A key theory in personality psychology suggests that extraversion is linked to how sensitive someone is to rewards. Within clinical psychology, a similar perspective is offered for trait anhedonia (the reduced capacity to experience pleasure), which dimensional approaches to psychopathology identify as a narrow facet of extraversion. To date, few studies have investigated both extraversion and anhedonia in relation to behavioural tasks assessing reward sensitivity. One exception is a study by Blain et al. (2021), which found that broad extraversion (but not anhedonia) predicted reward sensitivity in a probabilistic reward task. In our study, we aimed to investigate whether these findings would replicate by using the same reward task and administering self-report questionnaires on extraversion at different levels of the trait hierarchy, along with comprehensive assessments of trait anhedonia.

* Does extraversion predict reward sensitivity? * Do specific facets of extraversion predict reward sensitivity? * Does anhedonia predict reward sensitivity? * What is the relationship between extraversion, anhedonia, and reward sensitivity?

A total of 551 participants completed the study. Of these, 131 participants were removed for providing poor-quality data on the questionnaire, and 48 were removed for failing attention checks in the behavioural task. The final sample comprised 372 participants.

Participants completed a computerised probabilistic reward task. In the task, participants were presented with a cartoon face that had eyes but no mouth. A line representing a mouth was quickly flashed onto the face, and participants were required to press a key to indicate whether they saw the short mouth (shorter line) or the long mouth (longer line). Before beginning the task, participants were informed that they would receive 4 cents for correct responses and that not all of their correct responses would be rewarded. For each participant, correct identification of one mouth stimulus was randomly chosen to be rewarded three times as often as the other, but participants were not informed of this. Once the task was complete, participants completed a survey consisting of Big Five personality questionnaires and trait anhedonia measures.

We conducted two-way repeated measures ANOVAs and found that both assertiveness and hedonism (facets of extraversion) as well as anticipatory pleasure (an anhedonia scale) had significant interactions with task block in predicting reward sensitivity. Therefore, the relationship between these self-reported traits and response bias varied across the three blocks of the task. We also used structural equation modelling and found that, contrary to Blain et al. (2021), broad extraversion was not a significant predictor of reward sensitivity. In contrast, we found that the narrow facet of Assertiveness, and two anhedonia scales were significant predictors of reward sensitivity. We plan to use a computational model designed for this probabilistic reward task for further analyses.

Ultimately, this study did not replicate the finding that extraversion predicts reward sensitivity. Instead, we found that a specific, narrow trait of extraversion, as well as anhedonia, may predict reward sensitivity. These results reflect the complex relationship between extraversion, anhedonia, and reward sensitivity and highlights the need for further investigation. These findings will be addressed in a PhD level thesis and will also be presented at a Personality Psychology conference in December, 2024.

Previous work shows associations between urgency and response inhibition on measures such as the go/no-go (Gay, Rochat, Billieux, d’Acremont, & Van der Linden, 2008), go-stop (Bagge, Littlefield, Rosellini, & Coffey, 2013; Gay et al., 2008; Wilbertz et al., 2014), and anti-saccade tasks (Roberts, Fillmore, & Milich, 2011). A meta-analysis found correlations between negative urgency and impaired response inhibition behaviour were robust in clinical samples but very small in student and community samples (Johnson, Tharp, Peckham, Sanchez, & Carver, 2016). Negative urgency relates more to impaired response inhibition than to other aspects of impulsivity (Cyders & Coskunpinar, 2011), and negative urgency does not relate much to other behavioural indicators of impulsivity, including delay discounting. The logic behind impulsive reactivity to emotion, however, is that its effects should depend on the presence of an emotion. Recent work by work by Johnson & colleagues shows: 1) High emotion-related impulsivity (pos/neg urgency) + arousal (i.e., heightened emotional state) = reduced inhibitory control (possibly due to diminished cognitive resources available to constrain emotions), and 2) Low emotion-related impulsivity (pos/neg urgency) + arousal (i.e., heightened emotional state) = improved inhibitory control (considered “normative”).

Can we replicate findings by Johnson and colleagues that show a relationship between positive urgency and response inhibition in the presence of high positive arousal? Does this relationship extend to delay discounting? Is the relationship between neg/pos urgency and response inhibition and/or delay discounting stronger in hazardous versus non-harmful drinkers?

N = 119; Male: 25%, Female: 75% Age: 20.73 (3.07); Yrs education: 13.94 (1.99). Task based exclusions: MCQ: 1 exclusion; SST: 9 exclusions.

Demographics: Various. Alcohol: Alcohol Use Questionnaire (Q13-15); AUQ binge score (Townshend & Duka, 2002); Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT; Babor et al., 2001; Saunders et al., 1993); Brief Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire (BYAACQ) Total score (Kahler et al., 2005; Poulton et al., 2019); TimeLine Followback (Sobell & Sobell, 1992). Drugs: Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screen (ASSIST) Total score (WHO Assist Working Group, 2002). Anxiety, Depression: Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) Total score (Löwe et al., 2008; Spitzer et al., 2006); Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) Total score (Kocalevent et al., 2013; Kroenke et al., 2001). Smoking: Researcher-determined questions. IQ: Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM-12U) Total score (Poulton, Rutherford et al., 2022). Emotion-related impulsivity (self-report): UPPS-P Total score (positive); UPPS-N Total score (negative). Response inhibition: Stop Signal Task. Choice Impulsivity: Delay Discounting. Participants randomised into 4 groups. 1: APM-6 (Evens), Arousal1, MCQ, APM-6 (Odds), Arousal2, SST. 2: APM-6 (Odds), Arousal1, SST, APM-6 (Evens), Arousal2, MCQ. 3: APM-6 (Evens), MCQ, APM-6 (Odds), SST. 4: APM-6 (Odds), SST, APM-6 (Evens), MCQ. Arousal. Positive statements about score + timing on APM. Self-report positive arousal: Post cognitive task 5-point Likert scale questions on level of enthusiasm, excitement, and elation.

Data collection is ongoing, but results to date are as follows. Correlations: Condition 1&2 (Arousal) High Mood (Median split) UPPS-Pos to MCQ (log k): 0.25 (.359) UPPS-Neg to MCQ (log k): 0.33 (.215) UPPS-Pos to SSRT: 0.36 (.177) UPPS-Neg to SSRT: 0.38 (.148) UPPS-Pos to Av Impulsivity: 0.45 (.082) UPPS-Neg to Av Impulsivity: 0.57 (.021) Condition 3&4 (No arousal) High Mood (Median split) UPPS-Pos to MCQ (log k): 0.27 (.272) UPPS-Neg to MCQ (log k): 0.09 (.716) UPPS-Pos to SSRT: - 0.08 (.759) UPPS-Neg to SSRT: -0.08 (.765) UPPS-Pos to Av Impulsivity: 0.07 (.789) UPPS-Neg to Av Impulsivity: -0.05 (.835) Condition 1&2 (Arousal) Low Mood (Median split) UPPS-Pos to MCQ (log k): 0.09 (.815) UPPS-Neg to MCQ (log k): 0.19 (.594) UPPS-Pos to SSRT: -0.011(.773) UPPS-Neg to SSRT: 0.05 (.892) UPPS-Pos to Av Impulsivity: -0.08 (.836) UPPS-Neg to Av Impulsivity: 0.17 (.646) Condition 3&4 (No arousal) Low Mood (Median split) UPPS-Pos to MCQ (log k): 0.28 (.426) UPPS-Neg to MCQ (log k): -0.68 (.031) UPPS-Pos to SSRT: -0.02 (.956) UPPS-Neg to SSRT: 0.06 (.863) UPPS- Pos to Av Impulsivity: 0.21 (.560) UPPS-Neg to Av Impulsivity: -0.45 (.196)

Results suggest there is a stronger correlation between urgency and average impulsivity when participants have high mood (following positive arousal). This relationship is not evident when participants have low mood (following positive arousal). This relationship is also not apparent when there has been no positive arousal. Preliminary results suggest we have replicated Johnson's findings, but more data is required. We aim to collect further data in 2025. Results will be used to support grant applications to conduct further studies in this emerging area of cognitive research.

Societal pressures and expectations to conform to traditional feminine gender norms should place women at risk for experiencing gender role discrepancy strain in contexts where they feel unable to adhere to these rigid norms. Yet, prior research examining the outcomes of such gender-discrepant contexts have uncovered mixed results. However, these studies have had notable limitations, perhaps the most central of which is that they have attempted to manipulate experience of femininity discrepancy strain by applying the “reverse” of masculinity threat paradigms, instead of taking a theoretically informed approach to designing a paradigm specifically to manipulate femininity discrepancy (Harrington, Overall, & Maxwell, 2023). To address this gap, this research employed a paradigm designed specifically to increase women's feelings of femininity discrepancy, through providing feedback that challenges adherence to qualities particularly central to traditional feminine norms, including nurturance, deference, and emotionality.

1. Participants assigned to the discrepancy condition will score higher/lower on outcomes likely to be increased/decreased by feelings of feminine discrepancy than those assigned to the affirmation condition and the control condition, such as negative emotions, as well as lower feelings of self-esteem and belonging. 2. Participants assigned to the affirmation condition will score higher/lower on measures likely to be increased/decreased by feelings of femininity affirmation than those assigned to the discrepancy condition and the control conditions, such as positive emotions.

We recruited 743 participants. 55 were excluded for completing the survey too quickly. 61 were excluded for failing one of two comprehension checks. 27 were excluded for failing an attention check 3 were excluded after asking to have their data withdrawn 59 were excluded because they indicated they had trouble understanding the language of the survey

1. Demographics - Age - Language - Gender - Ethnicity - Country - Children - Sexuality - Relationship Status 2. Experimental Manipulation (between-participant randomization) 3. Emotions if Score was Made Public 4. Affective Outcomes 5. Comprehension Checks 6. Behavioral Outcomes 7. Attitudinal Outcomes 8. Traditional Femininity Ideology 9. Ambivalent Sexism 10. Purpose of Survey Check 11. Difficulty with Language Check 12. Believability heck

Results revealed that women made to feel discrepant from feminine norms report outcomes consistent with discrepancy strain, but only when this discrepancy has salient implications for their day-to-day lives. In essence, when women are asked to imagine their feedback was made public, they report anticipating experiences a range of negative emotions. No other associations emerged.

These results highlight the importance of 1) employing a theoretically informed approach to designing a paradigm specifically to manipulate femininity discrepancy and 2) the importance of interpersonal implications for experiences of femininity discrepancy. Previous studies may not have uncovered significant effects because their paradigms were a-theoretical and the experimental feedback did not have salient implications for women's interpersonal relationships. The findings of this study will be presented in conference presentations and a journal article.

Words are representations of mental structures and allow effective communication. Human preference is encoded in word meanings and varies on an individual and group level as people use word choices to exhibit their social identity, which is based on several factors. Two of these are gender and personality which shape peoples’ everyday experiences and the language they use. Estimating the preferences of others involves taking the allocentric (other) perspective, which is based on one’s knowledge and preconceptions of other groups of people.

This study aims to explore a) the extent of the variation of preferences based on gender and extraversion demographics; b) people’s accuracy in taking the allocentric perspective by both demographic and category; c) the capacity of Large Language Models (LLM’s) to accurately predict human behaviour using the allocentric perspective.

848 participants completed this study, and after cleaning, data from 619 participants was used. The exclusion criteria was for participants who did not have english as their first language as there are known differences in lexical choices and preferences based on language and cultural background.

This study involved 2 tasks, the first one was an item ranking task where participants were given 25 items per category and were asked to place them on a scale based on their own preferences. The second task was a forced choice task in which they were given an item from the previous list and asked to pick if it would be preferred by a male, female, introvert or extrovert. After this they were asked a personality questionnaire which consisted of the bfi-2 and BFAS in which their extraversion was determined.

Preliminary data analysis showed significant discrepancies between categorical preferences on a group level for both egocentric and allocentric perspectives.

This contributes to an understanding of how human preference is encoded in semantic knowledge based on the egocentric and allocentric perspective, thusly reflecting the accuracy of LLM’s in showcasing human behaviour.

Inequalities in income among households (i.e. income inequality) and between women and men (i.e. gender (in)equality) exert potent effects on individual well-being, social norms, and societal productivity and peace. What is less often appreciated, or at least acknowledged, is that inequalities affect the environment within which people find romantic/sexual partners (i.e. the mating market), and that these effects contribute to the over-arching effects of inequality (i.e. on well-being, social norms, societal productivity and peace). Some behaviours known to be affected by local inequalities (both overall income inequality and gender inequality) include rates of gendered crime and conflict (e.g., intimate partner violence, sexism), beliefs about gender roles (e.g., attitudes toward equal pay, child-rearing), and social control/reducing autonomy (e.g., reproductive freedom, abortion). The effects of inequalities on these important behaviours are largely inferred from studies that have compared individuals who live in areas that differ in degree of inequality. There exists an urgent need to understand how inequality causally shapes individuals’ behaviours and attitudes. In this experiment, we manipulated participants’ perceptions of economic gender inequality and income by introducing them to a fictional society called “Stamola” and randomly assigning them to different versions of Stamola that varied in the degree to which men outearned women (and vice versa). We also randomly assigned participants to different income conditions to examine whether/how income and gender inequality interact to affect participants’ desire to present specific qualities (agency and communality) to potential romantic partners, and their desire for a romantic partner that possesses these qualities. Agency and communality are two traits that are often gender-stereotyped such that women are often assumed to be more communal, and men are often thought to be more agentic. We were interested in whether the degree of economic gender inequality in Stamola, participants’ assigned income, and participants’ sex/gender would interact to predict their desire to present gender-stereotypic traits to potential romantic partners (e.g., communal traits for women, and agentic traits for men), as well as their desire for a partner that conforms to gender norms.

In this experiment, we were interested in testing the effect of gender equality/inequality, income, and their interaction on individuals’ desire to be communal and agentic (two traits that are often gender-stereotyped; with women often thought to be more communal and men often thought to be more agentic), as well as their desire for communality and agency in a partner. While some data suggests that economic gender equality decreases gender stereotyping, other streams of research suggest that people may place more importance on trying to conform to gender norms when the economy is more gender equal. In this experiment, we examine income and sex/gender as two potential moderators of the effects of gender inequality on individuals’ preference for gender-stereotypic traits in the context of dating and romantic relationships. If people strengthen their endorsement of gender-stereotypic traits when women out-earn men, we would expect that any such effects of gender equality would be strongest for women who out-earn a large percentage of men, and for men who earn less than a large percentage of women. That is, while overall gender equality may reduce gender-stereotyping on average, people at the tails of the distribution may actually increase their endorsement of gender-stereotypic traits.

150 REP participants completed the study. We asked participants to report the the size of the gender gap in Stamola, what percentage of women they outearned, and what percentage of men they outearned as attention checks. Participants will be excluded for responding incorrectly to at least 1 of these 3 attention checks.

Participants answered questions about their demographics (e.g., age, sex identified at birth, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, perceived socioeconomic status). They were then told that in this experiment they would engage in a roleplaying exercise where they would join a fictional society called “Stamola”. Participants were then shown a video that told them about the average earnings of men compared to women in Stamola (i.e., the degree of gender equality/inequality in Stamola), their own income in Stamola, as well as what percentage of women and what percentage of men they outearned in Stamola. Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 5 gender gaps, and 1 of 5 income tiers. After the video, participants were asked to report the size of the gender gap in Stamola, what percentage of women they outearned, and what percentage of men they outearned as attention checks. Following the attention checks, participants were asked to imagine what they think life in Stamola would be like and how the Stamolean economy might affect their interactions with men and women. Participants were then asked to rate how important they believe it would be for them to display qualities that related to agency and communality when meeting new, potential romantic partners in Stamola. In addition, they were asked to rate how important it would be that their ideal romantic partner possessed each of the same qualities.

We plan to use linear regressions to examine the effect of gender inequality (5 levels), income inequality (5 levels), sex (male, female), and the interaction between these 3 variables on participants’ desire to display traits related to agency and communality to potential romantic partners, as well as the effects of these variables and their interactions on participants’ desire for agency and communality in their ideal partner.

The data from this study will help us better understand how economic gender inequality and income affect individuals’ desire to display gender-stereotypic traits to potential romantic partners, as well as their desire for gender-stereotypic traits in a romantic partner. By examining sex/gender and income as potential moderators of the effects of gender inequality, the results of this experiment may help disentangle some conflicting findings regarding the effects of economic gender equality on gender norm adherence in the literature. We plan to communicate the results of this experiment in journal articles and conference presentations once data collection is completed.

Experiences of early life adversity and stress are known to affect parent-child attachment. That is, when children are raised in a stressful/adverse environment, it is more common for children to develop an insecure attachment to their parents (i.e., they do not see their parent as a stable attachment figure that will consistently fulfill their psychological and physical needs; Pietromonaco et al., 2013). Attachment theory posits that the relationship between parent and child creates a cognitive schema which influences the way that children approach romantic relationships and attach to romantic partners in adulthood (Fraley & Shaver, 2000). In other words, if children have an insecure attachment to their parents growing up, they will likely form insecure attachments to romantic partners in adulthood. In adulthood, being exposed to either general life stressors or relationships stressors can increase insecure attachment (Domingue & Mollen, 2009; Fraley & Shaver, 1998; Marshall et al., 2013; Rice et al., 2020). That is, across the lifespan, exposure to stress/adversity increases attachment insecurity. Although it is well-established that stressful/adverse experiences increase attachment insecurity, the effect of income inequality (a stressful experience; Ryan et al., 2021) on romantic attachment and relationship dynamics is unknown. There is evidence to suggest that income inequality decreases social trust/cohesion (Casara et al., 2022; Cheng et al., 2021; Sprong et al., 2019) and that both income inequality is associated with misogynistic attitudes (Blake et al., 2021).

Given that economic inequalities are associated with general social distrust and misogynistic attitudes, we hypothesise that income inequality will increase insecure attachment (i.e., anxious, avoidant, and disorganised attachment styles). We also hypothesise that the effects of income inequality on insecure attachment will be mediated by physical cues of stress (e.g., dry mouth, nausea, rapid breathing) during the income inequality manipulation, and perceived social stress under high inequality.

230 REP participants completed the study. We asked participants to report the degree of income inequality in Bimboola, and which income tier they were assigned to. 30 were excluded for responding incorrectly to 1 or more of these questions.

Participants were told to imagine they are members of a virtual society, “Bimboola” and were shown a video describing the income distribution in their society, presented via five income tiers (corresponding to quintile representing the earnings of the poorest 20%, 20-40%, 40-60%, 60-80 %, and 80-100%). Participants were randomly allocated to either an economically unequal society or an economically equal society, and were all assigned to the middle income tier of their respective society. After the Bimboola manipulation, participants were asked questions about their autonomic perceptions during the Bimboola manipulation and perceived degree of social stress in Bimboola, present in Bimboola to determine whether these variables mediate the effects of the Bimboola manipulation on romantic attachment (each variable was measured via a questionnaire). Finally, participants were asked to report their attachment style in Bimboola.

Independent samples t-tests showed that participants assigned to the inequality condition reported more autonomic perceptions (i.e., physical cues of stress) during the Bimboola manipulation and greater perceived social stress in Bimboola, as well as higher levels of anxious attachment, avoidant attachment, and disorganised attachment in Bimboola. Mediation analyses showed that the effect of the Bimboola manipulation on avoidant and disorganized (but not anxious) attachment was mediated by autonomic perceptions during the Bimboola manipulation, and that the effect of the Bimboola manipulation on all three attachment styles was mediated by perceived social stress in Bimboola.

These results suggest that income inequality increases insecure romantic attachment via increased physical and social stress. Insecure attachment is a major contributor to psychopathology (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2012) and likely contributes to broader physical health related outcomes via the HPA system (Pietromonaco et al., 2013). Understanding the factors that influence romantic attachment (e.g., income inequality) may thus have implications for treatments/interventions/policies that have the potential to alleviate both psychological and physical disease burdens. The findings of this experiment will be presented in journal articles and conference presentations.

Bayesian inference is a unifying theory of perception. Under this theory, perception occurs through combining our senses with beliefs and experiences. Research about how humans make inferences is less studied in the context of pain, including whether people actually integrate sensory and belief information to judge pain, and whether personal attributes and experiences (e.g., experience with pain, mental health) shape expectations about pain and thus the experience of it.

Primary research questions: 1. Do people use inferential strategies to judge pain that is being experienced in others? 2. Do personal factors, such as previous experience with pain and depression, influence pain perception? Aims: 1. Explore whether people use Bayesian inferential strategies to interpret pain-related stimuli. 2. Explore correlations between demographic variables (prior pain, depression) and the degree to which people rely on sensory information when perceiving pain in others.

662 completed the task. 57 participants were excluded due to either erroneous or outlier or missing data.

Experiment: Participants are asked to complete an online experiment. The experiment involves participants viewing a series of symbolic pain cues (ratings on a pain scale), in order to infer the underlying intensity (in degrees Celsius) of a noxious heat stimuli. The ratings are provided by model participants who are attempting to rate their pain as accurately as possible based on a single underlying temperature in each trial. One of the two models (Model A or Model B), is more precise than the other at appraising their pain (i.e., their pain ratings tend to be more consistent with the temperatures experienced). Participants are required to guess the underlying temperature (from 32-50 degrees) based on 5x pain ratings (0-100) provided by each model participant, taking into account that one model tends to be more accurate at rating their pain. Surveys: The study includes questionnaires related to somatic symptoms (e.g., Somatic Symptoms Scale), including the experience of pain (e.g., back pain in the past 7 days) to determine the participants' prior experience with pain. Given that previous work has also suggested potential links between pain and depression, the questionnaire included a survey on depression, to determine whether depression mediates the relationship between pain and Bayesian inference strategies.

There was no direct relationship between prior pain experiences and Bayesian preferences observed in a pain-free student population. Depression status significantly predicted Bayesian preferences for priors: individuals with moderate-to-severe depression were less likely to rely on sensory information (i.e., are more likely to rely on prior beliefs) about pain, compared to people with mild depressive symptoms. Higher levels of depression predicted greater weekly pain, which is consistent with previous research of depression being associated with pain symptoms.

Increasing pain complaints with higher depression levels might influence how the pain perception informed. However, given the present study involved participants from a largely healthy and pain-free population, it is unclear whether pain actually influences Bayesian inferential strategies. Further research would benefit from involving individuals with chronic pain to explore this relationship. Further research is also needed to determine if this effect is specific to pain or generalisable to other domains involving the perception and judgement of stimuli. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of considering depression in understanding the relationship between pain and Bayesian decision-making. Given the present study was limited to a healthy adult population, future studies should focus on depression with varying levels of severity.

Episodic memory is your ability to recall specific episodes (including words or pictures) or events from your past. Prior research indicates that the ability to retrieve specific, episodic information from memory is integral to daily functioning. This research project will explore how retrieval of a single piece of episodic information (in this case, positive and negative words) influences access to other positive and negative episodic information. We will also explore whether this process varies with current mood.

An interaction is expected between trial valence and depression scores in predicting the proportion of correct trials on the ERA task. Specifically, a stronger (negative) association will be observed between depression scores and accuracy on positive trials, compared to the association between depression scores and accuracy on negative trials.

292 participants completed the study. Those under 18 were excluded or with insufficient English language proficiency.

Participants were taken to the Qualtrics survey via the REP platform. Informed consent was provided before completing the task sequence, which comprised all 60 ERA trials, the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), and the ERA task recall block. The task battery took approximately 45 minutes to complete.

Hypothesis 1—correlation. Depression scores will be negatively associated with the proportion of correct responses for positively valanced trials on the ERA task. A bivariate correlation will be run between BDI score (0 to 63) and the proportion correct on positively valanced ERA trials. Our hypothesis will be supported if the p-value is <.05 and the correlation is in a negative direction. Hypothesis 2—interaction. An interaction is expected between trial valence and depression scores in predicting the proportion of correct trials on the ERA task. Specifically, a stronger association will be observed between depression scores and accuracy on positive trials, compared to the association between depression scores and accuracy on negative trials. A linear mixed effects model will be used to examine hypothesis 2. The model structure is as follows: Proportion correct ~ BDI * Trial Valence + ESL + (1/Subject ID) Fixed Effects = BDI (between-subjects), Trial Valence (within-subjects; excluding neutral trials) Random Effect = Subject ID Covariate = ESL (English Second Language) Hypothesis 2 will be supported if the interaction term between BDI and Trial Valence (positive and negative) is significant in a manner compatible with the description provided. We intend to reproduce these outcomes through separate and combined analyses with data from study 1.a if the ERA trials need to be adapted on the basis of valence ratings.

This study was a pre-registered replication of our originally piloted study in 2023. Our findings were not replicated, however, some exploratory analyses have revealed interested trends which we may follow-up in further studies. We plan to publish this research, alongside our original pilot data. This work may also be presented at a conference as part of my PhD.

Episodic memory is your ability to recall specific episodes (including words or pictures) or events from your past. Prior research indicates that the ability to retrieve specific, episodic information from memory is integral to daily functioning. This research project will explore how retrieval of a single piece of episodic information (in this case, positive and negative words) influences access to other positive and negative episodic information. We will also explore whether this process varies with current mood.

An interaction is expected between trial valence and depression scores in predicting the proportion of correct trials on the ERA task. Specifically, a stronger (negative) association will be observed between depression scores and accuracy on positive trials, compared to the association between depression scores and accuracy on negative trials.

211 participants completed the study. Those under 18 were excluded or with insufficient English language proficiency.

Participants were taken to the Qualtrics survey via the REP platform. Informed consent was provided before completing the task sequence, which comprised all 60 ERA trials, the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), and the ERA task recall block. The task battery took approximately 45 minutes to complete.

Hypothesis 1—correlation. Depression scores will be negatively associated with the proportion of correct responses for positively valanced trials on the ERA task. A bivariate correlation will be run between BDI score (0 to 63) and the proportion correct on positively valanced ERA trials. Our hypothesis will be supported if the p-value is <.05 and the correlation is in a negative direction. Hypothesis 2—interaction. An interaction is expected between trial valence and depression scores in predicting the proportion of correct trials on the ERA task. Specifically, a stronger association will be observed between depression scores and accuracy on positive trials, compared to the association between depression scores and accuracy on negative trials. A linear mixed effects model will be used to examine hypothesis 2. The model structure is as follows: Proportion correct ~ BDI * Trial Valence + ESL + (1/Subject ID) Fixed Effects = BDI (between-subjects), Trial Valence (within-subjects; excluding neutral trials) Random Effect = Subject ID Covariate = ESL (English Second Language) Hypothesis 2 will be supported if the interaction term between BDI and Trial Valence (positive and negative) is significant in a manner compatible with the description provided. We intend to reproduce these outcomes through separate and combined analyses with data from study 1.a if the ERA trials need to be adapted on the basis of valence ratings.

This study was a pre-registered replication of our originally piloted study in 2023. Our findings were not replicated, however, some exploratory analyses have revealed interested trends which we may follow-up in further studies. We plan to publish this research, alongside our original pilot data. This work may also be presented at a conference as part of my PhD.

How attractive one's sexual partner is compared to how attractive one sees oneself may influence sexual health behavior such as condom use. Prior qualitative work has suggested that sexual partners that one perceives to have a surplus of sexual capital relative to one's own may influence the sexual behaviors one is willing to engage in. This study seeks to investigate this experimentally. Using male faces from the Chicago Face Database (https://www.chicagofaces.org/) that have been rated attractive or unattractive, we will see whether people who have sex with men shown an attractive versus unattractive demonstrated differences in their intentions to engage in condomless sex, and the perceived social pressure they experience to agree to condomless sex.

We hypothesized that participants who see an attractive face will report greater intentions to engage in condomless sex, and greater social pressure to engage in condomless sex compared to participants who see an unattractive face. We also hypothesized that these effects will be moderated by participants' self-rated sexual desirability. For example, we expected that participants who see themselves as more sexually undesirable and who see an attractive face will report greater intentions to agree to condomless sex. In contrast, participants who are more sexually desirable and who see an attractive face will report fewer intentions to agree to condomless sex. For participants who see an unattractive face, we anticipate that participants who self-report being more sexually desirable will show lower intentions to agree to condomless sex than participants who self-report as undesirable, but that the effect will be attenuated.

We had a total sample size of 593. 18 participants were excluded for not completing the consent form, 63 for not completing the experimental manipulation, and 71 for failing both of our two attention checks. We had a final sample size of 441. Of these participants, 226 (51.25%) were assigned to condition 1 and saw an unattractive face (see 'Methods') and 216 (48.75%) were assigned to condition 2 and saw an attractive face.

We used face drawn from the Chicago Face Database and it's expansion stimuli. These faces were previously rated on attractiveness, so we used those faces that were rated one standard deviation below the mean on attractiveness ('unattractive' faces) and those rather one standard deviation above the mean on attractiveness ('attractive' faces). Participants were randomized to either see an unattractive or attractive face and then randomized to see one out of 65 (for attractive faces) or 67 faces (for unattractive faces) possible stimuli. Participants were shown the facial stimuli using a vignette. The vignette established that the participant met the person depicted (pseudonymously called 'Alex') on a dating app before going on a date with him. The vignette then described the participant going home with Alex to have sex. Alex then asked to have condomless sex, where the participant was asked how likely they were to agree, and the extent to which they felt social pressure to agree, to having sex will Alex.

We used Bayesian statistics to analyze our data in the software Stan using R and R-Studio. This approach to statistics differs slightly from frequentist statistics taught in the undergraduate program in that our results represented the distribution of all the possible values of the relationships between our independent and dependent variables. We summarize each of our findings using the 'posterior mean' of these distributions and a 97% credible interval. This can be interpreted, respectively, as 'the most likely' strength and direction of the relationship in question, and the range of the likeliest values the relationship could take. For simplicity, if the 97% CI does not include zero, the relationship can be thought of as meaningfully different from zero (i.e., 'significant'). We found that participants who saw a face rated attractive had greater intentions of agreeing to have sex with Alex, β = .29 (97% CI [.09, .50]), partially supporting our hypothesis. Contrary to our expectations, self-rated sexual desirability to not influence the intention of agreeing to have sex with Alex, β = .03 (97% CI [-.12, .18]), and we found no interaction between self-rated desirability and experimental condition, b = .00 (97% CI [-.01, .02]). This suggests that one's partner's sexual attractiveness influences how likely one is to agree to have sex and that this occurs regardless of how sexually attractive one sees oneself as. We found that participants who say themselves as more sexually desirable experienced less social pressure to have condomless sex with Alex, β = -.16 (97% CI [-.30, -.01]), partially supporting our hypothesis. Note, however, that the upper bound of the CI is very near to 0 at -.01, suggesting that the relationship may not be very meaningful, and suggesting we need more data to reach a more confident estimate of the relationship. We found that experimental condition did not appear to predict social pressure, -.17 (97% CI [-.37, .04]), suggesting that others' sexual attractiveness does not influence how much social pressure participants felt to agree to condomless sex. Two things are notable about this finding. First, as the upper bound of the CI is close to 0, we can't necessarily conclude there is no relationship. Rather, as above, we may need more data to come to a more confident estimate on whether and to what extent a relationship exists. Second, the posterior mean is negative, suggesting that participants who saw an attractive face experienced less social pressure to agree to condomless sex, which contradicts our hypothesis. Finally, we did not find a significant interaction effect, b = .00 (97% CI [-.01, .02]).

Our findings have some sexual and public health implications. First, people may make riskier sexual health decisions when their partner is seen as attractive. For people assigned female at birth, this may increase the chances of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), unwanted pregnancies, and bloodborne diseases such as HIV and hepatitis. For men and nonbinary people who have sex with gay and bisexual men, this may increase the chances of STIs and bloodborne diseases. Second, and more theoretically, sexually attractive men may be able to leverage their desirability to 'coerce' others into otherwise unwanted and risky sex. Greater sexual health and consent education may stymie this effect, mitigating the risks that condomless sex poses to individuals' sexual and physical health. Lastly, self-rated sexual desirability decreases the amount of social pressure participants felt to agree to condomless sex. While we will need to explore the implications of this in a future project, this finding may suggest that interventions aimed at improving one's view of oneself as a sexual being may improve their adherence to safe sex practices. Participants who completed this study were also asked to respond to whether they would like a copy of the published manuscript. We hope to have the data published in early-to-mid 2025. Please contact Wesley Grey (wgrey@student.unimelb.edu.au) if you would like to receive a copy of the publication once available. We also hope that Wesley will present the findings from this project at conferences in 2025, such as the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality and Society of Australasian Social Psychologists' annual conferences.

Many tasks used in neuropsychological assessments which assess language function were developed decades ago. It remains to be seen whether utilising these tasks in young adults is appropriate. This project seeks to ask whether these tests are reliable and meaningful in a younger population who may be unfamiliar with the concepts developed at the time. This project will involve collecting neuropsychological data from healthy young adults and developing new normative data for language measures such as the Sydney Language Battery and the Boston Naming Test. This will not only inform the utility of these measures among young adults who present with cognitive complaints but will also examine practice effects and inform the way these tasks are applied and interpreted in clinical practice.

This research is interested in understanding whether the normative data that is currently being used in neuropsychological assessments is appropriate for young adults.

100 REP participants were recruited. Participants were excluded from analysis if they were deemed to not speak ‘Australian English’ as per the inclusion criteria or were older than 35 years old (n = 27). Sessions were discontinued for participants for whom English was insufficient (n = 8) and they were provided with debriefing as per standard administration protocol.

A broad neuropsychological battery was administered to each participant including measures of processing speed, attention, working memory, memory, language, and visuoconstructional functioning. For each participant, data was collected in one 60–90-minute session, with a break offered to participants halfway through.

Analysis for the current study relate predominantly to that of an honours project producing normative data for the Boston Naming Test (BNT) in this novel population. Mean BNT performance was significantly poorer than North American samples (p < .001) and comparable to that of older Australians (p = .82) and young adult New Zealanders (p = .65). At an item level, the current sample was uniquely unfamiliar with items ‘yoke’, ‘trellis’, and ‘latch’ and more familiar with items ‘pretzel’ and ‘beaver’ than culturally similar samples.

To improve BNT administration among Australian young adults, it is proposed that items could be presented in order of familiarity and administration started at item 20. The current investigation evaluates the BNT for a previously unexamined population, highlighting the importance of representative BNT normative data and proposes alternative clinical applications to Australian young adults. This study also identifies the need to update normative data for language tests such that they reflect word familiarity in an ever-changing linguistic landscape.

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The quality of our sleep is very important and poor sleep quality impacts on many facets of life including our behaviour. Previous research has established that sleep disruption, sleep disorders, and reduced sleep quality are related to more impulsive and less well-regulated behaviours. For example, some research has indicated that being awake overnight may increase the risk of suicidal, homicidal, and violent behaviour. This research is studying the relationship between sleep quality, sleep timing, and problematic/criminal behaviour. Not many studies in this area have included a large number of adult participants, as more studies have included adolescents. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the relationship between sleep quality, sleep timing, and problematic/criminal behaviours in young adults. This is important because understanding this connection might help to reduce problem behaviours.

In this study, we measured whether people with better or poorer sleep quality also engage in problem behaviours, and then we measured several factors known to contribute to both sleep quality and problem behaviours. These include experiences of trauma, impulsiveness, how emotions are managed, alcohol consumption, medications, smoking, and other health problems. It was hypothesised that: - Sleep disruption and later sleep times will be related to more criminal/problematic behaviours. - Decreased emotion regulation and increased impulsivity will be related to poor sleep and more problem behaviours in young adults.

Participants were healthy adults over 18 years of age who volunteered to participate in the research. 564 (444 female) participants completed this study and exclusions due to significant health concerns or sleep difficulties are being determined due to ongoing analysis.

All data was collected remotely via Qualtrics online survey software. Participants completed several questionnaires online including: The difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (Gratz and Roemer, 2004); The I19 (Eysenck, S. B. G., & Eysenck, H. J., 1978); The Life Events Checklist (LEC); The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI; Buysse et al., 1989); Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS; Johns 1991); Berlin Questionnaire (Netzer et al., 1999); PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5; Weathers et al, 2013), as well as demographic and general health questionnaires, including those about alcohol and caffeine use (to determine the impact of such variables on sleep, as they have known impacts), and information about past problem or criminal behaviours.

Data analysis is still ongoing, however data will be analysed using a mixture of ANOVA and logistic regression depending on the dependent variable being utilised. Significance level will be set to α = .05 indicating a p-value of < α to be statistically significant. Data may be analysed prior to inclusion of all participants for preliminary analyses. On preliminary analysis, it was noted that 8% of respondents indicated that they had engaged in unlawful behaviour and 33% rated their sleep quality as fairly bad or very bad. About 15% of respondents who reported having engaged in unlawful behaviour also reported very bad or fairly bad sleep quality, and approximately 58% of participants who engaged in unlawful behaviour reported a habitual sleep time of after midnight.

While these are preliminary findings, results indicate that further investigation into the relationships between late sleep times, or poor sleep quality, on problem/unlawful behaviours is warranted. It is possible that interaction effects with constructs such as emotion regulation, impulsivity or the experience of trauma may further impact on this relationship.

Commuter cycling is a high-impact individual behaviour that will play a vital role in our transition to a more environmentally friendly way of living. Replacing frequent private vehicle use with cycling as a means of transport not only has many potential environmental benefits (such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution), but it also has a host of co-benefits for human health and wellbeing, such as improved physical health; benefits to local and national economies; decreased congestion; and social benefits, such as promoting the independence of young and elderly people. Investment in cycling infrastructure could have a greater a positive impact if it also elicits a positive spillover effect by catalysing further individual pro-environmental behaviour and collective advocacy for sustainable cities. Behavioural spillover is said to occur when acting in a pro-environmental way increases (positive spillover) or decreases (negative spillover) a person’s likelihood or extent of performing other pro-environmental behaviours. Commuter cycling is an attractive candidate as a catalyst for positive spillover on several grounds. Firstly, cycling is associated with a superordinate environmental identity, which may become strengthened while cycling, leading to greater pro-environmental behaviour. Secondly, it is a high-impact environmental behaviour, hence reducing opportunity costs that come with studying low-impact catalyst behaviours. Finally, it is associated with a ‘cyclist’ social identity, whereby contact with other group members and exposure to shared emotional experiences, social change beliefs (e.g., illegitimacy of the status quo, collective efficacy, cognitive alternatives), knowledge, and social support could provide gateways into political engagement/collective action. Social identity models of collective action have been used to explain vegan activism, environmental activism, and collective action in transport users. To date, cycling as a catalyst behaviour has only been investigated by one study that focused on health spillover effects. Furthermore, we will expand upon the social identity model proposed by Allert & Gerhard (2023) by examining the role of sustainable cognitive alternatives and perceived illegitimacy of car-centric planning. Findings from our qualitative study (unpublished) suggested that these factors may have an important role in prompting advocacy efforts, along with experiential learning processes. While such factors may be important for promoting advocacy behaviour in cyclists, they may also be important in promoting advocacy in other transport users. Hence, this study will compare this expanded version of the social identity model across transport user groups. We are interested in using an Australian (Melbourne) sample as Australia has high levels of car-dependency, despite 67% of Australians living in a capital city. Australia would also stand to benefit from improved urban sustainability due to its increasing climate change risks and cost of living. Hence, the context-specific nature of our research will be of interest to Australian decision-makers.

1. Does transportation mode use (cycling, private car use, public transport) influence levels of engagement in collective action for sustainable cities? 2. How do social change beliefs (e.g., system legitimacy and cognitive alternatives) differ between cyclists, public transport users, and motorists? 3. What is the relationship between transport mode and transport user group identification?

Participants were 535 Melbourne residents and transport users (48%; 47% women). The sample had a median age of 34 (range: 18-82) and 33.5% were current higher education students. The sample were then classified as dominant public transport users (43%), bicycle users (31%), and car users (26%).

Participants completed an online survey that took 20 minutes on average to be completed. Participants were asked to provide their demographic information and answer a range of transport-related questions, e.g., their frequency of using various transport modes, their dominant mode of transport, whether they had ever used a bicycle as a means of transport, car ownership, mode enjoyment, and mode anger. They were also asked to complete several novel scales, such as a perceived illegitimacy scale, cognitive alternatives scale, sustainable policy support scale, perceived system stability items, and a modified collective action scale.

A multigroup path analysis was undertaken in Lavaan using R. To compare for group differences, each path was iteratively constrained and chi-square difference tests used to examine whether constraining the path to be equal for all the groups would significantly worsen the model fit. If it did significantly worsen model fit, then the path was constrained to be the same across all groups (meaning there was no significant group differences). Standardised regression coefficients have been reported for each of the groups in the order of drivers, public transport users, and then cyclists. Note. ***p < .001, **p < .01, *p < .05. There were no significant group differences for the perceived illegitimacy to collective action path, nor perceived illegitimacy to cognitive alternatives, hence these paths were constrained in the final model. For all other paths, there were significant group differences. Perceived illegitimacy was a significant predictor of collective action across the groups (β = .30***, β = .26***, β = .19***). Being able to imagine a sustainable cognitive alternative was not a significant predictor for public transport users, but for drivers and cyclists (β = .21*, β = .04, β = .28***). This may be because the scale did not have many questions about public transport use in the future. Identification with the dominant transport group was only a significant predictor of collective action for public transport users (β = -.02, β = .22**, β = .19). This may be because public transport users need to engage in collective action if they want more extensive infrastructure, whereas cyclists (however dangerous and inconvenient it may be) can still chose to ride their bike on existing roads. The social identification scale did a poor job at capturing variability in cyclist identification, hence likely explaining why cyclist identification was not a significant predictor of collective action despite a high mean score. There was a strong negative relationship between driver identification and perceived illegitimacy, where drivers who strongly identified as drivers were less likely to perceive car-centric planning as illegitimate, as compared to PT users and cyclists (β = -.71***, β = .40***, β = .25*). These findings were also similar for identification as a predictor of cognitive alternatives (β = -.46***, β = .39***, β = .12). Finally, perceived illegitimacy was a strong significant predictor of cognitive alternatives for all groups (β = .64***, β = .58***, β = .52***). When the directionality was reversed, the effects held (β = .64***, β = .54***, β = .59***), suggesting a bi-directional relationship.

These findings suggest that perceived illegitimacy of car-centric planning positively predicts collective action for sustainable cities across all groups. There was evidence to suggest a bi-directional relationship between perceived illegitimacy and cognitive alternatives. The strong negative relationship between driver identification and perceived illegitimacy suggests a potential suppression effect, where strong driver identification reduces the effect of perceived illegitimacy on collective action. Further research could conduct an appropriately powered multigroup mediation analysis to investigate this indirect pathway.

Autobiographical memory (AM) refers to a person’s store of prior life events and more generalised self-relevant knowledge. Retrieval of AMs has been previously found to enhance both positive (e.g., self-efficacy and acceptance, increase feelings of happiness when stressed) and negative emotional experiences (e.g., low mood, anxiety). Research has focused primarily on the relationship between depression and retrieval styles characterised by reduced AM specificity, i.e. the reduced recall of specific memories when prompted (e.g. I was sad at my birthday party last year) and a tendency to recall general memories instead (e.g. I hate birthdays). Evidence suggests that a retrieval style characterised by reduced AM specificity predicts the course of depressive symptoms (Hallford et al., 2021) and even predicts the onset of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in adolescents (Rawal & Rice, 2012). The mechanisms by which reduced AM specificity may result in depression are still being explored, but there is some indications that it may impair skills that are important for emotional wellbeing, such as problem-solving skills. Impairments in problem-solving skills are common in people experiencing depression, and a reduced ability to generate novel and effective solutions increases distress and hopelessness (Arie et al., 2008). Reduced AM specificity is associated with problem-solving deficits (Arie et al., 2008; Beaman et al., 2007), and it has been hypothesized that problem-solving strategies may be impaired when a person is unable to retrieve the detailed information contained in specific autobiographical memories (Williams et al., 1996). Despite this, the few direct experiments exploring a causal relationship between AM specificity and problem-solving show mixed findings, with induction procedures that encourage AM specificity often failing to produce improvements in problem-solving (e.g. Hallford et al., 2022, Duff et al., 2024). This indicates that promoting AM specificity alone may not translate into improved problem-solving skills. More recent research indicates reduced AM specificity may be one component of a larger reduced ability to flexibility and deliberately retrieve different autobiographical memory types, termed reduced AM flexibility (Hitchcock et al., 2019). Effective problem solving likely requires a number of different sources of information, and including information contained in both specific and categoric memory types (Dritschel et al., 2014; Hitchcock et al., 2017). Accessing both these types of memories is a strength of AM flexibility, and consistent with this, training a more flexible AM retrieval style in clinical trials has been associated with improved problem-solving skills (Hitchcock et al., 2017).

We hypothesise a significant effect of induction on the effectiveness of problem solving. Specifically, 1. Both the autobiographical memory flexibility induction and the specificity induction will increase effectiveness of problem solving, relative to a control induction. 2. Participants completing the memory flexibility induction will demonstrate significantly higher effectiveness of problem solving relative to a specificity induction procedure.

460 REP participants completed the study. Participants outside the ages of 16-25 and who did not complete all components of the study were excluded from analysis.

Participants received a plain language statement and provided consent before completing the sMFQ and demographics questionnaires. Participants then underwent one of three induction procedures. The Flexibility Induction comprised participants reporting a series of alternating specific and categoric memories in response to prompt words, the Specificity Induction comprised asking participants to report a series of specific memories to the same prompt words, and the Control induction comprised asking participants to complete a series of simple addition and subtraction sums (Control Induction). Each induction procedure took place over an approximately 15-minute period. After completing the induction procedures, participants then completed the second mood check (to determine if the induction procedures affected mood), before completing between two and four problems from the Means End Problem-Solving (MEPS) tasks. Participants then completed the Memory Use Check, before concluding the experiment by completing the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT).

Our primary analysis was a mixed 2 (Time: pre induction, post induction) x 3 (Induction condition: Specificity, flexibility, control) ANOVA predicting participants perceived likelihood of a positive outcome for their worrisome event (i.e., problem solving effectiveness, per Jing et al., 2016). Planned comparisons will determine if people receiving the mathematical induction differ from those receiving the specificity and flexibility inductions (hypothesis 1), and whether those receiving the specificity and flexibility inductions differ from each other (hypothesis 2). Results: Neither hypothesis was supported.

These results suggest that brief engagement with autobiographical memory retrieval tasks are ineffective at boosting problem solving skills in the immediate term. These results are in line with the literature that reports a weak or non-significant relationship between inductions of autobiographical memory specificity and problem solving, and extend these results to autobiographical memory flexibility as well. These results are planned to be communicated through a journal article.

Eating disorders (EDs) are influenced by factors like dietary restraint and body dissatisfaction, which are linked to social media exposure. Social media trends, particularly those promoting appearance ideals (e.g., “thinspiration” and “fitspiration”), contribute to body dissatisfaction and dieting behaviors. Recent trends focusing on eating and food, such as “mukbang” and “What I Eat in a Day” (WIEIAD), are gaining attention but have been less studied in relation to EDs. Some studies suggest these trends, especially those containing diet-promoting content, may influence body dissatisfaction and dietary restraint, though findings are lacking. Vulnerability factors like thin-ideal internalization, the degree to which individuals adopt societal standards of thinness, may moderate these effects, according to the theoretical proposals of the Tripartite Influence Model (Thompson et al., 1999)

It was hypothesised that momentary exposure to eating-related trends will be associated with subsequent increases in body dissatisfaction (H1.1) and odds of reporting dietary restraint (H1.2). Likewise, momentary exposure to diet-promoting content within eating-related trends will be associated with subsequent increases in body dissatisfaction (H2.1) and odds of reporting dietary restraint (H2.2). Additionally, following exposure to eating-related trends, individuals with higher trait thin-ideal internalisation will experience higher body dissatisfaction (H3.1) and higher odds of dietary restraint (H3.2), compared to those with lower trait thin-ideal internalisation. Similarly, following exposure to diet-promoting content, individuals with higher trait thin-ideal internalisation will experience higher body dissatisfaction (H4.1) and higher odds of dietary restraint (H4.2) than those with lower trait thin-ideal internalisation.

The final sample consisted of 151 participants from the REP. Eligible participants were at least 18 years old and had access to an iPhone with iOS 8 or above. Due to incompatibility issues with SEMA3 (the platform used for collecting EMA data; Koval et al., 2019), individuals with Android-based devices were ineligible to participate (O’Brien et al., 2024).

Participants first completed a baseline survey assessing trait-based measures, including thin-ideal internalisation (Social Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-4). Participants then used the smartphone application SEMA3 to respond to single-item measures assessing state body dissatisfaction, dietary restraint urges, exposure to eating-related trends and diet- promoting content, six times a day for seven consecutive days. Results from a series of multilevel models suggested that momentary exposure to eating-related trends predicted subsequent increases in dietary restraint, but not in body dissatisfaction.

Results from a series of multilevel models suggested that momentary exposure to eating-related trends predicted subsequent increases in dietary restraint, but not in body dissatisfaction. Exposure to diet- promoting content did not predict changes in body dissatisfaction or dietary restraint. Thin- ideal internalisation did not moderate any of the relationships.The study supports the Tripartite Influence Model by showing that media exposure can influence body dissatisfaction and dietary restraint. However, it highlights the need for a more nuanced understanding of how different types of media content (e.g., appearance-related vs. eating-related) impact body image and eating behaviors.

The study supports the Tripartite Influence Model by showing that media exposure can influence body dissatisfaction and dietary restraint. However, it highlights the need for a more nuanced understanding of how different types of media content (e.g., appearance-related vs. eating-related) impact body image and eating behaviors. Based on the finding that exposure to eating-related trends is associated with increased dietary restraint, the study suggests that users should approach such content critically. Social media platforms should implement tools to help users manage their exposure to potentially harmful content, such as muting or unfollowing creators who frequently post eating-related trends or providing options to filter out certain content. Additionally, The study supports ongoing efforts by social media platforms, like TikTok, to mitigate the impact of eating-related trends by displaying body positivity messages and linking to ED support resources. However, further actions, such as adding labels that encourage critical engagement with content or providing mental health resources, could help protect vulnerable users. Platforms should also consider extending these protections to other eating-related trends beyond "What I Eat in a Day" videos.

Semantic richness refers to how certain words can be more easily identified and responded to in visual word recognition tasks, due to them having richer semantic representations (Pexman et al., 2008). The "richness" of a word can be measured for example by the number of contexts the word appears in, the number of differing neighbouring words or concepts that may occur, or the number of features represented by the word. Different languages vary in how they represent meaning, even for words that may appear to have equivalent translations. This has contributed to research showing that native speakers of languages that differ in semantic density and richness, may accordingly react to and assess words differently in word association and judgement tasks (Aceves & Evans, 2024).

The key questions this research aimed to examine were: 1. Does processing the meaning of an individual word differ between languages due to language-specific semantic richness measures? 2. Does semantic processing of the relations between words vary between languages due to language-specific semantic richness measures? 3. Do these relationships hold across a variety of different semantic richness measures?

Inclusion criteria for the study included being a native speaker in one of the specified languages of interest. 214 participants completed the study through REP. After data cleaning processes, data from 187 REP participants was analysed. The exclusion criteria during data cleaning comprised successful completion of both tasks and non-random responses.

The study utilised reliably cross-translated words across multiple languages as stimuli, with semantic richness measures for each word sourced from the Small World of Words Project (De Deyne et al., 2019). Participants completed two tasks in their native language: a semantic categorisation task evaluating individual word processing, and a semantic relatedness task evaluating the processing of relationships between words. For both tasks, response time and choice were recorded.

Various mixed effects models were created to compare participant data, to gauge the presence of cross-lingual differences in response time and choice distribution. Additional variables such as word concreteness and frequency were also modelled. Results found significant cross-lingual differences in reaction time for both tasks, as well as response distribution in the semantic relatedness task, with the latter result significantly influenced by semantic richness. However, SR was not found to significantly affect reaction times in either task. Significant effects were also observed for non-linear word concreteness, as well as language-interaction terms.

These findings suggest nuanced and intriguing language-specific processes exist that affect semantic decision-making. Such processes appear to modulate the extent to which semantic richness influences response time and choice during decision-making, suggesting that semantic richness alone may not fully account for observed cross-lingual differences.

The transition into university can be a difficult time, as first-year students navigate many personal, social, and academic transitions. The University of Melbourne is keenly invested in supporting students to succeed through this transition, however, evidence suggests that there is a mismatch between how the University thinks about “student success” and how students think about “student success”.

In this project, we aimed to map out how students’ changing expectations and experiences of university life contribute to their overall satisfaction with university life. We also aimed to identify differences between the student perspective and the teachers’ perspective.

286 students completed the survey. No exclusion criteria applied. The survey opened in Week 10 and remained open until the end of the exams period.

Students completed a survey reflecting on their current expectations of university, and their expectations of university in orientation week of semester 2. They also answered questions about their values and their satisfaction with university life. This study was also run in Semester 1.

The patterns were similar to those found in semester 1: Students were moderately satisfied with university. Changes in expectations between orientation week and Week 10 contributed to the variation in students scores. Specifically, students whose expectations about assessment difficulty increased across the semester, and whose expectations about making friends decreased across the semester, were less satisfied with their university life. Students whose expectations about infrastructure and quality of teaching increased across semester were more satisfied with their university experience. We are in the process of comparing the patterns in these data to the perceptions and expectations of teaching staff, collected in a different survey.

The patterns in our data suggest that students' expectations of university life are diverse, and contribute to their satisfaction with their university life. Whether and how these match with teaching staff's expectations will help us to understand where teachers might be well placed to invest their energy, and where their energy might not be having an impact.

Effective climate change communication is crucial for fostering public action to mitigate its impacts. Despite this, few studies have tailored messages based on individual differences like environmental worldviews and eco-emotions. This study employs the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) by Witte (1992), integrating these individual differences to examine climate change message acceptance and actions within an Australian context.

Research Hypothesis It is hypothesised that: 1. Individuals exposed to CC messages that include specific, actionable recommendations are more likely to perceive a higher level of response efficacy, and in turn engage more in the danger-control process, as outlined in the EPPM. 2. In contrast, without actionable recommendations, individuals exposed to CC messages are more likely to engage in the fear-control process, consistent with the EPPM. 3. Individuals with a strong anthropocentric worldview are more likely to be motivated by and accept CC messages emphasising local (Australian-specific) issues than messages focusing on global CC issues. 4. Australian residents' eco-centric (anthropocentric) worldview would positively (negatively) predict their perception of CC risk and subsequent mitigation behaviours. Furthermore, risk perception would mediate the relationship between their environmental worldview and mitigation behaviours. 5. Eco-anger will positively predict CC risk perceptions and subsequent mitigation behaviours. Risk perception will mediate the relationship between eco-anger and mitigation behaviour. 6. Eco-depression will not predict CC risk perception or mitigation behaviours. 7. If eco-anger positively predicts risk perception and mitigation behaviour, it should also positively predict the danger control process (message acceptance) in EPPM.

Our sample collection includes two phases. First, we had a sample (N = 180) in June 2024. Then, at the end of July 2024, a new sample of N = 217 was collected. After data clearance (the process is discussed below), the final samples for these two phases were N = 152 and N = 201, respectively. Together, it consisted of 266 females (75.4%), 81 males (22.9%) and 6 non-binary (1.7%). Approximately 33.1% were international students (43.4% for the first sample).

Participants (N = 353) participated in an online experiment with a 2 × 2 between-subject design and, completed a series of questionnaires to measure their environmental worldviews, risk perception, eco-emotions, mitigation behaviours, and Risk Behaviour Diagnosis Scale (RBDS; Witte, 1996).

Path Analyses and ANOVAs/MANOVAs indicated that messages with actionable recommendations were more likely to be accepted. Individuals with strong anthropocentric worldviews were less receptive to general messages but more responsive to those highlighting local issues (Australian-specific). Eco-anger and eco-anxiety significantly predicted climate change risk perceptions, mitigation behaviours, and communication message acceptance, whereas eco-depression did not. These findings underscore the effectiveness of EPPM-framed messages that address recommended actions and consider individual differences in the Australian context.

These findings underscore the effectiveness of EPPM-framed messages that address recommended actions and consider individual differences in the Australian context. Tailoring messages to include local impacts can reduce psychological distance and effectively motivate public action. This research provides valuable insights for crafting impactful climate change communications that resonate with diverse audiences.