Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied

Resolving problems with the skill retention literature: An empirical demonstration and recommendations for researchers.
Questions about the degree of retention and decay for procedural skills, once acquired but not used for a period of time, have been raised repeatedly in basic and applied research. Despite widespread interest and numerous empirical investigations, definitive answers to the question “How much skill is retained after a period of disuse?” remain elusive. Shortcomings with the literature were identified that limit the ability of researchers to develop models of skill decay for various tasks, including medical/health care, military, sports, and other applications. Problems with design, measurement, analysis, and interpretation aspects of research are reviewed. An empirical study of acquisition and retention after a 1-month delay for four tasks is presented: (1) A mid fidelity air traffic control simulation, (2) a low-fidelity air traffic control task, and (3, 4) two versions of a perceptual/memory search task, with data from 150 participants. The results illustrate how different approaches to measurement and analysis lead to biased interpretations of decay, especially in the context of relearning. Recommendations are provided for research that can clarify decay functions for procedural tasks and may generate improved understanding and actionable models for refresher training programs to optimize skill retention over extended time periods. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Scientists, speak up! Source impacts trust in health advice across five countries.
We examined how different types of communication influence people’s responses to health advice. We tested whether presenting COVID-19 prevention advice (e.g., washing hands/distancing) as either originating from a government or scientific source would affect people’s trust in and intentions to comply with the advice. We also manipulated uncertainty in communicating the advice effectiveness. To achieve this, we conducted an experiment using large samples of participants (N = 4,561) from the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Malaysia, and Taiwan. Across countries, participants found messages more trustworthy when the purported source was science rather than the government. This effect was moderated by political orientation in all countries except for Canada, while religiosity moderated the source effect in the United States. Although source did not directly affect intentions to act upon the advice, we found an indirect effect via trust, such that a more trusted source (i.e., science) was predictive of higher intentions to comply. However, the uncertainty manipulation was not effective. Together, our findings suggest that despite prominence of science skepticism in public discourse, people trust scientists more than governments when it comes to practical health advice. It is therefore beneficial to communicate health messages by stressing their scientific bases. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Moral paragons, but crummy friends: The case of snitching.
Loyalty to friends is an important moral value, but does that mean snitching on friends is considered immoral? Across six preregistered studies, we examine how loyalty obligations impact people’s moral evaluations of snitching (i.e., turning in others who commit transgressions). In vignette and incentivized partner choice paradigms, we find that witnesses who snitch (vs. do not snitch) are seen as more moral and as better leaders (Studies 1–6), regardless of whether they snitch on a friend or an acquaintance (Studies 1–3). We find that a willingness to turn in one’s friends increases perceived morality, while an unwillingness to do so diminishes it, with the latter effect exhibiting a stronger impact than the former (Study 2). Our experiments also demonstrate that snitches receive less moral credit when snitching on nonmoral (vs. moral) transgressions (Study 3) and when snitching aligns with self-interest (Study 4). We demonstrate that although snitching is often seen as morally right, turning in transgressors entails important reputational trade-offs: Snitching makes one appear disloyal and a bad friend but boosts perceptions of morality and leadership. This reveals a context in which what is loyal is no longer considered moral. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Judgments of sex trafficked women: The role of emotions.
This study examined how incidental emotions influence decisions to arrest or release sex trafficking survivors. Community members (N = 984) completed an autobiographical memory task invoking disgust, sympathy, or no emotion and read case facts from United States v. Bell (2014) varying whether the survivor had a prior history of sex work and whether she came from a vulnerable or nonvulnerable background. Participants in the vulnerable condition believed that the survivor was less able to resist the trafficker’s proposal. Furthermore, women but not men made to feel disgust believed that she should have resisted. Regarding arresting the survivor for prostitution versus releasing her for services, invoking either incidental disgust or sympathy, but especially disgust, triggered feelings of disgust, which in turn predicted an arrest decision. Finally, our data supported a moderated mediation model in which the belief that the survivor should have been able to resist the trafficker predicted a greater probability of an arrest judgment. Furthermore, participants in the vulnerable condition believed that the survivor had less ability to resist, and they disfavored her arrest. However, this was only true when we invoked no emotion. When we invoked disgust, vulnerability ceased to have this moderation effect. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Acceleration neglect in trend extrapolations.
Many decisions rely on intuitive predictions based on time series data showing a trend. For instance, the current upward trend in global temperatures might lead to specific predictions about the extent to which global temperatures will rise in the future, and these predictions might be used to inform judgments about the urgency with which climate change must be addressed. However, those predictions often need to be revised to incorporate the effects of unexpected events that might accelerate a trend (i.e., increase its rate of change), such as an unanticipated increase in CO₂ emissions, or decelerate a trend (i.e., decrease its rate of change), such as an unanticipated reduction in CO₂ emissions. In this work, we uncover a new cognitive bias by which people neglect how much a trend can accelerate (vs. decelerate) due to unexpected events. We explain this bias in terms of momentum theory and a naive understanding of physics. These findings have important implications for businesses and policymakers seeking to communicate information about topics such as climate change, stock market prices, or disease prevention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
The relative effectiveness of conditioning one or two attributes to a brand.
Attribute conditioning refers to the phenomenon that target stimuli acquire specific attributes by pairing them with stimuli possessing these attributes. We apply attribute conditioning to a marketing context where brands are often displayed with stimuli possessing semantic attributes to establish brand-attribute associations. In particular, we examine whether it is more effective from a brand image perspective to associate a brand with only one attribute, two related attributes, or two unrelated attributes. Across four experimental studies, we find that pairing a single attribute (e.g., athletic) with a brand is most effective for building brand–attribute associations and that pairing multiple, related attributes (athletic and healthy) is more effective than pairing multiple, unrelated attributes (athletic and smart). Supplementing this finding, an analysis of observational data from real brands suggests that attributing two orthogonal attributes to a brand is associated with negative effects on marketing-relevant outcomes. Our findings extend previous research on multiattribute conditioning and highlight the importance of the number and relationship between attributes for building effective brand associations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied - Vol 30, Iss 3