Volume 6 Issue 12, December 2022

When sharing research data for verification and reuse, behavioural researchers should protect participants’ privacy, particularly when studying sensitive topics. Because personally identifying data remain present in many open psychology datasets, we urge researchers to mend privacy via checks of re-identification risk before sharing data. We offer guidance for sharing responsibly.

US universities have made public commitments to recruit and retain faculty of colour. Analysis of three federal datasets shows that at current rates diversity in US faculty will never reach racial parity. Yet, colleges and universities could achieve parity by 2050 by diversifying their faculty at 3.5 times the current pace.

When the term ‘vaccine hesitancy’ first appeared, it was deemed ambiguous and difficult to measure. A systematic review of published articles on vaccine hesitancy suggests it should be defined as a state of indecisiveness regarding a vaccination decision, independently of behaviour, and that it needs new modes of analysis and measurement.

University faculty members train future researchers and produce new knowledge. We show that US faculty members have a parent with a PhD roughly 25 times more often than the general population, with nearly double that rate at prestigious universities. The overrepresentation of socioeconomic privilege is likely to shape scholarship and diversity efforts.

Life expectancies diverged in 2021, approaching pre-pandemic levels in Western Europe and further worsening in Eastern Europe, USA and Chile. Life expectancy deficits in 2021 are almost solely explained by premature deaths due to COVID-19. Correspondingly, countries with a higher share of vaccinated individuals suffered the least life expectancy deficit.

Proof-of-vaccination mandates for non-essential venues and activities were rapidly followed by >60% increases in weekly first-dose COVID-19 vaccinations in Canada, France, Italy and Germany, leading to cumulative gains in vaccination rates.

Studying socioeconomic backgrounds and intergenerational transmission in the US academia, Morgan et al. find that faculty have a parent with a Ph.D. degree a striking 25 times more often than the general population.

This systematic review of 422 studies of vaccine hesitancy finds that the term is used inconsistently. Vaccine hesitancy should be defined as a psychological state of indecisiveness that people may experience when making a vaccination decision.

In 2021, life expectancies returned to pre-pandemic levels in parts of western Europe but further worsened in eastern Europe, the United States and Chile. Life expectancy deficits were negatively correlated with vaccine uptake in later 2021.

This study uses data on social-distancing compliance from 19 year olds and their parents during two UK-wide lockdowns and finds evidence to suggest that mothers influence their child’s compliance with social-distancing guidelines.

In an experiment with partisan Americans, the researchers found that social tipping was a potent but unreliable route to cultural change. Even a trivial activation of polarized identities undercut the socially beneficial tipping that otherwise occurred.

Schunk et al. report the results of a randomized controlled field study that integrates a short self-regulation teaching unit based on the concept of mental contrasting with implementation intentions into the school curriculum of first graders. The findings suggest positive effects of the treatment on impulse control and self-regulation as well as lasting improvements in academic skills.

Drevet et al. show that when monitoring the source of noisy stimuli, humans avoid unwarranted changes-of-mind by ignoring the least reliable stimuli.

Klein-Flügge et al. examine connectivity of fine-grained amygdala nuclei and show that this can predict mental health dimensions, going beyond earlier studies that used relatively broad behavioural phenotypes and brain networks.

Seersholm et al. analysed permafrozen middens from Inuit and Viking settlements to uncover evidence of diet in prehistoric Greenland. Using ancient DNA, they identified 42 different species and found that whales were surprisingly common.

In this Stage 2 Registered Report, Coles et al. present the results of a multicentre global adversarial collaboration on the facial feedback hypothesis.