Verbal Disclosure and Mental Health Among Gay Latino and Gay White Men

We examined the relationship between verbal disclosure of sexual orientation and mental health among gay Latino and gay White men. In Study 1, we recruited 164 gay Latino ( n = 81) and gay White ( n = 83) men via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Participants completed measures assessing the degree to which they verbally disclosed their gay identity to others, as well as their depression and anxiety symptoms. Increased verbal disclosure predicted better mental health among gay White men only; no statistically significant relationships emerged among gay Latinos. In Study 2, we recruited 281 gay Latino ( n = 130) and White ( n = 151) men via MTurk, in which feelings of shame and guilt independently mediated the relationship between verbal disclosure and mental health. Among gay White men, increased verbal disclosure predicted less shame and guilt, which predicted better mental health. These relationships did not emerge for gay Latinos.

Power of Bonus in Pricing for Crowdsourcing

We consider a simple form of pricing for a crowdsourcing system, where pricing policy is published a priori, and workers then decide their task acceptance. Such a pricing form is widely adopted in practice for its simplicity, e.g., Amazon Mechanical Turk, although additional sophistication to pricing rule can enhance budget efficiency. With the goal of designing efficient and simple pricing rules, we study the impact of the following two design features in pricing policies: (i) personalization tailoring policy worker-by-worker and (ii) bonus payment to qualified task completion. In the Bayesian setting, where the only prior distribution of workers' profiles is available, we first study the Price of Agnosticism (PoA) that quantifies the utility gap between personalized and common pricing policies. We show that PoA is bounded within a constant factor under some mild conditions, and the impact of bonus is essential in common pricing. These analytic results imply that complex personalized pricing can be replaced by simple common pricing once it is equipped with a proper bonus payment. To provide insights on efficient common pricing, we then study the efficient mechanisms of bonus payment for several profile distribution regimes which may exist in practice. We provide primitive experiments on Amazon Mechanical Turk, which support our analytical findings.

Optimizing Images for an E-Cigarette Messaging Campaign: Liking and Perceived Effectiveness

Introduction: Given the prevalence of electronic vapor product (EVP) use among young people in the US, there is a need for effective vaping education campaigns. This study tested 32 images for liking and perceived effectiveness (PE) to identify optimal images for a messaging campaign. Method: Images were selected from current campaigns, warning labels, and other images based on young adult reasons for use. Images were coded for the presence of (1) people, (2) vapor, (3) device, (4) color, and (5) similarity to warning label image. Young adults (n = 200) were recruited from the Amazon Mechanical Turk platform. Participants were randomly assigned to view and rate six of the 32 images on liking as well as PE, which measured the potential impact of the image to discourage vaping appeal and use. Results: Images containing vapor and/or a device or e-liquid were not well-liked but were perceived as effective in discouraging vaping (ps < 0.05). Images from warning labels were also not well-liked but were perceived as significantly more effective than those not from a warning (p < 0.01). Liking and effectiveness of features was similar for both EVP users and non-users. Discussion: Images with specific features were rated as less likable but rated as higher on PE. However, the consistency of image features rated as effective by EVP users and non-users supports the utility of similar imagery for vaping prevention and reduction efforts.

The Association Between Racial Privilege and Ethnocultural Empathy

Racial minorities living in U.S. society hold fewer privileges in day-to-day life than those in the racial majority. Some propose that the shared experience of a lack of racial privilege among minorities may promote increased empathy for people of other ethnicities and cultures, although there is a lack of evidence demonstrating this empirically. In this study, we examine the intersection of racial privilege and ethnocultural empathy in a diverse sample ( N = 404) of U.S. residents recruited using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Results indicated statistically significant differences in racial privilege and ethnocultural empathy between racial groups such that White participants had higher levels of racial privilege than racial minority participants and lower levels of ethnocultural empathy than Black participants. Results further suggested that the difference in ethnocultural empathy between White and Black participants remained even after racial privilege was controlled for statistically. These results integrate and advance research on the intersection between racial privilege on ethnocultural empathy.

Video Chat Use and Mealtime Behaviors in Older Adults Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Video chat allows people to connect when not physically together. Using video chat while sharing a meal (VideoDining) may decrease loneliness and improve older adults' nutritional intake. We conducted a cross-sectional online survey study using Amazon Mechanical Turk in June 2020. The objectives were to learn about eating with others, the use of video chat, and interest in VideoDining in older adults during the pandemic. There were 1331 survey attempts with 167 responses meeting the criteria for age (65 years of age or older), U.S. residency, and quality. Participants were 64% male, 77% white, 65% college-educated, and a median age of 67 years (IQR=2 years). Few participants lived alone (17%), yet 76% reported feeling isolated. Eating with others regularly, defined as several times a week or more, declined in the pandemic (44% vs. 59% pre-pandemic, p=0.0002). The use of video chat and eating when video chatting increased during the pandemic versus pre-pandemic (82% vs. 74%, p=0.003; 47% vs. 37%, p=0.0005). The majority of participants said they would VideoDine (50%) or consider trying it (37%). Interest in VideoDining did not vary by age, race, or gender. Participants who used video chat were more likely to say they would VideoDine than participants who had never used video chat (OR=3.1; 95% CI=1.25, 8.35; p=0.02). This data suggests most adults 65 years of age and older, already using the Internet, are experiencing isolation and decreased mealtime commensality during the pandemic. The vast majority are using video chat and are interested in trying VideoDining.

Locative Inversion, PP Topicalization, and Weak Crossover in English

The literature on locative inversion in English currently disputes whether locative inversion differs from PP topicalization in permitting a quantifier in the fronted PP to bind a pronoun in the subject. In order to resolve this dispute, this paper runs two experiments on Amazon Mechanical Turk, one an acceptability judgment task and the other a forced-choice task. Both find that PP topicalization does not differ from locative inversion: both permit variable binding. Locative inversion also does not differ from a minimally different sentence with the overt expletive there. These findings remove an argument against the null expletive analysis of English locative inversion, and they also show that weak crossover is not uniformly triggered by A-bar movement.

It Doesn’t Apply to Me, So It Isn’t Real: People Are Likely to Deny Science if It Contradicts Their Personality

When science contradicts people’s experiences, they often deny the science. Psychological science may be particularly prone to denialism because of its relatively high relevance to people’s lives. In two sets of studies ( N = 637 from university students and Mechanical Turk workers), we tested whether perceived and actual incongruence between one’s personality and scientific findings predict psychological discomfort and science denialism. Participants rated the incongruence (subjective incongruence) between their own personality responses and science, as well as their comfort and denial of the science. Those who experienced more subjective incongruence experienced greater discomfort and reported more science denialism. Those whose personality characteristics were objectively incongruent with the science also experienced greater subjective incongruence (all studies), discomfort (Studies 1A, 1B, and 1C), and science denialism (Studies 1A, 1C, and 2B) compared with those with congruent characteristics. Implications regarding denialism of psychological science, and science more broadly, are discussed.

Why Not Interview?

Honesty-Humility is a valuable predictor in personnel selection; however, problems with self-report measures create a need for new tools to judge this trait. Therefore, this research examines the interview as an alternative for assessing Honesty-Humility and how to improve judgments of Honesty-Humility in the interview. Using trait activation theory, we examined the impact of interview question type on Honesty-Humility judgment accuracy. We hypothesized that general personality-tailored questions and probes would increase the accuracy of Honesty-Humility judgments. Nine hundred thirty-three Amazon Mechanical Turk workers watched and rated five interviews. Results found that general questions with probes and specific questions without probes led to the best Honesty-Humility judgments. These findings support the realistic accuracy model and provide implications for Honesty-Humility-based interviews.