15th Alps-Adria Psychology Conference

11 Sep 2024, 09:00 → 13 Sep 2024, 16:00 Europe/Vienna

Bartosz Gula (PSY_APKF)

15th Alps-Adria Psychology Conference           

Welcome to the Conference page.

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Book_of_abstracts_100924.pdf

Conference-Program-15AAPC.pdf

Wednesday, 11 September

09:30 → 10:00 Conference Opening: Welcome Address

10:00 → 10:50 Keynote: Keynote 1

Convener: Anja Podlesek (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Department of Psychology)

10:00 The long arm of the job: How working conditions shape psychological, social and physical well-being

In the past decades, substantial research has confirmed that job demands (i.e., job characteristics which are associated with sustained effort) are associated with negative work-related outcomes such as burnout, poor job satisfaction, work engagement or work performance. Negative work experiences, however, affect employees' lives in many other ways. The present talk will provide an integrative summary of studies exploring the relations between job characteristics, particularly job demands, and psychological, social, and physical well-being. The focus will be on indicators of well-being outside the work domain such as relationship and family satisfaction, engagement in leisure activities, self-rated and objectively measured health outcomes. Additionally, I will talk about mechanisms behind these associations and factors affecting the strength of associations between job demands and well-being outcomes. More precisely, the role of recovery after work and work-home boundary management strategies will be introduced. As we are facing major changes in how, when, and where work is performed, it is likely that work will employee’s life outside work even to a greater extent. With this mind, I will conclude the presentation with (research) challenges posed by advances in work-related ICTs and intervention possibilities.

Speaker: Sara Tement (University of Maribor)

10:50 → 11:10 Coffee Break

11:10 → 12:30 Talk Session 1: Occupational Health and Wellbeing

Convener: Stephan Dickert (Queen Mary University of London)

11:10 University Employees as a High-Risk Population for Occupational Health Issues: Evidence from Austria and the Czech Republic

Employment in higher education entails significant demands and may pose risks to occupational mental and physical health. Specifically, in the Czech Republic, the long-standing underfunding of tertiary education imposes an additional burden on both academic and non-academic university employees, potentially increasing their psychological vulnerability. Thus, the present study aims to investigate the impact of adverse working conditions on vulnerability to burnout and occupational health issues, measured by the Arbeitsbezogenes Verhaltens- und Erlebensmuster inventory. Adopting an international comparative framework, the research focuses on Czech university employees (n = 1439) and their Austrian counterparts (n = 1342). The most significant finding of this study is the high proportion of psychologically vulnerable individuals among university employees. Two-thirds of Czech participants and half of Austrian participants fall into psychologically vulnerable profiles, which may lead to long-term occupational health issues. Specifically, the most prevalent profile among Czech university employees is the excessively ambitious pattern A, characterized by excessive professional motivation and insufficient coping capacity. In contrast, Austrian university employees mainly display the unambitious pattern S, characterized by minimal effort at work, which poses no risks to occupational health. Predictive values of specific working conditions, such as pay, job insecurity, working hours, adequacy of institutional facilities and resources, perceived pressure, quality of leadership, or interpersonal relationships at the workplace, are discussed. In conclusion, university employees may be considered a highly vulnerable population. Policymakers should strive to enhance working conditions in higher education to alleviate daily burdens on employees and ensure accessibility of counselling and psychological interventions.

Speaker: Dr Mašková Ivana (University of West Bohemia)

11:30 Resilience as a predictor of Well-being among youth of India

The resilience is a positive psychological trait which enable people do deal with the adversities of their life. The youth of any nation is the future as well as pillar of its development. The students studying in the professional courses face many psychological problems issues such as stress, anxiety, emotional troubles, etc. which may lead to lower well-being. But the students with high resilience may cope these problems easily. The objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship between resilience and well-being among youth in India.
To investigate the relationship between resilience and well-being relationship correlational research design was used in the present study. The participants of the present study were the students studying in the different courses such as Nursing (B.Sc. Nursing), Education (B.T.C.) and Pharmacy (B. Pharma) were selected by disproportionate stratified random sampling technique studying in Varanasi India. For data collection Well-Being Index by Chouhan and Sharma (2014), Resilience Scale of Josheph and Robison (2016) were used. The data were analyzed by ANOVA, correlation and regression using SPSS. The students significantly differ in terms of their scores on resilience and well-being. Further, resilience significantly predicted well-being. The finding are discussed in the light of existing literature. The further research suggestions and implications of the present research are also discussed.

Speakers: Virendra Byadwal (Banaras Hindu University) , Prof. Sandeep Kumar (Banaras Hindu University)

11:50 A Mathematical Perspective on Flow and Happiness

This study investigates the dynamic properties of hypothetical individuals’ automatic operations updating from a mathematical perspective. We focus on the dynamics of how automatic operations of an individual are getting closer to controlled operations. To do this, we adopt a nonlinear complex systems approach based on well-established behavioral theories, as Prospect Theory.

Using stability analysis, we find analytical results that give evidence of considerable heterogeneity in whether individuals converge to state of flow/happiness or not and the dynamics of this process. Specifically, we demonstrate analytically that in some cases individuals will converge to their happiness (mathematically, reach a stable fixed point), while in other cases they will oscillate between a small number of points, happiness/unhappiness. It is suggested that individuals who ascribe less weight to the automatic system are more likely to achieve closeness with themselves.

We suggest an internal work mechanism that enables individuals in the long run to adjust their more automatic processes (such as implicit expectations) to get closer to their deliberate, higher order goals. Our analytical findings also suggest that internal work changes the weight one puts on their controlled operations (vs. automatic operations). Through internal work one can learn to listen to themselves, separate themselves from automatic operations and find their own equilibrium. We discuss the possible empirical tests of the suggested model.

Speaker: E. Gila Fruchter (Bar-Ilan University)

12:10 Well-Being as a function of Perceived Stress and Mindfulness among Software Professionals in India

The life of software professionals is rife with daily challenges and uncertainties; which affects their well-being. Therefore, it is necessary to identify personality traits which may help software professional to cope with stresses of life. Mindfulness is one of those traits which may help to cope with such stresses of professionals. Mindfulness leads to awareness of thoughts, feelings and other bodily sensations and it has been linked to numerous benefits not the least of which is improved mental well-being in addition to increased and reduced levels of stress. Practicing mindfulness in daily life is particularly helpful when faced with challenges or difficult situations.
This study seeks to analyse the impact of mindfulness on perceived stress and well-being among software professionals working in India. Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) (Brown & Ryan, 2003), Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen et. al., 1983) and Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) (2006) were used to collect the data from 110 software professionals working in different software companies operating in India. The correlation design was used in the present study and mean, standard deviation, correlation coefficient and regression analyses were used to analyse the data. Mindfulness was found to be positively and significantly associated with well-being while it was found to be negatively and significantly correlated with perceived stress. Mindfulness appeared to help the software professionals to better deal with the everyday requirements and challenges of the profession and life. The implications of the findings of this study are explained and suggestions for future researches are given.

Speaker: Sandeep Kumar (Banaras Hindu University)

11:10 → 12:30 Talk Session 2: Psychological Methods

Convener: Gregor Sočan (Univerza v Ljubljani, Filozofska fakulteta)

11:10 Relations – One possible Way out of the Replication Crisis

In a survey by Nature (Baker, 2016), 52% of respondents from different disciplines stated that there is a significant crisis in the reproducibility of research results. Possible reasons for this include falsification of studies, questionable research practices, insufficient power of studies, lack of statistical literacy, or too simple (correlative) hypotheses for complex empirical phenomena. Often, hypotheses are still made on the basis of correlations (regressions, structural equations, ...), although their methodological weaknesses have long been known (linearity, bidirectional association, pairwise associations).
The new approach of Relation Analysis (RELAN; Maderthaner, 2022), based on Prediction Analysis (Eye, 1991), takes into account all possible interactions between binary variables, so that complex predictive hypotheses can be tested, explored and simulated for up to ten variables. In this way, variable networks (with cause, effect, moderator and mediator variables) can also be statistically evaluated, as hypotheses are multi-functional, multi-causal and contextual.
Evaluation examples show that (1) a relational analysis can provide explanations for uninterpretable data configurations, (2) more complex hypotheses allow a more precise adaptation to empirical phenomena, and (3) successful replication becomes more likely due to often increased statistical power.
Keywords: Statistical method, complex hypotheses testing, propositional logic
Maderthaner, R. (2022). Relationsanalyse (RELAN) – Aussagenlogische, statistische und kausale Analyse von Daten. Springer, Berlin.

Speaker: Rainer Maderthaner (University Vienna)

Abstract aapc24 Maderthaner deutsch englisch.docx

11:30 Uncovering jingle and jangle fallacies: A systematic review

Jingle and jangle fallacies arise from unclear connections between theory and empirical studies. In jingle fallacies, different phenomena are given the same name, whereas jangle fallacies occur when the same phenomenon is given different names. This problem has only been increasingly studied in recent years, although these fallacies have been known since Thorndike and Kelley. Examples of jingle-jangle fallacies that have already been investigated include studies on self-concept, identity, mindfulness, empathy, and trait theory approaches in personality research. To date, there is no formal procedure for recognizing these fallacies; they are investigated using various methods and approaches. In order to gain a better overview of current analytical strategies and approaches, we are conducting a systematic review according to the PRISMA guidelines. Our review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of strategies for investigating jingle-jangle fallacies. In the review, we focus on: concepts and constructs examined, methodological approaches, findings of overlap or ambiguity, and authors’ conclusions. This outline may be adapted based on our findings. Through this analysis, we aim to improve the understanding and detection of jingle and jangle errors in research and propose measures to mitigate these errors.

Speakers: Barbara Hanfstingl (IUS) , Mrs Carina Mitterer (Department of Psychology)

11:50 Power and sample size in measurement invariance testing

Measurement invariance testing has become a standard procedure in the psychometric toolbox. Power analysis is also considered an integral part of any statistical hypothesis testing procedure. Surprisingly, however, there is little guidance in the literature regarding the statistical power of measurement invariance testing procedures and associated sample size requirements. This may be due to the fact that effect size indicators of measurement bias have received relatively little attention from researchers. Nevertheless, some general suggestions regarding the interpretation of effect size indicators have recently been made. The aim of this study was to estimate the power to test the measurement invariance hypothesis at different levels of effect size and as a function of factors such as the type of effect size measure (signed vs. unsigned), the scaling of the latent variable, and the size of the factor loadings. I will discuss the determinants of statistical power, explain some counterintuitive results, and offer a tentative summary of guidelines for applied research.

Speaker: Gregor Sočan (University of Ljubljana, Dept. of psychology (Univerza v Ljubljani, Oddelek za psihologijo ))

12:10 Methodological Challenges in AI-Based Facial Expression Recognition: A Comparison of Methods

Recent developments in psychological assessment have seen the rise of AI-based
automatic detection of emotional facial expressions, now widely implemented in
both commercial and open-source software. Despite its growing prominence, this
AI-based approach encounters practical, measurement, and diagnostic
challenges.

Our initial study (N = 18) involved a comparative analysis of OpenFace, an
AI-based system, and blenderFace, a non-AI-based system for facial expression
assessment. To facilitate a fair comparison, participants were recorded using
both a UV-sensitive Webcam for blenderFace, marked with trackable sunscreen,
and a standard Webcam for OpenFace. This methodology addressed potential
biases introduced by facial markers in AI-based recognition. The blenderFace
method, employing an optical, pattern-based tracking system, avoids the
pitfalls of AI-driven methods by not relying on a point distribution model or
predefined emotion categories.

In a larger study (N = 106), we conducted statistical analyses of raw facial
movement data from blenderFace. This approach offered a nuanced understanding
of facial expressions, using three-dimensional coordinates for in-depth
analysis, particularly beneficial for high-precision research such as
microexpressions or the Component Process Model.

Overall, our research provides insights into the comparative effectiveness of
AI-based and direct measurement methods in facial expression analysis. While
AI-based systems mark a technological advance, they also introduce certain
limitations. Our findings suggest a balanced approach that combines AI's
efficiency with the accuracy of direct movement data to improve psychological
assessment practices.

Speaker: Dr Axel Zinkernagel (University of Wuppertal)

12:30 → 14:30 Poster Session: 1 (with lunch buffet)

12:30 A systematic review of the school-based use of positive psychology methods to promote student wellbeing

Teachers and students in German-speaking countries are increasingly suffering from complaints such as chronic stress, sleep disorders and mental illness. However, positive attitudes and emotions can promote students' motivation, mental and physical health and social skills. Positive psychology as a concept, significantly influenced by Martin Seligman, deals with the question of what makes life positive and how people can achieve a ‘good life’. Teachers can, among other things, contribute to their students‘ well-being by using specific methods of positive psychology. These include identifying and utilising personal strengths ("character strengths") or exercises on kindness and gratitude, such as keeping a gratitude diary.
This study deals with intervention methods from positive psychology that have been used in studies in school settings. A systematic review of these studies will examine the various impacts and the most effective ways of using these methods. Firstly, the development of positive psychology is explained, followed by a description of the intervention methods used in the studies. The selection of studies and their criteria will then be explained, followed by a comparison of studies in terms of their settings and objectives and an analysis of their results. Finally, it is summarised which intervention methods are particularly suitable for use by teachers and which specifics should be taken into account in this context.

Speaker: Christian Fritz

12:30 An analysis of the cryptocurrency market: perception and representation of Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency assets in relation to personality traits

In 2008, new and innovative technology appeared in the financial world in the form of Bitcoin and, later, other cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin is a decentralized, digital, intangible asset. The cryptocurrency market is characterized by high volatility. Lack of understanding of the asset can also be a problem, many potential investors do not buy Bitcoin because they do not understand how it works, and novice investors often make impulsive, unfounded decisions, and take on disproportionate financial risks. The study aims to understand people's perception and representation of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Furthermore, the goal is to highlight how the two selected personality traits of the Big 5 model, openness and neuroticism, influence the evaluation of these assets. The primary quantitative research will be conducted in the form of a questionnaire. The questionnaire aims to determine whether individuals with high openness are more informed, have a positive view of the cryptocurrency market, and already own or are planning to invest in the future, while those high in neuroticism may be more avoidant and hold a negative view of the asset class. In addition, the research also seeks to identify which sources the respondents primarily get information about the cryptocurrency market.

Speaker: Áron Bédi

12:30 Analysing gaze following behaviour could help in understanding gender stereotypes

During social interactions our attention is automatically attracted by our interlocutor gaze, and we are compelled to follow it: this phenomenon, called joint attention, sees one of its key features in the so-called gaze-following behaviour (GFB) paradigm. The tendency to follow other people’s gaze can be supressed, at the cost of delayed reaction times, according to social categorization dynamics. In the process of automatic categorization, a recent study demonstrated the role of second-order facial features (e.g. makeup for women and beard for men), in enhancing the activation of gender stereotypes. Starting from these premises we wanted to study the GFB paradigm in conjunction with different second order features, to explore the role of gender stereotypes in joint attention processes. To achieve this, we developed a set of female and male faces that were modified by their second-order features (i.e. hair color, hair length, glasses, makeup/beard). Participants were asked to perform a left or right saccade, according to the instructions received, while the to-be-ignored face (woman or man) gazing right or left appeared at the centre of the screen. The direction of the gaze could be either congruent or incongruent with the instruction. Results confirmed the GFB (more errors in the incongruent condition and slower time-to-saccade for correct answer in the incongruent condition) and show a tendency to follow faces with more pronounced second-order features suggesting a prominent role of perceptual saliency overriding gender stereotyping.

Speaker: Federico Paulesu (University of Milano-Bicocca)

12:30 College mental health - Current issues and possible research directions in a cross-cultural context

Mental health and wellbeing of university students has become an important public health concern all over the world. Experiencing mental health issues is associated with poor academic achievements and increased study drop-out rates. Considering these costly repercussions for both students and universities, addressing student mental health is an urgent research priority. Comparing different cultures can be interesting in this respect, as cultural value orientation (e.g. autonomy, hierarchy, mastery) can determine which influences are more prevalent. Our research aims to identify the risk factors that affect students' mental health. We would like to investigate this phenomenon among Hungarian and Korean university students using self-report questionnaires. Based on currents meta-analyses, want to investigate the predictor effects of next factors: 1. Demographic variables (e.g. age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status), 2. Academic variables (e.g. field of study, achievements, workload), 3. Lifestyle-related variables (e.g. sleep quality, physical activity), 4. Social relationships (parent-child relationship, social support), in the dependent variables of 5. Psychological variables (e.g. perceived stress, and coping skills, anxiety, depression), and 6. Use of mental health services (e.g. help-seeking behavior, usage). This is an emerging research project, so the measurement tools are still being sought. In our research we want to compare Hungarian and Korean students along these variables. What are the similarities and differences between the two samples in terms of risk factors, current mental state and need for psychological support? Identifying a wide range of factors can help in development of effective interventions and preventative strategies in university mental health care services.

Speaker: Rebeka Orbán (University of Pécs)

12:30 Designing Rating Scales for Equidistance: Comprehensive Calibration and Implications for Measurement Invariance Across Populations

Summated rating scales are frequently considered interval-scaled rather than ordinal-scaled, with results published regularly in highly ranked journals. This may be due to the simplified application of parametric statistics and the more convenient results these methods offer. However, when assumptions such as equidistance are violated, which is often unclear, bias can occur, complicating interpretation and affecting the robustness of findings. In previous research, IRT methods have been utilized to test equidistance. However, the principle of "design trumps analysis" can be employed to develop scales that are equidistant by design. In this vein, Casper et al. (2020) recently presented a large set of scale anchors along with empirical numerical scores that allow researchers to calibrate scales for equidistance in their questionnaires. We extend this work in important ways. We replicate the study by Casper et al. (2020) using a representative sample of the US working population and a similar sample from the German-speaking population. Using an additional set of samples, we aim to demonstrate that calibrated scale anchors meet the equidistance assumption better than previously used uncalibrated anchors. Lastly, we will establish that these calibrated anchors are more effective in achieving measurement invariance across different languages.

Speaker: Ms Theresa Tschauko (University of Klagenfurt, Department of Organization, Human Resources, and Service Management)

12:30 Development of rating scales for the evaluation of physical space and the learning process – pilot study

Our study was part of a larger project to determine the influence of environmental variables on participants' experiences. The aim of our study was to develop and test two instruments: (1) to measure the experience of environmental variables in the classroom and (2) to measure the experience of the learning process. We developed two rating scales based on a literature review in a group of researchers: Perception of physical space (14 items) and Perception of Learning Process (8 items). The scales were tested in a university course (Technical measurement) by 14 university students and their teacher. During the implementation of the course (12 sessions), two environmental variables were changed: the arrangement of the desks and the presence of the additional equipment, so that the four experimental conditions were each repeated three times. Students completed the rating scales in paper-pencil format three times in each session: before the start of the lecture, during the break and at the end of the lecture. At the end of the study, a focus interview was conducted with the students to discuss the implementation of the measurement and rating scales. The poster will present examples of measured differences in students’ experience of the physical space and the learning process under individual conditions, as well as ways to improve the rating scales and their use to detect perceptual changes in the learning process.

Speaker: Dr Katja Depolli Steiner (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts)

12:30 Evaluating Brain-Based Learning Strategies for Vocabulary Acquisition: Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Studies

This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of brain-based-learning principles (Caine and Caine, 1990; Sousa, 2001; Folta-Schoofs & Ostermann, 2019) in enhancing vocabulary learning. Although neurodidactics has received considerable attention in scientific and popular discourse, detailed research findings and implementation guidelines of these principles are scarce. Moreover, the approach is controversial: the results appear trivial, the recommendations obvious and partly unjustified (Bowers 2016), or the brain is too complex and our understanding too incomplete (Dougherty & Robey 2018) to inform teaching. Here, a systematic approach to applying learning and memory research findings (Müller et al., 2021) to educational contexts will be provided. The study employs a 2x2x2 experimental research design with two phases: (1) an experimental study followed by (2) a quasi-experimental study employing a pre-test/post-test/follow-up design. Initially, 120 students will be randomly assigned to an experimental group (EG) and a control group (CG) based on their English language proficiency. The EG will learn vocabulary in a positive atmosphere (Musliu, Berisha & Latifi, 2017) with music (Vigl et al., 2023) taking the arousal-mood-hypothesis (Husain etal.,2002) into account; incorporating movement breaks to facilitate memory consolidation (Hilman, Erikson & Kramer, 2008; Kao et al., 2020), and embedding words in meaningful contexts (Frances, Martin & Duñabeitia, 2020). Conversely, the CG will employ conventional methods. The group’s vocabulary learning will be evaluated using a computerized recognition task (RT, ACC) using SDT (Macmillan & Creelman, 2005), and a vocabulary test. I hypothesize that the EG outerperforms the CG. Subsequently, a quasi-experimental study follows in schools.

Speaker: Verena Novak-Geiger (University of Klagenfurt, School of Education)

12:30 Heartbreak and Social Media: Associations between Instagram Surveillance of the Ex-partner, Breakup Distress and Attachment Style.

Research has shown that monitoring an ex-partner's Facebook profile can impede post-breakup healing, while remaining friends on Facebook correlates with lower breakup distress. Anxiously attached individuals tend to experience higher breakup distress and engage in more Facebook surveillance. With Instagram's increasing popularity among young people, investigating its role in breakup distress and attachment style is essential. This online survey (N = 168) examined the relationship between surveillance of an ex-partner's Instagram profile, breakup distress, and attachment style. It employed the German version of the Experiences in Close Relationships Questionnaire, the Breakup Distress Scale, and an adapted version of the Interpersonal Electronic Surveillance Scale for Instagram. An open-ended question explored motives for Instagram surveillance. Anxious attachment style positively correlated with breakup distress, while there was no significant difference in Instagram surveillance between attachment styles. Attachment style did not moderate the correlation between breakup distress and Instagram surveillance. Nevertheless, a significant positive correlation between breakup distress and Instagram surveillance was found. No difference in breakup distress was observed between individuals who continued following each other on Instagram and those who did not. The most cited reasons for Instagram surveillance were "interest" and "missing the other person". These findings offer insights for interventions targeting individuals coping with breakup distress.

Speaker: Liina Riemenschneider

12:30 How does Instagram use affect the acceptance of cosmetic surgery at different ages depending on the reason for use?

Achieving an attractive physical appearance, even via cosmetic surgery, is a core factor in women's lives. Social media puts high pressure on women to be attractive. In addition to promoting the ideal body shape and cosmetic procedures, Instagram also has a significant impact on women's attitudes towards their own bodies. The present study aims to show that Instagram use plays a significant role in the acceptance of cosmetic surgery but is not independent of age and reason for use. The online data collection included 419 cisgender women (Mage = 37.3, SDage = 10.8, 18-63 years), of whom 272 women (Mage = 34.0, SDage = 10.1, 18-61 years) had an Instagram account that they actively use. The questionnaire package contained 4 questionnaires: Cosmetic Surgery Acceptance Scale, Multidimensional Instagram Intensity Scale, Objectified Body Consciousness Scale, Body Appreciation Scale-2. Our results show that there is a significant difference between Instagram users and non-users in terms of acceptance of cosmetic surgery and body objectification. Both are higher among users. There was a significant difference in the reasons for use (insistence, boredom, overuse, self-expression) among Instagram users across different age generations. Generation Z scored the highest score in all cases. A complex model revealed that increased Instagram use (overuse and insistence) increases openness to cosmetic surgery through higher body objectification. Furthermore, age increases while body appreciation decreases acceptance. Overall, Generation Z women are the most exposed to the influence of social media, while the way they use Instagram also plays a significant role.

Speaker: Fanni Őry (University of Pécs, Faculty of Humanities and Social Science, Institute of Psychology)

12:30 Humour in the workplace and optimism of healthcare workers

Humour plays multiple roles in our lives. A sense of humour reflects a person’s good social skills, has a positive effect on health, reduces stress and tension, evokes positive emotions, reduces social distance, increases group cohesion, and creates a stimulating work atmosphere. However, not every form of humour works that way, and we distinguish between positive and negative humour.
The purpose of this research was to determine which type of humour prevails in the healthcare workers’ workplace, to determine how they relate to optimism, and some characteristics of the respondents and the workplace.
The sample is convenient and includes 133 health workers (105 women and 18 men) from the hospital in Sisak who anonymously filled out the Humor Climate Questionnaire (HCQ), and the Optimism - Pessimism Scale.
Of all four HCQ subscales, positive humour is the most present in the healthcare workers’ workplace, followed by the superiors’ support in the use of humour, while negative humour is present extremely rarely. Positive humour is more present in the workplace of people with higher optimism and age, longer working experience, more satisfied with their work and more pronounced superiors’ support in the use of humour. Positive humour negatively correlates with pessimism and negative humour. Where negative humour is more present, humour towards superiors is more pronounced, while at the same time there is less superiors’ support in the use of humour, and lower optimism is present. Optimistic people experience stronger superiors’ support in the use of humour.

Speaker: Mrs Olivera Petrak (University of Applied Health Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia)

12:30 Interrater reliability of the Hungarian version of the Structured Interview of Personality Organization – Revised (STIPO-R) in a Hungarian clinical sample

Background: The Structured Interview of Personality Organization – Revised (STIPO-R) (Clarkin et al., 2016) assesses personality organization as conceptualized by Otto Kernberg. Establishing its interrater reliability is crucial for clinical use, but no studies have yet evaluated the Hungarian version's reliability.

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the interrater reliability of the Hungarian version of STIPO-R on a Hungarian clinical sample.

Methods: The sample consisted of 20 inpatients from the Department of Psychosomatic and Psychotherapeutic Rehabilitation “Tündérhegy,” Semmelweis University, Rehabilitation Clinic (SERK), Budapest. The first author, an experienced clinician, conducted and recorded all the interviews. Three additional experienced colleagues independently evaluate and rate the recordings. This part of the research is underway. After completion of coding, interrater reliability will be assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) for the total score and subscales.

Results: The research is ongoing, but we expect ICCs for the total score and subscales to range from 0.75 to 0.90, indicating substantial to excellent interrater reliability, similar to other language versions of STIPO-R.

Conclusion: We anticipate that the Hungarian version of STIPO-R will demonstrate strong interrater reliability, supporting its use in clinical practice and research within Hungarian-speaking populations. Future research should explore its validity and reliability in larger and more diverse samples.

Speaker: Tibor Cece Kiss (Doctoral School of Psychology, University of Pécs, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences)

12:30 Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnosis – Structure Questionnaire Short (OPD-SQS) – A Psychometric Evaluation using Item-Response-Theory

Introduction: The Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnosis System (currently available in its third revision, OPD-3) is a multiaxial system used for psychodynamic diagnosis and treatment planning. Its four axes cover the essential psychodynamic sub-concepts intrapsychic conflict, transference, defence, resistance and personality structure. The structural concept on axis four has five dimensions: Perception, Control, Defence, Communication and Attachment, which can be captured through a therapeutic rating or a self-assessment questionnaire; the OPD-SQS. This twelve-item instrument has been used in both population and clinical samples. Its sum score is generally regarded as an assessment of the overall level of personality functioning; an increasingly relevant dimensional conception of personality pathology. However, its psychometric properties were mainly investigated using the methods of classical test theory and confirmatory factor analyses. To our knowledge, a psychometric evaluation using Item-Response-Theory is still lacking.
Methods: We used data from a large, population-representative German sample (n = 2503) spanning the entire adult age range in which the level of personality functioning was assessed using the OPD-SQS. For the psychometric analysis, we used the Partial-Credit-Model (PCM), the Generalised-Partial-Credit-Model (GPCM) and the Nominal-Response-Model (NRM).
Results and Discussion: The analyses are work in progress and results will be available at the conference in September. They will expand the current evidence base for the OPD-SQS' psychometric properties.

Speaker: L. Julian Olivi (University of Klagenfurt)

12:30 Parenting style, child’s self-regulation and temperament predict prosocial behaviour in preschool – a structural equation model

Prosocial behaviour develops rapidly in the preschool period and can be influenced by both environmental and individual factors. The research aims to identify these factors through parenting, child temperament and regulatory skills. In what ways do these factors influence children's prosocial behaviour? 524 parents (Mparents’ age: 35,57 years; SD: 4,65; range: 21-49; 36 males, 488 female) filled out an online questionnaire package about their children (Mchildren’s age: 56,15 months; SD: 12,53; range: 36-86; 261 males, 263 female). The package included four parent-report measures: the Hungarian versions of Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire (PSDQ) to measure parenting styles, the Child Self-Regulation and Behavior Questionnaire (CSBQ) to measure children’s cognitive-, emotional and social regulation skills, the Emotionality, Activity, Sociability Temperament Questionnaire (EAS) to measure temperament, and one scale from the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) to measure prosocial behaviour. According to the SEM model, authoritarian, authoritative and permissive parenting styles and emotionality, activity and sociability temperamental factors exert their effects on prosocial behaviour through cognitive and emotional self-regulation in separate pathways. Parenting along the lines of warmth, consistency and reasoning, and the absence of criticality, rigidity and inconsistency, contributes to the development of self-regulation and prosocial behaviour. Temperament acts through a high approach to social situations and low emotionality. Regulation helps to manage both attention and emotions according to the situation. This integrative model can contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of prosocial behaviour in context.

Speaker: Rebeka Orbán (University of Pécs)

12:30 Parkinson's disease from the perspective of narrative health psychology: perspectives on explanatory narrative of patients with Parkinson's disease

ITRODUCTION: Parkinson's disease (PD), the second most common neurodegenerative disorder with motor and non-motor symptoms and several psychological features has a significant impact on daily activities of patients. Our research focuses on the individual disease narratives of people with PD.
METHODS: In the present study, we aimed to assess the everyday experiences of patients with PD and their explanatory narratives related to their disease. Our main aim was to understand the process by which patients give meaning to their illness. We used a qualitative method with semi-structured interviews with a total of 6 patients having PD. The interview was based on the McGill Illness Narrative Interview (MINI) questionnaire. Responses were analyzed by two independent investigators using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA).
RESULTS: Two main topics emerged in the explanatory narratives of patients with PD. The first is that patients are fundamentally uncertain about why they developed the disease. Regarding this point, some patients try to find an answer (e.g., lifestyle) but do not find one, however, others who do not look for an answer. The second main point is that they link the onset to some trauma or loss.
CONCLUSION: The qualitative approach used may be suitable for a deeper exploration of the experience of illness and illness narratives of patients with PD. The emergence of common topics and explanatory narratives may provide insights into the coping processes of patients and may offer insights into meaning making and causal factors, an area that has remained unexplored in this patient group.

Speaker: Fanni Őry (Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Pécs)

12:30 Personality psychology of activity and attention concentration

The aim of this research was to investigate individual differences in activity and attention concentration from a personality psychological perspective. The research question was which characteristics of the individual and his/her immediate personal environment influenced the relationship between inhibition and behavioural control.
We used a questionnaire package. Children's behavioural manifestations were assessed using the parent version of the Conners Questionnaire for Children's Behaviour (CPRS-R) and the Children's Interests and Preferences Questionnaire (SSSC). Well-being was assessed using the Well-being Index (WHO-5), emotional resilience using the Child and Youth Resilience Scale (CYRM-28) and the Parent Resilience Questionnaire (PREQ16), and emotion regulation using the Child Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ-k), and the abbreviated adult version (S-CERQ). Parental control functions were measured with the Brief Sensory Sensation Seeking Scale (BSSS-8), and behavioural characteristics with the Adult ADHD Self-Assessment Scale.
The study involved children aged 9-14 years with neurotypical development and one parent living in the same household. The data were collected face-to-face. Participants volunteered to take part in the survey after giving informed consent. Their compliance with the inclusion criteria was assessed by self-report.
The results were analysed starting from measures of inattention, hyperactivity and inhibition, and looking at how parental well-being, resilience, control and emotion regulation affected children's behaviour regulation.
The research findings highlighted the importance of individual and immediate personal context characteristics, as parents' personality traits can be considered as a strong influencing factor. These findings therefore support the need to pay particular attention to the individual's family background.

Speaker: Dorottya Horvath (University of Pécs)

12:30 Psychometric properties of the Parental Stress Scale (PSS), evaluated using Item Response Theory

Background: Parental stress affects parents and negatively impacts children. Therefore, it is important to provide a valid and reliable measurement instrument. Objective: The aim of this study was to conduct a psychometric evaluation of the Parental Stress Scale (PSS) using item response theory analysis in parents of 2–9 year old children. Methods: Data from a larger European initiative to evaluate the Parenting for Lifelong Health for Young Children program were analyzed. Baseline assessments of 1658 parents in North Macedonia, Romania and the Republic of Moldova were included. IRT methodology was used to assess the psychometric properties of the PSS, including analyses of dimensionality, item characteristics, and subgroup invariance for 11 split criteria. Results: A good fit of the generalized partial credit model (GPCM) to the data could be demonstrated and the model held. Participants responded dichotomously and the test could measure more accurately in the higher theta range (i.e. highly stressed parents). In addition, the differential item function (DIF) analyses revealed significant results for items for the country comparison and for higher or lower overall PSS values. Conclusion: It is recommended to revise the items and the response format of the PSS. Moreover, items that accurately discriminate at the lower end of the PSS should be added for screening low-stress parents. Using IRT methodology, this study improved the understanding of the psychometric properties of the PSS. Evidence-based recommendations were made to improve the scale to enable accurate measurement of parental stress in the future and facilitate targeted interventions.

Speaker: Katharina Buß

12:30 Short information messages can improve attitudes towards electric vehicles

The shift from traditional combustion vehicles to electric vehicles (EVs) is crucial for meeting decarbonisation targets and addressing global warming. This transition faces several challenges, many of which are psychological. A well-known issue is range anxiety, the fear of running out of energy during travel. This and other factors causing scepticisms about EV adoption often stem from misinformation or outdated knowledge. Many people are unaware of recent technological advancements that improve travel times, charging speeds, and battery recovery. In this study, conducted in collaboration with Maserati, we identified 12 common misconceptions about EVs and created a series of brief informative messages to counteract each one. University students participated by completing a questionnaire measuring their attitudes towards EVs before and after viewing the informational messages. The results showed significant improvements in most areas studied, such as environmental and social impact perceptions. However, there was no significant direct effect on the participants' personal purchase intentions, although the likelihood of recommending an EV to a family member or friend increased.

Speaker: Valter Prpic (University of Bologna)

12:30 Stress and job satisfaction in nurses

Stress, including occupational stress can cause problems in mental and physical health and is known to be associated with high levels of sick leaves and work errors. Main stressors in nursing are often related to the unpredictability of their work, insufficient number of employees, poor work organization, overtime and night work, and inadequate reward and recognition. The aim of this research was to examine the sources of stress in nursing, as well as the levels of exhaustion, disengagement, resilience, and job satisfaction. The research was conducted online, 426 nurses participated in the study, of which 92.7% were women and 7.3% were men. The average age of the respondents was 38.45 years. The questionnaire consisted of sociodemographic questions, the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory, the Job Satisfaction Scale, the Brief Resilience Scale, and the Nursing Stress Scale. The results show that the biggest source of stress for nurses is the workload, i.e. the lack of staff at the workplace, then performing interventions that are painful for patients, not having answers to patients’ questions and making decisions related to the patient when the doctor is not present. Nurses rate their job satisfaction as average, they show good resilience, disengagement is not high while exhaustion is average. The most frequently mentioned sources of stress emphasize the need to reorganize work in healthcare institutions in terms of additional employment of administrative and support staff so the nurses could have more time for direct patient care. Also, additional training is needed on specific topics in nursing.

Speaker: Melita Rukavina (University of Applied Health Sciences)

12:30 Using playing cards as stimuli: the role of order and magnitude in the SNARC effect

The SNARC effect reflect a left-to-right mapping of numbers resembling a mental number line. However, disentangling the roles played by numbers’ magnitude and order in the SNARC effect remains a challenge due to their inherent correlation. This study examined the impact of order and magnitude on the SNARC effect using playing cards as stimuli. While most people organize cards in ascending order (AO), a subset of individuals arranges them in descending order (DO). For individuals in the DO category, there is a stable tendency to associate low-magnitude cards (e.g.,2) to the right and high-magnitude cards (e.g.,6) to the left, creating conflicting spatial mappings for cards' order and magnitude. In our first lab experiment, DO participants (N= 31) engaged in a magnitude classification task involving both simple numerals and playing cards as stimuli. A one-sample t-test conducted on mean regression weighs showed that they deviated significantly from zero in the simple-numerals condition, in line with the SNARC effect. However, no difference emerged when classifying cards. To further investigate this null effect, we conducted an online experiment with a larger sample of DO participants (N=59) to replicate Experiment 1 and clarify spatial associations in card classification. Surprisingly, results showed that DO participants consistently exhibited SNARC effects in both number and card classification tasks, suggesting that magnitude played a decisive role, regardless of card order.
Funding:PRIN 2022 program–Project Prot. 20227N2Y73 – Numbers and the Undisclosed MEchanisms of their Representation ALong Space (NUMERALS) - CUPJ53D23007870006 – funded by European Union – Next Generation EU

Speaker: Tiziano Agostini (University of Trieste)

14:10 It's not my asthma that makes me want to leave job it's the bad feeling of dependency; association of asthma control and potential work turnover

The aim of the study is to determine how asthma control and the potential presence of depressive symptoms in employed respondents who are being treated for asthma, reflect on turnover intention and attachment to the company and to examine the mediating effect of the need for autonomy at work, according to the theory of self-determination. Previous research shows inconsistent results, so the goal is to determine whether turnover intention is caused simply by asthma. The research was conducted at the Institute of Pulmonary Diseases of Vojvodina, during November 2022., a convenient sample consists of 75 respondents ( 22 men and 52 women) who suffer from asthma and have no other significant associated diseases. There was no significant correlation between asthma control and the intention to change jobs (R2=.024, β =.-154, p>0.05), as well as a significant correlation between asthma control and attachment to the work organization (R2=.019, β =.-137, p>0.05), the mediating influence of autonomy at work was not meaningfull to check. What we got is that there is a weak but significant correlation between depressive symptoms in subjects who are treated for asthma and reduced attachment to the work organization R2=.052, β =.-228, p<0.05, it was also confirmed that reduced satisfaction of the basic need for autonomy at work leads to increased depressive symptoms R2=.156, β =.-395, p<0.01. This finding suggests that the experience of a violated right to self-organization at work and relative independence in decision-making in patients with asthma is related to negative feelings not disease itself.

Speaker: Ms Ana Komlenić (Institute for Pulmonary Diseases of Vojvodina)

14:10 The different effects of current perceived threats and collective victimhood beliefs on system justification

Based on the multidimensional existential threat model, present perceived threats, such as the Ukraine crisis and EU sanctions, and past victimization can be considered as types of collective threat. Under high system threats, people are motivated to adhere to the status quo, resulting in the legitimization of the system. We assumed that the perceived threats of the Ukraine crisis and EU sanctions directly facilitate collective victimhood beliefs and system justification, and collective victimhood enhances the effect of perceived threats on system justification; therefore, it has a mediation role. Furthermore, it was presumed that trust in government measures also has a mediator effect. The data were collected from 477 Hungarians, of whom 223 were males, and their average age was 49. We used the System Justification Scale and the Collective Comparative Victim Beliefs Questionnaire. In addition, we measured the attitude towards Ukrainian immigrants and trust in government measures. The results showed that inclusive victimhood mediated the effect of the perceived threat of the Ukraine crisis; in contrast, the trust in government measures mediated the effect of the perceived threat of EU sanctions. The Ukraine crisis and EU sanctions are different types of perceived threats; the former is physical, while the latter is symbolic. The past weighs on the present; however, institutional trust might better explain the effect of perceived threats on system justification. Therefore, perceived threats can be an effective means of political mobilization, but only if the government is perceived to be able to control the threats.

Speaker: Barbara Tóth (University of Pécs, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Psychology)

14:30 → 15:50 Talk Session 3: Educational Psychology

Convener: Barbara Hanfstingl (IUS)

14:30 Trajectories of autonomous forms of motivation through high school education

Autonomous academic motivation represents students’ innate drive to learn. It is associated with students’ greater academic achievement and well-being. Thus, it is concerning that research indicates a decline of autonomous motivation in adolescence. However, investigation into whether this decline is present across all types of autonomous motivation has been limited. Autonomous motivation encompasses identified motivation, arising from recognizing education’s value, and intrinsic motivation, derived interest in learning. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the trajectories of autonomous forms of motivation and their determinants. The research was conducted as a part of the Free Career Choice project funded by the Croatian Science Foundation. Sample consisted of 688 high school students (61.1% female). Students participated in three data-collection waves, assessing their autonomous motivation from the first to the third grade of high school. The results indicate that students had different baseline levels of both identified and intrinsic motivation, with gender, school program, and conscientiousness as significant positive predictors of higher baseline levels. Furthermore, identified motivation demonstrated a slight linear decline, while intrinsic motivation remained stable over time. Gender and conscientiousness emerged as significant predictors of change in identified motivation, with stronger decline found for girls and more conscientious students. Overall, contrary to findings from former research, the results suggest relative stability of the autonomous forms of motivation. Although that is encouraging, it is important to strengthen autonomous motivation to mitigate the small decline in identified motivation and enhance intrinsic motivation, which, although stable, is low in its absolute level.

Speaker: Eta Krpanec (Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar)

14:50 Are social identity factors involved in the reproduction of educational inequalities in Croatia? The case of identity incompatibility

Studies investigating the social class education gap differentiate between two effects involved in the reproduction of educational inequalities. Primary effects are those that lead to social-class differences in academic achievement, while secondary effects involve the impact of socioeconomic status on academic choices after accounting for students' prior academic success. The aim of this study was to examine the role of one social identity factor – identity incompatibility – in contributing to primary and secondary effects of students' social origins. Specifically, we hypothesized that lower-class students experience mismatch between their socioeconomic background and the stereotype of someone who succeeds in education, which in turn affects their educational outcomes. Data used in this research was collected as a part of a larger research project „Free Career Choice“. Our sample consisted of 1087 (51.4% girls) middle school students (Mage = 12.12, SDage = 0.74) attending 16 schools across Croatia. We specified two separate mediation models and tested them using the structural equation modelling framework. Findings revealed that identity incompatibility significantly mediated the effect of socioeconomic status on educational aspirations, revealing its’ importance in social origins’ secondary effects on students’ educational success. However, identity incompatibility did not mediate the effect of socioeconomic status on academic achievement, indicating that the primary effects of social origins are not attributable to identity incompatibility in the Croatian context. Consequently, while addressing psychological barriers is crucial for mitigating the secondary effects, further research is needed to understand the factors involved in primary effects of social origins on educational disparities.

Speaker: Dora Popović (Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences)

15:10 Motivational Regulation and Dropout in Music Schools

Many children and adolescents learn a musical instrument with enthusiasm, while others take little pleasure in it and develop little sustainable intrinsic motivation. Additionally, many music students stop attending music school and abandon their instruments. The causes of these motivational differences can be found in the individual (e.g., interests), the quality of music lessons, or the social environment's support. We investigate the longitudinal development of sustainable motivation in music students and its effects on retention or dropout rates. The study is framed by Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Ryan & Deci, 2017), which posits that satisfying basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and social relatedness fosters self-determined motivation (e.g., Cheon, Reeve, Lee, & Lee, 2018). Numerous studies (e.g., Kingsford-Smith & Evans, 2019; MacIntyre et al., 2018) have examined self-determined motivation in school-based music education. However, learning an instrument in music schools, as practiced in Austria, has been rarely studied, especially considering motivation development and teaching conditions (e.g., Evans & Liu, 2019; Wieser & Müller, 2022). In an empirical study, music students (N=200, as of May 2023) were surveyed about their motivation, teaching conditions, and music-specific parental behavior using a questionnaire. Structural equation analyses of the first cohort's data reveal how parental behavior, need satisfaction in lessons, and perceived teacher characteristics predict students' motivation and their intention to persist in music schools.

Speakers: Dr Martin Wieser (School of Education; University of Klagenfurt) , Dr Florian H. Müller (Institute of Instructional and School Development; University of Klagenfurt) , Mrs Verena Novak-Geiger (School of Education; University of Klagenfurt)

15:30 Secondary School Case Study: Applying Integrated Solution-Focused Counselling and Non-Violent Communication Methods in School Settings

In the study, we briefly describe both SF/ Solution Focused counselling and NVC Non-Violent Communication methods based on recent academic literature. Then we introduce the methodological usage of both methods in school counselling settings. Following this a more concrete topic will arrive as an integrative counseling technique: how and when solution-focused /SF/counseling with non-violent communication /NVC/ methods can be used as a tool for counseling in secondary schools by emphasizing the strengths and the challenging points of the integrated model.
Finally, a real-life, effectively led case study will be shown to demonstrate how and why SFBT and NVC methods should be integrated in the same counseling process.

Speaker: Katalin Borbáth (ELTE PPK, Psychology Institute Counselling and Schoolpsychology Department)

14:30 → 15:50 Talk Session 4: General Psychology

Convener: Anja Podlesek (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Department of Psychology)

14:30 Development and Validation of Virtual Reality Tasks for Measuring Planning Ability

Planning is a high-order executive function typically assessed by problem-solving tasks. Traditional assessments often lack ecological validity due to their simplicity and decontextualization. To address this, assessment based on immersive tehnology has been developing. In this study, we adapted a planning task from the serious computer game CCRacer for virtual reality. Participants had to navigate an intersection grid to collect objects (apples) and deliver them to a final point, with measures of inefficiency, initial time, total time, and time ratio.
We gathered data from 62 emerging adults (37% male) and administered four cognitive tests: CCRacer-planning, VR CCRacer-planning, Tower of London, and Traveling Salesman Problem. Participants reported their interest, motivation, task difficulty, and immersion for each. We evaluated symptoms induced by virtual reality equipment (nausea, disorientation, dizziness, fatigue, instability). Test-retest reliability of VR CCRacer-planning scores was examined with 24 participants.
Results indicated that time-related measures were reliable indicators of planning ability, while inefficiency lacked structural validity and reliability, likely due to insufficient task difficulty. All measures demonstrated satisfactory test-retest reliability and appropriate correlations with related cognitive tests. Compared to other tasks, participants were more immersed, found the VR task more interesting, and were more motivated to participate. Reports of VR sickness symptoms were minimal, indicating no significant health or psychological risks.
Based on the findings, increasing the task difficulty is advisable. To gain more comprehensive insights, the task should be administered to a broader sample. This research provides a foundation for developing methods to measure cognitive functions in virtual reality.

Speaker: Taja Vidonja

14:50 Measuring Working Memory with a Restaurant Game: A Pilot Validation Study

To enhance the ecological validity of measuring working memory, we developed a new computer task – Restaurant Game (RG). As waitpersons, participants must remember the customers' mixed orders of drinks and dishes and place drinks on a tray first and dishes second. The number of items in the order increases if at least one of two trials is correct. The RG score is calculated as the square root of the number of items delivered correctly in all trials to normalize data for statistical analysis. In a pilot validation study, 64 undergraduate students participated in the RG and three PsyToolkit online tests: Backward Digit Span, Corsi Backward Block Test, and the Shape-Filling Switching Test. For each test, they rated their engagement and motivation. After approximately a month, 34 participants played the RG again. The correlation of the RG score with the Digit Span score was high (r = .62, p < .001), supporting the convergent validity of the RG, and negligible with the Corsi Test score (r = .10, p = .47) and the switching cost in the Shape-Filling Test (r =.04, p = .75), suggesting its divergent validity. Participants felt slightly more engaged and motivated when playing the RG than when doing the other tasks. Although the RG score showed a small practice effect and relatively poor retest reliability (r = .40, p = .02), the overall results indicate the potential for further developing the RG and using it in memory assessment and cognitive training.

Speaker: Prof. Anja Podlesek (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Department of Psychology)

15:10 Effectiveness of Executive Functions Training in Middle-Aged Adults: Evidence for Limited Transfer to Trained Tasks

The prevailing executive function (EF) model delineates three core processes: updating, inhibition, and task switching. These processes are distinct yet interrelated constructs that underpin a variety of higher-order cognitive functions. Since many cognitive functions decline with age, there is growing interest in developing interventions to improve EF in the aging population. Despite its potential, the efficacy of EF training has produced mixed outcomes. Researchers agree that EF training promotes gains on trained tasks and similar untrained tasks, though gains on tasks involving related cognitive abilities remain highly debated. This study aimed to investigate whether the effects of EF training transfer across various tasks related to the trained core EF process and extend to other cognitive tasks involving EF processes. A total of 120 middle-aged adults (aged 49-65) were randomly assigned to one of four groups: updating (n-back training), inhibition (Stroop training), switching (task-switching training), and an active control group (communication skills training). The study employed a design with three measurement points: a pretest, a posttest, and a six-month follow-up. Participants underwent 20 training sessions over 10 weeks. Results indicated that training gains were confined only to the trained tasks, suggesting that EF training predominantly enhances only the skills necessary to perform the trained tasks. These findings align with a growing body of literature underscoring the limited generalizability of EF training effects. The study highlights the importance of focusing on near-transfer mechanisms in future research to understand the underlying processes contributing to gains in process-based EF training.

Speaker: Luka Juras (University of Zagreb)

15:30 Associations between screen time and early childhood development

To prevent non-optimal developmental outcomes, international guidelines recommend the avoidance of digital media use under the age of two. This recommendation is, however, rarely followed. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between screen time and early childhood development in a sociodemographically representative Hungarian sample. The study was conducted on a sub-dataset of the third and fifth waves of the Cohort '18 Growing Up in Hungary study (n=2078), among children (50.8% boys, 49.2% girls) aged 18 months (M=18.0; SD=0.8) and 36 months (M=36.8; SD=0.9) at the two waves. Mothers reported on children’s screen time (on a typical day) and development (Ages and Stages Questionnaire-3). Only 14% of 18-month-olds used no digital media on an average day. 24.8% had a daily screen time between 1 and 30 minutes, 24.1% between 31 and 60 minutes, 19.3% between 61 and 120 minutes and 17.7% more than 2 hours. Screen time at 18 months predicted children's delayed communication, fine motor, problem-solving and personal-social skills at 3 years, both in bivariate analyses and in logistic regression models, adjusted for maternal education level, household’s income, maternal marital status, child’s sex and age, and a developmental delay of the child on the given area at 18 months of age. The results are in line with previous findings showing a high prevalence of media use in early childhood and its negative impact on children's development. A harm reduction approach should therefore be used to support families in developing media use habits that minimise developmental risks.

Speaker: Dr Krisztina Kopcsó (Hungarian Demographic Research Institute)

15:50 → 16:10 Coffee Break

16:10 → 17:00 Keynote: Keynote 2

Convener: Tiziano Agostini (University of Trieste)

16:10 Ecological sounds in sports: previous research and future directions

Over the past forty years, sport psychologists and cognitive psychologists have developed experimental paradigms to investigate the perceptual-motor processes underlying sport actions. Many studies have been conducted and today a large body of evidence is available, particularly in relation to the visual modality. However, in real word situations visual stimuli are not the only ones available, and other types of sensory stimuli – such as the auditory ones – can provide significant information. This information (e.g. from the sound of the hand-ball impact or from the footsteps) can be used more or less consciously by athletes to understand the dynamics of actions. In my talk, I will present some studies that we have developed at the University of Trieste – as well as others available in literature – to provide an overview of evidence on the role of ecological sounds in sports. These studies will show that athletes can use ecological sounds to recognize their own performance among those of other athletes, to predict the outcome of actions and to improve their performance. In addition, I will present some findings from another line of research looking at the impact of crowd noise on the performance and decision making of athletes and referees, based on data collected during the pandemic at closed-door games. Some ongoing projects and future directions of this research area will be discussed at the end of the presentation.

Speaker: Mauro Murgia (University of Trieste)

Thursday, 12 September

09:00 → 09:50 Keynote: Keynote 3

Convener: Antonio Piolanti (University of Klagenfurt)

09:00 Family-Focused Intervention Approaches for Global Mental Health and Violence Prevention

Child and adolescents in low and middle income countries are overrepresented in the prevalence of mental health disorders and often do not receive the care they need to reduce risk and prevent lifelong negative health effects. Effective interventions are available that target risk factors, but major gaps in implementation and effectiveness in context remain. Parenting programs represent one evidence-based approach for prevention that may be cost-effective and reach families and children at the population level. In this presentation, I will present a series of studies to systematically adapt, optimize and evaluate parenting interventions in low resource settings by applying implementation science frameworks and the Multiphase Optimization Strategy. I will discuss challenges in adapting interventions across settings to target families of both young children and adolescents. Results will be discussed in relation to embedding of parenting programs within the existing service organizations to increase reach and sustainability.

Speaker: Heather Foran (Psychologie)

09:50 → 10:10 Coffee Break

10:10 → 11:30 Talk Session 5: Digital Interventions and Health

Convener: Ana Arzenšek (University of Primorska)

10:10 Digital interventions for the reduction of vaccination-related pain and anxiety among children – Meta-analysis

Background: Injection-related pain and anxiety have been major contributors to hesitancy and noncompliance with children's vaccinations. Traditional distraction, as a common method, often fails to prevent syringe anxiety. Novel strategies involving multiple senses in managing pain and anxiety related to children's vaccinations require evaluation. This study aimed to investigate the effect of digital technologies on pain and anxiety in children undergoing vaccination procedures.
Method: A comprehensive search was conducted across seven databases (Medline, Cochrane Library, PubMed, EBSCOhost, Web of Science, Scopus, and CHINAL). This study included a wide range of digital technologies applied in vaccination procedures to children (<21 years old), assessing at least one of two outcomes (pain and anxiety). Randomised controlled trials, quasi-experiments, cross-sectional, and other quantitative research published from 2009 – 2023 were included. Qualitative studies, reviews, and non-English papers were excluded.
Result: Of 1750 identified studies implementing digital interventions in children's vaccination, twenty-four assessed pain and seven assessed anxiety. This intervention covered virtual realities, robotics, health digital devices, mobile and computer technology, and video-based interventions. The digital interventions provided a reduction in pain (WMD = -0.74, 95 % CI: -1.08, -0.41) and anxiety (WMD = -0.97, 95% CI: -1.61, -0.33).
Conclusion: Digital interventions might reduce the pain and anxiety related to vaccination among children. This potential can lead to improved vaccination experiences and increased compliance among children, thereby enhancing the overall effectiveness of vaccination programs.

Speaker: Kevin Efrain Tololiu (University of Pecs)

10:30 Growth Mindset and Mental Health Among Users of Positive Psychology Online Platform

In the past decade, researchers have shown great interest in exploring the neuroplasticity of the brain and the idea that intelligence and personality can change, which is an important contribution to the models of mental health. This research aimed to explore the interconnectedness between mindset, mental health indicators, and depressive symptomatology, as depression is one of the most common mental health problems. Three hypotheses were posed, namely: There is a positive correlation between growth mindset and well-being (H1); Participants with a growth mindset have better mental health on average compared to participants with a fixed mindset (H2); There is a positive correlation between having a fixed mindset and experiencing depressive symptomatology (H3). 874 participants using the Slovene online platform “Positive Psychology for a Better Life” took part in the study. Measures of mindset (revised version of Dweck Mindset Instrument), mental health (Mental Health Continuum-Short Form), and depression (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale) were deployed in an online survey. All three hypotheses were confirmed: The more a growth mindset was expressed, the more psychological, emotional, and social well-being was expressed among participants; mental health was better in participants with a growth mindset than in participants with a fixed mindset; and fixed-minded participants were more likely to experience depressive symptomatology. Understanding the construct of mindset is important in various contexts of improving mental health, such as psychotherapy, psychoeducation, and related forms of personal development, as well as in educational settings.

Speaker: Ana Arzenšek (University of Primorska)

10:50 The psychological well-being of patients with Parkinson's disease: health-related quality of life, living with the disease and coping

BACKGROUND: Parkinson's disease (PD), the second most common neurodegenerative disorder can highly impair the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) via its motor and non-motor symptoms (NMS). Overall, mobility-related difficulties and subjective mood problems have the most powerful negative effect on the HRQoL.
OBJECTIVES: We aimed to investigate the HRQoL of patients with PD along new factors, taking a complex approach to the impact of motor and NMS on activities of daily living and on some factors of the psychological well-being.
METHODS: Our study is a cross-sectional survey of patients with PD, using a questionnaire procedure. Using clinical and disease-specific data in addition to our questionnaire battery including the 39-item Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire, the Coping Mode Preference Questionnaire, the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, the General Self-Efficacy Scale, the Health Empowerment Scale, the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire, the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, and the Fear of Falling Avoidance Behavior Questionnaire.
RESULTS: Thus far, we analyzed data of 15 patients (9 males, aged 69.5±6.12 years), however, further data collection is ongoing. According to the present results, the longer the disease duration, the stronger the rumination and catastrophizing. Illness comprehensibility and personal control showed positive correlations with refocus on planning and positive reappraisal. Severity of fear of falling correlated negatively to posttraumatic growth and search for support coping mode.
CONCLUSION: This research has started investigating new aspects of PD that can have an important contribution to the psychological well-being of patients. We are performing further analyses along additional factors and patient inclusion is also ongoing.

Speaker: Evelyn Pintér (Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Pécs)

11:10 The role of psychologists in autoimmune syndromes

For a very long time it has been well known that different autoimmune syndromes are followed by neuropsychological symptoms. These neuropsychological symptoms often mimic neuropsychiatric disorders and it is very important to distinguish between comorbidity and psychological symptoms that are direct consequences of autoimmune state.
The role of psychologist becomes an important one, but sending autoimmune patients to complete neuropsychological evaluation is still very rare. Behavioral analysis, personality analysis, evaluation of cognitive functioning, executive functions analysis, emotional functioning analysis are needed for autoimmune patients in the light of vivid autoimmune influence. Gradients of noticed psychological disability are rarely determent on the individual level. Without this detailed information it is very hard to understand the symptomatic mosaic. It is difficult to create an individual treatment plan for autoimmune patients with neuropsychological symptoms, considering that we know that unique ‘tailor made’ individual treatment plan is the best one.
We are at the disposal of a great variety of psychological instruments with adequate psychometric properties. Most of the instruments are developed or used as a part of scientific studies. These instruments are not suitable for differential psychological diagnostics in practice. This oral presentation will try to present most efficient psychological instruments that can be used for this purpose, as well as results that we can expect for different autoimmune syndromes, like Systemic Lupus, Hashimoto’s, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Irritating Bowl Syndrome, Crohn Disease etc.

Speaker: Mrs Bašić Fani (clinical psychology)

10:10 → 11:30 Talk Session 6: Social Psychology - Prosociality and Social Exclusion

Convener: Frank Eckerle (Universität Klagenfurt)

10:10 Charitable giving and social comparisons: The role of attention in asymmetric joint-donation tasks

Charitable requests often ask many potential donors to give to a specific donation cause. However, the presence of other donors can lead to social comparisons among donors and influence their self-perception. We systematically investigated the role of attention in these comparisons using a joint-donation task. Participants were presented with asymmetric joint-giving scenarios, in which two donors with unequal resources decide how much to donate to a recipient. In Study 1, we varied the order in which information about the other donor’s and the recipient’s resources was presented. In Study 2, we used eye-tracking to measure participants’ attention to their own resources as well as to those of the other donor and the recipient. Results show that the order of comparisons matters: Participants donated more when they saw their own and the other donor’s resources first, with the recipient’s resources being the last piece of information. In Study 2, participants donated more when their last fixation in the trial was on the recipient's resources. Additionally, more frequent transitions between their own and the recipient's resources increased donations, while transitions between their own and the other donors’ resources did not. These patterns were stronger the more needy the recipient was. While research has shown that upward social comparisons can lead to increased giving, the current findings highlight that people are not only sensitive to the presence of other donors and their resources, but also consider the neediness of the donation recipient.

Speaker: Stephan Dickert (Queen Mary University of London)

10:30 Context is important when assessing ingroup and outgroup pain: Empathy bias in football fans

Intergroup empathy bias (IEB) is a tendency to empathise more with ingroup than with outgroup members. Substantial evidence for the phenomenon comes from neuroscientific studies of empathy for physical pain. These studies typically investigate racial groups and register bias in neural but often not in behavioural indicators of empathy; the discrepancy is routinely ascribed to social desirability. Moreover, the ecological validity of empathy-eliciting tasks is usually low.

We addressed these limitations in four experiments (ΣN = 362). To eliminate social desirability concerns related to racial/ethnic groups, we studied football fans. Two experiments replicated typical neuroscience tasks: pain intensity and self-unpleasantness ratings of painful vs neutral faces of ingroups and outgroups. In the next two more ecologically valid experiments, we embedded the painful events in identity-unrelated contexts (painful accidents described by ingroup/outgroup, Exp3) and identity-related contexts (painful football tackles, Exp4).

We observed no bias when participants were asked for decontextualised pain assessment (Exp1 & Exp2). We registered bias only when pain happened in a context directly relevant to their group identity (Exp4), but not as an identity-unrelated event (Exp3). IEB was related to identification and social dominance orientation, but not to empathic personality traits.

The results follow the predictions of social identity theory: IEB emerged only when social identity was an important cue for understanding and responding to a social situation. This highlights the need to address the discrepancy between behavioural and neural measures over and above social desirability concerns, and points to the importance of context in studying social biases.

Speaker: Marija Čolić (University of Belgrade - Faculty of Sport and Physical Education)

10:50 Voters’ feelings of exclusion and behavioral intentions after political elections: Replicating and extending findings on vicarious exclusion

Previous research from the United States indicates that voting for a losing candidate in presidential elections is associated with feelings of exclusion and social pain, similar to reactions in interpersonal exclusion. Our research replicates these findings in real election in a European country (Austria), demonstrating their relevance in a different political system. Experimental evidence also supports the causal effect of electoral loss on exclusion and social pain in both two-party (Study 2) and multiparty contexts (Study 3). Additionally, we show that post-election feelings of threat can impact behavioral intentions on a societal level (Studies 1-3). These findings contribute to research on individual feelings of exclusion in politics, linking small-group dynamics with broader political behavior.

Speaker: Janet Kleber (University of Klagenfurt)

11:10 The role of reciprocated friendships in the behavioral correlates of sociometric categories

Children live complex social lives that has various aspects, including intimate friendships, peer-acceptance and bullying dynamics which is usually studied separately in research. The study I wish to present aims to investigate the interplays of these three important fields by analyzing the moderating effects of number of friendships on the relation between sociometric categories and behavioral correlates (i.e.: prosocial behavior, leader, disturbs class) and bullying variables (i.e. defender behavior) via moderated logistic regression models. The hypothesis of this study is that number of mutual friendships has a moderating effect on the relationship between behavior and assigned sociometric category (i.e. leading is associated with the popular category but this relationship may be even more pronounced for children with many friends than for those with fewer).Participants were 291 elementary school students from schools located in Budapest, Hungary. Computerized peer-nominations were used to assess number of mutual friendships, behavioral variables, peer acceptance and bullying-roles. Results suggest that the explaining value of behavioral variables for rejected, ambivalent and popular children is excellent, however the investigated effect was present only in a few cases. The conclusion of this study is that number of mutual friendships may have an effect on some the relationship analyzed, however the hypothesis is only weakly supported by the evidence.Questions of limited and unlimited nomination based friendship questions are discussed. The results may facilitate further studies in the direction of more refined logistic regressions and has implications on bullying diagnostics and offers an electronic assessment tool for practitioners that has seen widespread use in Hungary and has helped bring sociometry into the everyday lives of schools.

Speaker: Tamas Hoffmann (Lorand Eotvos University)

11:30 → 13:30 Poster Session: Poster Session 2

11:30 Fear of Missing Out as a mediator of the scarcity effect regarding product sales in e-commerce

The scarcity effect refers to people’s tendency to find things more attractive and desirable, and to value them more when they are scarce rather than abundant, e.g. in supply. The present study aims to shed light on a possible underlying phenomenon explaining this relationship, namely the Fear of Missing Out (FoMO). The mediation hypothesis was tested in an online survey by manipulating an online shopping offer for a solar-powered power bank. Participants (N = 161) were randomly assigned to either a scarcity condition, which was designed to induce FoMO through a scarcity message, or a control condition without a scarcity message. Following the presentation of the offer, respondents’ FoMO levels, their intention to purchase and their attitudes towards the product were assessed. Results showed a positive indirect mediating effect of FoMO on both purchase intention and product evaluation. The findings add to the existing literature by identifying FoMO as a mediating variable that has only been researched in the context of service sales, and now examined in the context of the sale of tangible goods, delivering interesting implications for marketers.

Speaker: Louisa Knietig

11:50 Time Perception: Interplay of Implied Motion and Spatio-Temporal Patterns

Studies have shown that motion is a prominent factor influencing how we perceive time durations. For example, targets in motion are perceived to have longer durations than those at rest, and this effect persists even for static images that imply action. However, since motion can be a characteristic of both animate and inanimate subjects, it remains unclear whether this perceptual bias affects both categories similarly. Therefore, this study aims to explore the relationship between implied motion and the intrinsic properties of depicted subjects. Participants performed a temporal bisection task, assessing the duration of still images featuring either inanimate objects or humans, both in implied motion (i.e., still images suggesting movement) and at rest. Results confirmed that subjects depicted with implied motion are perceived to last longer than stationary subjects, with this effect being more pronounced for humans compared to inanimate objects. Additionally, images of moving humans exhibited a specific spatiotemporal effect on reaction times: participants responded faster to right-facing images at longer durations and to left-facing images at shorter durations. Overall, these findings reveal the interaction between implied motion and subject category on perceived duration. The unique spatiotemporal bias in speeded responses to moving human figures suggests specialized cognitive processing likely influenced by evolutionary or social factors.

Speaker: Matteo De Tommaso (Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca)

12:10 Basic psychological needs and identity orientations in Serbian adolescents

According to Self-determination theory, basic psychological needs represent sources of positive identity and optimal functioning. There is no prior research on the relationship between basic psychological needs and identity orientations in adolescents, like the ones defined in the Tetrapartite model of the self, which differentiates personal, relational, collective, and public identity orientation. The present study had two goals: (1) to investigate associations between basic psychological needs and identity orientations in adolescence; and (2) to test whether basic psychological needs contribute to the prediction of identity orientations when controlling for sociodemographic variables (gender, parental employment, and family’s financial status). The sample consisted of 1,933 Serbian adolescents (62.2% females, Mage = 15.66). Results of structural equation modeling revealed that Personal identity was associated with autonomy satisfaction and autonomy frustration (β = .410, .190, p < .001), relational identity was associated with autonomy satisfaction, relatedness satisfaction, relatedness frustration and competence satisfaction (β = .312, .823, .545, -.392, p < .001). Collective identity was associated only with autonomy satisfaction (β = .209, p < .005), while public identity orientation was not significantly associated with any basic psychological need. After controlling for sociodemographic variables, the contributions of the basic psychological needs to predicting identity orientations remained largely unchanged. The only change was in autonomy satisfaction predicting public identity orientation (β = -.259, p < .001). This study highlights the significance of basic psychological needs in shaping identity orientations in adolescents.
Keywords: basic psychological needs, identity orientations, Self-determination theory, Tetrapartite model of the self, adolescence.

Speaker: Dušana Šakan (Department of Business Psychology, Faculty of Law and Business Studies dr Lazar Vrkatić, University Union Belgrade)

12:30 To be or not to be a teacher: Factors determining the decision among Slovenian university students

This study investigates the motivation and perception of the teaching profession among final year Bachelor students of social sciences and languages. Students who intended to pursue a master’s degree in teaching reported on their motivation to teach, their beliefs about teaching and their satisfaction with their career choice. Students who had decided not to study to become a teacher reported on their beliefs about teaching and answered an open-ended question about the reasons why they did not want to study to become a teacher. Using the FIT- Choice Scale to measure motivational factors and perceptions of the teaching profession, the study shows that altruistic and intrinsic motives primarily drive students towards the teaching profession, whereby they rate their own abilities as teachers highly. In contrast, extrinsic factors such as job transferability and time for the family are of lesser importance. Despite recognising the expertise required, participants perceive the social status and salary in the teaching profession to be comparatively low. The qualitative analysis reveals issues such as low intrinsic and personal utility value, concerns about the demanding interaction with children and their parents, and the perception of extensive teacher training programmes by students who are not interested in the teaching profession. The implications of this study offer important insights for policy makers and teacher education programmes to consider the factors that influence students’ decision to enter the teaching profession.

Speaker: Dr Katja Depolli Steiner (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts)

12:50 Narrative progress in early stages of recovery in Novel Psychoactive Substance users

Recovery narratives have been analyzed within the frameworks of numerous previous studies, yet there remains a paucity of data regarding individuals using Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS). The subjective significance of substance use, and the transition to sobriety, as well as the pivotal moments experienced, varies. In our research, we conducted interviews using the Hungarian adaptation of the McAdams' Foley Life Interview with 77 substance users right after the detoxification period and, after one year, with those who remained available for the study and had completed therapy. We focused on individuals who spent at least 3 months in some form of rehabilitation institution and had been abstinent for at least a year. We analyzed our main findings within the framework of Narrative Oriented Inquiry (NOI), examining specific changes in the narratives of individuals in the early stages of recovery: zenith (related to substance use or accompanied by other positive experiences), nadir (involving substance use and associated problems, homelessness, victimization, imprisonment, or significant losses preceding substance use), and turning point (suicidal crisis, seeking help); observing more negative content in zenith narratives, than positive content in nadir narratives. This research may contribute to a deeper understanding of the recovery process for individuals using NPS.

Speaker: Rebeka Jávor

13:10 An Evolutionary Approach to Exchanging Sex and Companionship for Resources

Life History Theory (LHT) posits that individuals exhibit variation in their sexual, reproductive, parental, familial, and social behaviors as adaptive responses to the physical and social challenges encountered during development. “Sugar relationships” typically involve the exchange of resources for sex and/or companionship between a younger partner and an older provider. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between openness to sugar relationships and life history strategy. A sample of 312 Hungarian participants (192 women, 120 men) completed a comprehensive online questionnaire, which included the Acceptance of Sugar Relationships Scale, the High-K Strategy Scale, the Sociosexual Orientation Scale, the Family Resources Scale, the Childhood Unpredictability Scale, and the Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Scale. The findings elucidate the associations between openness to sugar relationships and life history strategies, indicating that socio-economic factors and family experiences significantly influence attitudes toward such relationships. The study highlights the intricate interplay between short- and long-term mating orientations, life history strategies, and sugar relationships, revealing that women with faster life history strategies and a preference for short-term mating are more likely to engage in relationships involving exchanges for sexual resources compared to women with slower life history strategies. Notably, this pattern was not observed among men. These results suggest that a strong acceptance of sugar relationships is aligned with a mating strategy aimed at maximizing resource opportunities. This utilitarian approach, marked by risk-taking and exploitation, is characteristic of a fast life history strategy, which plays a crucial role in the psychological and sexual dynamics within intimate relationships.

Speaker: Ms Jessica Ehlers (University of Pécs)

13:10 Basic psychological needs and depression in adolescence: What’s gender got to do with it?

Despite the established relationship between basic psychological needs and depression as an indicator of mental health in adolescents, the role of gender as a potential moderator in these relationships remains underexplored. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration and depression, as well as the moderating role of gender in these relationships within a large adolescent sample. A sample of 2,031 Serbian adolescents (61% females, Mage = 15.67) completed measures of basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration, depression, and sociodemographics. Analyses included a moderation analysis in which the satisfaction and frustration of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness were independent variables, gender was the moderator variable, and depression was the dependent variable. The direct relationships between the satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for competence and relatedness and depression were negative and significant. The effects of frustration of all basic psychological needs on depression were positive and stronger compared to needs satisfaction. Gender was found to moderate four out of six tested models, with the relationships being stronger in girls than in boys. Obtained results indicate that gender significantly moderates the relationship between both the satisfaction and frustration of almost all basic psychological needs and depression in adolescents. The effects are generally stronger for girls than for boys, highlighting the importance of considering gender differences when addressing psychological needs to mitigate depression in adolescence.
Keywords: basic psychological needs, Self-Determination Theory, depression, gender, adolescence.

Speaker: Dušana Šakan (Department of Business Psychology, Faculty of Law and Business Studies dr Lazar Vrkatić, University Union Belgrade)

13:10 Comparing video-based techniques and driving simulation: A pre-registered study on the role of engine sound in speed perception

Internal combustion cars are on the verge of becoming obsolete and of being replaced by Electric vehicles (EVs). In spite of the quick expansion of EVs, how drivers perceive and cognitively process some of their features remains largely unknown. This study focuses on the role of in-car sound, particularly artificial engine sounds, on drivers’ speed perception and control. Previous research indicates that the removal or reduction of engine sound leads drivers to underestimate their speed, resulting in faster driving. Additionally, evidence suggests that specific sound frequencies may influence this effect, underscoring the significance of in-car sound characteristics. We evaluate the benefits and limitations of different research methodologies used in this field, primarily video-based techniques and driving simulations, and propose an experimental protocol to systematically investigate this phenomenon. Finally, we advocate for the broader application of psychophysical methods on video recordings to enhance research in this area and address some limitations of simulation studies.

Speaker: Valter Prpic (University of Bologna)

13:10 Effect of light color temperature on performance in perceptual and motor tasks

Human visual perception has evolved in response to the natural variations of daylight patterns created by changing sky conditions. It is s called the dynamic variation in color appearance of daylight, or light temperature. In the morning, and early evening the color temperature of the light is relatively low (2500 Kelvin) and this is the experience of yellow and orange light (i.e. warm light). At noon, the color temperature is the highest and is over 6000 K (blue or cold light). The aim of this research was to examine whether the color temperature of the light has an effect on perceptual and motor efficiency if the intensity (illuminance) of the light is kept constant. Participants (N=149) were distributed in three experimental groups with different light temperature (2700 K, 4000 K and 6500 K). They performed three tasks from the domain of visual perceptual-motor performance. The results for three tasks that were evaluated by the participants at different levels of difficulty are presented here. The difficult task was the Mirror tracer task, easier Two arm coordination test and the third, the easiest, Paper-pencil perceptual speed test. The results showed that there was no statistically significant difference in the evaluations of lighting comfort among experimental situations. The effect of light temperature was statistically significant only on the most difficult task (Mirror tracer task). Efficiency was better in the conditions of 6500 K. The results are consistent with previous research that showed similar trends on different criterion behaviors.

Speaker: Prof. Dragutin Ivanec

13:10 Emotionally significant life details of Novel Psychoactive Substance users

Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) pose new challenges for treatment-providing institutions. Initially, studies concentrated mainly on the types of substances, their effects, and the new contexts of use. Recently, qualitative studies conducted on small samples have emerged, focusing on substance users' lived experiences. This research explores the demographic data and emotionally significant life events of 77 NPS users who just started therapy. Substance use was confirmed by laboratory tests, avoiding the usual biases associated with self-reporting. Persons with substance use disorder in this sample were polydrug users. The drug of choice is an important component of the self-medication theory. NPS use as polydrug use is challenging this notion. After conducting the Hungarian adaptation of the Foley Life Interview, we examined emotionally valenced episodes of the interviews using thematic content analysis. Among the 77 respondents, 70 reported one or more traumatic experiences, such as severe parental neglect, physical or sexual abuse, complicated grief related to the death of a close relative, substance use-related death, criminalization accompanying substance use, homelessness, and victimization (e.g., as sex workers), severe illness, and suicide attempts. Our results indicate that while NPS does indeed significantly reshape the picture of substance use disorder (SUD), the significance of two important factors, parental substance use and prior traumatization, remain unchanged. NPS-use related traumatization was severe - these findings indicate the potential role of repetition compulsion.

Speaker: Rebeka Jávor

13:10 Iranian Cultural schema across Immigrants generations and borders

In the context of globalization and increased immigration, individuals necessarily need to cope with their cultural identity. This study focuses on the effects of immigration, generational differences, and geographical location on the use and awareness of language cultural components, particularly pragmatic schema. Bartlett's recall paradigm was employed with 102 Iranian participants (MAge=28.41, SD=10.77), comprising 25 males and 77 females, among whom 57% identified as immigrants across various generations, with 44% based in Iran. The participants were asked to recall a Persian cultural pragmatic schematic story that was presented at the beginning of the study. Analysis revealed no significant differences in accuracy and schematic coding among the groups. However, there were notable differences in the explicit naming of specific pragmatic schemas, indicating variations in cultural schema awareness. These findings highlight the complex interplay of immigration, generational dynamics, and geographical context in shaping the understanding and use of cultural elements within language.

Speaker: Neda Dastafkan (University of Pécs)

13:10 Is the Rasch-Type Loneliness Scale Rasch-conform? A Psychometric Analysis of Multiple German Versions

Given its severe health-related consequences, reliably identifying and measuring loneliness is of central importance. The German 6-Item Rasch-Type Loneliness Scale (RTLS) is a widely used instrument that is applied both as a unidimensional scale — addressing overall loneliness — and as a two-dimensional scale, differentiating between emotional and social loneliness. As of yet, there is no IRT-based analysis of different versions of the German RTLS in terms of different item wordings and the number of response categories. In the present study, we conducted a comprehensive psychometric analysis of the German RTLS across five datasets (n1 = 3079, n2 = 287, n3 = 412, n4 = 408, n5 = 413). Overall, the results indicate that the scale evinces the best psychometric features when applied with a 4-point Likert-type response format. By contrast, threshold disordering was observed in all six items when using the original five response categories. Furthermore, no differential item functioning (DIF) was present in the version that uses items differing from the original scale. The Person Separation Reliability for this scale was satisfactory with PSR = .809. Infit and outfit mean square indices of all items were within the acceptable range. Overall, the results indicate Rasch-conformity of an adapted version (i.e., changes in item wording on three items and reduction of response categories) of the German RTLS. We, therefore, suggest that this version of the German RTLS should be used in German-speaking countries in the future.

Speaker: Linda Maurer (Universität Klagenfurt, Institut für Psychologie)

13:10 Managing mental health for a marginalized subgroup: The health promotion program SAM for students

As students are a vulnerable group for mental disorders, tailored interventions for promoting mental health and well-being are urgently needed. Programs of the third wave of CBT (e.g., ACT, MSC) showed promising results for addressing these issues and hence, SAM synergistically combines all these approaches. Since mindfulness is still the core element of those methods, SAM adopted this foundation but further included related concepts broadening the potential therapeutical utility. The name was derived from the German terms of the three pillars of program content (Selbstfürsorge, Achtsamkeit, Mitgefühl) and was developed in a multi-stage process using a participatory design with students at the University of Klagenfurt. This process included several feedback and revision loops to optimize the program and meet the needs of this target population. To investigate the efficacy of the program, which was delivered via a self-administered 21-day intervention, a RCT was conducted. It was hypothesized that SAM would 1) increase students’ mindfulness, self-compassion, and wellbeing and 2) decrease levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. The final sample consisted of N = 118 students who (82.2 % women, mean age = 25.83) were previously randomized to either the SAM program or a low dose educational content group (nutrition, exercise, relaxation, and stress reduction). A mixed model MANOVA yielded non-significant interaction and group effects but a significant time effect in the expected direction. These results implicate that even small interventions might improve outcome domains. However, the SAM program could benefit from these insights and is currently under revision.

Speaker: Brigitte Jenull (University of Klagenfurt)

13:10 Mental health among preschool teachers, assistants and counselors: What are the contributing factors?

In our study, we examined the mental health of preschool teachers (N = 554), preschool teacher assistants (N = 453) and counselors (N = 138) in Slovenian preschools. We analyzed the factors (workplace characteristics, psychological factors, sources of stress and perceived social support) contributing to mental health assessed with the Professional Fulfillment Index (PFI). The results indicate that the level of social support experienced through various sources does not differ among preschool teachers, assistants and counselors. All three groups reported receiving the most support from their teammates and the least from other preschool staff. We found that teachers experienced the least stress from relationships with colleagues and working with children, while assistants reported the least stress from relationships with colleagues and counselors from working with children. However, all three groups experienced the greatest stress in relationships with children's parents. Differences in overall perceived stress were found between preschool teachers and their assistants and between preschool teachers and counselors, with preschool teachers reporting the highest levels of stress. Finally, the two indicators of mental health, professional fulfillment and burnout, were predicted by perceived social support and perceived stressors in all three groups, while for preschool teachers, professional fulfillment and burnout were also predicted by years of service. With the predictive factors included, we were able to explain between 29% and 48% of the variance in the mental health of preschool teachers, their assistants and counselors.

Speakers: Nika Pogorelc Jesih (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Slovenia) , Živa Manja Petrovec (Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia)

13:10 Screen Time and Self-Control. Digital Media’s Impact on Young Children’s Inhibition Control

A growing body of research results (Schmidt & Vandewater, 2008; NMHH, 2021; Rideout, 2017) suggests that children begin the use of digital devices at a younger and younger age and that this kind of usage can have both positive and negative effects on the development of young children’s cognitive skills (McHarg et al., 2020; Bukhalenkova, 2021;).
To help clarify the topic of young children’s digital media use and its effect on early development we set two main goals in our research project: (1) to investigate early media use with a complex methodology that includes: collecting data directly from both parents via questionnaire and children’s via personal examination; (2) to investigate the topic as early in development as possible, in this case on the sample of 3-8 years old children.
With our combined methodology, we hope to broaden our knowledge and get a more nuanced understanding of young children’s and their family's media use and its connection to the early development of cognitive skills, especially inhibition skills which serve as a base of later social and cognitive competence.
Based on our former research and the accessible literature on the topic we expect significant associations between children's digital media use (reported both by children and by parents) and the inhibition skills of children during said media use. We hope to gain more knowledge about the aforementioned media usage and its connections by extending our research in numbers and methods.

Speaker: Eszter Balogh

13:10 Seasonal Cycles in Loneliness, Self-Esteem and Positive and Negative Affect

Seasonal changes throughout the year are characterized by many factors such as temperature change and different daylight duration, Such changes have been shown to affect a wide variety of psychological phenomena such as decision-making and prosocial behavior. Some of the previous research has shown that people experience more negative emotions during Winter and Spring, also known as Seasonal Affective Disorder. However, the topic of seasonality is still not explored that much. The aim of this preregistered study was to extend prior research on seasonal variation in important psychological variables. Specifically, we examined seasonal changes in Loneliness, Self-Esteem, and Positive and Negative Affect by taking data from the PASST study. PASST is a longitudinal study with data collected at four assessment points per year (January/Winter, April/Spring, July/Summer, October/Fall) over a period of three years. In our analyses, we focused on both between- and within-person shifts. Between-person differences were examined using ANOVA using individuals who entered the study at different periods of the year. Within-person differences, that is, seasonal changes over a year for a person, were examined using repeated measures ANOVA. Overall, the sample consisted of 3919 participants (74.4% female and 25.1% male) for the between-person analysis and also for the within-person analysis. The results for the between-person perspective showed that there are not any differences in the constructs under scrutiny at different seasons. The within-person perspective, however, showed a very small, but significant effect for Loneliness (highest loneliness in Winter) and Negative Affect (Highest score in Winter and Fall.

Speaker: Magdalena Dedić (University of Zagreb)

13:10 Socially isolated, but not lonely in lockdown: Exploring the role of reflective functioning as a protective factor in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction: Loneliness is a pressing public mental health issue. So far, there has been a paucity of investigations focused on the individual differences modulating this subjective feeling in the face of difficult circumstances, e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, the present study aimed to investigate the role of mentalization; given that the construct comprises reflection abilities that might be particularly relevant to the pandemic's interpersonal challenges.
Methods: A survey representative of the German population was conducted from May to June 2020 (N = 2,503). We examined mentalization, operationalized as reflective functioning (RF) and measured using the Mentalization Questionnaire (MZQ), both as a protective factor against loneliness on its own and as a moderator of the association of social isolation with loneliness.
Results: Of the overall sample, 822 (32.8%) individuals reported social isolation. Worse RF was moderately associated with higher levels of loneliness (r = .433, p < .001). A linear regression model (controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and general personality pathology) confirmed this positive association, but also indicated an interaction effect of RF and social isolation in the statistical prediction of loneliness. Stratified models showed that RF was a comparatively weaker statistical predictor of loneliness among the socially isolated.
Discussion: This representative population study expanded our knowledge about the factors shaping loneliness in the population. RF emerged as a potentially modifiable protective influence. Further research needs to clarify the mechanisms through which it mitigates loneliness.

Speaker: Dr Mareike Ernst (University of Klagenfurt)

13:10 The abusive father and the ignorant mother - Resilience despite adverse life circumstances

Children who can live a good, enjoyable, or successful life despite experiencing a variety of negative life events are described as resilient. Resilience is the ability to withstand challenges across various psychological, social, and societal aspects, depending on the context. The topic of children with mentally ill parents has already been examined from several perspectives. Extensive studies on risks and burdens have been conducted, emphasizing the importance of interdisciplinary networking in caregiving, early detection, as well as the need for diagnostics and interventions. Despite this knowledge and data, there remains a deficiency in approaches that prioritize giving a voice to those affected. Addressing this research gap, a participatory research design was chosen for the current book project, placing emphasis to the perspective of adult children of mentally ill parents. Drawing from individually written reports, individuals affected by the situation described their childhood experiences, identified coping mechanisms for dealing with these burdens, and reflected on the areas where they still encounter limitations in their well-being today. Coco, a middle-aged woman, described impressively how she experienced the traumatic events as a child and how she finally looked back on and reappraised them during psychotherapeutic treatment. In a multi-stage process, an individualized risk-resilience model was developed based on her report to derive options for action and intervention strategies for psychotherapy and counselling.

Speakers: Prof. Brigitte Jenull (University of Klagenfurt) , Janik Wiedenhöfer (University of Klagenfurt)

13:10 The Dark and Fragile Face of Narcissism: Hungarian Adaptation of the Maladaptive Covert Narcissism Scale and the Development of its Short Form

By now there is theoretical and clinical consesus regarding the diversity of the representations of narcissism. Besides the psychodynamic formulation, empirical attention also focused on this issue, however vulnerable narcissism is relatively still in the background when our aim is to present valid and reliable measurement options. In our study we will demonstrate the Hungarian adaptation of the Maladpative Covert Narcissism Scale (N = 1187; Mean Age = 28,95; 27% male), with the use of Behavioral Inhibition- and Activation System Scale, Narcisisstic Personality Inventory, Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire. The single factor structure of the test was supported, and a short form was also cretaed. With relevant gender differences the convergent and divergent validity and the test-retest reliability was also verified. To sum up our findings, a new valid and internationally accepted option became available to mesaure vulnerable narcissism is a brief but valid and reliable way both in empirical studies and in the field of clinical psychology as well.

Speaker: Szabolcs Ajtony Bandi (University of Pécs - Medical School - Clinical Center - Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy)

13:10 The Relationship Between Trust in Artificial Intelligence and Managers' Willingness to Acquire New Skills Related to Artificial Intelligence Development

The poster will present the relationship between trust in artificial intelligence and the readiness of managers to acquire new skills associated with the development of AI. The research objectives are first to examine the impact of trust in artificial intelligence on managers' willingness to develop specific skills, and second, to develop a skill framework and assess how managers' willingness to develop these skills is related to their trust in artificial intelligence. In my work, I reviewed the literature related to the concept of trust in artificial intelligence, the idea of readiness for change, and the skills that are important for managers under the influence of the development of artificial intelligence. I also explain the significance of learning new skills due to the constant development of artificial intelligence. The planned study will employ a mixed-methods approach, consisting of two main phases to comprehensively examine the relationship between trust in artificial intelligence and managers' readiness to develop specific skills that have emerged due to AI. In the quantitative phase, up to 200 managers are expected, while the qualitative interviews will involve up to 40 managers. The quantitative analysis aims to assess the relationship between trust in AI and managers' readiness for change. In the qualitative analyses, we will use interviews and a literature review to establish a framework for the skills, which will then be tested through a survey. This will allow us to examine the relationship between trust in AI and the skills that each manager has developed.

Speaker: Anja Klobas

13:10 Virtual Reality for Healthy Youth

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has been linked to an increase in loneliness and a decrease in social skills among adolescents, both of which are recognized as risk factors for mental health concerns. Social skills training and relationship-building interventions are considered promising strategies to mitigate these health concerns and strengthen resilience. Method: We have developed a virtual intervention platform that aims to improve social skills and well-being among adolescents. This platform is an immersive multiplayer video game that uses 5G and virtual reality (VR) technology. Our YouthVR environment features a supervisor, represented as an owl, who guides participants aged 10-14 through various scenarios. The interactive elements and aesthetically pleasing atmosphere are designed to encourage communication and collaborative engagement among participants. Results: The VR environment was successfully implemented and the first draft of the intervention manual was finalized. Ways that the environment was improved and adapted during the internal testing feedback rounds will be presented . Conclusion: This promising VR intervention could contribute to the improvement of social skills and well-being in adolescents, and will need to be tested in a larger trial to establish effectiveness.

Speakers: Selina Littmann, Katharina Buß

13:30 → 14:20 Keynote: Keynote 4

Convener: Zvjezdan Penezic (University of Zadar)

13:30 Understanding (in)authenticity in close relationships: Theory and research

Authenticity has long been associated with a range of psychological benefits for individuals, such as greater mental health and well-being, as well as for their relationships, such as greater satisfaction and commitment. In this lecture, I review theory and research that situate self-authenticity in specific close relationship contexts such as romantic relationships, friendships and family relationships. Close relationships, in which people need to develop ways to relate to each other, represent a context that can give rise to considerations of (in)authenticity. Moreover, these relationships have the capacity to facilitate or inhibit self-authenticity, so its study needs to consider both interpersonal and intrapersonal perspectives. I begin with broad theoretical notions on this topic and present some key empirical evidence from the wider literature, in particular work suggesting a link between felt (in)authenticity and movement toward or away from one's relationship standards for the self. I will then present relevant findings from my own research, including studies examining the relationships of relational self-authenticity with the ideal/actual self discrepancy and perceptions of self-improvement and degradation in the relationship. While the results provide some support for the association with self-concept improvement and movement toward one's ideal relational self, the overall pattern is more complex and will be discussed in terms of conceptual and measurement issues that need more consideration in this area of research. The lecture will conclude by highlighting the contributions of this and other lines of research on relational authenticity to the understanding of subjective authenticity and its psychological benefits.

Speaker: Vera Ćubela Adorić (University of Zadar, Department of Psychology)

14:20 → 14:40 Coffee Break

14:40 → 16:00 Symposium: Dispositions toward ridicule and being laughed at: Current research on gelotophobia, gelotophilia, and katagelasticism

Convener: Vera Ćubela Adorić (University of Zadar, Department of Psychology)

14:40 → 16:00 Talk Session 7: Clinical Psychology

Convener: Mareike Ernst

14:40 Psychodrama Research: Milestones in 100 years

In Austria, Jakob Levy Moreno wrote 1924 “Das Stegreiftheater” (The Theatre of Spontaneity). In 1931, in the U.S., he coined the term group psychotherapy and had a controlled trial on psychodrama in 1951, earlier than Eysenck. The last meta-analysis found a medium effect size of d=.501 (.36, .64) for increasing mental health. Systematic reviews conclude that psychodrama helps patients in many situations. Change mechanisms like concretization externalize and embody the action insight. In process outcome studies, participants generally reported improvement in their personal therapeutic goals, a decrease in symptoms and life problems, and some showed a marked increase in spontaneity levels. Training research dealing with death showed that the psychodrama processed negative emotions related to death and has helped students become more confident. As a research tool adequate for psychodrama, the revised spontaneity assessment inventory (SAI-R) is further developing. In the non-clinical field, socio-, axio-, and cosmodrama work on peace and ecological challenges, and in 2000, UNESCO awarded the Education for Peace Prize. A project about gender-based violence successfully used psychodrama to troubleshoot victim-perpetrator relationships.
Psychodrama history is well documented by autobiographies of the Moreno family and by a biographer. Moreno founded many journals, but mostly in his own Beacon House publishing. That is why the journals do not appear well in the academic index, but there is an online bibliography and library.

Speaker: Dr Michael Wieser (PSY)

15:00 Trauma in urban Sierra Leone: A qualitative approach exploring sociocultural, historical and political contexts

Cross-cultural research has acknowledged culturally dependent ways of understanding, interpreting and processing psychological trauma. Discourses about individual responses to traumatic events in low-income countries like crisis-ridden Sierra Leone ought to consider a person’s psychosocial background within a sociocultural, historical and political context.
As a sub-study of a research project in Sierra Leone we chose a qualitative approach to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of trauma in the West African country. Semi-structured interviews with 20 Sierra Leonean students and 4 Sierra Leonean experts from trauma-related scientific fields were conducted in the capital Freetown.
Our emic findings revealed unique culture-specific insights, such as a cultural recognition of trauma belonging to life, collective efforts to “forgive and forget”, implemented by the government after the civil war, as well as religious and interpersonal counselling having an impact on an individual’s response to trauma in Sierra Leone. While we found specific tendencies of social, cultural, political and historical patterns on a macro-level, the participants’ statements sometimes showed a different manifestation on the micro-level. Therefore, these patterns should rather be assessed from case to case for a thorough understanding of an individual’s response to trauma in a certain culture.
This research highlights the benefit of emic, culture-sensitive approaches and encourages more comprehensive trauma discourses. Our findings confirm that the impact is not only related to a limited event but is shaped by a person’s psychosocial environment, which is influenced by society, culture, politics and history.

Speaker: Mr Andreas Steidl (Department of Psychology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria)

15:20 Liminal hotspots: emotional overheat, entrapment and addiction.

The theory of rite of passage has long been used in clinical and developmental psychology as an explanatory notion for crises, trauma-related conditions, and addictions. A liminal hotspot (unlike the liminoid), is the state of being stuck in the liminal phase of the transition, leading to emotional overheat and burnout (Greco & Stenner, 2017). A liminal hotspot is an impasse in the order of the transition process, establishing a context of entrapment/helplessness. In late modern environments, consumerist patterns support the use of identity prostheses instead of genuine transformations, and reinforce craving, a mechanism conducive to excessive consumption. Substance use disorder (SUD), an ideal-typical pathology in these societies, is characterized by the inherent paradoxes and conflicts of the consumer: the controlled loss of control finally proving uncontrollable, forced sustainment of unsustainable lifestyles, and being paralyzed while in the process of change. We used a deductive thematic analysis to explore liminal hotspots in the life stories of novel psychoactive substance users diagnosed with SUD. We could identify double bind patterns, enmeshment of boundaries in users’ families, and lack of resources to support identity transformations. Addicts recreate liminal hotspots through their use. The resulting emotional overheat seems unmanageable without drug use, which in turn maintains entrapment in a liminal hotspot. Employing ritual elements to promote identity transition from user to recovering identities is part of the therapeutic practice in several institutions for persons with SUD. We conclude that studying liminal hotspots could add to our understandings and the enhancement of current therapeutic practices.

Speaker: Marta Erdős (Department of Community and Social Studies, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Pécs)

15:40 Narrative representations of complex post-traumatic stress disorder in the life stories of addicts using novel psychoactive substances.

Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (cPTSD), a condition recently included in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) is associated with substance use disorder (SUD) and behavioural addictions. With cPTSD, the person is exposed to prolonged traumatization, starting usually early in their life and/or occurring in an interpersonal context from where escape impossible (e.g., abuse, slavery, sex work and contexts of substance use). A recent study by Jannini et al. (2024) highlighted the role of affective dysregulation as a consequence when studying a sample of cannabis and alcohol users, problematic internet users and gamblers. The use of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) as indicated by Kassai et al. (2017), is a particular type of trauma. In this study, we conducted Foley Life Interview with 84 NPS users with SUD and analysed their negative childhood episodes, using deductive thematic analysis. 64 persons could remember brutal physical abuse or neglect by the parents, or in a few cases, by other family members or peers at school. Parental alcohol addiction and/or mental disorders were common. Often, domestic violence also affected other family members. Traumatization was a longstanding circumstance, and parents’ aggressive outbursts were unpredictable and unexplainable. Harm was mostly done by close family members who were (formally) in a caretaker role. In this context, NPS use is interpreted as a repetition compulsion – a typical phenomenon among traumatized individuals. Our findings imply that childcare services should be strengthened to prevent subsequent SUD in children who are exposed to continuing traumatization in their homes and at schools.

Speaker: Marta Erdős (Department of Community and Social Studies, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Pécs)

16:00 → 16:20 Coffee Break

16:20 → 17:40 Talk Session 8: Environmental Psychology

Convener: Žan Lep (Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana)

16:20 Resistance to change as a mediator between political orientation and pro-environmental behaviour

Environmental issues today are more pertinent than ever, and various ecological challenges require swift interventions. One such intervention, purported to stimulate pro-environmental behaviour, is green nudging. To change people's behaviour and implement green nudges more effectively, though, it is inescapable to understand the psychological processes underlying people's attitudes and decision-making. Extant research shows that people identifying as conservative are less likely to embrace behavioural changes and are less worried about the climate change. This could be because they are more likely to exhibit resistance to change and pro-environmental shifts. Therefore, we hypothesized that the influence of political orientation on pro-environmental behaviour (21 items) and acceptance of green nudges (4 items) is mediated through resistance to change (Resistance to change scale). Because data collection is ongoing in Slovenia and Croatia, we present the pilot results based on responses from 147 students (83% female, Mage = 20.3, SD = 3.11) from a cross-cultural project exploring the attitudes towards and mechanisms of green nudging. Although the correlations between constructs were modest, those positioning themselves more toward the left end of the political spectrum engage in more pro-environmental behaviours (r = .19, p = .029) and are more accepting of green nudges (r = .35, p < .001). The path model, however, failed to support the proposed mediated relationship through resistance to change. While this might suggest we should look for alternative explanations of the links towards “green outcomes”, we should also explore the proposed relationships in larger and (ideologically) more diverse samples.

Speaker: Dr Žan Lep (Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana & Centre for Applied Epistemology, Educational Research Institute, Slovenia)

16:40 Never change a running system: How system justification and psychological distance affect environmental concern

The urgency of environmental issues, notably climate change, demands a nuanced understanding of the psychological barriers and enablers of pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. Our study delves into the psychological underpinnings of environmental concern, a pivotal gateway to pro-environmental behaviors, focusing on the interplay between system justification theory and construal level theory. We hypothesize that individuals with a strong system justification trait perceive environmental problems to be psychologically distant, which leads to diminished environmental concern. Expanding on this, we anticipate that external threats to the system exacerbate this effect. However, we posit that strategically reducing psychological distance, e.g. through targeted manipulations, can counterbalance this negative effect. We test our hypotheses in three empirical studies: Study 1 shows that a strong system justification trait leads to a high psychological distance to environmental problems and low environmental concern. Study 2 builds on this foundation and demonstrates that experimentally induced threats to the system reinforce the negative effect of a strong system justification trait on environmental concern via psychological distance. Finally, Study 3 showcases that experimentally reducing psychological distance weakens the negative connection between a system justification trait and environmental concern. Overall, our research develops a comprehensive framework to explain variations in environmental concern by linking system justification and construal level theory. Importantly, we introduce interventions to reduce the negative effect of a strong system justification trait on environmental concern. Understanding these psychological mechanisms is pivotal for policymakers and communicators seeking effective strategies to bolster environmental attitudes and actions.

Speaker: Fabian Christandl

17:00 Psychological perspectives on microplastics in food and drink: Insights from qualitative and quantitative approaches.

Public concerns about the potential effects of plastic pollution on human health are high, especially following evidence of microplastics (MPs) in food and drink. However, scientific evidence on human health effects is currently unclear, and knowledge gaps remain regarding sources, pathways and toxicity. We combined qualitative and quantitative approaches to gain insight into factors underlying people’s concern as well as support for plastics-reducing policies.
First, we conducted interviews with 32 members of relevant involved groups along the food chain (i.e., harvesting, processing, hospitality, consumption, regulation). Although knowledge levels were diverse, interviewees expressed concerns about human health risks alongside low certainty about underlying processes. Systemic changes on the regulatory level were called for.
To gain further insight into relevant factors influencing public risk perception and policy support, we conducted a representative survey of the Austrian adult population (N = 741). We found (1) relatively high concern about MPs in food/drink; (2) high support for plastics-reducing policies, and higher support for pull than push measures; (3) risk perception was predicted most by biospheric values, negative affect, and indirect exposure through talking to others; (4) the pattern of predictors for policy support differed between push and pull measures (e.g., perceived scientific consensus and trust in science predicted higher support for pull but not push measures).
In sum, these studies contribute to understanding different groups’ understanding of MPs in food/drink, and factors underlying risk perception and policy support. This is crucial for developing effective and acceptable policies, especially where scientific knowledge is still incomplete.

Speaker: Leonie Fian (University of Vienna)

17:20 A project on individual factors moderating the preference for curvilinear contour

In interior environmental research the preference curved vs angular features was analyzed according to explicit and implicit measures. Using experimental paradigms based on reaction time (RT) focused on approach-avoidance tendencies, studies confirmed effects of curved vs. angular interior designs with experimental paradigms, i.e., associative biases with approach-avoidance words (females are more prone to the positive effects of biophilic curves) and with movements (images of curved interiors were responded with faster approach; angularity was always avoided faster than curvature).
The study will examine the role of other dispositional factors (personality traits and the level of expertise) moderating the preference for curvilinear contour. Previous investigations demonstrated a different preference profile for curvature depending on the task: in beauty judgments, greater preference for curvilinear than rectilinear design was found significant on experts; in the task involving self-reported approach-avoidance decisions, greater preference to enter in curvilinear than rectilinear spaces was observed in non-experts. Other findings reported that quasi-experts (students specializing in industrial design) were significantly more prone to prefer rectilinear environments, to dislike curvilinear spaces and significantly more likely to opt to exit than enter them.
Consenquently, the focus will be on the main effects of person-related characteristics (sex; expert or quasi experts (n=90 subjects) vs non-expert participants (n=90 subjects) and openness to experience with the two contextual factors (classic vs modern style and angular vs curved stimulus) and their interactions on implicit (RT) and explicit (self-reported) measures. Living spaces supported by photo-realistic interior pictures/images will be used as stimuli during the experimental study.

Speaker: Lucia Monacis (University of Foggia (Italy))

16:20 → 18:00 Talk Session 9: Clinical & Health Psychology

Convener: Ferenc Császár (University of Pécs Doctoral School of Neurosciences)

16:20 "Barkgras" Syndrome - A Case Report of Canine Capgras Delusion

Capgrass delusion or syndrome is a specific form of delusional misidentification syndromes, which described by the assumption of the patient, that someone or somebody in their social sphere had been replaced by an identical impostor. The replacement usually happens in the case of friends, parnets and spouses, while in some cases pets are being involved. In our presentation we will introduce the case of a young female client from the psychiatry ward, who believed that her romantic partner's soul somehow replaced her dog's soul, and after this process they watch and check her everyday routine. Differential diagnostic consdieration will be presented, with special attention to neurocognitive involvement, psychodiagnostic challenges and (pharmaco)therapeutic options. As we will se, personality organization and possible characteropathic features serve as important sources of the interpretation of this special symptom. Our aim is to provide a novel contribution to the clincial psychology of the understanding of delusional disorders.

Speaker: Szabolcs Ajtony Bandi (University of Pécs - Medical School - Clinical Center - Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherap)

16:40 Emotion regulation deficiency in subjects with morbid obesity after Pylorus-preserving single-anastomosis duodeno-ileal bypass with sleeve gastrectomy

Keywords: morbid obesity, bariatric surgery, emotion misregulation, MMPI-2 Restructured Clinical Scales, behavioral addiction, recovery

Research findings suggest that individuals with substance use disorder (SUD) often exhibit challenges in regulating their emotions. However, there has been limited investigation into emotion regulation difficulties concerning behavioural addictions, particularly in the context of eating disorders. Chronic overeating leading to severe obesity is classified as an impulse control disorder due to its resemblance to addictive behaviours characterized by loss of control.
For this study, 16 morbidly obese patients (BMI > 40 or > 35 with diabetes or prediabetes) underwent Pylorus-preserving single-anastomosis duodeno-ileal bypass with sleeve gastrectomy (SADI-SG) surgery, and their weight-loss outcomes were analyzed to evaluate the efficacy of the procedure. Following one year of follow-up, MMPI-2 was administered to assess psychological phenomena, particularly focusing on emotion regulation.
The MMPI-2 Restructured Clinical Scales (RC) were utilized, with scales RCd, RC2, and RC7 examining affective functioning and emotional regulation difficulties. Additionally, PSY-5 scales INTR/LPE and NEGE were evaluated for emotional regulation deficiencies. Results indicated strong correlations between RCd, Rc2, and Negative Emotionality/Neuroticism (NEGE) scales with AAS, suggesting low positive emotions and demoralization indicators associated with recognized dependent behavioural patterns. These findings implied emotion misregulation akin to SUD-related patterns despite the absence of substance abuse, which typically would be detected through laboratory panels conducted during follow-up intervals. Expanding the sample size and adopting a multicenter approach could enhance the significance and generalizability of these findings.

Speaker: Dr Ferenc Császár (University of Pécs Doctoral School of Neurosciences)

17:00 Morbid obesity as a result of non-substance-based dependency

Keywords: obesity, bariatric surgery, MMPI-2, addictive behaviour, recovery

Bariatric surgery emerges as a superior approach for managing morbid obesity and associated comorbidities compared to conservative therapy. A cohort of 16 morbidly obese individuals, identified by a BMI exceeding 40 or 35 in the presence of diabetes or prediabetes, underwent Pylorus-preserving single-anastomosis duodeno-ileal bypass with sleeve gastrectomy (SADI-SG). This surgical intervention targets weight loss and metabolic improvement. Also, non-substance-based behavioral addictions remain underexplored. Morbid obesity is postulated to stem from impulse control disorders manifested through chronic overeating. The behavioural
characteristics of overeating align with criteria delineating controlled loss-of-control phenomena akin to addictive behaviours. Assessment of psychological phenomena utilized the MMPI-2 after a one-year follow-up period. Results revealed addictive behavior patterns despite the absence of substance abuse, as confirmed by laboratory panels conducted at intervals of 3-6-9-12 months post-surgery. MMPI-2 data delved into underlying drives behind addiction-driven behaviours, employing scales typically associated with substance-based addictions: Content scales component subscales and Harris Lingoes subscales. Internal validity was examined through the correlation of MAC-R, APS, and AAS scales with other subscales. A notable proportion of subjects exhibited elevated scores on addiction-related
scales despite maintaining sobriety for the 12-month postoperative period.
The study underscores the utility of MAC-R and APS scales as highly specific indicators of non-substance-based behavioural addiction, particularly overeating. The call for larger sample sizes and a multicenter approach underscores the potential significance of these findings in understanding and addressing addictive behaviours in the context of morbid obesity and related interventions.

Speaker: Dr Ferenc Császár (University of Pécs Doctoral School of Neurosciences)

17:20 Dispositions towards ridicule and laughter: Relationships with humiliation, core self-evaluations and resilience

In a study with 449 (67% female) Croatian participants, individual differences in three dispositions toward ridicule and laughter (i.e., gelotophobia, gelotophilia and katagelasticism) were examined in relation to humiliation experiences, fear of humiliation, core self-evaluations and resilience. The aim of the study was to replicate and extend the findings of previous research on these relationships by using the same measure of the three dispositions (i.e., the PhoPhiKat-45 questionnaire; Ruch & Proyer, 2009). Participants also completed the Humiliation Inventory (Hartling, 1996), the Core Self-Evaluations Scale (Judge et al, 2003), and the Brief Resilience Scale (Smith et al., 2008). Bivariate and regression analyses showed that gelotophobia was associated with higher levels of cumulative humiliation and fear of humiliation and with lower levels of resilience and core self-evaluations. Both cumulative humiliation and fear of humiliation made a unique contribution to the prediction of gelotophobia, and the same was found for core self-evaluations and resilience after they were added to the predictor set. The reverse pattern of associations was observed for gelotophilia, but all correlations were reduced to non-significant after controlling for relationships with gelotophobia. No significant correlations were found for katagelasticism. Contributions of these results to the current literature on the three dispositions toward ridicule and laughter will be discussed.

Speaker: Vera Ćubela Adorić (University of Zadar, Department of Psychology)

17:40 Laughing at others: How does katagelasticism relates to dark tetrad traits, attitudes towards gossip and tendency to gossip?

The study presented in this paper examined the enjoyment of laughing at others (i.e., katagelasticism) in relation to the dark tetrad traits (DT), attitudes towards gossip and tendency to gossip. Katagelasticism has been described as including the active search for situations in which one can ridicule and make other people laugh, even at the expense of hurting others. In this study, it was expected to be associated with the DT (especially psychopathy and sadism), positive attitudes towards gossip (i.e., a higher perception of its social value and a lower perception of its moral inappropriateness), and the tendency to gossip. Participants (N = 383; 70% female) completed measures of katagelasticism (PhoPhi-Kat-45; Ruch & Proyer, 2009), DT (SD4; Paulhus et al., 2020), attitudes towards gossip (ATGS; Litman & Pezzo, 2005), and tendency to gossip (TGQ; Nevo et al., 1993). All four DTs correlated positively with katagelasticism and made a unique contribution to explaining its variance. Positive attitudes and tendency to gossip correlated positively with katagelasticism, with perceptions of the gossip social value and the gossip tendency being its independent predictors. When the four DTs were included in the latter predictor set, only perception of the gossip social value remained a significant predictor, along with psychopathy and sadism. The present results replicated previous findings on the associations of katagelasticism with DT and provided further insight into how it relates to perceptions of and propensity to gossip, which (presumably) facilitates the chance of enjoying laughing at others and making other people laugh.

Speaker: Vera Ćubela Adorić (University of Zadar, Department of Psychology)

19:00 → 22:00 Social Event: Dinner at the Lake Restaurant "Kropfitschbad"

https://kropfitschbad.at/restaurant

Friday, 13 September

09:00 → 09:50 Keynote: Keynote 5

Convener: András Láng (University of Pécs)

09:00 Emotions re-loaded: Current Issues in the Study of Emotions from Affective Neuroscience Perspective

Understanding human emotion, its generation, expression or regulation has been a ‘hot-topic’ for millenia, and appears in many disciplines, such as philosophy, art, and literature. Yet, the scientific study from a psychological point of view has a relatively late start. Since emotions are complex phenomena, the psychological approches are divergent, as well, and can focus on social-cultural, cognitive or biological aspects. The neuroscientific approach to emotions has a dramatic growth over the past decades and has led to the birth of affective neuroscience. Affective neuroscience focuses on the neural bases of emotions. It investigates for example the role of emotions in information processing, individual differences in reactivity, and identifies brain networks for emotion generation, maintainance and regulation. During this lecture we will discuss some recent conceptual and methodological issues: What is the contribution of affective neuroscience to psychology? How can we select appropriate affective stimuli? And the ‘control’ stimuli? How many affective super-traits exist? What are the possible future directions? During the talk, we will answer these questions and present behavioral and brain activation results from our lab.

Speaker: Dr Anita Deak (University of Pécs, Hungary)

10:00 → 11:40 Symposium: What can Emotions contribute to Sustainable Behavior?

People can feel fear of climate change, guilt about flying, compassion for victims of natural disasters, and be emotionally moved by climate protests. All these emotions predict pro-environmental behaviour. Thus, emotions seem to play an important role in sustainability. This symposium focuses on these links between emotions and sustainable behaviour. Eva Hofmann, Katja Corcoran and Kathrin Röderer present research that tested the role of emotions and related variables on household energy consumption. Tatjana Kwasny, Sarah Marth, Barbara Hartl and Petra Riefler focus on the effects of cognitive dissonance and negative emotions on meat consumption. In a related vein, Janet Kleber, Johanna Palcu, Martin Schreier, Chris Janiszewski and Anthony Salerno present intervention studies that reduced negative emotions about eating insect-based foods and the willingness to try these foods. These studies show that emotions predict energy and meat consumption. To shed light on the causal effects of emotions, Frank Eckerle presents a review and meta-analysis of the effects of emotion-based interventions on sustainable behaviour. Building on this evidence, Helen Landmann presents a model of affect generalisation that explains why emotions only sometimes directly influence behaviour. Taken together, these contributions advance our understanding of the potential of emotions for sustainable behaviour.

Convener: Helen Landmann (Universität Klagenfurt)

10:00 Positive and negative emotions as drivers of the reduction of consumers’ energy consumption within the SIMPEA

Not only policy makers and industries but also consumers are aware that energy consumption needs to be reduced. We use the Social Identity Model of Pro-Environmental Action (SIMPEA; Fritsche et al., 2018) as framework to find a solution to the problem. The SIMPEA highlights how appraisal of an environmental problem, over collective emotions and social cognitions impacts environmental action. These relations are investigated with data from three questionnaires (three points of time) that were filled in by 193 students and residents living in dormitories and apartment blocks in Graz, Austria. The items focused on the reduction of energy consumption in the private households. The questionnaires assess (i) respondents’ appraisal of the climate crisis, (ii) their in-group’s negative emotions towards the climate crisis (students in dormitories, residents in apartment blocks), (iii) their perceived norms and goals of their in-group (dormitories, apartment blocks) regarding energy conservation, (iv) their perceived collective efficacy of their in-group (dormitories, apartment blocks) regarding the fight of the climate crisis, (v) their ingroup identification (dormitories, apartment blocks), (vi) their in-groups positive emotions towards their ingroup (dormitories, apartment blocks), and (vii) their personal intended environmental action, i.e., the intended reduction of energy consumption. It is revealed that the SIMPEA (with a few modifications) and as such emotions are appropriate to predict environmental action. The results allow for recommendations how to involve societal groups, i.e. groups of students as well as football clubs, in the fight of the climate crisis by highlighting not only cognitive but also emotional aspects.

Speaker: Prof. Eva Hofmann (The University of Distance Learning (FERNFH))

10:20 Reducing Meat Consumption: How Information and Emotion Drive Dietary Change

Reducing meat consumption and transitioning to plant-based diets are recognized as crucial to tackle climate change. Concern for animal welfare can reduce meat consumption by activating cognitive dissonance, which may also arise from environmental concerns associated with meat consumption. Yet, there is a lag in empirical research examining the effect of such interventions on reduced meat consumption. Our research seeks to address this by (i) adding knowledge on environment-related interventions that elicit meat-related cognitive dissonance and (ii) compare the effectiveness of interventions using information and interventions inducing negative emotions in reducing actual meat consumption. In two online experiments consumers first had to choose between a meat-based and a plant-based burger followed by receiving information about the negative environmental effects of meat consumption (informational intervention). The results did not show a significant effect of information about the environmental effects of meat consumption on consumers’ experienced cognitive dissonance. In a next step we plan to test an intervention aiming to activate negative emotions among consumers (emotional intervention). Following their meal choice, consumers receive a series of pictures showing the negative environmental consequences of meat consumption based on recent Austrian examples (e.g., dry lakes). These pictures ought to activate feelings of guilt and/or anxiety and, cognitive dissonance among consumers. To complement these series of studies, in a following laboratory experiment, the effectiveness of emotional interventions on actual meat consumption will be tested.

Speaker: Tatjana Kwasny (University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt)

10:40 Fixing the Bug in Insect Consumption

There is increasing acknowledgement that the environmental impact of the current global food supply system is unsustainable. Entomophagy—the consumption of insects as food—is gaining attention as a viable, sustainable food alternative. Yet, despite shifting positive attitudes towards entomophagy and supportive regulatory guidelines, few Westerners integrate insect-based food into their diet (i.e., there is an attitude-behavior gap) – a major reason being that insect-based food elicits strong negative emotions. Two studies assess strategies for emotion regulation and, consequently, the increased trial and consumption of insect-based food. Study 1 demonstrates that distraction (but not reappraisal) enhances people’s willingness to sample insect-based food. Study 2 shows that humor—an operationalization of the distraction strategy—reduces negative emotional responses to communications about consuming insect-based food. Our findings offer valuable insights into how to facilitate people’s adoption of insect-based food.

Speaker: Janet Kleber (University of Klagenfurt)

11:00 Toward a bigger picture on emotional messages: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of emotional climate change interventions

How we feel about climate change determines our judgments and motivational tendencies on whether and how to react. A range of negative and positive emotions about climate change have been found that correlate positively with various pro-environmental behaviors. Moreover, scholars who are interested in designing effective emotion-based interventions and climate messages are hard at work trying to design interventions that successfully trigger the specific emotion(s) that translate into desired outcome(s). Beyond many successful attempts, recent research has also identified unexpected negative effects and reports an increasing number of non-significant findings (for example of some hope interventions). This, in total, has led to a body of evidence that is vast, heterogeneous, and sometimes difficult to traverse. We argue that it is about time to take stock of the evidence that we have so far regarding the effectiveness of emotional climate change interventions. We are therefore conducting a systematic review of published and unpublished studies within psychology and the behavioral sciences, which we then use as the basis for a meta-analysis. We believe that this project can help researchers to more easily understand the current state of the art and to identify which are the most pressing future research questions. We will present the current progress of the project and invite discussion.

Speaker: Frank Eckerle (University of Klagenfurt)

11:20 When do emotions influence pro-environmental behaviour? A model of affect generalization

Evidence for the causal effects of emotions on pro-environmental behaviour is mixed. Experimentally manipulated emotions can increase pro-environmental behavioural intentions, but these effects are small, depend on individual differences, and diminish with time. The model of affect generalisation may explain this. According to this model, repeated experiences of episodic affect (emotions) can develop into chronic affect (affective attitudes), and this constitutes the process of affect generalisation. Behavioural intentions are more likely to be influenced by these stable affective attitudes (e.g. fear of climate change; anger at inadequate action on climate change) than by brief emotional episodes (e.g. fear or anger elicited by a video clip about global warming). Thus, emotional stimuli may be particularly effective in influencing behavioural intentions when they do not only evoke a short emotional episode, but also change general affective attitudes. Consistently taking into account the difference between emotional episodes and affective attitudes and further investigating the process of affect generalisation may improve interventions for more sustainable behaviour.

Speaker: Helen Landmann (Universität Klagenfurt)

11:40 → 12:00 Coffee Break

12:00 → 13:00 Talk Session 10: Emotion Regulation

Convener: Anita Deak (University of Pécs, Hungary)

12:00 How anxious individuals polyregulate? Insights from an experimental emotion polyregulation study.

A growing body of literature in affective psychology proposes that individuals use several emotion regulation (ER) strategies in a single emotional episode to cope with their arising feelings. Historically, the relationship between ER and negative affective conditions of anxiety has been of considerable theoretical and clinical interest, which connection gets more and more attention in polyregulation studies as well.

In this study, we assessed how anxiety impacts ER using a polyregulation paradigm.

135 healthy individuals filled in the DASS-21 questionnaire followed by an emotion-inducing task consisting of neutral, negative and positive movie clips. During the task, participants were instructed to focus on their emotions and on changes in their subjective experience. After the clips, the participants’ affective states were measured including valence, arousal and controllability, and state PANAS. Moreover, participants were asked to indicate whether they used ER strategies to cope with their emotions from a list of 13 adaptive and maladaptive strategies.

Results showed heightened negative affect and uncontrollability of emotions induced by the negative clips in participants with higher level of anxiety Higher anxiety scorers indicated the use of more ER strategies in a single emotional episode: they applied the same amount of adaptive, but more maladaptive strategies.

Our results are in line with previous monoregulation studies regarding the effect anxious symptoms (e.g. tension and the feeling of uncontrollability) have on emotional processes. Future studies of polyregulation should involve interviews and physiological measures to give a more detailed explanation of the relationship between anxiety and affective functioning.

Speaker: Ms Reka Rendes (University of Pécs, Hungary)

12:20 Investigating the relationship between humor styles and cognitive emotion regulation strategies

Humor is a way of modifying negative emotions and it helps to cope with stress. Different humor styles have shown to be differently correlated with positive or negative mental health effects, depending on the humor style being used. In this research we investigated the relationship between humor styles and cognitive emotion regulation strategies. 95 participants filled in the Hungarian version of the Humor Styles Questionnaire and the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Results show positive correlations between Self enhancement humor style and positive strategies such as Acceptance, Positive refocusing, Refocus on planning, Positive reappraisal and Putting into perspective. Furthermore, we found negative correlations with Self-blaming, and Catastrophizing. Aggressive humor style was positively correlated with Blaming others and negatively correlated with Positive refocusing, and Refocus on planning. Affiliative humor style and Self-defeating humor style did not correlate with any of the CERQ subscales. We conclude that self enhancement in humor promotes positive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and can contribute to perform adaptive responses to challenging situations.

Speaker: Abdallah Talhamy (Cognitive Psychology)

12:40 The Adaptiveness of Thought Suppression

In psychological practice, scientific literature, and general belief, the view that thought suppression is non-adaptive or even harmful prevails. This belief, present at least since Freud's time, was reinforced by early studies demonstrating the paradoxical effects of thought suppression. Currently, there are three main sources of evidence for the ineffectiveness or harmfulness of thought suppression: experimental studies, questionnaire studies, and psychological practice. However, each of these sources also provides data suggesting the potential adaptiveness of thought suppression. Experiments on the ironic consequences of thought suppression exhibit low replicability, unlike concurrent studies conducted within the "think/no-think" paradigm, which consistently demonstrate the effectiveness of suppression. Questionnaire studies revealing associations between thought suppression and the occurrence of psychological problems have significant methodological flaws, such as the failure to distinguish between the tendency to suppress thoughts and the susceptibility to intrusive thoughts. In psychological practice, while methods encouraging patients to confront difficult content are predominant, methods based on distraction, which are similar to thought suppression, are also employed. During the presentation, I will examine the available empirical data from the three aforementioned sources and attempt to demonstrate that they contradict the belief in the ineffectiveness and harmfulness of thought suppression. Thought suppression can be adaptive, and future research should specify the conditions under which its use is beneficial.

Speaker: Aneta Niczyporuk (University of Bialystok)

12:00 → 12:40 Talk Session 11: Well-Being & Development

Convener: Yogesh Kumar Arya (Banaras Hindu University)

12:00 Pet companionship and well-being of transgender individuals in India: A qualitative study

Background: Transgender individuals confront societal dismissal and stigmatization linked to their gender identity, causing adverse effects on their mental health. In such circumstances, the companionship of pets can be a comforting and potentially therapeutic resource, aiding in the healing process from the diverse traumas faced by transgender individuals.
Objective: This study explores the effect of having pet as family member on the well-being of the transgender individuals considering that these individuals may find distinct advantages in the companionship of animals as a response to the adverse impacts of residing in environments influenced by cisgender bias.
Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted on 11 Indian transgender individuals of age range 18 to 30 years having dogs or cats as pet animal. The interview questions were themed around their experiences related to the pet companionship.
Result: The interviews were analyzed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Five major themes emerged on the experiences of transgender people with respect to pet companionship which includes (1) receiving unconditional love and acceptance, (2) living in the moment rather than focusing on stressors, (3) provides a sense of responsibility, (4) commitment to daily routine and (5) facilitated social interaction.
Conclusion: The findings suggest a positive impact of having a pet as companion on the well-being of transgender individuals. Animals being non-judgmental provide a safe space to the transgender people along with imposing the need to ignore the gender minority stressor and adhere to the daily routine which adds to their overall well-being.

Speaker: Prof. Yogesh Kumar Arya (Banaras Hindu University)

12:20 Social Media Usage and Openness to “Sugar Relationships”

Social Media Usage and Openness to “Sugar Relationships”
Jessica S. Ehlers; Norbert Mesko
Institute of Psychology, University of Pécs

Sugar relationships represent a contemporary iteration of transactional relationships characterized by sexual interaction and companionship. Within, an individual possessing resources, commonly referred to as a "sugar daddy" or less frequently as a "sugar mama," offers material compensation, such as monetary remuneration or similar, in exchange for the sexual companionship provided by a typically younger partner, known as a "sugar baby." Social media platforms have increasingly become spaces where individuals engage in various forms of interaction and expression, including sugar relationships. TikTok, with its short-form video format and widespread popularity among younger demographics, has provided a platform for discussing and even normalizing sugaring arrangements. Users can share experiences and perspectives on sugar dating, contributing to the broader conversation about non-traditional relationships and the intersection of intimacy and financial support. We aimed to explore the associations between social media usage and a higher openness to participate in sugar relationships. For this purpose, we decided on a questionnaire-based study with the following questionnaires as pillars of the thesis: (1) Acceptance of Sugar Relationships for Young Women and Men Scale (ASR-YWMS), (2) Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), (3) Aspiration Index (AI), (4) Objectified Body Consciousness Scale (OBSC), (5) Multidimensional Facebook Intensity Scale (MFIS), (6) Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS). The data collection process is ongoing, utilizing an English-language questionnaire package with participants from multiple countries.
Keywords: sugar relationships, social media, TikTok, acceptance of sugar relationships

Speaker: Jessica Siska Ehlers

13:00 → 13:20 Farewell Coffee