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<td><span style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:20px;font-weight:bold;">PsyPost – Psychology News Daily Digest (Unofficial)</span></td>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/caffeine-might-have-a-protective-role-against-alzheimers-disease/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Caffeine might have a protective role against Alzheimer’s disease</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 9th 2024, 10:00</div>
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<p><p>A study of individuals with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease in France found that participants who consumed less caffeine had 2.49 times higher odds of having amnestic mild cognitive impairment and worse levels of specific cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers associated with Alzheimer’s. The study was part of the ongoing BALTAZAR cohort and was published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.14169"><em>Alzheimer’s & Dementia</em></a>.</p>
<p>Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that profoundly affects memory, thinking, and behavior. It is the most common cause of dementia, particularly in older adults, though in rare cases, it can develop in younger people. Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by the buildup of abnormal clumps of protein fragments called amyloid-beta plaques and twisted fibers of tau protein, known as tau tangles, in the brain. These proteins disrupt the communication between brain cells and eventually lead to their death, causing cognitive decline and memory loss.</p>
<p>Early symptoms of Alzheimer’s often include difficulty remembering recent events or conversations. As the disease progresses, more severe symptoms emerge, including disorientation, confusion, difficulty speaking or writing, and changes in personality or mood. In advanced stages, individuals lose the ability to carry out everyday tasks, such as cooking or dressing, and require full-time care. Currently, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s, though there are treatments aimed at temporarily alleviating symptoms.</p>
<p>Study author David Blum and his colleagues wanted to explore the relationship between habitual caffeine intake and certain biomarkers related to Alzheimer’s disease in the cerebrospinal fluid—the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. These biomarkers include amyloid-beta and tau proteins, which are used to detect and monitor the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. The team also examined the differences in caffeine consumption between individuals with mild cognitive impairment, a condition that often precedes Alzheimer’s, and those who had already been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.</p>
<p>The study was part of the BALTAZAR cohort, a large, ongoing research project focusing on individuals with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers analyzed 263 participants: 147 with mild cognitive impairment and 116 with Alzheimer’s disease. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) participants were further categorized into two subtypes: amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), where memory loss is the primary issue, and non-amnestic mild cognitive impairment (naMCI), where other cognitive functions are primarily affected.</p>
<p>Participants in the study completed a detailed survey about their daily consumption of caffeine-containing items, such as coffee, tea, chocolate, or sodas. This survey was designed to assess each participant’s caffeine intake, which was calculated in milligrams per day. Alongside the caffeine survey, participants also provided blood samples and cerebrospinal fluid samples.</p>
<p>Cerebrospinal fluid was analyzed for key biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease, including total tau (tau), phosphorylated tau (p-tau181), amyloid-beta 1-42 (Aβ1-42), and amyloid-beta 1-40 (Aβ1-40). Elevated levels of tau and p-tau181 indicate brain cell damage and neurofibrillary tangles, which are associated with Alzheimer’s disease. On the other hand, lower levels of Aβ42, particularly in relation to Aβ40, are associated with the buildup of amyloid plaques, another indicator of Alzheimer’s disease progression.</p>
<p>Participants were categorized into two groups based on their caffeine consumption: a “low caffeine” group, with daily intake below 216 milligrams, and a “high caffeine” group, with daily intake above this amount. The researchers then compared the cognitive status and biomarker levels between these two groups.</p>
<p>Results showed that individuals who consumed lower amounts of caffeine had significantly higher odds of being categorized as amnestic, meaning they experienced memory-related impairments. Specifically, the odds of being diagnosed with amnestic mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s disease were 2.49 times higher for participants with lower caffeine consumption compared to those with higher intake. This suggests a potential protective effect of caffeine on memory, particularly in individuals at risk for or already diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.</p>
<p>When the researchers looked specifically at participants with mild cognitive impairment, they found that those with lower caffeine intake had 2.72 times higher odds of being classified as amnestic rather than non-amnestic. This finding suggests that caffeine consumption might be particularly relevant for memory-related issues.</p>
<p>In addition to cognitive outcomes, the study also found significant differences in cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers between high and low caffeine consumers. Participants who consumed less caffeine tended to have lower levels of Aβ42 and lower Aβ42/Aβ40 and Aβ42/p-tau181 ratios. These lower levels and ratios of Aβ42 are typically associated with increased amyloid plaque formation in the brain, a major hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. The results suggest that lower caffeine intake might be linked to greater amyloid burden, which is associated with faster disease progression.</p>
<p>“Our data support an association of lower caffeine consumption with a higher risk of being amnestic as well as with deleterious changes in CSF [cerebrospinal fluid] biomarkers of MCI [mild cognitive impairment] and AD [Alzheimer’s disease] patients,” the study authors concluded.</p>
<p>The study sheds light on the association between caffeine consumption and the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. However, it should be noted that the design of this study does not allow for any cause-and-effect conclusions to be drawn from the data. While it is possible that caffeine might have protective effects against the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, it is also possible that individuals in better cognitive health simply consume more caffeinated beverages (e.g., because they are better able to take care of themselves, including being better able to obtain and prepare the beverages they prefer).</p>
<p>The paper, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.14169">Association of caffeine consumption with cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease: A BALTAZAR cohort study,</a>” was authored by David Blum, Emeline Cailliau, Hélène Béhal, Jean-Sébastien Vidal, Constance Delaby, Luc Buée, Bernadette Allinquant, Audrey Gabelle, Stéphanie Bombois, Sylvain Lehmann, Susanna Schraen-Maschke, and Olivier Hanon.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/neuroscience-research-sheds-light-on-how-psilocybin-alters-spatial-awareness/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Neuroscience research sheds light on how psilocybin alters spatial awareness</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 9th 2024, 08:00</div>
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<p><p>The psychedelic substance psilocybin has long been known for its ability to alter perception and cognition, often leaving users feeling disoriented. A new study published in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.16558"><em>European Journal of Neuroscience</em></a> explores how this drug affects brain activity at the level of individual neurons. By studying mice navigating a virtual environment, researchers discovered that psilocybin disrupts the brain’s ability to encode spatial information, shedding light on why people under its influence often experience a distorted sense of space.</p>
<p>Psilocybin is a naturally occurring compound found in certain types of mushrooms, often referred to as “magic mushrooms.” When ingested, it is converted in the body to psilocin, which acts on serotonin receptors in the brain, particularly the serotonin 2A receptor. Psilocybin is known for its psychedelic effects, which include altered perception, mood, and cognition, as well as experiences of profound changes in the sense of self, space, and time. While traditionally used in religious or spiritual rituals, psilocybin has gained significant scientific interest in recent years due to its potential therapeutic effects on mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder.</p>
<p>Researchers are particularly interested in understanding how psilocybin works at a biological level. Studies using brain imaging in humans have shown that psychedelics like psilocybin disrupt the normal patterns of communication between different brain regions. These disruptions are thought to result in the altered states of consciousness that people experience when using the drug.</p>
<p>However, much of the existing research has been done using indirect measures like functional magnetic resonance imaging, which gives a broad overview of brain activity but doesn’t provide detailed information about how individual neurons are affected. This is where studies using animal models, such as this one, come into play—they allow scientists to explore the effects of psychedelics at the cellular level, offering a more precise understanding of how these substances impact brain function.</p>
<p>A specific focus was placed on the retrosplenial cortex, a brain region important for spatial orientation and navigation. Some neurons in this area respond to specific locations in an environment, similar to “place cells” in the hippocampus, which are critical for forming a mental map of one’s surroundings. The researchers wanted to see how psilocybin would impact this spatial encoding, potentially explaining why people on psychedelics often report changes in their sense of location.</p>
<p>“Psychedelics have profound effects on mental function, but we still don’t know much about how they affect information processing performed by groups of neurons,” said study author Aaron J. Gruber, a neuroscience professor at the University of Lethbridge. “Advances in cellular-level imaging in animals and computational analysis allow us to study how drugs affect the dynamical encoding of information in populations of neurons. We recorded neurons in a brain region important for forming a mental representation of the spatial environment.”</p>
<p>The study used ten adult mice that were genetically modified to allow for the visualization of neural activity through imaging techniques. Each mouse was trained to run on a treadmill in a head-fixed position, where they navigated a belt with specific tactile, visual, and auditory cues. The treadmill was designed to simulate a virtual environment, with rewards given after completing laps. This setup allowed the researchers to record and analyze the activity of neurons in the retrosplenial cortex as the mice performed the task.</p>
<p>After the mice were trained, the researchers conducted imaging sessions to monitor brain activity. They recorded the baseline neural activity in each mouse, then administered either psilocybin or a saline solution. The psilocybin was given at a dose of 15 mg/kg, and the mice were recorded again to compare neural activity before and after the drug administration. In some trials, the mice were pre-treated with a drug called ketanserin, which blocks the serotonin 2A receptor (a key receptor involved in psychedelic effects), to see if this would alter psilocybin’s impact.</p>
<p>The neural activity was measured using two-photon imaging, a sophisticated technique that allows researchers to observe the activity of hundreds of neurons simultaneously. The researchers focused on how neurons encoded the mouse’s position on the treadmill belt and analyzed the stability of this spatial encoding across trials.</p>
<p>The results showed that psilocybin had a profound effect on the neurons in the retrosplenial cortex. Normally, many neurons in this brain region are active when the mouse passes specific locations on the treadmill belt. However, after psilocybin was administered, the specificity of these neurons to particular locations was significantly reduced. This means that the neurons were no longer as reliably activated by certain places, leading to a decrease in the brain’s ability to encode spatial information.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the stability of this place-related neural activity across multiple trials also decreased under the influence of psilocybin. In other words, the neurons were less consistent in how they responded to specific locations from one lap of the treadmill to the next. This instability in spatial encoding likely mirrors the sense of disorientation and altered perception of space that people often experience when using psychedelics.</p>
<p>Another key finding was that psilocybin reduced the coordination, or functional correlation, between neurons. Neurons that usually fire together when encoding spatial information became less synchronized, suggesting that psilocybin disrupted the normal communication patterns within the retrosplenial cortex. This reduction in coordinated neural activity supports the idea that psychedelics increase the randomness, or entropy, of neural signaling.</p>
<p>“Psilocybin administration temporarily impaired the coordinated brain activity that tracks the animal’s position in an environment,” Gruber told PsyPost. “If something similar occurs in humans, it may help account for the altered sense of time and space frequently reported during psychedelic use.”</p>
<p>The role of serotonin in these effects was confirmed by the experiments involving ketanserin. When the mice were pre-treated with ketanserin before receiving psilocybin, the changes in neural activity patterns were largely prevented. This indicates that the serotonin 2A receptor is a key player in mediating psilocybin’s effects on the brain.</p>
<p>“Several recent high-profile reports indicate that psychedelics promote synapse formation,” Gruber noted. “We therefore expected that the high-dose psilocybin administration we used would cause a lasting change in information processing that we could detect days after the last administration. We did not find evidence for lasting changes. This suggests that any changes in synaptic structure had a very subtle effect in the neocortical brain region we investigated.”</p>
<p>“We previously tested the effects of the non-classic psychedelic ibogaine on the same task and setup. The effects of ibogaine and psilocybin were qualitatively similar, but ibogaine had much stronger acute effects. Ibogaine also did not have obvious long-term effects on the brain activity we investigated.”</p>
<p>While this study sheds light on how psilocybin affects neural activity in a specific brain region, there are several limitations to consider. First, the experiment was conducted on mice, so the findings may not fully translate to humans. While the retrosplenial cortex plays a similar role in spatial navigation across species, human experiences with psychedelics are more complex and involve higher-order cognitive functions that go beyond basic spatial encoding.</p>
<p>Moving forward, the researchers plan to explore how psilocybin affects other brain regions, particularly those involved in motivation and decision-making, which are relevant to conditions like depression. Understanding the broader impact of psychedelics on brain networks could offer valuable insights into how these substances might be used in therapeutic settings to help treat mental health disorders.</p>
<p>“This research has several goals,” Gruber explained. “One is to use the profound effects of psychedelics on perception and brain function as a tool to understand how the brain normally processes information. We also want to understand how psychedelics may help treat illnesses like major depressive disorder. The current project investigated effects in a brain region involved in memory, orientation, and navigation. Future research will investigate other brain regions more directly associated with motivational components of depression.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ejn.16558" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Psilocybin reduces functional correlation and the encoding of spatial information by neurons in mouse retrosplenial cortex</a>,” was authored by Victorita E. Ivan, David P. Tomàs-Cuesta, Ingrid M. Esteves, Artur Luczak, Majid Mohajerani, Bruce L. McNaughton, and Aaron J. Gruber.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/scientists-reveal-the-causal-impact-of-conspiracy-theories-on-interpersonal-relationships-and-dating-success/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Scientists reveal the causal impact of conspiracy theories on personal relationships and dating success</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 9th 2024, 06:00</div>
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<p><p>New research from the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jasp.13061"><em>Journal of Applied Social Psychology</em></a> presents causal evidence that conspiracy beliefs can damage relationships. Using a series of experiments, the study found that when one person expresses conspiracy beliefs, relationship satisfaction decreases—unless both individuals hold similar beliefs. The study moves beyond correlation, offering proof that the endorsement of conspiracy theories can impact the quality of interpersonal connections.</p>
<p>The motivation for the research stems from growing concerns about how conspiracy beliefs, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic and surrounding political movements like QAnon, appear to strain interpersonal relationships. While anecdotal evidence suggests that conspiracy beliefs can lead to relationship breakdowns, there has been limited empirical research on this phenomenon.</p>
<p>“As a member of <a href="https://research.kent.ac.uk/conspiracy-fx/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the CONSPIRACY_FX research group</a>, my current research interests are mainly focused on the consequences of conspiracy beliefs,” said study author Daniel Toribio-Flórez, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Kent’s School of Psychology. “One of the most pervasive consequences refers to the effect that conspiracy beliefs seem to have in the interpersonal relationships of some people.”</p>
<p>“Our main motivation to further examine this issue was the growing amount of anecdotal evidence about people who, by contacting us directly or posting in online media, reported having experienced a substantial erosion of their relationships with parents, friends, or partners who started to believe in specific conspiracy theories (especially, during the COVID-19 pandemic or the evolution of the QAnon movement). Thus, we decided it was necessary to test more systematically whether an association between conspiracy beliefs and people’s perceived satisfaction in their interpersonal relationships existed.”</p>
<p>The research involved two pilot studies and five main studies, which included both correlational and experimental approaches.</p>
<p>In Pilot Studies 1 and 2, the researchers aimed to gather preliminary evidence on the association between conspiracy beliefs and relationship satisfaction. The pilot studies included 447 U.K. participants recruited via Prolific, an online research platform, and used a correlational design to explore how individuals’ perceptions of others’ conspiracy beliefs might relate to their satisfaction in those relationships.</p>
<p>Both pilot studies found evidence of a negative association between belief in conspiracy theories and relationship satisfaction. In other words, participants reported lower satisfaction with alters who they perceived as conspiracy believers. These preliminary findings provided support for the hypothesis that conspiracy beliefs could negatively affect interpersonal relationships, especially when beliefs were not shared within the relationship.</p>
<p>Study 1 was a conceptual replication of one of the pilot studies, designed to further examine the association between conspiracy beliefs and relationship satisfaction. The researchers recruited 201 participants. Each participant was asked to provide data on two people from their social network. Participants were instructed to think of one person who they believed endorsed conspiracy theories (the “conspiracy believer”) and one person who they believed did not endorse such theories (the “non-believer”).</p>
<p>After identifying these individuals, participants were asked to rate their relationship satisfaction with each of them. Additionally, participants rated their relational, emotional, and attitudinal closeness with each person. These dimensions of closeness were rated on separate 100-point scales, helping the researchers differentiate between how participants felt emotionally connected to the person, how close they felt to them overall, and how aligned they were in their attitudes.</p>
<p>In line with the pilot studies, participants reported significantly lower relationship satisfaction with the person they perceived to hold conspiracy beliefs, compared to the non-believer. Additionally, participants felt less attitudinal and relational closeness with the conspiracy believer, suggesting that differences in attitudes, especially related to conspiracy theories, might strain relationships.</p>
<p>An important finding was that the degree of this effect depended on the participants’ own conspiracy beliefs: those with weaker conspiracy beliefs showed a much stronger negative association between others’ conspiracy beliefs and their relationship satisfaction.</p>
<p>“Our results suggest that there is indeed an association between conspiracy beliefs and relationship satisfaction, yet this association depends on whether or not conspiracy beliefs are shared within a relationship,” Toribio-Flórez told PsyPost.</p>
<p>However, the findings thus far only established a correlation between perceiving someone as a conspiracy believer and lower relationship satisfaction. To explore the causal impact of conspiracy beliefs on relationships, the researchers designed subsequent studies using experimental methods. This allowed them to directly manipulate the expression of conspiracy beliefs and observe its effect on relationship satisfaction.</p>
<p>Study 2 employed an experimental design to further explore how the explicit expression of conspiracy beliefs by someone in a participant’s social network might affect relationship satisfaction. A larger sample of 801 participants was recruited. The study followed a pre-post design where participants first listed one person from their social network without being prompted to think about conspiracy beliefs. They then rated their existing relationship satisfaction with that person using the Relationship Assessment Scale and completed measures of relational and attitudinal closeness.</p>
<p>Participants were then randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions. In one condition, participants were asked to imagine a scenario where the person they had listed explicitly endorsed a conspiracy theory during a conversation (the “pro-conspiracy” condition). In the other condition, participants were asked to imagine the person explicitly rejecting the conspiracy theory (the “anti-conspiracy” condition). After imagining this interaction, participants re-evaluated their relationship satisfaction and closeness with the person.</p>
<p>The findings showed that participants anticipated a decline in relationship satisfaction when they imagined the person endorsing conspiracy theories, particularly among participants with weaker conspiracy beliefs. Participants in the anti-conspiracy condition, where the person opposed the conspiracy theory, did not show a significant change in their relationship satisfaction.</p>
<p>Studies 3a and 3b expanded on the findings from Study 2 by introducing additional measures of behavioral reactions and trust to understand how people expected to behave or be treated when someone in their social network endorsed conspiracy beliefs. Study 3a recruited 310 undergraduate students, while Study 3b recruited 300 participants from the general public via Prolific to ensure the results applied to a broader population.</p>
<p>In both studies, participants first listed one person from their social network and rated their relationship satisfaction, relational closeness, and attitudinal closeness with that person. Participants were then randomly assigned to one of two conditions: they were asked to imagine the person either endorsing a conspiracy theory (pro-conspiracy) or rejecting it (anti-conspiracy).</p>
<p>After imagining this scenario, participants completed additional measures of expected behavioral reactions (e.g., whether they thought they or the other person would try to interact more or less) and interpersonal trust (i.e., how trustworthy they found the person and how trustworthy they thought the person found them).</p>
<p>In Study 3a, the findings were somewhat surprising. Contrary to earlier studies, many participants reported higher relationship satisfaction and closeness when they imagined someone in their network endorsing conspiracy beliefs. This effect was especially pronounced for participants who themselves held strong conspiracy beliefs, suggesting that shared beliefs in conspiracy theories might actually enhance relationship satisfaction in certain contexts. But for those with weaker conspiracy beliefs, the endorsement of conspiracy theories still tended to lower satisfaction and closeness, though this effect was less pronounced than expected.</p>
<p>Study 3b produced results more in line with the prior studies. Participants in the pro-conspiracy condition reported lower relationship satisfaction, lower relational closeness, and lower trust than those in the anti-conspiracy condition. The negative effects were more pronounced among participants with weaker conspiracy beliefs. These results reinforced the idea that conspiracy beliefs can erode trust and relationship satisfaction, particularly when they are not shared.</p>
<p>“We were surprised to see such a clear distinction between relationships in which conspiracy beliefs are shared, relative to relationships in which conspiracy beliefs are not shared,” Toribio-Flórez explained. “For example, in Studies 3A and 3B, we had two distinct samples of participants with different levels of endorsement of conspiracy beliefs.”</p>
<p>“We observed that for the sample with lower conspiracy beliefs, perceiving that people they have a relationship with had endorsed conspiracy beliefs decreased their perceived relationship satisfaction. The opposite was true for the sample with higher conspiracy beliefs. This suggests that, despite the generalized stigmatizing value of conspiracy beliefs, the latter can also be part of the foundation of some interpersonal relationships where people share similar conspiracy worldviews.”</p>
<p>Study 4 focused on how conspiracy beliefs influence first impressions in the context of potential new relationships. This study was set in an online dating scenario to see how the explicit endorsement of conspiracy beliefs might affect hypothetical relationship satisfaction with strangers. A total of 467 single participants from the United States were recruited via Prolific.</p>
<p>Each participant was shown a mock dating profile (either male or female), which included generic information about the person’s hobbies and interests. The profiles also varied in one key aspect: in one condition, the profile included a statement endorsing a conspiracy theory about the 2020 US presidential election (“The 2020 election was rigged”). In another condition, the profile contained a statement rejecting the conspiracy theory, and in the control condition, no mention of conspiracy theories was made.</p>
<p>After viewing the profile, participants were asked to rate how satisfied they thought a relationship with the person would be, using a modified version of the Relationship Assessment Scale. Participants also completed measures of their own conspiracy beliefs and political orientation to control for any potential political bias in their responses.</p>
<p>The results showed that participants anticipated lower relationship satisfaction with someone who explicitly endorsed a conspiracy theory compared to those who either rejected the conspiracy theory or made no mention of it. This negative effect was strongest among participants with weaker conspiracy beliefs. Interestingly, participants’ own political orientation did not significantly influence these results, suggesting that the effects of conspiracy beliefs on relationship satisfaction extend beyond mere political alignment.</p>
<p>In summary, “in our studies, we found that if a person perceives the other person in the relationship to believe in or to explicitly endorse conspiracy theories, the former will likely perceive lower relationship satisfaction and the other person as less close, relationally and attitudinally,” Toribio-Flórez told PsyPost. “However, if the two people within the relationship share a belief in conspiracy theories, the perceived relationship satisfaction will likely be similar, and it can even improve, accompanied by the perception of the other person as relationally and attitudinally closer.”</p>
<p>While the findings provide important insights into the link between conspiracy beliefs and relationship satisfaction, the study — like all research — has limitations. One of the main limitations is that many of the studies relied on hypothetical scenarios. This introduces a degree of speculation into the findings, as people may not always act in real life the way they predict they would in a survey.</p>
<p>“It could be considered a caveat the fact that our studies do not examine the effect of conspiracy beliefs on relationship satisfaction directly (e.g., through an experiment where one part of the relationship is persuaded to endorse conspiracy theories), due to methodological constraints and ethical reasons,” Toribio-Flórez noted. “Instead, the evidence we provide is based on people’s perceptions and hypothetical judgments of what conspiracy beliefs represent and how they expect them to affect their interpersonal relationships, perceptions and judgments that are arguably grounded on people’s previous relationships and experiences.”</p>
<p>“Note that research in interpersonal relationships has repeatedly shown how people’s perceptions, attitudes and judgments are still valuable information to predict relationship satisfaction and success, as individuals usually operate with representations of their context (e.g., whether I think my friend believes in conspiracy theories), rather than objective information about such context (e.g., whether my friend actually believes in conspiracy theories). In any case, we think it is important for future research to provide further evidence through more direct methodologies (e.g., experience sampling with dyadic relationships).”</p>
<p>The study opens the door for further exploration into how attitudinal alignment and shared beliefs shape our social connections, especially in a world where misinformation and conspiracy theories are increasingly prevalent.</p>
<p>“Our first goal was to create awareness about the potential implications of conspiracy beliefs in the most primary tissue of our social context, that is, our interpersonal relationships with one another,” Toribio-Flórez explained. “We hope to achieve this outcome in the general public, but also in the academic community, to inspire further investigation of the consequences of conspiracy beliefs on people’s relationships.”</p>
<p>“A second goal would be to investigate further what sociopsychological mechanisms are involved in the effects conspiracy beliefs might have on relationships. Understanding what occurs (and how it occurs) at the individual/relational level can also help to comprehend other social and political implications of conspiracy beliefs.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.13061">Belief in conspiracy theories and satisfaction in interpersonal relationships</a>,” was authored by Daniel Toribio-Flórez, Ricky Green, and Karen M. Douglas</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/is-generative-ai-doomed-an-experts-take-on-the-model-collapse-theory/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Is generative AI doomed? An expert’s take on the “model collapse” theory</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 8th 2024, 18:00</div>
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<p><p>Artificial intelligence (AI) <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/lanceeliot/2024/06/30/rethinking-the-doomsday-clamor-that-generative-ai-will-fall-apart-due-to-catastrophic-model-collapse/">prophets</a> and <a href="https://www.ft.com/barrier/corporate/0df95112-d297-4ae3-a564-234536e06c56">newsmongers</a> are forecasting the end of the generative AI hype, with talk of an impending catastrophic “model collapse”.</p>
<p>But how realistic are these predictions? And what is model collapse anyway?</p>
<p>Discussed in <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.17493">2023</a>, but popularised <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07566-y">more recently</a>, “model collapse” refers to a hypothetical scenario where future AI systems get progressively dumber due to the increase of AI-generated data on the internet.</p>
<h2>The need for data</h2>
<p>Modern AI systems are built using machine learning. Programmers set up the underlying mathematical structure, but the actual “intelligence” comes from training the system to mimic patterns in data.</p>
<p>But not just any data. The current crop of generative AI systems needs <em>high quality</em> data, and lots of it.</p>
<p>To source this data, big tech companies such as OpenAI, Google, Meta and Nvidia continually scour the internet, scooping up <a href="https://www.404media.co/nvidia-ai-scraping-foundational-model-cosmos-project/">terabytes of content</a> to feed the machines. But since the advent of <a href="https://www.midjourney.com/home">widely available</a> and <a href="https://chatgpt.com/">useful</a> generative AI systems in 2022, people are increasingly uploading and sharing content that is made, in part or whole, by AI.</p>
<p>In 2023, researchers started wondering if they could get away with only relying on AI-created data for training, instead of human-generated data.</p>
<p>There are huge incentives to make this work. In addition to proliferating on the internet, AI-made content is <a href="https://crfm.stanford.edu/2023/03/13/alpaca.html">much cheaper</a> than human data to source. It also isn’t <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/jan/21/we-need-to-come-together-british-artists-team-up-to-fight-ai-image-generating-software">ethically</a> <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/487275/indigenous-groups-in-nz-us-fear-colonisation-as-ai-learns-languages">and</a> <a href="https://apnews.com/article/chatgpt-newspaper-copyright-lawsuit-openai-microsoft-2d5f52d1a720e0a8fa6910dfd59584a9">legally</a> <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/getty-images-lawsuit-says-stability-ai-misused-photos-train-ai-2023-02-06/">questionable</a> to collect en masse.</p>
<p>However, researchers found that without high-quality human data, AI systems trained on AI-made data <a href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2311.16822">get dumber and dumber</a> as each model learns from the previous one. It’s like a digital version of the problem of inbreeding.</p>
<p>This “<a href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2407.12835">regurgitive training</a>” seems to lead to a reduction in the quality and diversity of model behaviour. Quality here roughly means some combination of being helpful, harmless and honest. Diversity refers to the variation in responses, and which people’s cultural and social perspectives are represented in the AI outputs.</p>
<p>In short: by using AI systems so much, we could be polluting the very data source we need to make them useful in the first place.</p>
<h2>Avoiding collapse</h2>
<p>Can’t big tech just filter out AI-generated content? Not really. Tech companies already spend a lot of time and money cleaning and filtering the data they scrape, with one industry insider recently sharing they sometimes discard <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20240805-inbred-gibberish-or-just-mad-warnings-rise-about-ai-models">as much as 90%</a> of the data they initially collect for training models.</p>
<p>These efforts might get more demanding as the need to specifically remove AI-generated content increases. But more importantly, in the long term it will actually get harder and harder to distinguish AI content. This will make the filtering and removal of synthetic data a game of diminishing (financial) returns.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the research so far shows we just can’t completely do away with human data. After all, it’s where the “I” in AI is coming from.</p>
<h2>Are we headed for a catastrophe?</h2>
<p>There are hints developers are already having to work harder to source high-quality data. For instance, <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.08774">the documentation</a> accompanying the GPT-4 release credited an unprecedented number of staff involved in the data-related parts of the project.</p>
<p>We may also be running out of new human data. <a href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2211.04325">Some estimates</a> say the pool of human-generated text data might be tapped out as soon as 2026.</p>
<p>It’s likely why OpenAI and others are <a href="https://foundationinc.co/lab/openai-partnerships-list/">racing to shore up exclusive partnerships</a> with industry behemoths such as <a href="https://investor.shutterstock.com/news-releases/news-release-details/shutterstock-expands-partnership-openai-signs-new-six-year">Shutterstock</a>, <a href="https://www.ap.org/media-center/press-releases/2023/ap-open-ai-agree-to-share-select-news-content-and-technology-in-new-collaboration/">Associated Press</a> and <a href="https://newscorp.com/2024/05/22/news-corp-and-openai-sign-landmark-multi-year-global-partnership/">NewsCorp</a>. They own large proprietary collections of human data that aren’t readily available on the public internet.</p>
<p>However, the prospects of catastrophic model collapse might be overstated. Most research so far looks at cases where synthetic data replaces human data. In practice, human and AI data are likely to accumulate in parallel, which <a href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2404.01413">reduces the likelihood of collapse</a>.</p>
<p>The most likely future scenario will also see an ecosystem of somewhat diverse generative AI platforms being used to create and publish content, rather than one monolithic model. This also increases robustness against collapse.</p>
<p>It’s a good reason for regulators to promote healthy competition by <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/1fda45a2-43e0-4c10-b5fb-b6097e3f5c56">limiting monopolies</a> in the AI sector, and to fund <a href="https://www.openmarketsinstitute.org/publications/report-ai-in-the-public-interest-confronting-the-monopoly-threat">public interest technology development</a>.</p>
<h2>The real concerns</h2>
<p>There are also more subtle risks from too much AI-made content.</p>
<p>A flood of synthetic content might not pose an existential threat to the progress of AI development, but it does threaten the digital public good of the (human) internet.</p>
<p>For instance, researchers <a href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2307.07367">found a 16% drop</a> in activity on the coding website StackOverflow one year after the release of ChatGPT. This suggests AI assistance may already be reducing person-to-person interactions in some online communities.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1600910X.2022.2137546">Hyperproduction</a> from AI-powered content farms is also making it harder to find content that isn’t <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-22/james-raptis-resigns-from-acm-following-links-to-ai-plagiarism/103879762">clickbait stuffed with advertisements</a>.</p>
<p>It’s becoming impossible to reliably distinguish between human-generated and AI-generated content. One method to remedy this would be watermarking or labelling AI-generated content, as I and many others have <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/323896">recently highlighted</a>, and as reflected in recent Australian government <a href="https://consult.industry.gov.au/supporting-responsible-ai">interim legislation</a>.</p>
<p>There’s another risk, too. As AI-generated content becomes systematically homogeneous, we risk losing <a href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2404.03502">socio-cultural diversity</a> and some groups of people could even experience <a href="https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v29i7.13375">cultural erasure</a>. We urgently need <a href="https://admscentre.org.au/">cross-disciplinary research</a> on the <a href="https://research.qut.edu.au/genailab/">social and cultural challenges</a> posed by AI systems.</p>
<p>Human interactions and human data are important, and we should protect them. For our own sakes, and maybe also for the sake of the possible risk of a future model collapse.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/236415/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1"><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p>
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<p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-model-collapse-an-expert-explains-the-rumours-about-an-impending-ai-doom-236415">original article</a>.</em></p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/dancers-are-more-open-extraverted-agreeable-and-less-neurotic-than-non-dancers-study-finds/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Dancers are more open, extraverted, agreeable, and less neurotic than non-dancers, study finds</a>
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<p><p>A new study published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2024.112603" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Personality and Individual Differences</a></em> has found that dancers tend to have distinct personality traits compared to non-dancers. The research, conducted in Sweden and Germany, shows that dancers are generally more open to new experiences, more extroverted, and more agreeable, while being less prone to negative emotions like anxiety. The findings also suggest that dance school entrepreneurs, who combine dancing with business, exhibit even stronger versions of these traits.</p>
<p>While previous studies have examined the cognitive and emotional benefits of dancing, the researchers wanted to determine whether these benefits stem from engaging in dance or are influenced by the personalities of those drawn to dance in the first place. They were particularly interested in comparing the personality profiles of dancers, musicians, and singers, given that all three art forms involve creative expression, but through different modes—either through the body, as in dance and singing, or through an instrument, as in music.</p>
<p>To conduct their study, the researchers gathered data from two large, representative samples—one in Sweden and one in Germany. In Sweden, the sample consisted of over 5,400 participants, drawn from the Swedish Twin Registry, who were between 27 and 54 years old. Participants were asked about their dance engagement using a web-based survey, which included a detailed assessment of their dance history, creative achievement, and personality traits.</p>
<p>The German sample included 574 participants, ranging from 18 to 83 years old, who were recruited from dance communities. This sample also included a unique group of dance school entrepreneurs, which allowed the researchers to investigate the personality traits of individuals who engage with dance not just as performers but also as business owners.</p>
<p>“What is unique about this work is that we have brought together very large samples from two different countries. Such data are generally scarce, and previous studies have often been based on rather small samples,” explained senior author Fredrik Ullén, director at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics</p>
<p>Participants in both countries completed the Big Five Inventory (BFI), a well-known tool for measuring five core personality traits: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. In Sweden, the 44-item version of the BFI was used, while in Germany, participants completed a shorter 30-item version. Additionally, the German participants indicated which dance style they primarily practiced, which allowed for comparisons across different types of dance.</p>
<p>The study found several significant differences between dancers and non-dancers. Dancers consistently scored higher in openness to experience, extraversion, and agreeableness while being less neurotic. This suggests that people who engage in dance may be more open to trying new things, more outgoing, and more cooperative than those who do not. The researchers also found that performing dancers, whether amateurs or professionals, were even more open than those who only practiced dance without performing. This aligns with previous studies that link performing arts to higher levels of openness and extraversion.</p>
<p>“In general, both dancers and singers show a high degree of extraversion in their personality—which may be due to the fact that their means of expression when dancing and singing is their body—and this is a very socially exposed situation, more than if you express through an instrument, for example. However, more in-depth investigations are needed to explore this further,” said lead author Julia F. Christensen.</p>
<p>Interestingly, dance school entrepreneurs—who combine dancing with managing a dance-related business—showed the highest levels of openness, extraversion, and agreeableness, while being the least neurotic. This suggests that the added responsibilities of entrepreneurship might attract individuals who are especially outgoing, open to new experiences, and capable of handling stress without becoming anxious or emotionally unstable.</p>
<p>The researchers also looked at personality differences across different dance styles in the German sample. They found that ballet and Argentine tango dancers scored higher in openness than dancers of other styles, such as Latin or standard ballroom dance. This could be because these two styles require a high level of creativity and adaptation to new routines, making them more appealing to individuals who are naturally open to new experiences. On the other hand, street dancers were found to be less open than ballet dancers, possibly because street dance involves a different type of creativity that may not require the same level of openness.</p>
<p>One of the most striking findings was the lower level of neuroticism among dancers, especially when compared to musicians. Previous research has shown that musicians, particularly professional ones, tend to score higher in neuroticism, which means they are more prone to experiencing negative emotions like anxiety or depression. In contrast, dancers in this study were less neurotic, which may suggest that the physical nature of dance helps buffer against such emotions. The researchers speculate that because dance involves expressing emotions through the body, it may attract individuals who are less emotionally sensitive or, alternatively, help reduce emotional instability over time.</p>
<p>The study does, however, have some limitations. First, the data was collected through self-report questionnaires, which can be subject to bias. Participants may not always accurately assess their own personalities or behaviors. Moreover, the German sample was collected during the COVID-19 pandemic, which could have affected participants’ engagement with dance and their overall mental health, potentially influencing the results. The researchers also note that the study focused on Western dance styles, meaning the findings may not apply to dancers from other cultures or traditions. Future research could explore how personality traits differ among dancers from non-Western countries or those who practice non-Western dance forms.</p>
<p>Despite these limitations, the study provides valuable insights into the personality traits of dancers and how they differ from non-dancers. It also highlights the importance of considering both individual personality traits and the specific demands of different dance styles when studying the psychology of dancers. Future research could build on these findings by investigating how these personality traits influence dancers’ success and well-being, both on and off the stage.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886924000631" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The dancer personality: Comparing dancers and non-dancers in Germany and Sweden</a>,” Julia F. Christensen, Laura W. Wesseldijk, Miriam A. Mosing, Kirill Fayn, Eva-Madeleine Schmidt, Matthias Blattmann, Luisa Sancho-Escanero, and Fredrik Ullén</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/nimby-attitudes-affect-support-for-local-abortion-services/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">NIMBY attitudes affect support for local abortion services</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 8th 2024, 14:00</div>
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<p><p>A recent study published in <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1532673X241273168"><em>American Politics Research</em></a> sheds light on how “Not in My Backyard” (NIMBY) attitudes can influence people’s views on abortion access. While abortion policy is typically framed as a moral or rights-based issue, the study finds that even those who support abortion access may oppose it if the services are offered in their own neighborhood.</p>
<p>NIMBY refers to the tendency of people to oppose developments or services in their local area, even when they support those initiatives in principle. While NIMBYism is typically associated with fears about property values or public safety, abortion policy has rarely been viewed through this lens.</p>
<p>Abortion debates in the United States are typically framed around deeply personal beliefs, often related to religion or morality. Anti-abortion advocates argue that abortion takes a human life, while those who support abortion rights focus on protecting women’s rights.</p>
<p>These arguments often take place at a national level, leaving little room for considerations of how the physical presence of abortion services might affect a community. With this study, the researchers aimed to determine whether these location-based concerns might also play a role in shaping opinions on abortion access.</p>
<p>The study was especially timely given the legal landscape following the 2022 Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which led to many states enacting more restrictive abortion policies. In states like Illinois, where abortion remains legal, there has been an increase in demand from out-of-state patients seeking services.</p>
<p>The researchers conducted a pre-registered experiment using a survey of Cook County residents, which includes Chicago, an urban area known for its liberal political leanings and proximity to states with newly restrictive abortion laws. The survey was part of the Cook County Community Survey (CCCS), administered in January 2023, and was designed to be representative of the local population. A total of 1,202 respondents participated, with the majority expressing support for abortion access in general.</p>
<p>The experiment posed a simple question to participants: “Do you think it should be easier or more difficult for residents of neighboring states to come to [Illinois/the neighborhood where you live] for abortion services?” The participants were randomly assigned to answer about either the broader state of Illinois or their own neighborhood. Their responses were measured on a six-point scale ranging from “much easier” to “much more difficult.”</p>
<p>To better understand the NIMBY effects on abortion policy, the study also included a comparison group. In a separate question, participants were asked about their support for the creation of homeless shelters, which are typically more prone to NIMBY opposition. This allowed the researchers to gauge the strength of NIMBY attitudes in the abortion context against a more familiar issue.</p>
<p>The results showed a clear, albeit modest, NIMBY effect when it came to abortion services. Respondents were more supportive of making it easier for out-of-state patients to access abortion services when these services were located elsewhere in Illinois, but this support decreased when the services would be offered in their own neighborhood. While the effect was smaller than in the homeless shelter scenario, it was still statistically significant.</p>
<p>In the homeless shelter comparison, the NIMBY effect was stronger, with participants showing a substantial decrease in support for local shelters compared to state-wide shelters. The researchers estimated that the difference in support for homeless shelters in the neighborhood versus in Illinois was about 0.4 standard deviations—a large effect. For abortion services, the NIMBY effect was smaller, approximately one-tenth of a standard deviation, but it still indicated that location matters even for issues as morally charged as abortion.</p>
<p>The study also looked at whether homeownership or personal attitudes toward abortion played a role in shaping NIMBY responses. Homeowners, who might be more concerned about property values and local development, were expected to show stronger NIMBY tendencies, but the evidence for this was weak.</p>
<p>Similarly, the researchers found no clear pattern indicating that respondents with more conservative views on abortion were more prone to NIMBY attitudes than those with pro-choice views. Both groups seemed to exhibit a degree of NIMBYism, though pro-choice respondents were slightly less sensitive to the location of abortion services.</p>
<p>While the study provides important insights into how NIMBY attitudes can shape abortion policy opinions, it also has some limitations. First, the researchers note that their sample is limited to Cook County, a liberal, urban area where most residents already support abortion rights. This means the findings may not be generalizable to more conservative or rural areas, where opposition to abortion services might be higher, and NIMBY effects stronger.</p>
<p>Additionally, the study did not fully unpack the reasons behind the NIMBY effect on abortion services. While the researchers suggest that moral discomfort with abortion or concerns about attracting protests may play a role, they did not directly test these mechanisms. Future research could explore these factors in more detail, particularly the potential role of anti-abortion protests.</p>
<p>“With these limitations in mind, the purpose of this Research Note is to draw attention to the possibility that the effects of NIMBY syndrome extend beyond the ‘usual suspects’ of infrastructure projects that may depress property values or public service facilities that serve highly stigmatized clientele,” the researchers concluded. “Our evidence suggests they do and that NIMBY effects may be more widespread than existing work suggests. Even in a domain where discourse is dominated by arguments rooted in morality and fundamental rights, people are sensitive to the location where services that violate their moral convictions or protect rights they support would be provided.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X241273168">NIMBY Syndrome and Abortion Access</a>,” was authored by David Doherty, Dana Garbarski, and Sasha Shapsis.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/national-political-discourse-uses-more-moralized-and-power-centric-language/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">National political discourse uses more moralized and power-centric language</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 8th 2024, 12:00</div>
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<p><p>Research published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae345"><em>PNAS Nexus</em></a> shows that discussions of national politics feature more abstract, moralized, and power-centric language compared to local political discourse, which contributes to increased engagement but also greater political animosity.</p>
<p>Recent studies suggest that as politics becomes more nationalized, conversations shift away from concrete, locally shared knowledge towards more abstract and polarized discussions. This shift has occurred due to several factors, including the rise of social media platforms, which amplify national political issues over local concerns. Historically, local political discussions were rooted in shared regional experiences, making them less abstract and more practical.</p>
<p>The research was motivated by the observation that the modern political landscape is more polarized than ever before. With American political conversations increasingly focused on national issues, there has been a rise in moral outrage and a decline in substantive discussions. Danica Dillion and colleagues investigated whether the language used in national political discourse could be driving this polarization and contributing to rising partisan tensions.</p>
<p>The researchers conducted a comprehensive study comparing the language used in national and local political discourse across multiple contexts. They examined three primary data sources to capture both political leaders’ communication and everyday citizens’ political discussions.</p>
<p>First, they analyzed political speeches from U.S. presidents (representing national politics) and city mayors (representing local politics). This dataset included significant speeches such as presidential inaugural addresses and state of the union speeches, which were compared with state of the city addresses delivered by mayors. The speeches were selected to provide consistency in the context of their delivery.</p>
<p>In the second part of the study, the researchers analyzed social media content, specifically Twitter. They gathered tweets from U.S. federal senators and compared them to tweets from city mayors. This allowed the team to assess how politicians at different levels use language to engage with the public.</p>
<p>Lastly, they explored public political discourse by examining Reddit comments related to COVID-19. They collected data from national-level news subreddits and local city subreddits. The Reddit analysis provided a unique opportunity to observe how everyday people communicate about political issues in both national and local contexts.</p>
<p>Across all these datasets, the researchers applied advanced linguistic analysis tools, including the Extended Moral Foundations Dictionary (eMFD) and the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) algorithm, to measure the presence of abstract, moral, and power-centric language in these discussions.</p>
<p>Across all datasets—political speeches, tweets, and Reddit comments—national-level discussions featured significantly more abstract, moralized, and power-centric language than local-level discussions. For example, the analysis of U.S. senators’ tweets revealed that they contained more language related to power compared to tweets from city mayors.</p>
<p>Similarly, the speeches of U.S. presidents used more abstract and moralized language than those of city mayors. This pattern was also observed in Reddit comments, where discussions in national news subreddits were marked by a higher frequency of abstract, moral, and power-centric language compared to local city subreddits.</p>
<p>The researchers also found that the use of abstract, moralized, and power-centric language in national political discourse was associated with higher levels of public engagement. Tweets and Reddit posts containing these linguistic features garnered more replies, retweets, and likes, indicating that this type of language effectively captures the public’s attention.</p>
<p>National political discussions that employed more moral and power-centric language tended to provoke more anger and negativity in responses. For instance, replies to tweets from federal senators were more likely to contain negative moral language and expressions of anger than replies to tweets from city mayors. This suggests that while moralized and power-centric language engages larger audiences, it also contributes to divisive and emotionally charged political discussions.</p>
<p>One limitation is that the inherent differences in the types of issues discussed at the national versus local level may explain some of the observed linguistic patterns. National issues, by nature, may lend themselves to more abstract and moralized discussions, whereas local issues often involve more concrete, practical concerns.</p>
<p>The research, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae345">National Politics Ignites More Talk of Morality and Power than Local Politics</a>”, was authored by Danica Dillion, Curtis Puryear, Longjiao Li, Andre Chiquito, and Kurt Gray.</p></p>
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<p><strong>Forwarded by:<br />
Michael Reeder LCPC<br />
Baltimore, MD</strong></p>
<p><strong>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. </strong></p>
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