TY - JOUR A1 - Weiß, Martin A1 - Rodrigues, Johannes A1 - Paelecke, Marko A1 - Hewig, Johannes T1 - We, Them, and It: Dictator Game Offers Depend on Hierarchical Social Status, Artificial Intelligence, and Social Dominance JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - We investigated the influence of social status on behavior in a modified dictator game (DG). Since the DG contains an inherent dominance gradient, we examined the relationship between dictator decisions and recipient status, which was operationalized by three social identities and an artificial intelligence (AI). Additionally, we examined the predictive value of social dominance orientation (SDO) on the behavior of dictators toward the different social and non-social hierarchical recipients. A multilevel model analysis showed that recipients with the same status as the dictator benefited the most and the artificial intelligence the least. Furthermore, SDO, regardless of social status, predicted behavior toward recipients in such a way that higher dominance was associated with lower dictator offers. In summary, participants treated other persons of higher and lower status equally, those of equal status better and, above all, an algorithm worst. The large proportion of female participants and the limited variance of SDO should be taken into account with regard to the results of individual differences in SDO. KW - decision-making KW - dictator game KW - personality KW - social dominance KW - social status Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-218168 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 11 ER - TY - THES A1 - Weiß, Martin T1 - The neural principles of behavior modification using socioemotional facial feedback cues in economic decision-making T1 - Die neuronalen Mechanismen der Verhaltensmodifikation durch sozio-emotionale faziale Feedbackreize bei ökonomischen Entscheidungen N2 - The present dissertation aims to shed light on different mechanisms of socio-emotional feedback in social decision-making situations. The objective is to evaluate emotional facial expressions as feedback stimuli, i.e., responses of interaction partners to certain social decisions. In addition to human faces, artificial emojis are also examined due to their relevance for modern digital communication. Previous research on the influence of emotional feedback suggests that a person's behavior can be effectively reinforced by rewarding stimuli. In the context of this dissertation, the differences in the feedback processing of human photographs and emojis, but also the evaluation of socially expected versus socially unexpected feedback were examined in detail in four studies. In addition to behavioral data, we used the electroencephalogram (EEG) in all studies to investigate neural correlates of social decision-making and emotional feedback. As the central paradigm, all studies were based on a modified ultimatum game. The game is structured as follows: there is a so-called proposer who holds a specific amount of money (e.g., 10 cents) and offers the responder a certain amount (e.g., 3 cents). The responder then decides whether to accept or reject the offer. In the version of the ultimatum game presented here, different types of proposers are introduced. After the participants have accepted or rejected in the role of the responder, the different proposers react to the participant’s decision with specific emotional facial expressions. Different feedback patterns are used for the individual experiments conducted in the course of this dissertation. In the first study, we investigated the influence of emotional feedback on decision-making in the modified version of the ultimatum game. We were able to show that a proposer who responds to the acceptance of an offer with a smiling face achieves more accepted offers overall than a control proposer who responds to both accepted and rejected offers with a neutral facial expression. Consequently, the smile served as a positive reinforcement. Similarly, a sad expression in response to a rejected offer also resulted in higher acceptance rates as compared to the control identity, which could be considered an expression of compassion for that proposer. On a neuronal level, we could show that there are differences between simply looking at negative emotional stimuli (i.e., sad and angry faces) and their appearance as feedback stimuli after rejected offers in the modified ultimatum game. The so-called feedback-related negativity was reduced (i.e., more positive) when negative emotions appeared as feedback from the proposers. We argued that these findings might show that the participants wanted to punish the proposers by rejecting an offer for its unfairness and therefore the negative feedback met their expectations. The altered processing of negative emotional facial expressions in the ultimatum game could therefore indicate that the punishment is interpreted as successful. This includes the expectation that the interaction partner will change his behavior in the future and eventually make fairer offers. In the second study we wanted to show that smiling and sad emojis as feedback stimuli in the modified ultimatum game can also lead to increased acceptance rates. Contrary to our assumptions, this effect could not be observed. At the neural level as well, the findings did not correspond to our assumptions and differed strongly from those of the first study. One finding, however, was that the neural P3 component showed how the use of emojis as feedback stimuli particularly characterizes certain types of proposers. This is supported by the fact that the P3 is increased for the proposer who rewards an acceptance with a smile as well as for the proposer who reacts to rejection with a sad emoji compared to the neutral control proposer. The third study examined the discrepancy between the findings of the first and second study. Accordingly, both humans and emojis representing the different proposers were presented in the ultimatum game. In addition, emojis were selected that showed a higher similarity to known emojis from common messenger services compared to the second study. We were able to replicate that the proposers in the ultimatum game, who reward an acceptance of the offer with a smile, led to an increased acceptance rate compared to the neutral control proposers. This difference is independent of whether the proposers are represented by emojis or human faces. With regard to the neural correlates, we were able to demonstrate that emojis and human faces differ strongly in their neural processing. Emojis showed stronger activation than human faces in the face-processing N170 component, the feedback-related negativity and the P3 component. We concluded that the results of the N170 and feedback-related negativity could indicate a signal for missing social information of emojis compared to faces. The increased P3 amplitude for emojis might imply that emojis appear unexpectedly as reward stimuli in a social decision task compared to human faces. The last study of this project dealt with socially unexpected feedback. In comparison to the first three studies, new proposer identities were implemented. In particular, the focus was on a proposer who reacted to the rejection of an offer unexpectedly with a smile and to the acceptance with a neutral facial expression. According to the results, participants approach this unexpected smile through increased rejection, although it is accompanied by financial loss. In addition, as reported in studies one and three, we were able to show that proposers who respond to the acceptance of an offer with a smiling face and thus meet the expectations of the participants have higher offer acceptance rates than the control proposer. At the neuronal level, especially the feedback from the socially unexpected proposer led to an increased P3 amplitude, which indicates that smiling after rejection is attributed a special subjective importance. The experiments provide new insights into the social influence through emotional feedback and the processing of relevant social cues. Due to the conceptual similarity of the studies, it was possible to differentiate between stable findings and potentially stimulus-dependent deviations, thus creating a well-founded contribution to the current research. Therefore, the novel paradigm presented here, and the knowledge gained from it could also play an important role in the future for clinical questions dealing with limited social competencies. N2 - Die vorliegende Dissertation soll verschiedene Mechanismen des sozio-emotionalen Feedbacks in sozialen Entscheidungssituationen beleuchten. Ziel ist es, emotionale Gesichtsausdrücke als Feedbackreize, d.h. Reaktion des Gegenübers auf bestimmte soziale Entscheidungen, zu evaluieren. Neben menschlichen Gesichtern werden auch künstliche Emojis aufgrund ihrer Relevanz für die moderne digitale Kommunikation untersucht. Bisherige Forschungen zum Einfluss von emotionalem Feedback legen nahe, dass das Verhalten einer Person durch belohnende Hinweisreize erfolgreich verstärkt werden kann. Im Rahmen dieser Dissertation wurden daher vier Studien durchgeführt, die die Unterschiede in der Feedback-Verarbeitung von menschlichen Fotos und Emojis, aber auch die Bewertung von sozial erwartetem gegenüber sozial unerwartetem Feedback eingehend untersuchen. Zusätzlich zu den Verhaltensdaten verwendeten wir in allen Studien das Elektroenzephalogramm (EEG), um neuronale Korrelate sozialer Entscheidungen und emotionalen Feedbacks zu untersuchen. Als zentrales Paradigma wurde allen Studien ein modifiziertes Ultimatumspiel zugrunde gelegt. Dieses ist so aufgebaut, dass es einen sogenannten Anbieter gibt, der über einen bestimmten Geldbetrag verfügt (z.B. 10 Cent) und dem Empfänger einen gewissen Anteil davon anbietet (z.B. 3 Cent). Der Empfänger entscheidet daraufhin, ob er das Angebot annehmen oder ablehnen möchte. In der hier verwendeten Version des Ultimatumspiels werden dabei verschiedene Typen von Anbietern eingeführt. Nachdem die Versuchspersonen in der Rolle des Empfängers angenommen oder abgelehnt haben, reagieren die verschiedenen Anbieter mit spezifischen emotionalen Gesichtsausdrücken auf die Entscheidung der Versuchsperson. Für die einzelnen Experimente, die im Rahmen dieser Dissertation durchgeführt wurden, werden unterschiedliche Feedbackmuster angewandt. In der ersten Studie untersuchten wir den Einfluss des emotionalen Feedbacks auf die Entscheidungsfindung in der modifizierten Version des Ultimatumspiels. Wir konnten zeigen, dass im Ultimatumspiel ein Anbieter, der auf die Annahme eines Angebots mit einem lächelnden Gesicht reagiert, insgesamt mehr akzeptierte Angebote erzielt als der Anbieter der Kontrollbedingung, der sowohl auf angenommene als auch auf abgelehnte Angebote mit einem neutralen Gesichtsausdruck reagiert. Folglich wirkte das Lächeln als positive Verstärkung. In ähnlicher Weise führte ein trauriger Gesichtsausdruck als Reaktion auf ein abgelehntes Angebot ebenfalls zu höheren Annahmeraten als die Kontrollperson, was als Ausdruck von Mitgefühl für diesen Anbieter betrachtet werden könnte. Auf neuronaler Ebene konnten wir zeigen, dass es Unterschiede zwischen dem bloßen Betrachten negativer emotionaler Stimuli (d.h. trauriger und wütender Gesichter) und ihrem Auftreten als Feedback-Stimuli nach abgelehnten Angeboten im modifizierten Ultimatumspiel gibt. Die so genannte feedback-related negativity wurde reduziert (d.h. positiver), wenn negative Emotionen als Feedback von den Anbietern auftraten. Wir zogen aus den Ergebnissen den Schluss, dass die Versuchsteilnehmer die Anbieter bestrafen wollten, indem sie ein Angebot wegen seiner Unfairness ablehnten, und dass daher das negative Feedback ihren Erwartungen entsprach. Die veränderte Verarbeitung negativer emotionaler Gesichtsausdrücke im Ultimatumspiel könnte daher darauf hinweisen, dass die Bestrafung als erfolgreich interpretiert wird. Dies schließt die Erwartung ein, dass der Interaktionspartner sein Verhalten in Zukunft ändert und schließlich fairere Angebote machen sollte. In der zweiten Studie war es das Ziel zu zeigen, dass auch lächelnde und traurige Emojis als Feedback-Reize im modifizierten Ultimatumspiel zu erhöhten Annahmeraten führen können. Entgegen unseren Hypothesen konnte dieser Effekt jedoch nicht beobachtet werden. Auch auf der neuronalen Ebene entsprachen die Ergebnisse nicht unseren Annahmen und unterschieden sich stark von denen der ersten Studie. Eine Erkenntnis war jedoch, dass anhand der neuronalen P3-Komponente ersichtlich wurde, dass die Verwendung von Emojis als Feedback-Reize gewisse Typen von Anbietern besonders kennzeichnet. Dies wurde dadurch gezeigt, dass die P3 sowohl für den Anbieter, der eine Annahme mit einem Lächeln belohnt, als auch für den Anbieter, der auf eine Ablehnung mit einem traurigen Emoji reagiert, im Vergleich zum neutralen Kontrollanbieter erhöht ist. Die dritte Studie untersuchte die Diskrepanz zwischen den Ergebnissen der ersten und der zweiten Studie. Dementsprechend wurden sowohl Menschen als auch Emojis, die die Identitäten der Anbieter repräsentieren, im Ultimatumspiel präsentiert. Darüber hinaus wurden Emojis ausgewählt, die eine höhere Ähnlichkeit mit bekannten Emojis aus den üblichen Messenger-Diensten zeigten als in der zweiten Studie. Wir konnten replizieren, dass die Anbieter im Ultimatumspiel, die eine Annahme des Angebots mit einem Lächeln belohnen, zu einer höheren Annahmerate im Vergleich zu den neutralen Kontrollanbietern führen. Dieser Unterschied zeigte sich unabhängig davon, ob die Anbieter durch Emojis oder menschliche Gesichter repräsentiert wurden. In Bezug auf die neuronalen Korrelate konnten wir zeigen, dass sich Emojis und menschliche Gesichter in ihrer neuronalen Verarbeitung stark unterscheiden. Emojis zeigten sowohl in der gesichtsverarbeitenden N170-Komponente als auch in der feedback-related negativity eine stärkere Aktivierung als menschliche Gesichter. Wir schlussfolgerten daraus, dass die Ergebnisse der N170 und feedback-related negativity ein Signal für fehlende soziale Informationen von Emojis im Vergleich zu Gesichtern sein könnten. Die erhöhte P3-Amplitude für Emojis könnte dabei implizieren, dass Emojis im Vergleich zu menschlichen Gesichtern bei einer sozialen Entscheidungsaufgabe unerwartet als Belohnungsreiz erscheinen. Die letzte Studie dieses Projekts beschäftigte sich mit sozial unerwartetem Feedback. Im Vergleich zu den ersten drei Studien wurden neue Anbieteridentitäten implementiert. Im Mittelpunkt stand insbesondere ein Anbieter, der auf die Ablehnung eines Angebots unerwartet mit einem Lächeln und auf die Annahme mit einem neutralen Gesichtsausdruck reagierte. Den Ergebnissen zufolge nähern sich die Teilnehmer diesem unerwarteten Lächeln durch verstärkte Ablehnung an, obwohl es mit einem finanziellen Verlust einhergeht. Darüber hinaus konnten wir, wie in den Studien eins und drei berichtet, zeigen, dass Anbieter, die auf die Annahme eines Angebots mit einem lächelnden Gesicht reagieren und damit die Erwartungen der Teilnehmer erfüllen, höhere Angebotsannahmeraten haben als der Kontrollanbieter. Auf neuronaler Ebene führte insbesondere das Feedback des sozial unerwarteten Anbieters zu einer erhöhten P3-Amplitude, was darauf hinweist, dass dem Lächeln nach der Ablehnung eine besondere subjektive Bedeutung beigemessen wird. In ihrer Gesamtheit liefern die Experimente neue Erkenntnisse über den sozialen Einfluss durch emotionales Feedback und die Verarbeitung relevanter sozialer Signale. Aufgrund der konzeptionellen Ähnlichkeit der Studien ist es möglich, zwischen stabilen Befunden und möglicherweise reizabhängigen Abweichungen zu differenzieren und damit einen fundierten Beitrag zur aktuellen Forschung zu leisten. Das hier vorgestellte neuartige Paradigma und die daraus gewonnenen Erkenntnisse könnten daher in Zukunft auch für klinische Fragestellungen, die sich mit eingeschränkten sozialen Kompetenzen befassen, eine nicht unerhebliche Rolle spielen. KW - Entscheidungsverhalten KW - Affekt KW - decision-making KW - emotional feedback KW - emojis KW - ultimatum game KW - EEG KW - Electroencephalographie Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-208654 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weiß, Martin A1 - Hein, Grit A1 - Hewig, Johannes T1 - Between joy and sympathy: Smiling and sad recipient faces increase prosocial behavior in the dictator game JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health N2 - In human interactions, the facial expression of a bargaining partner may contain relevant information that affects prosocial decisions. We were interested in whether facial expressions of the recipient in the dictator game influence dictators´ ehavior. To test this, we conducted an online study (n = 106) based on a modified version of a dictator game. The dictators allocated money between themselves and another person (recipient), who had no possibility to respond to the dictator. Importantly, before the allocation decision, the dictator was presented with the facial expression of the recipient (angry, disgusted, sad, smiling, or neutral). The results showed that dictators sent more money to recipients with sad or smiling facial expressions and less to recipients with angry or disgusted facial expressions compared with a neutral facial expression. Moreover, based on the sequential analysis of the decision and the interaction partner in the preceding trial, we found that decision-making depends upon previous interactions. KW - emotional influence KW - dictator game KW - facial expression KW - social decision-making Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-241106 VL - 18 IS - 11 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rodrigues, Johannes A1 - Weiß, Martin A1 - Hewig, Johannes A1 - Allen, John J. B. T1 - EPOS: EEG Processing Open-Source Scripts JF - Frontiers in Neuroscience N2 - Background: Since the replication crisis, standardization has become even more important in psychological science and neuroscience. As a result, many methods are being reconsidered, and researchers’ degrees of freedom in these methods are being discussed as a potential source of inconsistencies across studies. New Method: With the aim of addressing these subjectivity issues, we have been working on a tutorial-like EEG (pre-)processing pipeline to achieve an automated method based on the semi-automated analysis proposed by Delorme and Makeig. Results: Two scripts are presented and explained step-by-step to perform basic, informed ERP and frequency-domain analyses, including data export to statistical programs and visual representations of the data. The open-source software EEGlab in MATLAB is used as the data handling platform, but scripts based on code provided by Mike Cohen (2014) are also included. Comparison with existing methods: This accompanying tutorial-like article explains and shows how the processing of our automated pipeline affects the data and addresses, especially beginners in EEG-analysis, as other (pre)-processing chains are mostly targeting rather informed users in specialized areas or only parts of a complete procedure. In this context, we compared our pipeline with a selection of existing approaches. Conclusion: The need for standardization and replication is evident, yet it is equally important to control the plausibility of the suggested solution by data exploration. Here, we provide the community with a tool to enhance the understanding and capability of EEG-analysis. We aim to contribute to comprehensive and reliable analyses for neuro-scientific research. KW - EEG KW - electroencephalography KW - event-related potentials-ERP KW - EEG processing KW - EEG preprocessing KW - EEG frequency band analysis Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-240221 SN - 1662-453X VL - 15 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weiß, Martin A1 - Paelecke, Marko A1 - Hewig, Johannes T1 - In Your Face(t) — Personality Traits Interact With Prototypical Personality Faces in Economic Decision Making JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - In everyday life, assumptions about our peers' as well as our own personality shape social interactions. We investigated whether self-rated personality and inferences drawn from partners' faces influence economic decisions. Participants (N = 285) played the trust game in the role of the trustor as well as the ultimatum game in the role of the proposer and interacted with trustees and receivers represented by prototypical personality faces. Participants also evaluated both their own traits and the personality of the faces. In the trust game, trustees represented by faces rated higher on agreeableness yielded higher transferred amounts. This effect was more pronounced for trustors low on dispositional trust, whereas trustors high on dispositional trust did not relate their decisions to the faces. Trustees represented by faces rated higher on conscientiousness yielded higher transferred amounts only for trustors high on dispositional anxiety. In the ultimatum game, receivers represented by faces rated higher on conscientiousness yielded lower offers only for proposers high on dispositional assertiveness. These results extend previous findings on the inferences drawn from facial features and the influence of personality on decision making. They highlight the importance of considering the personality of both interaction partner, as well as potential interactions of players' traits. KW - big five KW - personality KW - trust game KW - personality faceaurus KW - ultimatum game Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-237051 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 12 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Beierle, Felix A1 - Schobel, Johannes A1 - Vogel, Carsten A1 - Allgaier, Johannes A1 - Mulansky, Lena A1 - Haug, Fabian A1 - Haug, Julian A1 - Schlee, Winfried A1 - Holfelder, Marc A1 - Stach, Michael A1 - Schickler, Marc A1 - Baumeister, Harald A1 - Cohrdes, Caroline A1 - Deckert, Jürgen A1 - Deserno, Lorenz A1 - Edler, Johanna-Sophie A1 - Eichner, Felizitas A. A1 - Greger, Helmut A1 - Hein, Grit A1 - Heuschmann, Peter A1 - John, Dennis A1 - Kestler, Hans A. A1 - Krefting, Dagmar A1 - Langguth, Berthold A1 - Meybohm, Patrick A1 - Probst, Thomas A1 - Reichert, Manfred A1 - Romanos, Marcel A1 - Störk, Stefan A1 - Terhorst, Yannik A1 - Weiß, Martin A1 - Pryss, Rüdiger T1 - Corona Health — A Study- and Sensor-Based Mobile App Platform Exploring Aspects of the COVID-19 Pandemic JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health N2 - Physical and mental well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic is typically assessed via surveys, which might make it difficult to conduct longitudinal studies and might lead to data suffering from recall bias. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) driven smartphone apps can help alleviate such issues, allowing for in situ recordings. Implementing such an app is not trivial, necessitates strict regulatory and legal requirements, and requires short development cycles to appropriately react to abrupt changes in the pandemic. Based on an existing app framework, we developed Corona Health, an app that serves as a platform for deploying questionnaire-based studies in combination with recordings of mobile sensors. In this paper, we present the technical details of Corona Health and provide first insights into the collected data. Through collaborative efforts from experts from public health, medicine, psychology, and computer science, we released Corona Health publicly on Google Play and the Apple App Store (in July 2020) in eight languages and attracted 7290 installations so far. Currently, five studies related to physical and mental well-being are deployed and 17,241 questionnaires have been filled out. Corona Health proves to be a viable tool for conducting research related to the COVID-19 pandemic and can serve as a blueprint for future EMA-based studies. The data we collected will substantially improve our knowledge on mental and physical health states, traits and trajectories as well as its risk and protective factors over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and its diverse prevention measures. KW - mobile health KW - ecological momentary assessment KW - digital phenotyping KW - longitudinal studies KW - mobile crowdsensing Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-242658 SN - 1660-4601 VL - 18 IS - 14 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weiß, Martin A1 - Iotzov, Vassil A1 - Zhou, Yuqing A1 - Hein, Grit T1 - The bright and dark sides of egoism JF - Frontiers in Psychiatry N2 - Despite its negative reputation, egoism – the excessive concern for one’s own welfare – can incite prosocial behavior. So far, however, egoism-based prosociality has received little attention. Here, we first provide an overview of the conditions under which egoism turns into a prosocial motive, review the benefits and limitations of egoism-based prosociality, and compare them with empathy-driven prosocial behavior. Second, we summarize studies investigating the neural processing of egoism-based prosocial decisions, studies investigating the neural processing of empathy-based prosocial decisions, and the small number of studies that compared the neural processing of prosocial decisions elicited by the different motives. We conclude that there is evidence for differential neural networks involved in egoism and empathy-based prosocial decisions. However, this evidence is not yet conclusive, because it is mainly based on the comparison of different experimental paradigms which may exaggerate or overshadow the effect of the different motivational states. Finally, we propose paradigms and research questions that should be tackled in future research that could help to specify how egoism can be used to enhance other prosocial behavior and motivation, and the how it could be tamed. KW - egoism KW - incentives KW - prosociality KW - social motives KW - fMRI Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-297183 SN - 1664-0640 VL - 13 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gründahl, Marthe A1 - Weiß, Martin A1 - Maier, Lisa A1 - Hewig, Johannes A1 - Deckert, Jürgen A1 - Hein, Grit T1 - Construction and validation of a scale to measure loneliness and isolation during social distancing and its effect on mental health JF - Frontiers in Psychiatry N2 - A variety of factors contribute to the degree to which a person feels lonely and socially isolated. These factors may be particularly relevant in contexts requiring social distancing, e.g., during the COVID-19 pandemic or in states of immunodeficiency. We present the Loneliness and Isolation during Social Distancing (LISD) Scale. Extending existing measures, the LISD scale measures both state and trait aspects of loneliness and isolation, including indicators of social connectedness and support. In addition, it reliably predicts individual differences in anxiety and depression. Data were collected online from two independent samples in a social distancing context (the COVID-19 pandemic). Factorial validation was based on exploratory factor analysis (EFA; Sample 1, N = 244) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA; Sample 2, N = 304). Multiple regression analyses were used to assess how the LISD scale predicts state anxiety and depression. The LISD scale showed satisfactory fit in both samples. Its two state factors indicate being lonely and isolated as well as connected and supported, while its three trait factors reflect general loneliness and isolation, sociability and sense of belonging, and social closeness and support. Our results imply strong predictive power of the LISD scale for state anxiety and depression, explaining 33 and 51% of variance, respectively. Anxiety and depression scores were particularly predicted by low dispositional sociability and sense of belonging and by currently being more lonely and isolated. In turn, being lonely and isolated was related to being less connected and supported (state) as well as having lower social closeness and support in general (trait). We provide a novel scale which distinguishes between acute and general dimensions of loneliness and social isolation while also predicting mental health. The LISD scale could be a valuable and economic addition to the assessment of mental health factors impacted by social distancing. KW - loneliness KW - social isolation KW - social distancing KW - depression KW - anxiety Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-269446 SN - 1664-0640 VL - 13 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rodrigues, Johannes A1 - Weiß, Martin A1 - Mussel, Patrick A1 - Hewig, Johannes T1 - On second thought … the influence of a second stage in the ultimatum game on decision behavior, electro-cortical correlates and their trait interrelation JF - Psychophysiology N2 - Previous EEG research only investigated one stage ultimatum games (UGs). We investigated the influence of a second bargaining stage in an UG concerning behavioral responses, electro-cortical correlates and their moderations by the traits altruism, anger, anxiety, and greed in 92 participants. We found that an additional stage led to more rejection in the 2-stage UG (2SUG) and that increasing offers in the second stage compared to the first stage led to more acceptance. The FRN during a trial was linked to expectance evaluation concerning the fairness of the offers, while midfrontal theta was a marker for the needed cognitive control to overcome the respective default behavioral pattern. The FRN responses to unfair offers were more negative for either low or high altruism in the UG, while high trait anxiety led to more negative FRN responses in the first stage of 2SUG, indicating higher sensitivity to unfairness. Accordingly, the mean FRN response, representing the trait-like general electrocortical reactivity to unfairness, predicted rejection in the first stage of 2SUG. Additionally, we found that high trait anger led to more rejections for unfair offer in 2SUG in general, while trait altruism led to more rejection of unimproving unfair offers in the second stage of 2SUG. In contrast, trait anxiety led to more acceptance in the second stage of 2SUG, while trait greed even led to more acceptance if the offer was worse than in the stage before. These findings suggest, that 2SUG creates a trait activation situation compared to the UG. KW - bargaining behavior KW - two-stage ultimatum game KW - reward positivity/FRN/MFN/N2 KW - trait activation in two-stage ultimatum game, KW - midfrontal theta KW - fairness evaluation vs. cognitive effort KW - EEG Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-318983 VL - 59 IS - 7 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weiß, Martin A1 - Rodrigues, Johannes A1 - Hewig, Johannes T1 - Big Five personality factors in relation to coping with contact restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic: a small sample study JF - Social Sciences N2 - To slow down the spread of the SARS-Cov-2 virus, countries worldwide severely restricted public and social life. In addition to the physical threat posed by the viral disease (COVID-19), the pandemic also has implications for psychological well-being. Using a small sample (N = 51), we examined how Big Five personality traits relate to coping with contact restrictions during three consecutive weeks in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. We showed that extraversion was associated with suffering from severe contact restrictions and with benefiting from their relaxation. Individuals with high neuroticism did not show a change in their relatively poor coping with the restrictions over time, whereas conscientious individuals seemed to experience no discomfort and even positive feelings during the period of contact restrictions. Our results support the assumption that neuroticism is a vulnerability factor in relation to psychological wellbeing but also show an influence of contact restrictions on extraverted individuals. KW - Big Five KW - coping KW - COVID-19 KW - positive affect KW - negative affect Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-290556 SN - 2076-0760 VL - 11 IS - 10 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Iotzov, Vassil A1 - Weiß, Martin A1 - Windmann, Sabine A1 - Hein, Grit T1 - Valence framing induces cognitive bias JF - Current Psychology N2 - Valence framing effects refer to inconsistent choice preferences in response to positive versus negative formulation of mathematically equivalent outcomes. Here, we manipulate valence framing in a two-alternative forced choice dictator game using gains and losses as frames to investigate the cognitive mechanisms underlying valence framing. We applied a Drift-Diffusion Model (DDM) to examine whether gain (i.e., “take” money) and loss (i.e., “give” money) frames evoke a cognitive bias as previous research did not consistently reveal framing effects using reaction times and response frequency as dependent variables. DDMs allow decomposing the decision process into separate cognitive mechanisms, whereby a cognitive bias was repeatedly associated with a shift in the starting point of the model. Conducting both a laboratory (N = 62) and an online study (N = 109), female participants allocated money between themselves and another person in a prosocial or selfish way. In each study, one group was instructed to give money (give frame), the other to take money (take frame). Consistent with previous studies, no differences were found in response times and response frequencies. However, in both studies, substantial bias towards the selfish option was found in the take frame groups, captured by the starting point of the DDM. Thus, our results suggest that valence framing induces a cognitive bias in decision processing in women, even when no behavioral differences are present. KW - valence framing KW - cognitive bias KW - decision making KW - drift-diffusion modeling KW - laboratory and online studies Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-324824 SN - 1046-1310 VL - 42 IS - 34 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gründahl, Marthe A1 - Weiß, Martin A1 - Stenzel, Kilian A1 - Deckert, Jürgen A1 - Hein, Grit T1 - The effects of everyday-life social interactions on anxiety-related autonomic responses differ between men and women JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Social buffering, a phenomenon where social presence can reduce anxiety and fear-related autonomic responses, has been studied in numerous laboratory settings. The results suggest that the familiarity of the interaction partner influences social buffering while also providing some evidence for gender effects. In the laboratory, however, it is difficult to mimic the complexity of real-life social interactions. Consequently, the social modulation of anxiety and related autonomic responses in everyday life remains poorly understood. We used smartphone-based Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) combined with wearable electrocardiogram sensors to investigate how everyday-life social interactions affect state anxiety and related cardiac changes in women and men. On five consecutive days, 96 healthy young participants (53% women) answered up to six EMA surveys per day, indicating characteristics of their most recent social interaction and the respective interaction partner(s). In women, our results showed lower heart rate in the presence of a male interaction partner. Men showed the same effect with female interaction partners. Moreover, only women showed decreased heart rate and increased heart rate variability with increasing interaction partner familiarity. These findings specify the conditions under which social interactions reduce anxiety-related responses in women and men. KW - physiology KW - psychology Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-357840 VL - 13 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weiß, Martin A1 - Gründahl, Marthe A1 - Deckert, Jürgen A1 - Eichner, Felizitas A. A1 - Kohls, Mirjam A1 - Störk, Stefan A1 - Heuschmann, Peter U. A1 - Hein, Grit T1 - Differential network interactions between psychosocial factors, mental health, and health-related quality of life in women and men JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Psychosocial factors affect mental health and health-related quality of life (HRQL) in a complex manner, yet gender differences in these interactions remain poorly understood. We investigated whether psychosocial factors such as social support and personal and work-related concerns impact mental health and HRQL differentially in women and men during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Between June and October 2020, the first part of a COVID-19-specific program was conducted within the “Characteristics and Course of Heart Failure Stages A-B and Determinants of Progression (STAAB)” cohort study, a representative age- and gender-stratified sample of the general population of Würzburg, Germany. Using psychometric networks, we first established the complex relations between personal social support, personal and work-related concerns, and their interactions with anxiety, depression, and HRQL. Second, we tested for gender differences by comparing expected influence, edge weight differences, and stability of the networks. The network comparison revealed a significant difference in the overall network structure. The male (N = 1370) but not the female network (N = 1520) showed a positive link between work-related concern and anxiety. In both networks, anxiety was the most central variable. These findings provide further evidence that the complex interplay of psychosocial factors with mental health and HRQL decisively depends on gender. Our results are relevant for the development of gender-specific interventions to increase resilience in times of pandemic crisis. KW - anxiety KW - depression KW - human behaviour KW - quality of life Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-357858 VL - 13 ER -