Online Experiment Research Articles

The role of character age and content type in US adolescents’ involvement with television characters engaging in drinking and sex-related behaviors

ABSTRACT This study uses an online experiment among 15–17-year-old participants (n = 566) to test whether adolescents’ involvement with television characters (i.e. wishful identification, parasocial interaction, perceived age similarity, attraction) varied based on character age (teen or adult), and whether involvement moderated the relationship between exposure to onscreen risk behaviors (drinking and combining drinking and sex) and intention to engage in alcohol and sex-related behaviors. Character age was associated with increased perceived age similarity, but not wishful identification, parasocial interaction, or physical attraction. However, risk content moderated the relationship in that exposure to younger characters drinking or combining drinking and sex resulted in lower ratings on wishful identification, parasocial interaction, and physical attractiveness. Increased character involvement did not affect the exposure-intention relationships. Implications for understanding character attributes that resonate with adolescent audiences are discussed.

Do negative attitudes toward older adults vary by occupation? Focus on the stereotype content model

Do negative attitudes toward older adults vary according to the occupation of the older adult? Addressing this question is crucial to foster continued employment opportunities for older individuals. To explore this, we conducted an online experiment with Japanese participants, examining how negative attitudes fluctuate when comparing non-older and older adults within specific occupations. This study applied the stereotype content model across 16 occupations and unveiled a three-cluster solution, indicating variations in stereotype mappings between non-older and older workers. Moreover, it was observed that the propensity for these differences varied across clusters. Notably, in occupations where the workers were perceived as more competent and warmer than the general older adults, stereotypes shifted more positively when participants were informed that the workers were older. Conversely, in occupations where workers were perceived as more competent and less warm, both competence and warmth shifted in a negative direction with the introduction of age information. In addition, respect—the degree to which the target person is esteemed and/or admired by others—was strongly associated with both competence and warmth. It is anticipated that the insights gleaned from this study can inform practical interventions aimed at mitigating negative attitudes toward older adults concerning employment.

Paying for individual performance and job satisfaction: the role of self-concern and other-orientation

PurposePrevious studies have yielded mixed results regarding the influence of pay for individual performance on job satisfaction. This study aims to investigate how and when pay for individual performance impacts employee job satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachIn light of self-determination theory, this study examines the moderating effect of self-concern and other-orientation on the association between pay for individual performance and employee job satisfaction through the mediation of intrinsic motivation. This study tests the proposed hypotheses using a two-wave survey study (n = 701) and an online experiment study (n = 440).FindingsThe findings reveal that pay for individual performance has an indirect positive (negative) effect on employee job satisfaction through intrinsic motivation among those with high self-concern or low other-orientation (high other-orientation).Originality/valueThese results underscore the substantial role of individual differences in prosocial orientations when explaining how pay systems shape employees’ attitudes.

Re-examining the effect of wage delegation: a replication study of Charness et al. (2012)

AbstractExperimental research has explored the effects of wage delegation on employee performance, with the pioneering attempt by (Charness et al., Am Econ Rev 102:2358–2379, 2012) in “The Hidden Advantage of Delegation: Pareto Improvements in a Gift Exchange Game”, published in the American Economic Review. We conducted a replication of their experiment for two main reasons: first, to validate the original findings that have influenced subsequent research, and second, to examine whether these results hold in contexts with reduced social proximity between workers and employers, a relevant issue due to the rise of remote work. Our online experiment, involving 410 participants, followed the original study’s design but used a different sample. We successfully replicated the main finding that wage delegation increases employee effort, though the effect was smaller and largely due to employees granting themselves higher wages. These results support the notion that with decreasing social proximity, formal controls increase in importance.

The effect of proportional pricing on alcohol purchasing in two online experiments.

Buying smaller-sized alcohol products can reduce alcohol consumption, but larger products have better value for money, which presents a barrier to switching. We tested whether proportional pricing prompts drinkers to buy smaller alcohol products and reduce alcohol purchasing. This study was an online experiment set in the United Kingdom, using hypothetical shopping tasks in which participants purchased different-sized products presented under proportional pricing (i.e. constant price per litre throughout all sizes of the same product) or standard pricing conditions. Study 1 (comprising n = 210 participants) was a mixed experiment with pricing condition (proportional pricing, standard pricing; within-subjects) and drink type (lager, red wine, vodka; between-subjects) as manipulated factors. Study 2 (comprising n = 90 participants) was a within-subjects experiment with pricing condition (proportional pricing, standard pricing) and multi-pack type (size difference-only, quantity-difference only, size and quantity difference) as manipulated factors. Participants were UK adult alcohol consumers. We measured outcome variables, including alcohol purchasing (UK units) and proportion of alcohol purchased from smaller products. Proportional pricing consistently increased the proportion of alcohol purchased from smaller products [study 1: B = 10.82, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 8.72-12.92; study 2: B = 11.64, 95% CI = 3.50-19.77], indicating a switch to smaller products. However, this did not consistently reduce the total amount of alcohol purchased among drink and product types: proportional pricing reduced the total units purchased from lager multi-packs containing more rather than fewer products (B = -2.56, 95% CI = -4.82 to -0.30), but not from other types of lager multi-packs or single lager products. Proportional pricing also reduced vodka purchasing (B = -3.30, 95% CI = -5.21 to -1.40), but the effect of proportional pricing on wine purchasing was moderated by hazardous drinking (B = -0.11, 95% CI = -0.17 to -0.05). Alcohol sales policies that require proportional pricing may reduce alcohol purchasing.

Fresh start mindset and attitudes toward the banks: the mediating role of optimism judgment bias and face arousal

PurposeThis paper aims to analyze the effects of a fresh start mindset on attitudes toward the banks. Furthermore, we try to predict how optimism judgment bias and arousal can affect the effects of the fresh start mindset through three research questions.Design/methodology/approachThree experiments explored the effect of the fresh start mindset in the banking sector. Study 1 collects data in a laboratory. Study 2 is an online experiment. Study 3 collects data in a laboratory through facial movements.FindingsOur results clarify research gaps in studies regarding financial decisions by demonstrating that a fresh start mindset increases attitudes toward banks. In this way, a fresh start mindset can influence the optimism judgment bias by promoting underlying mechanisms that highlight the change through new paths regardless of past or present, thus promoting positive attitudes. Our results also confirm a hypothesis that stimulation of a new reality can generate arousal in cognitive processing and consumers’ willingness to interact.Practical implicationsUnderstand how campaigns and nudges around fresh starts can increase marketing campaigns’ success and help customers improve their financial well-being.Originality/valueOur paper demonstrates how previous studies in the banking sector have neglected the fresh start mindset and offers mechanisms to understand the effects of optimism judgment bias and phasic arousal expression on attitudes toward the banks.

Spontaneous associative thought may facilitate scene-gist memory via implicit scene-labeling.

Spontaneous associative processes (e.g., mind wandering, spontaneous memory recollection) are prevalent in everyday life, yet their influence on perceptual scene memory is under debate. Given that scene perception involves extraction of contextual associations, we hypothesized that associative thought would enhance scene memory by promoting encoding of contextual associations. In an online experiment (N = 75), participants viewed scenes, and following each scene either generated chained-free associations (associative processing), or, as control, listed words that begin with a specific letter (phonological processing). Scene memory was tested after an intermediate creativity task, which is also shown to rely on associative processes. Results revealed that associative thought, regardless of its conceptual (semantic) distances between responses, enhanced scene-gist memory, but hampered memory of scene details, implying that associative thought facilitates contextual encoding. In a follow-up experiment (N = 74), we found that the effect of associative thought on scene-gist memory was mediated by scene labeling. When participants were asked to explicitly label the scene before completing an associative processing or a phonological processing task, scene-gist memory was prioritized at the expense of scene details, eliminating the memory differences between tasks. These findings imply that labeling past perceived scenes, whether explicitly or implicitly during associative thought, facilitates scene-gist memory. Lastly, in both experiments, creativity was not correlated with scene memory but was positively correlated with the semantic distances between scene-based associations, extending past findings that link creativity with the breadth of associative processes. Together, these findings highlight the likely effect of post-perceptual associative processes on higher-order cognitive functions, such as memory consolidation and creative thought.

Ignorance can be trustworthy: The effect of social self-awareness on trust.

Much research has found self-awareness to be associated with positive qualities, but we explore cases in which self-awareness sends a negative signal to others. Specifically, we propose that when a target person appears to be high in social self-awareness-that is, the person seems to accurately know what others think of them-observers infer that the target's actions are more intentional because the target is acting while seeming to know what others think of their actions. Because perceived intent is the key input to trust judgments, perceived self-awareness impacts observers' trust toward the target but does so differently depending on whether the target behaves in ways that positively or negatively impact others. When the target behaves in positive ways, exhibiting high (relative to low) self-awareness should increase trust as the positive behaviors will be interpreted as conveying stronger positive intentions toward others. However, for negative behaviors, exhibiting self-awareness should decrease trust, as it should convey stronger negative intent toward others. Across six studies (N = 4,707) using online experiments, a recall study paradigm, and live interactions in a laboratory setting, we find support for this framework. We also show that when we constrain the extent to which people can infer a target's intentions toward others from their behaviors-by reducing the target's control over their own behavior or by reducing the impact of the target's actions on others-the effect of self-awareness on trust attenuates. Our findings suggest that self-awareness, though often considered a desirable quality, does not universally increase others' trust. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Dishonesty is linked with the spread of infectious diseases

This paper investigates the link between dishonesty and the spread of COVID-19 infections. In an online experiment and panel survey, 2,723 Germans completed an incentivized coin-tossing task in March 2020 and reported their infection status in four subsequent survey waves up until December 2021. We find that individuals who are most likely dishonest in the coin-tossing task at the onset of the pandemic, as they report the highest number of winning coin tosses, are more than twice as likely to get a future COVID-19 infection than the sample mean. Respondents who are most likely to have reported dishonestly also engage more in behaviors that increase the risk of becoming infected and of transmitting the infection relative to likely honest respondents. Hence, we postulate that differences in preferences and norm compliance are underlying determinants that affect behavior in the experiment and in the field. We observe a similar relationship at the country level between an incentivized measure of civic honesty and excess deaths due to COVID-19 in 22 OECD countries.

The Impact of Virtual Computer Screen Backgrounds on Subjective Performance Evaluation in Online Videoconferences

We investigate the influence of real and virtual computer screen backgrounds in Zoom videoconferences on subjective performance evaluation. Using an incentivized online experiment (N = 210), we systematically vary workers’ computer screen backgrounds in a supervisor–worker bargaining situation carried out in a videoconference. We find a significant influence of workers’ applied computer screen backgrounds on supervisors’ subjective performance evaluations, with significantly more positive ratings when workers use a virtual white background than a real white background (d = 0.47). This finding is robust when we control for workers’ measurable and salient objective performance and gender and for supervisors’ gender and age. Regarding the underlying processes, we show that supervisors’ perceptions of the workers’ likability and trustworthiness enhance subjective performance evaluations when virtual white videoconference backgrounds are applied. Practical implications for the application of human resource practices in digitalized environments are discussed.

Seeing is believing: How front-of-pack food imagery shapes parents' perceptions of child-oriented snack foods.

Child-oriented snack foods often display front-of-pack images suggesting they are natural or wholesome, yet many of these products are ultra-processed and nutrient poor. This study investigated parent's perceptions in response to common forms of front-of-pack food imagery on child-orientated snacks. An online experiment comprising four between-subjects food image conditions (no image; food photo; food cartoon; cartoon of children gardening) and two within-subjects snack type conditions (fruit; vegetable) was conducted with N=800 Australian adult parents/guardians of children aged 4-10 years. Participants viewed packaged snacks then rated them on visual appeal, perceived healthfulness, suitability for their child, and purchase intentions. For each outcome, 4 (between-subjects) x 2 (within-subjects) mixed ANOVAs were performed, with significant main effects explored using post-hoc pairwise t-tests with Bonferroni adjustment. The extent to which perception metrics predicted purchase intention within each condition was examined using multiple regression analyses. Participants perceived snacks displaying food photographs as healthier compared to all other conditions. When children's snacks displayed food photos, participants perceived the snack as more suitable for their child and showed stronger intentions to purchase the product than when cartoon children were displayed. Participants preferred fruit over vegetable snacks across all metrics, particularly when the picture was photorealistic. Visual appeal was the only perception metric that consistently predicted purchase intention across conditions. Findings provide clear evidence that parent's perceptions and purchase intentions towards children's snack foods are enhanced by pictures displayed on the packaging. Policy to regulate food packaging should require that foods depicted on the packaging accurately reflect product ingredients, particularly where whole foods are represented, and the actual ingredients are highly processed and no longer provide the nutrition of whole foods.

Performance of the prototype beam drift chamber for LAMPS at RAON with proton and 12C beams

Beam Drift Chamber (BDC) is designed to reconstruct the trajectories of incident rare isotope beams provided by RAON (Rare isotope Accelerator complex for ON-line experiments) into the experimental target of LAMPS (Large Acceptance Multi-Purpose Spectrometer). To conduct the performance test of the BDC, the prototype BDC (pBDC) is manufactured and evaluated with the high energy ion beams from HIMAC (Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba) facility in Japan. Two kinds of ion beams, 100 MeV proton, and 200 MeV/u 12C, have been utilized for this evaluation, and the track reconstruction efficiency and position resolution have been measured as the function of applied high voltage. This paper introduces the construction details and presents the track reconstruction efficiency and position resolution of pBDC.

Inequality, social mobility and redistributive preferences

In an online experiment, we provide US citizens with information on both inequality of outcomes and opportunities and test the impact on preferences for redistribution. Information on wealth inequalities in the US increases consensus on a more progressive tax system, whereas information on lack of social mobility in the US increases participants’ preferences for redistribution via fiscal spending. Both informational treatments have a stronger impact when participants also learn that higher inequality is not a necessary part of economic development. All informational treatments have a stronger impact for citizens who underestimate the current level of inequality, trust the government, or belong to the middle-income group, while there is no clear relationship between political position and the impact of information on preferences for redistribution.

The autonomous vehicle dilemma: passenger(s) versus pedestrian(s)

ABSTRACT The deployment of autonomous vehicles (AVs) on the roads opens moral and ethical issues related to their ‘behaviour’ in daily traffic situations. A debated question is how individuals perceive the choices taken by AVs in life-threatening scenarios, and whether the same or different moral standards are applied to humans’ and AVs’ decisions. In an online experiment, a questionnaire was submitted to an international sample (N = 353). The aim was to test whether the actions made by an AV or a human driver in realistic road-accident scenarios were judged according to a different perspective. We manipulated the decision maker, the decision, the number of pedestrians crossing the road and the number of occupants inside the vehicle, to assess the importance of utilitarian principles and the role of self-sacrifice in moral evaluations. The results highlight a preference for humans’ decisions over AVs’ ones and suggest a difference in the importance of utilitarian principles in the assessment of humans and AVs. The human self-sacrifice attitude is appreciated to a different degree, according to the type of individuals saved (pedestrians or occupants). Further investigations are needed to disentangle a human-bias from the effect of self-sacrifice on the moral evaluations of humans’ and AVs’ actions.

EXPRESS: Observation inflation as source confusion: Symmetrical conflation of memories based on action performance and observation.

People often cannot remember the source of their memories despite recalling other elements of a remembered event correctly. Observation inflation is one such error of source monitoring. It refers to remembering actions of another agent as self-performed. While the existence of this memory error is well documented, it is not clear how it relates to other errors of source attribution: It is not evident whether the phenomenon reflects (1) a specific tendency to appropriate the actions of other agents, (2) a general confusion of sources with overlapping features or (3) whether it is a confound induced by the complex structure of the conventionally used experimental paradigm. We conducted two online experiments to assess these potential contributions to observation inflation. Crucially, administering a full source monitoring test revealed a symmetrical pattern: Recognizing other's actions as one's own occurred at the same rate as misattributing one's own actions to another agent. The findings resonate with source-monitoring frameworks by suggesting that source attribution errors arise due to the similarity of the sources, whereas the evidence speaks against a special status for appropriating observed actions.

Input device matters for measures of behaviour in online experiments

Studies of perception, cognition, and action increasingly rely on measures derived from the movements of a cursor to investigate how psychological processes unfold over time. This method is one of the most sensitive measures available for remote experiments conducted online, but experimenters have little control over the input device used by participants, typically a mouse or trackpad. These two devices require biomechanically distinct movements to operate, so measures extracted from cursor tracking data may differ between input devices. We investigated this in two online experiments requiring participants to execute goal-directed movements. We identify several measures that are critically influenced by the choice of input device using a kinematic decomposition of the recorded cursor trajectories. Those using a trackpad were slower to acquire targets, mainly attributable to greater times required to initiate movements and click on targets, despite showing greater peak speeds and lower variability in their movements. We believe there is a substantial risk that behavioural disparities caused by the input device used could be misidentified as differences in psychological processes. We urge researchers to collect data on input devices in online experiments and carefully consider and account for the effect they may have on their experimental data.

The influence of emotional cues and anthropomorphism on product temperature expectations

Throughout six online experiments (four pre-registered), in which participants were tasked to evaluate their temperature expectations of different beverages with or without emotional cues (i.e., emoji facial expressions) with specific temperature associations, we found that imbuing a product with emotional content can influence its expected temperature in online settings. A negative valence, low arousal (i.e., sad) expression on the receptacle of a hot beverage (e.g., hot chocolate milk, coffee) led to a lower expected temperature compared to a beverage with a positive valence, high arousal (i.e., happy) expression and a control condition without any expression. Notably, a happy expression did not result in any significant difference in expected temperature. In addition, there were no significant differences with cold beverages (i.e., iced chocolate milk, beer). We found that the influence of the sad emoji expression was enhanced with higher levels of anthropomorphism (i.e., making individuals focus on the emotions of the product). Our results suggest that the mechanism behind these effects is based on the product being imbued with the emotional connotation of the sad expression and, subsequently, its corresponding temperature association. Our research adds to the literature on consumer behaviour, food and anthropomorphism, and the relationship between temperature and emotions, and it has applications related to food expectations.

Impact of algorithm-driven comments on corrective information among young adults: focusing on emotional tone of comments and misinformation credibility

PurposeWhen facilitating transmission of health information from government officials to the public, social media employs algorithms that selectively expose users to specific perspectives, even for accurate health-related information from official sources. The purpose of this study was to explore impact of algorithm-driven comments characterized by different emotional tones (i.e. positive vs. negative vs. mixed) on users’ perceptions of credibility of corrective information to examine misinformation about flu vaccines aimed at young adults. Additionally, this study explored how prior misinformation credibility acted as an intervening variable in shaping the impact of algorithmically generated comments with diverse emotional tones on credibility of corrective information, with algorithm credibility serving as a mediator.Design/methodology/approachAn online experiment was conducted with 275 participants recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Young adults from the USA aged between 18 and 35 years who were also users of Instagram were eligible for participating in this study as this study utilized Instagram platform for stimuli.FindingsResults highlighted a diminished impact of algorithm-generated negative comments on perceived credibility of corrective information. Additionally, individuals with high misinformation credibility demonstrated a stronger tendency to trust algorithms featuring negative comments, underscoring the significant impact of algorithm-driven negativity in shaping trust dynamics for this group. Notably, credibility of the algorithm among individuals with high misinformation credibility did not translate into increased credibility for corrective information. This suggests that strategically designing algorithms to emphasize supportive or diverse opinions can be an effective approach to alleviate potential negative consequences associated with accurate information.Originality/valueThis research signifies the initial effort to disentangle the dynamics between negativity bias and cue routes within the algorithmic framework, shaping individuals’ perceptions of credibility of accurate health-related information contingent on accompanying comments. In the context of social media platforms that embrace diverse opinions, it emphasizes the critical necessity for tailored algorithmic strategies to effectively deliver accurate information.

Norms as obligations

Economists model legal compliance as the process of maximizing utility while weighing the consequences from norm violation against other (monetary and non-monetary) considerations. Legal philosophers, on the other hand, believe that the normative side of law is central. Citizens comply because they have an obligation to do so. Legal norms provide exclusionary reasons that prevent weighing up on other issues. We test and compare both models in a controlled online experiment. We conduct a modified dictator game with partially unknown yet ascertainable payoffs, and vary between treatments the presence and content of authoritative norms. Our experimental results show that – in the presence of a norm – participants follow norms without searching for information that they deem important in the absence of a norm. This pattern is independent of the specific content of the norm. Our results are consistent with the legal model of norm compliance.

Examining the impact of joint brand advertising on perceived destination brand authenticity

Meeting visitors’ demand for authentic tourism experiences is challenging, but joint brand advertising can enhance the perceived authenticity of destination brands, making them more appealing and trustworthy. Drawing on signalling theory and using an experimental approach, this research examines the impact of joint (vs. single) brand advertising on the perceived authenticity of a destination brand and tourists’ behavioural intentions toward that destination. Additionally, the study explores whether tourists’ regulatory focus moderates these effects. A field experiment using the Google Display Network (n1 = 663,704 impressions) and two online experiments (n2 = 166, n3 = 248) indicate that joint brand advertising featuring an authentic partner brand has a positive influence on the perceived authenticity of relatively less authentic brands and the associated behavioural intentions. Nevertheless, these positive effects dissipate when tourists exhibit a weak prevention orientation.