAT), was employed in two experiments (n = 110 and n = 153) with participants drawn from the local community of a major metropolitan area of the U.K. The IAT was implemented with different sets of words relating to the facets of attractiveness, health, social skills, emotional stability, and contribution, to investigate the association between these facets and the preference for typical over disfigured faces. A negative implicit association with facial disfigurement was observed for all facets in both experiments with no overall difference among the facets. There was reduced negativity for participants with personal 4 acquaintance for all facets except attractiveness, suggesting that evaluation of attractiveness follows a more direct route than the other facets. These results suggest a broad, general evaluative negativity associated with facial disfigurement, rather than a negativity focused on particular fears or concerns. This implication is that interventions need not focus on any particular aspect of personality or ability as any positive presentation of people with facial disfigurement would enhance perceptions.

Previous research supports the categorical perception of faces on dimensions including emotion, identity, and gender. Two experiments using standard paradigms investigated whether facial disfigurement forms another perceptual category. In the Identification task, faces were presented in varying degrees of disfigurement for a simple disfigured / non-disfigured decision. As degree of disfigurement increased, the percentage of participants defining each image as disfigured increased non-linearly such that a cubic curve provided the best fit to the data, consistent with categorical perception (Experiment 1 and 2). In the ABX task, participants displayed superior discrimination between two faces when they crossed the category boundary between non-disfigured and disfigured (Experiment 1 and participants low in Disgust Sensitivity in Experiment 2). Participants high in Disgust Sensitivity (Experiment 2) showed a pattern that suggested the category boundary was shifted towards earlier perception of disfigurement. Overall, the results suggest categorical perception of facial disfigurement.

Can a brief personal narrative by an individual with facial disfigurement enhance perceptions of their skills and personality? Participants (n = 224) mainly from Europe and the USA completed the study online. Four experimental conditions presented either a video clip or the audio soundtrack, relating either a positive message or a message about overcoming adversity. In the control condition, participants viewed a still facial photograph. Evaluations of sociability and resilience, emotional stability, leadership, and success in forming relationships, and expectations regarding future interactions, were all enhanced by the personal narratives compared to the still photograph. Experimental conditions did not differ from each other. It appears that a brief online intervention can be effective in encouraging future contact with individuals with facial disfigurement.

Extralegal factors such as accent status, race and age may affect how someone is perceived in courtrooms. Even eyewitnesses who are not on trial may be rated less favorably as a result of such features. The current study measured accent status, race and age with 254 participants listening to oral witness statements. Results indicate eyewitnesses with higher-status accents were rated more favorably than those with lower-status accents and younger black eyewitnesses were rated higher than older black witnesses. White eyewitnesses were more favorably rated than black witnesses although this was qualified by results suggesting anti-norm deviance. The findings provide the criminal justice system with reasons to question how interactions among witness characteristics and with observer characteristics may influence court decisions.

Objective: There are several existing questionnaires measuring paranormal or scientifically unsubstantiated beliefs but none give comprehensive cover of a broad spectrum of beliefs while also being up-to-date. There is also a debate about the number of separate types of belief. Thereby, reported here is the development and validation of a new multidimensional questionnaire measure of scientifically unsubstantiated beliefs in the general UK population. Method & results: In Study 1, participants (N=393) completed a questionnaire containing a pool of 82 items covering nine facets of belief discernible conceptually within the existing research literature. Scree analysis followed by exploratory factor analysis indicated the existence of four empirically observable factors: belief in supernatural forces; belief in God and destiny; belief in alien visitation, monsters and conspiracies; and belief in consciousness beyond the body. Twenty-four items were selected as measures of these factors. Studies 2, 3 and 4 demonstrated the convergent and divergent validity of the four empirically-derived questionnaire subscales and their internal reliability. Conclusion: The resultant new Multi-dimensional Questionnaire of Scientifically Unsubstantiated Beliefs (MQSUB) is a psychometrically robust measure and comprises a comprehensive framework which can be used to systematically investigate the psychological and social concomitants of such beliefs.

Facial disfigurement attracts attention and evokes negative emotion, but evidence is lacking for a link between these two reactions. The present experiment (n = 29) investigated emotional and attentional reactions to photographs of people with disfigured faces. An eye-tracker was used to measure fixation on internal expressive features and on the forehead. Disfigurement to the internal expressive features invoked a stronger emotional reaction than disfigurement to the forehead. Attention in the area of disfigurement was associated with negative emotion (embarrassment, sympathy, disgust, repulsion) as well as surprise. Attention to the disfigurement, and negative emotion, was related to the trait of Disgust Sensitivity.

Previous research has shown that lay believers in psychic abilities are more prone to intuitive thinking, less inclined to rational thinking, and have an external locus of control, compared to non-believers. Psychic practitioners, however, may have different characteristics. Psychic practitioners ( n = 31; M age = 42.7 yr., SD = 13.1), lay believers ( n = 33; M age = 33.0 yr., SD = 10.3), and non-believers ( n = 31; M age = 34.4 yr., SD = 15.4) completed questionnaires measuring thinking styles, locus of control, and psychic belief. Comparisons of lay believers with non-believers confirmed previous observations: believers had a higher propensity for intuitive thinking, lower propensity for rational thinking, and more external locus of control. In contrast, practitioners were equivalent to non-believers in rational thinking and had the highest internal locus of control. This highlights the importance of considering level of involvement with psychic practice in understanding the thinking styles of believers. Results suggested that practitioners may have rationalized their beliefs and constructed a coherent model of psychic phenomena that satisfies a propensity for rational thinking within a community of belief.