Your Daily digest for PsyPost – Psychology News Daily Digest (Unofficial)

[Article Digests for Psychology & Social Work]

PsyPost – Psychology News Daily Digest (Unofficial)

 

(https://www.psypost.org/adults-and-children-judge-coincidences-differently-study-reveals/) Adults and children judge coincidences differently, study reveals
Aug 15th 2024, 10:00

Coincidences—unexpected confluences of events that seemingly defy probability—captivate people across cultures and ages. New research published in (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2024.105854) Cognition sheds light on the cognitive mechanisms underpinning the recognition of coincidences and how these mechanisms evolve as we grow older.
The cognitive mechanisms involved in representing coincidences are thought to be part of broader causal reasoning processes. Research suggests that even preschool-aged children demonstrate flexible causal reasoning abilities, adjusting their inferences based on how data is generated and exploring more when causal relationships are ambiguous. Despite these early-emerging capacities, it remains unclear whether young children can distinguish between mere coincidences and causally linked events, as adults do.
Experiment 1 involved 117 English-speaking adults aged 18 to 74 recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk and Prolific. Participants read eight short vignettes, each describing a set of co-occurring events. The vignettes were designed to either include or exclude information that could potentially explain the co-occurrences.
The number of co-occurring events also varied across vignettes, with scenarios involving two, three, a few, or all events co-occurring. For each vignette, participants rated how surprising they found the events (on a 4-point scale), whether they considered the events to be a coincidence and whether they believed there was a reason for the co-occurrence (on binary scales). Participants’ demographic information and responses to additional exploratory questions about belief in supernatural powers, religious practices, and frequency of noticing coincidences were also collected.
Qiong Cao and Lisa Feigenson found that judgments of coincidences were influenced by the presence of explanations and the number of co-occurring events. Participants were more likely to judge events as coincidences when no explanations were provided. When explanations were present, they were more likely to believe there was a reason for the events’ co-occurrence and rated the events as less surprising. When no explanation was available, coincidence ratings initially increased with the number of co-occurring events but then decreased when all events co-occurred, suggesting that too many co-occurrences prompted them to infer an underlying causal explanation.
Experiment 2 involved 94 children aged 4 to 10 years, tested in a university child development laboratory or a local science museum. The vignettes used in Study 1 were adapted for children, with the number of vignettes reduced to four to maintain attention. The vignettes varied in the presence of potential explanations and the number of co-occurring events, similar to the adult study. They were read aloud by an experimenter, accompanied by simple illustrations to help children understand the events. After each vignette, children rated how surprising they found the events using a pictorial scale featuring cartoon faces and answered whether they thought the events were a coincidence and if there was a reason for the co-occurrence.
The results indicated that even the youngest children were sensitive to the presence of explanations, showing a basic understanding of coincidences. When no explanations were provided, children were more likely to judge the events as coincidences, believe there was no reason for the events’ co-occurrence, and find the events more surprising.
However, only older children (7 to 10 years old) showed sensitivity to the number of co-occurring events similar to adults. Older children’s coincidence ratings initially increased with the number of co-occurring events but decreased when all events co-occurred, whereas younger children (4 to 7 years old) did not show this sensitivity.
These findings suggest that the cognitive mechanisms underlying coincidence recognition are present early in life but become more refined with age and experience.
One limitation noted by the authors is the reliance on verbal explanations and judgments, which might have influenced younger children’s responses due to their developing language skills.
The research, “(https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2024.105854) Children’s Representation of Coincidence”, was authored by Qiong Cao and Lisa Feigenson.

(https://www.psypost.org/barbie-movie-appears-to-have-sparked-a-huge-surge-of-interest-in-gynecology-study-suggests/) Barbie movie appears to have sparked a huge surge of interest in gynecology, study suggests
Aug 15th 2024, 08:00

The “Barbie” movie, a cultural sensation upon its release in July 2023, may have done more than just entertain. According to a recent study published in (https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.24658) JAMA Network Open, the film appears to have sparked a significant increase in public interest surrounding gynecologic care, all thanks to the film’s closing line, where Barbie says, “I’m here to see my gynecologist.”
Researchers found that in the week following the movie’s release, there was a marked rise in online searches for terms related to gynecologists, suggesting that the film might have played a role in boosting awareness about women’s health issues.
The researchers were intrigued by the potential impact of popular culture on health behavior. Given the massive reach of the “Barbie” movie, which sold 12.8 million tickets during its debut weekend alone, the researchers hypothesized that the film’s closing line, where Barbie declares her intent to see a gynecologist, might have encouraged viewers to learn more about gynecologic care.
“We’ve been interested in some of the important, yet often unrecognized, influences of various aspects of daily life on public health. Pop culture is one of them,” said study author Christopher Worsham, a critical care physician at Mass General Hospital, professor at Harvard Medical School, and the co-author of (https://amzn.to/3YLxk2F) Random Acts of Medicine: The Hidden Forces That Sway Doctors, Impact Patients, and Shape Our Health and the (https://www.randomactsofmedicine.com/) Random Acts of Medicine newsletter.
“We’ve seen examples in the past of increased colonoscopies after Katie Couric broadcast hers live on TV, increases in BRCA gene mutation testing after Angelina Jolie wrote an op-ed in the New York Times, and concerning increases in youth suicide and online searches about methods of suicide after the show 13 Reasons Why was released on Netflix. The ‘Barbie’ movie was so popular last year, and it concluded with this unique joke where Barbie enthusiastically shows up for her gynecologist’s appointment, and we thought maybe this might increase interest in gynecologists.”
To explore the impact of “Barbie”’s closing line, the researchers conducted a cross-sectional study analyzing online search trends in the United States. They focused on a list of 34 search queries that were related to gynecologic care, women’s health, or medical care in general.
These queries were divided into categories such as “gynecologist,” “gynecologist definition,” “gynecologist appointment,” “women’s health,” “doctor,” and “doctor’s appointment.” This categorization allowed the researchers to pinpoint any changes specifically related to gynecology while also checking for broader trends in health-related searches that could serve as control data.
The researchers used data from Google Trends and Glimpse to track weekly online search trends from a year before the movie’s release up to three months afterward. This timeline helped them establish a baseline of search activity before the movie’s influence and then compare it to search behavior after the film was released on July 21, 2023. By using statistical methods, including autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models, they predicted what search volumes should have been without the movie’s influence and then compared these predictions to the actual observed search volumes.
In the week following the release of the “Barbie” movie, there was a 51.3% increase in searches for terms related to “gynecologist” and a 154.1% increase in searches for “gynecologist definition.” These spikes were statistically significant and pointed to a sudden surge of interest in understanding what a gynecologist is and what they do.
“We were surprised to find that there was a measurable effect of a single joke in a 2 hour long comedy movie,” Worsham told PsyPost. “When we did some research into the film, we read that (https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2023/07/22/barbie-moving-ending-spoilers/70429263007/) one of director Greta Gerwig’s goals with the final line of the movie was to make it clear that gynecological care is normal, and so it was fun that we were able to find concrete evidence that it was effective in some way.”
Interestingly, while there was a clear increase in informational searches, there was no corresponding rise in searches for “gynecologist appointment.” This suggests that while people were curious or perhaps more informed about gynecology, this interest did not immediately translate into actions like scheduling appointments.
Furthermore, the study found no significant changes in search terms related to broader health interests, such as “doctor” or “doctor’s appointment.” This lack of change in unrelated health searches reinforces the idea that the spike in gynecologist-related searches was specifically tied to the “Barbie” movie.
“We didn’t see spikes in searches for gynecological care, gynecologist appointments, women’s health care, or medical care more broadly,” Worsham said. “Taken together, it was evidence that a single joke in a comedy movie could have a significant impact on the public’s knowledge of health care — presumably, many of these searches were by people who didn’t know what a gynecologist was or did — even if we didn’t see it immediately translate into searches for gynecological care.”
While the findings of this study are intriguing, there are important limitations to consider. One of the primary limitations is the reliance on search trends as a measure of public interest and behavior.
“One thing we don’t know is who was making these searches,” Worsham noted. “When we submitted the paper for peer review, one of the reviewers asked something along the lines of ‘How do we know it’s not a bunch of teenage boys who don’t know what a gynecologist is?’ Our response to that was, well, we don’t know—and it may well be a bunch of teenage boys making these searches. But wouldn’t it be great if thousands of teenage boys now knew what a gynecologist was, and that women have to see them for their unique health care needs?”
Looking ahead, the researchers expressed interest in continuing to study the broader impact of popular culture on public health.
“We’re always looking to uncover some of the hidden, yet important, aspects of our broader public health and health care systems,” Worsham said. “Like it or not, popular culture is part of our public health system, and this study adds to existing ones that make this clear. The unanswered questions moving forward are about the ways can we take advantage of this in ways that make people healthier.”
“I wanted to note that the lead author of this study, Eva Sénéchal, is an PhD student at McGill who worked on this as a side project!” he added.
The study, “(https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2821491) Online Search Interest in Gynecologists After the Release of the Film Barbie,” was authored by Eva Senechal, Charles F. Bray, Christopher M. Worsham, and Anupam B. Jena.

(https://www.psypost.org/conservatives-exhibit-greater-metacognitive-inefficiency-study-finds/) Conservatives exhibit greater metacognitive inefficiency, study finds
Aug 15th 2024, 06:00

A new study published in the (https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2025-10514-001.html) Journal of Experimental Psychology: General reveals an asymmetry in how people across the political spectrum perceive their ability to detect misinformation. While both liberals and conservatives show some awareness of their ability to judge the accuracy of political information, conservatives exhibit a notable weakness when faced with information that contradicts their political beliefs.
In other words, when confronted with news that goes against their political views, conservatives’ confidence in their judgments does not align well with their actual accuracy. This mismatch, or “metacognitive inefficiency,” suggests that conservatives are less aware of when they are wrong when the information contradicts their ideological commitments.
While much research has been done on people’s ability to distinguish between true and false political information, less attention has been paid to how aware people are of their own accuracy—or lack thereof—in making these judgments. This study sought to fill that gap by investigating whether people’s confidence in their truth judgments is justified, particularly in politically charged contexts.
“My interest in this topic stemmed from recent research showing that people tend to be metacognitively confused about politicized science,” said study author (https://michael-geers.com/) Michael Geers, a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. “Specifically, for some knowledge such as climate change and COVID-19, people are unaware of the accuracy and fallibility of their own knowledge, which has been dubbed metacognitive blind spots. This made me wonder if all population subgroups are equally prone to such metacognitive blind spots.”
To explore this, the researchers used data (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abf1234) from a longitudinal study involving 1,191 participants in the United States. The participants were recruited by YouGov and surveyed over six months, between February and July 2019. The sample was carefully matched to the broader U.S. population using stratified sampling, ensuring that it included a diverse range of ages, genders, education levels, and political ideologies.
Every two weeks, the researchers identified 20 viral political news stories that had garnered significant engagement on social media platforms, particularly Facebook and Twitter. These stories were selected for their virality and were evenly split between true and false information. The researchers then crafted concise statements summarizing the key claims of these articles, which were presented to the participants for evaluation.
For each statement, participants rated whether they believed it was true or false and then indicated how confident they were in their judgment. This two-step process allowed the researchers to measure both the accuracy of the participants’ judgments (i.e., whether they correctly identified true or false statements) and their metacognitive insight (i.e., whether their confidence accurately reflected the correctness of their judgments).
To determine the political slant of these statements, the researchers employed crowdworkers from Amazon Mechanical Turk. These crowdworkers, who identified as either Democrats or Republicans, rated how each statement would affect their feelings toward their political ingroup and outgroup if the statement were true. Based on these ratings, the statements were categorized as favoring either the Democratic or Republican party, or as neutral if no clear partisan benefit was identified.
Geers and his colleagues found that participants across the political spectrum generally demonstrated a good level of metacognitive insight, meaning that their confidence tended to align well with their ability to distinguish true from false information.
However, when it came to political statements that contradicted their ideological beliefs — referred to as discordant information — an asymmetry emerged. Conservatives and Republicans were found to have significantly lower metacognitive efficiency in these cases, indicating that they were less aware of whether they were right or wrong when judging the truthfulness of statements that challenged their political views.
“The key takeaway is that insight into political knowledge is asymmetrical,” Geers told PsyPost. “While generally, both liberals and conservatives tend to know when they are right or wrong, this metacognitive insight is substantially impaired for conservatives judging political information that challenges their ideological commitments.”
This asymmetry was particularly pronounced among individuals with extreme conservative views, who showed the greatest difficulty in accurately assessing the correctness of their judgments when confronted with discordant information. This suggests that, while people generally have a good sense of their ability to detect misinformation, this ability falters among conservatives when the information is ideologically challenging.
“It is interesting that conservatives show such low metacognitive insight for statements at odds with their ideology,” Geers said. “Notably, our analyses control for people’s level of knowledge. So, while conservatives already have a hard time judging these discordant statements, they really seem to be unaware of how well they’re doing—above and beyond what is to be expected based on their level of knowledge.”
But the study, like all research, includes some caveats. One limitation is that the study focused primarily on political misinformation in the United States and on statements that were selected based on their virality. This means the findings may not fully generalize to other countries, cultural contexts, or to different types of information, such as non-political misinformation.
“We don’t know whether our results generalize to other knowledge domains beyond politics,” Geers noted. “Similarly, future research may investigate whether political preferences are equally linked to metacognitive insight in countries other than the United States.”
The study, “(https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001600) The Political (A)Symmetry of Metacognitive Insight Into Detecting Misinformation,” was authored by Michael Geers, Helen Fischer, Stephan Lewandowsky, and Stefan M. Herzog.

(https://www.psypost.org/breakthrough-brain-computer-interface-allows-man-with-als-to-speak-again/) Breakthrough brain-computer interface allows man with ALS to speak again
Aug 14th 2024, 17:00

In a groundbreaking development at UC Davis Health, researchers have introduced a brain-computer interface (BCI) that can translate brain signals into speech with remarkable precision, achieving up to 97% accuracy. This cutting-edge technology offers a ray of hope for individuals with severe speech impairments caused by neurological conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a devastating neurological disorder that progressively robs individuals of their ability to move, speak, and eventually breathe. As the disease advances, it destroys the nerve cells that control voluntary muscle movements, leading to complete paralysis and a loss of speech. For those affected, the inability to communicate can be one of the most isolating and demoralizing aspects of the disease.
But now, thanks to this innovative BCI, communication barriers are being dismantled. This system works by interpreting the brain’s speech-related signals and converting them into text, which is then vocalized by a computer. The breakthrough was highlighted in a study published today in the (http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2314132) New England Journal of Medicine.
Restoring Communication for ALS Patients
The new technology has been developed with the primary goal of restoring the ability to communicate for people who have lost their speech due to paralysis or neurological conditions. The BCI functions by detecting brain activity when the user attempts to speak. It then translates these signals into text that can be read aloud by a computer. This remarkable feat of engineering was spearheaded by a team at UC Davis, led by neurosurgeon David Brandman and neuroscientist Sergey Stavisky.
“Our BCI technology helped a man with paralysis to communicate with friends, families, and caregivers,” said Brandman, who is an assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Neurological Surgery and co-director of the UC Davis Neuroprosthetics Lab. “Our paper demonstrates the most accurate speech neuroprosthesis ever reported.”
The system’s accuracy and speed set it apart from previous efforts in the field, which often required extensive training periods and delivered inconsistent results. This new BCI offers nearly real-time communication, an achievement that has profound implications for the quality of life of patients like Casey Harrell, a 45-year-old man with ALS who participated in the study.
Casey Harrell’s Journey with the BCI
Casey Harrell, who suffers from ALS, was enrolled in the BrainGate clinical trial to test the new BCI. At the time of his enrollment, Harrell had significant weakness in his limbs and his speech was barely understandable. Communicating required others to interpret his words, which was a slow and often frustrating process.
In July 2023, Brandman implanted the BCI device into Harrell’s brain. The device consists of four microelectrode arrays placed in the left precentral gyrus, a region of the brain involved in coordinating speech. These arrays record brain activity from 256 cortical electrodes, capturing the neural commands intended for speech.
“We’re really detecting their attempt to move their muscles and talk,” explained Stavisky, who is also an assistant professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery and co-director of the UC Davis Neuroprosthetics Lab. “We are recording from the part of the brain that’s trying to send these commands to the muscles. And we’re basically listening into that, and we’re translating those patterns of brain activity into a phoneme — like a syllable or the unit of speech — and then the words they’re trying to say.”
(Credit: UC Regents)
A Leap Forward in BCI Technology
The BCI system used by Harrell showed unprecedented results right from the start. During the initial speech data training session, it took just 30 minutes to achieve 99.6% word accuracy with a 50-word vocabulary. This was a significant leap forward compared to previous systems, which often struggled with accuracy and required extensive training periods.
The system was tested in both prompted and spontaneous conversational settings, decoding speech in real time. In the second session, the vocabulary size was increased dramatically to 125,000 words, and the BCI still maintained a 90.2% accuracy rate with only 1.4 additional hours of training. With ongoing use, the system has consistently delivered a remarkable 97.5% accuracy.
This level of accuracy is better than many commercial smartphone applications designed to interpret spoken language. For Harrell, this means that he can now communicate more effectively than ever before, using a system that not only understands his intended words but also speaks them in a voice that sounds like his own, before ALS robbed him of speech.
“The first time we tried the system, he cried with joy as the words he was trying to say correctly appeared on-screen. We all did,” Stavisky recounted. The emotional impact of being able to communicate again cannot be understated, especially for someone who has experienced the frustration and isolation that come with losing the ability to speak.
A New Era of Communication for ALS Patients
Over the course of the study, Harrell used the BCI in 84 data collection sessions spanning 32 weeks. He spent over 248 hours communicating with the help of this technology, both in person and over video chats. The ability to engage in conversations again has been life-changing for Harrell, who expressed his gratitude for the technology that has given him back his voice.
“Not being able to communicate is so frustrating and demoralizing. It is like you are trapped,” Harrell said. “Something like this technology will help people back into life and society.”
For the researchers involved, seeing the impact of their work on Harrell’s life has been deeply rewarding. “It has been immensely rewarding to see Casey regain his ability to speak with his family and friends through this technology,” said the study’s lead author, Nicholas Card, a postdoctoral scholar in the UC Davis Department of Neurological Surgery.
Leigh Hochberg, a neurologist and neuroscientist involved in the BrainGate trial, praised Harrell and other participants for their contributions to this groundbreaking research. “Casey and our other BrainGate participants are truly extraordinary. They deserve tremendous credit for joining these early clinical trials,” Hochberg said. “They do this not because they’re hoping to gain any personal benefit, but to help us develop a system that will restore communication and mobility for other people with paralysis.”
The Future of BCI Technology
This study represents a significant milestone in the development of BCIs for speech restoration. The technology, still in its investigational phase, shows great promise not only for ALS patients but also for individuals with other conditions that result in speech impairment, such as spinal cord injuries or strokes.
As the technology continues to evolve, the hope is that it will become widely available to help those who have lost their ability to communicate due to neurological conditions. The UC Davis team is committed to further refining the system, making it faster, more accurate, and easier to use.
“Honestly, the reason this is so transformative is that it provides hope for people living with these kinds of diseases,” Brandman said. “I hope that technology like this speech BCI will help future patients speak with their family and friends.”
For patients like Casey Harrell, who are currently benefiting from this technology, the ability to communicate again is not just a medical achievement; it’s a return to life, a reconnection with the world, and a restoration of dignity.
“I hope that we are at a time when everyone who is like me will have the same opportunity as I do to have a device like this that will help them communicate,” Harrell said. “Let’s all make that happen, okay?”

(https://www.psypost.org/new-research-connects-dark-personality-traits-with-political-violence-in-multiple-countries/) New research connects dark personality traits with political violence in multiple countries
Aug 14th 2024, 14:00

Political violence has increasingly become a troubling feature in democracies worldwide, from the storming of the U.S. Capitol to assassination attempts against political figures in Brazil and Argentina. This rising tide of violence underscores the importance of understanding its root causes, particularly the role of individual personality traits.
A new study, one of the first to systematically explore this topic across multiple countries, has found that individuals with darker personality traits are more likely to support political violence. These findings, published in (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019188692400254X) Personality and Individual Differences, could have significant implications for addressing the underpinnings of radicalization and politically motivated violence in various socio-political contexts.
The study was driven by a key question: Are certain personality traits linked to a person’s willingness to support political violence? Previous research has connected personality traits like sensation seeking, uncertainty, and aggressiveness to radical political attitudes. However, most studies have been limited to single countries, raising questions about whether these findings are universal or context-specific.
Furthermore, much of this research focused on the “Big Five” personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) neglecting other significant personality dimensions, particularly the so-called “dark triad” traits of narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism. This study aimed to fill these gaps by examining the role of both standard and dark personality traits in supporting political violence across multiple countries.
“We have been investigating the intersection of dark personality and politics for a few years (see for example, (https://amzn.to/3ysyk1d) our recent book on the dark personality traits of politicians worldwide, and the consequences for democracy),” said study author (https://www.alessandro-nai.com/) Alessandro Nai, an associate professor of political communication at the University of Amsterdam.
“One of the main symptoms of the increased radicalization of politics worldwide is the deepening divide between ideological camps – which can result in expressions of politically motivated violence. Yet, the deep roots of such negative radical partisanship have not been sufficiently investigated. Is support for politically-motivated violence linked to who we are deep down, that is, beyond politics and ideology? This is what we aim at investigating in our paper.”
The researchers conducted two studies. The first was a large-scale survey across five countries—Argentina, Australia, Germany, Italy, and the United States—with a total sample of over 10,000 participants. The second study focused specifically on U.S. respondents and explored the dark personality traits in more depth.
In the first study, participants completed a personality assessment based on the HEXACO model, which measures six major dimensions of personality: honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience. To measure support for political violence, participants read a fictional news article describing a politically motivated violent act—ranging in severity from a punch to a shooting—and were asked how much they agreed with statements supporting the violent act.
The second study replicated the approach with a sample of U.S. respondents, but with an increased focus on the dark personality traits. Participants were assessed using the “Dirty Dozen” inventory, which measures the dark triad of personality: narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism. They then read a vignette about a violent act committed by someone who supported their political party and were asked to express their level of support for this act.
Across both studies, the researchers found that individuals with darker personality traits were more likely to support political violence. In the multi-country study, low honesty-humility was the most consistent predictor of support for political violence, especially in Australia and the United States. This trait involves a lack of sincerity, fairness, and modesty, all of which were linked to a greater acceptance of violence against political opponents.
“We did find some interesting differences across countries – for instance, the role of low honesty-humility to drive support for political violence upwards is much stronger in Australia and the USA, and weaker in Germany and Italy,” Nai told PsyPost. “We do not really know (not have investigated) why this might be the case, but such cross-country differences are certainly worth keeping in mind for future research. Such differences suggest, furthermore, that caution ought to be used when reporting results from single country studies.”
In the U.S.-focused study, psychopathy emerged as a particularly strong predictor. Individuals with higher levels of psychopathy — a personality trait characterized by impulsivity, lack of remorse, and antisocial behavior — showed significantly higher support for politically motivated violence. Machiavellianism, marked by manipulativeness and a cynical view of human nature, also played a significant role.
“Politically-motivated violence is a political expression – that is, it reflects underlying partisan animosity, such a profound dislike for the political opponents, but that does not imply that its roots are exclusively political,” Nai told PsyPost. “Indeed, what we show is that some individuals are, deep down, particularly predisposed to support political violence. This is the case for individual scoring high on dark personality traits, psychopathy in particular. Given the impulsive and callous component of psychopathy, this makes sense.”
Interestingly, while the study confirmed that these dark traits are linked to higher support for political violence, the overall level of support for such acts was low across the board. This suggests that while dark traits may increase the likelihood of supporting political violence, this support is still relatively uncommon.
While the study offers important insights, it also has limitations that must be considered. First, the research focuses on attitudes and opinions rather than actual behavior. Supporting a violent act in theory and committing one in reality are very different, and this study does not explore the factors that might lead someone to move from support to action.
“A major caveat is that our research does not inform about engaging in political violence – only, at this stage, about supporting politically motivated violent act,” Nai said. “That is, our research is about opinions and attitudes, not about behaviors. And while the former are an important driver of the latter, they are by far not the same. Supporting a violent act and committing one are very different things – and further research will have to strive to uncover the deep roots of violent behaviors.”
“In the long term, we aim at uncovering the interplay between deep predispositions towards political violence (like here, the role of dark personality traits) and the contextual conditions in which political violence might unfold, with an eye specifically to the driving role of elite rhetoric to activate such deep dispositions,” Nai explained. “In other words, what we would like to uncover is the role of political rhetoric (e.g., when candidates use nasty political attacks or political incivility) to activate individual predispositions towards political violence in the public.”
“We know already that nasty campaigns can increase affective polarization in the public (e.g, (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261379424000039) this piece): do we find a similar effect for politically motivated violence as well? And what are the underlying mechanisms of this effect, if any?”
The study, “(https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2024.112794) They choose violence. Dark personality traits drive support for politically motivated violence in five democracies,” was authored by Alessandro Nai and Elizabeth L. Young.

(https://www.psypost.org/higher-blood-interferon-gamma-levels-are-associated-with-later-suicidal-ideas/) Higher blood interferon-gamma levels are associated with later suicidal ideas
Aug 14th 2024, 12:00

A study conducted in France has linked higher levels of interferon-gamma (IFN-𝛾) in the blood to the later occurrence of suicidal thoughts. Additionally, elevated interferon-gamma levels and reduced orexin-A levels were associated with increased depression severity and anxiety symptoms. The findings were published in (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2024.107119) Psychoneuroendocrinology.
Suicidal thoughts, clinically known as suicidal ideation, often manifest in individuals experiencing severe depression. The intense emotional pain associated with depression can lead these individuals to view death as an escape from their suffering. The connection between depression and suicidal ideation is well established, with untreated or poorly managed depression recognized as a major risk factor for suicide.
However, not everyone with depression experiences suicidal thoughts. For those who do, immediate support and intervention are crucial, as they can literally mean the difference between life and death. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to detect suicidal ideation. Everyday interactions with individuals who have suicidal thoughts typically do not reveal the presence of these thoughts, making them hard to notice. This underscores the need for a more reliable way to detect or even predict suicidal ideation.
Study author Aiste Lengvenyte and her colleagues aimed to determine whether blood concentrations of proteins associated with inflammation, vascular homeostasis, growth, and sleep could predict suicidal ideation and depression severity six months later. They focused on a group of 32 proteins present in the blood.
The study involved 149 individuals seeking treatment for depression, who were recruited from an academic hospital in France between 2016 and 2018. These participants, aged 18 to 65, had been referred for consultation due to suicidal ideation, a suicide attempt, or depression. All participants were diagnosed with either major depressive disorder or bipolar disorder, with their most recent episode being depression. Of the participants, 71% were female, and their median age was 46 years.
At the start of the study, participants provided blood samples and completed a set of assessments, including an interview with a mental health professional. Suicidal ideation was assessed at the start of the study and again six months later using the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale. Additionally, a clinician rated the participants on the Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (IDS-30c) at both time points.
The results indicated that, at the start of the study, higher serotonin levels in blood plasma were associated with lower depression severity and reduced suicidal ideation. However, these serotonin levels were not linked to depression severity or suicidal ideation six months later.
Suicidal ideation six months after the study began was associated with interferon-gamma levels measured at the study’s start, as were atypical psychiatric symptoms. However, the correlation with atypical symptoms disappeared when tobacco and antidepressant use were considered.
Overall, after accounting for various factors that could confound the associations between blood biomarkers and psychiatric symptoms six months later, only the correlation between interferon-gamma levels at the study’s outset and later suicidal ideation remained significant.
Higher levels of interferon-gamma and lower levels of orexin-A at the start of the study were linked to more severe depression symptoms six months later. These levels were also associated with higher atypical and anxious symptom levels.
“These findings highlight the potential utility of peripheral blood biomarkers in identifying individuals at risk of unfavorable depression outcomes,” the study authors concluded.
The study explores the possibility of predicting suicidal ideation in advance using blood biomarkers. However, it is important to note that the dropout rate was high: while 149 participants provided data six months after the study began, 266 participants initially enrolled. This high attrition rate could have influenced the results.
The research, “(https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2024.107119) Baseline circulating biomarkers, their changes, and subsequent suicidal ideation and depression severity at 6 months: a prospective analysis in patients with mood disorders,” was authored by Aiste Lengvenyte, Fabrice Cognasse, Hind Hamzeh-Cognasse, Maude Sénèque, Robertas Strumila, Emilie Olié, and Philippe Courtet.

Forwarded by:
Michael Reeder LCPC
Baltimore, MD

This information is taken from free public RSS feeds published by each organization for the purpose of public distribution. Readers are linked back to the article content on each organization's website. This email is an unaffiliated unofficial redistribution of this freely provided content from the publishers. 

 

(#) unsubscribe from this feed
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.clinicians-exchange.org/pipermail/article-digests-clinicians-exchange.org/attachments/20240815/e26a0d3e/attachment.htm>