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IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: To accommodate reviewer and recommender holiday schedules, we will be closed to ALL submissions from 1st Jul - 1st Sep. During this time, reviewers can submit reviews and recommenders can issue decisions, but no new or revised submissions can be made by authors.
The one exception to this rule is that authors using the scheduled track who submit their initial Stage 1 snapshot prior to 1st Jul can choose a date within the shutdown period to submit their full Stage 1 manuscript.
We recommend that authors submit at least 1-2 weeks prior to commencement of the shutdown period to enable time to make any required revisions prior to in-depth review.
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Latest recommendations
| Id | Title * | Authors * | Abstract * | Picture | Thematic fields * | Recommender | Reviewers▲ | Submission date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Beneath the label: Unsatisfactory compliance with ESRB, PEGI, and IARC industry self-regulation requiring loot box presence warning labels by video game companiesFailure of industry self-regulation in loot box labellingRecommended by Chris Chambers
Paid loot boxes – items bought for real-world money that offer randomised rewards – are a prevalent feature of contemporary video games (Zendle et al., 2020). Because they employ random chance to provide rewards after spending real money, loot boxes have been considered a form of gambling, raising concerns about risk of harm to children and other vulnerable users. In response, some countries have taken legal steps to regulate and even ban the use of loot boxes, with only limited success so far (Xiao, 2022). At the same time, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) and PEGI (Pan-European Game Information) now expect games that contain loot boxes to be marked with warning labels that, in theory, will enable users (including parents) to make more informed decisions. These requirements by ESRB/PEGI are not legally binding and may be considered a form of industry self-regulation.
In the current study, Xiao (2023) investigated the effectiveness of self-regulation in the use of loot box labels. Study 1 examined the consistency of warning labels by the ESRB and PEGI, with the expectation that if self-regulation works as it should then these labels should always (or nearly always) co-occur. Study 2 established the compliance rate for labelling among popular games that are known to contain loot boxes, with a rate of ≥95% considered to be successful.
The results of both studies reveal deficiences in industry self-regulation. The consistency rate of warning labels by the ESRB and PEGI was just 39.4% in preregistered analyses, rising to 83.9% in an unregistered exploratory analysis that took into account industry responses to the findings. Even at this upper bound, this rate is lower than expected by complete (or near-complete) consistency. The results of Study 2 indicate that only 29% of games on the Google Play Store known to contain loot boxes were accurately labelled, indicating that 71% were non-compliant with industry requirements.
Following careful evaluation, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 2 criteria and awarded a positive recommendation.
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/e6qbm Level of bias control achieved: Level 3. At least some data/evidence that was used to the answer the research question had been previously accessed by the authors (e.g. downloaded or otherwise received), but the authors certifed that they had not yet observed ANY part of the data/evidence prior to in-principle-acceptance.
List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:
References
1. Zendle, D., Meyer, R., Cairns, P., Waters, S., & Ballou, N. (2020). The prevalence of loot boxes in mobile and desktop games. Addiction, 115(9), 1768-1772. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.14973
2. Xiao, L. Y. (2022). Breaking Ban: Belgium’s ineffective gambling law regulation of video game loot boxes. Stage 2 Registered Report, acceptance of Version 2 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/hnd7w 3. Xiao, L. Y. (2023). Beneath the label: Unsatisfactory compliance with ESRB, PEGI, and IARC industry self-regulation requiring loot box presence warning labels by video game companies, acceptance of Version 2 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/asbcg
| Beneath the label: Unsatisfactory compliance with ESRB, PEGI, and IARC industry self-regulation requiring loot box presence warning labels by video game companies | Leon Y. Xiao | <p>Loot boxes in video games are a form of in-game transactions with randomised elements. Concerns have been raised about loot boxes’ similarities with gambling and their potential harms (e.g., overspending). Recognising players’ and parents’ conc... | Humanities, Social sciences | Chris Chambers | Jim Sauer, Pete Etchells | 2023-02-12 16:17:34 | ||
20 Jun 2022
STAGE 1
Revisiting stigma attributions and reactions to stigma: Replication and extensions of Weiner et al. (1988)Understanding the psychology of stigmasRecommended by Chris Chambers based on reviews by Charlotte Pennington and Joanne Rathbone
Stigmas are prejudices or discrimination against people based on qualities that vary from the norm, such as a physical or mental illness, disability, sexuality, race, or one of many other personal characteristics. The harm caused by stigmatisation has made understanding the causes and potential solutions a vital area of study in psychology and public health. One of the major focuses of ongoing research is understanding the factors that determine whether a particular characteristic becomes stigmatised, and if so how the stigma might be eliminated. Previous research has found that for disease-based stigmas, the contagiousness, course, and disruptiveness of a disease can be influential. Another key determinant is the perceived cause of the stigmatised condition or characteristic. In a landmark study, Weiner et al. (1988) reported that attributes based on physical health were more likely to be perceived as being uncontrollable, stable and irreversible, prompting feelings of sympathy without anger or judgment. On the other hand, attributes related to mental health and behaviour were more likely to be regarded as controllable and reversible, prompting lack of sympathy coupled with feelings of anger and negative judgement. In a second experiment, they also found that manipulating the perception of controllability can modify emotional responses and judgments – for some stigmas (but not others), providing participants with information that a particular characteristic was controllable vs. uncontrollable was found to increase or decrease negative attributions, respectively.
In the current study, Yeung and Feldman (2022) propose to replicate Experiment 2 from Weiner et al. (1988) in a large online sample. In particular, they plan to ask how the source of a stigma is related to perceived controllability and stability, emotional reactions, and willingness to help. They also propose a range of extensions, including the inclusion of additional stigmas that have become relevant since the original study was published over 30 years ago.
The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated over two rounds of in-depth review. Based on detailed responses to the reviewers' comments, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 1 criteria and therefore awarded in-principle acceptance (IPA).
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/k957f Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that will be used to answer the research question yet exists and no part will be generated until after IPA.
List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:
References
1. Weiner, B., Perry, R. P., & Magnusson, J. (1988). An attributional analysis of reactions to stigmas. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 738–748. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.55.5.738
2. Yeung, K. Y. & Feldman, G. (2022). Revisiting stigma attributions and reactions to stigma: Replication and extensions of Weiner et al. (1988), in principle acceptance of Version 2 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/k957f
| Revisiting stigma attributions and reactions to stigma: Replication and extensions of Weiner et al. (1988) | Kwan Yin (Gladys) Yeung, Gilad Feldman | <p>This is a scheduled PCI-RR snap shot for a planned project: "Revisiting stigma attributions and reactions to stigma: Replication and extensions of Weiner et al. (1988) "</p> | Social sciences | Chris Chambers | Joanne Rathbone | 2022-02-15 10:55:13 | ||
21 Feb 2022
STAGE 1
Recommended by Benoit Pujol based on reviews by Jean-François Gerard, Rachel Harrison and 1 anonymous reviewer
This submission has been withdrawn (see notice below)Sex-biased dispersal is widely acknowledged to influence range expansion and the geographic limits of species (Trochet et al. 2016). Evidence is accruing that suggests an impact of the learning ability of species on their capacity to colonise new habitats because the ability to learn provides an advantage when confronted to novel challenges (Lee and Thornton 2021). Whether these two mechanisms interact to shape range expansion remains however unknown. One could expect this interaction because both dispersal and the ability to learn are linked to related behaviours (e.g., exploration, Lee and Thornton 2021). In their study entitled “Investigating sex differences in learning in a range-expanding bird”, Alexis J. Breen and Dominik Deffner (Breen and Deffner 2022) propose to test this hypothesis in range-expanding great-tailed grackles (Quiscalus mexicanus) by exploring the individual variation of several behavioural traits (e.g., exploration, neophobia, problem solving, Logan 2016) linked to their learning ability. They will use a colour-reward reinforcement experimental approach to compare the learning performance between male and female great-tailed grackles in three study sites and evaluate whether sex-biased learning ability interacts with sex-biased dispersal. Data will be analysed by a Bayesian reinforcement learning model (Deffner et al. 2020), which was validated. This Stage 1 registered report was evaluated over one round of in-depth review by Jean-François Gerard, Rachel Harrison and one anonymous reviewer, and another round of review by Jean-François Gerard and Rachel Harrison. Based on detailed responses to the comments and the modifications brought to the manuscript by the authors, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 1 criteria and therefore awarded in-principle acceptance (IPA). Withdrawal notice: The Stage 2 manuscript associated with this accepted Stage 1 protocol was submitted to PCI RR on 22 July 2022. On 25 July 2022, the Managing Board offered the opportunity for the authors to revise the manuscript prior to in-depth review. On 7 Sep 2022, the authors withdrew the Stage 2 manuscript from consideration due to time constraints.URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/v3wxb
Level of bias control achieved: Level 2. At least some data/evidence that will be used to answer the research question has been accessed and partially observed by the authors, but the authors certify that they have not yet observed the key variables within the data that will be used to answer the research question AND they have taken additional steps to maximise bias control and rigour.
List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:
References Trochet, A., Courtois, E. A., Stevens, V. M., Baguette, M., Chaine, A., Schmeller, D. S., Clobert, J., & Wiens, J. J. (2016). Evolution of sex-biased dispersal. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 91(3), 297–320. https://doi.org/10.1086/688097 Lee, V. E., & Thornton, A. (2021). Animal cognition in an urbanised world. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 9, 120. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.633947 Logan, C. J. (2016b). Behavioral flexibility in an invasive bird is independent of other behaviors. PeerJ, 4, e2215. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2215 Deffner, D., Kleinow, V., & McElreath, R. (2020). Dynamic social learning in temporally and spatially variable environments. Royal Society Open Science, 7(12), 200734. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.200734 Breen, A. J. & Deffner D. (2022). Investigating sex differences in learning in a range-expanding bird., https://github.com/alexisbreen/Sex-differences-in-grackles-learning, in principle acceptance of version 2 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/v3wxb | [WITHDRAWN]: Investigating sex differences in learning in a range-expanding bird | Alexis J. Breen & Dominik Deffner | <p style="text-align: justify;">How might differences in dispersal and learning interact in range expansion dynamics? To begin to answer this question, in this preregistration we detail the background, hypothesis plus associated predictions, and m... | | Life Sciences | Benoit Pujol | Kate Cross, Rachel Harrison, Jean-François Gerard | 2021-11-10 13:12:04 | |
16 Oct 2024
STAGE 1
How perceptual ability shapes memory: An investigation in healthy special populationsPutting the enhanced processing account of perception and memory to the testRecommended by Reshanne Reeder based on reviews by Ariel Kershner and Katherine Moore
The enhanced processing account suggests that domain-specific expertise enhances the processing of information in that domain, such as enhanced color perception in visual artists and grapheme-color synaesthetes. A previous study (Ovalle-Fresa et al., 2021) found support for this account in both synaesthetes and non-synaesthete color experts; however, to fully understand the domain specificity of enhanced processing, other domains of expertise should be investigated and compared against each other in a double dissociation.
In this Stage 1 manuscript, Sachdeva et al. (2024) will investigate whether an enhanced processing account can explain domain-specific expertise in groups of color experts (i.e., visual artists) / grapheme-color synaesthetes and spatial experts (i.e., architects) / sequence-space synaesthetes. The spatial domain was chosen to compare to color since color and spatial processing recruit two distinctive cortical visual pathways: the ventral and dorsal streams, respectively. If enhanced processing is domain specific, then color experts / grapheme-color synaesthetes should show selective perceptual and memory performance enhancements for color tasks but not spatial tasks; and vice versa for spatial experts and sequence-space synaesthetes. The authors of this planned study further propose that perceptual performance should predict memory performance in the domain of expertise only; and that synaesthetes and non-synaesthetes with the same domain of expertise should perform similarly to each other.
To address these hypotheses, four independent groups will be recruited: grapheme-color synaesthetes, visual artists, sequence-space synaesthetes, and architects. Individuals with overlapping expertise and synaesthesia (e.g., visual artists who also have grapheme-color synaesthesia) will be excluded. Perception, short-term memory, and long-term memory for color (3 tasks) and space (3 tasks) will be assessed in all groups, and the authors will compare groups (synaesthetes, non-synaesthetes), domains of expertise (color, space), and task feature (color, space) in 2x2x2 linear mixed models. For all models, the authors predict that a significant interaction between domain of expertise and task feature will provide evidence for the domain specificity of the enhanced processing account. Additional analyses concerning working memory load (one, three, or five items) in the short-term memory tasks, and testing day (one, two, or three days post-training) in the long-term memory tasks, will be conducted to more deeply explore potential performance enhancements related to domain-specific expertise. Although these analyses may potentially provide additional evidence in favor of the hypothesized direction of effects, any deviation from predicted may pose a challenge for the interpretation of results. Nevertheless, this planned study is methodologically rigorous, and comprehensive in its aims.
The Stage 1 submission was evaluated by the recommender and two expert reviewers. Following revisions, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 1 criteria and awarded in-principle acceptance (IPA).
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/6wn4m
Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that will be used to answer the research question yet exists and no part will be generated until after IPA. List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:
References
1. Ovalle-Fresa, R., Ankner, S., & Rothen, N. (2021). Enhanced perception and memory: Insights from synesthesia and expertise. Cortex, 140, 14-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2021.01.024
2. Sachdeva, D. & Whelan, E., Ovalle-Fresa, R., Rey-Mermet, A., Ward, J., & Rothen, N.. (2024). How perceptual ability shapes memory: An investigation in healthy special populations. In principle acceptance of Version 2 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/6wn4m | How perceptual ability shapes memory: An investigation in healthy special populations | Chhavi Sachdeva, Emily Whelan, Rebecca Ovalle-Fresa, Alodie Rey-Mermet, Jamie Ward, Nicolas Rothen | <p>The enhanced processing account posits a close connection between visual perceptual ability and memory. This account finds support in studies involving special populations with conditions based on neural changes in the ventral visual pathway, s... | Life Sciences | Reshanne Reeder | Katherine Moore, Ariel Kershner | 2024-05-03 14:15:43 | ||
30 Sep 2024
STAGE 1
Examining the role of action interpretation in changes in choice induced by go/no-go and approach/avoidance responsesDoes interpretation of actions as either avoid or inhibit influence choice behaviour for candy?Recommended by Andrew Jones based on reviews by Alexander MacLellan and Katrijn HoubenExperimental research demonstrates that executing or inhibiting motor responses (or approaching / avoiding) towards a stimulus can alter the valuation of the stimulus (Yang et al., 2022). There are competing theories as to the proposed mechanisms of value change, such as increased response conflict or prediction errors (Houben & Aulbach, 2023). However, research has mostly examined response execution/inhibition and approach/avoidance in isolation and the few studies that have examined these together have focused on stimulus evaluation as an outcome.
In the present study, Chen et al. (2024) will use a novel version of a combined go/no-go / approach avoidance paradigm to test the effects on choice of consumable candy. In this task, participants are randomly assigned to make a response framed as a go / no-go action or an approach / avoidance action to control a shopping cart (Chen & Van Dessel, 2024). Following this they will complete a food choice task in which participants make a series of binary choices for different candies. Their performance on this task will lead to the receipt of real-world candy. The authors aim to test whether the same responses will lead to different effects on food choice, depending on how the response was interpreted (e.g. participants in the approach/avoidance instruction group will select Approach items more often than those in the go/no-go instruction group). The study is well powered to detect the proposed effect size of interest, and data will be analysed using Bayesian mixed-effect models. This study will shed light onto theoretical predictions of action interpretation on stimulus value and choice, which may improve the efficacy of behaviour change tools such as approach bias training in future. The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated over two rounds of in-depth review. Based on detailed responses to the recommender and reviewers' comments, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 1 criteria and therefore awarded in-principle acceptance (IPA).
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/bn5xa
Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that will be used to answer the research question yet exists and no part will be generated until after IPA.
List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:
References
1. Chen, Z. and Van Dessel, P. (2024). Action interpretation determines the effects of go/no-go and approach/avoidance actions on stimulus evaluation. Open Mind, 8, 898-923. https://doi.org/10.1162/opmi_a_00151 2. Chen, Z., Van Dessel, P., and Figner, B. (2024). Examining the role of action interpretation in changes in choice induced by go/no-go and approach/avoidance responses. In principle acceptance of Version 2 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/bn5xa
3. Houben, K. and Aulbach, M. (2023). Is there a difference between stopping and avoiding? A review of the mechanisms underlying Go/No-Go and Approach-Avoidance training for food choice. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 49, 101245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2022.101245 4. Yang, Y., Qi, L., Morys, F., Wu, Q. and Chen, H. (2022). Food-Specific Inhibition Training for Food Devaluation: A Meta-Analysis. Nutrients, 14, 1363. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14071363 | Examining the role of action interpretation in changes in choice induced by go/no-go and approach/avoidance responses | Zhang Chen, Pieter Van Dessel, Bernd Figner | <p>Executing go/no-go (GNG) and approach/avoidance (AAT) responses toward objects can increase people’s choices for go over no-go items, and for approach over avoidance items. Some theoretical accounts explain these effects as the results of merel... | Social sciences | Andrew Jones | Katrijn Houben, Alexander MacLellan | 2024-06-17 17:57:07 | ||
28 Dec 2021
STAGE 1
Sight vs. sound in the judgment of music performance: Cross-cultural evidence from classical piano and Tsugaru shamisen competitionsUnderstanding the role of visual and auditory information in evaluating musical performanceRecommended by Yuki Yamada based on reviews by David Hughes and Kyoshiro Sasaki
In this Stage 1 Registered Report, Chiba and colleagues (2021) aim to investigate how people use information from visual and auditory modalities when evaluating musical performances. Previous studies, mainly using Western music, have reported a visual dominance, but this has not yet been clearly and consistently reported. Thus, the authors propose to evaluate both the reproducibility and generalizability of the previous findings by conducting a replication study using the methodology of the previous studies and by introducing a new experimental condition in which the Tsugaru-shamisen, a unique Japanese musical instrument, is also performed. This study could represent an important turning point in the research context of performance evaluation and would be of considerable value. This manuscript was peer-reviewed by two experts in scientific methodology and Japanese traditional music, respectively, and during the two-round peer-review process they made a number of important points, but eventually awarded the manuscript a highly positive response. I am therefore pleased to recommend that this Stage 1 Registered Report meets our Stage 1 criteria and is worthy of in-principle acceptance. I look forward to seeing the results and discussion reported in Stage 2, with the expectation that the experiment conducted by the authors will be in strict accordance with this protocol. *The following is a very minor comment, which I hope the authors will find helpful in the future. Of course, this is not related to hypothesis construction and does not require revision: The "Blind Audition" study cited in the introduction is very impactful, but has recently been called into question, so I am at least a little cautious when citing this study. This article may be useful. https://www.wsj.com/articles/blind-spots-in-the-blind-audition-study-11571599303 URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/ry2b6 Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that will be used to answer the research question yet exists and no part will be generated until after IPA. List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals: References
| Sight vs. sound in the judgment of music performance: Cross-cultural evidence from classical piano and Tsugaru shamisen competitions | Gakuto Chiba, Yuto Ozaki, Shinya Fujii, Patrick E. Savage | <p style="text-align: justify;">Which information dominates in evaluating performance in music? Both experts and laypeople consistently report believing that sound should be the most important domain when judging music competitions, but experime... | | Social sciences | Yuki Yamada | Kyoshiro Sasaki | 2021-09-24 08:59:26 | |
09 Jun 2022
STAGE 1
Revisiting diversification bias and partition dependence: Replication and extensions of Fox, Ratner, and Lieb (2005) Studies 1, 2, and 5Testing the replicability of diversification bias and partition dependenceRecommended by Chris Chambers based on reviews by Craig Fox and Leo Cohen
When offered a range of options and asked to make multiple selections, how do people choose? Over the last 30 years, a key finding to emerge from behavioural economics is that people distribute their choices more evenly than would be considered optimal – a phenomenon termed “diversification bias” or the “diversification heuristic” (Read & Loewenstein, 1995). For example, when filling a plate from a buffet, you might be inclined to choose a relatively even amount of everything on offer, even when you prefer some foods over others. Similarly, when allocating savings among different investment options, people are prone to spreading their money more evenly than would maximise utility.
In an influential study, Fox et al. (2005) found that diversification bias can be shaped by so-called “partition dependence” – the tendency to allocate resources differently across options depending on how they are subjectively grouped. Such groupings could be arbitrary; so, for example, to return to the buffet example, people might diversify across high-level categories such as cooked and uncooked, savoury and sweet, or surf and turf, and then diversify across the options within those categories. The nature of level of these subjective (and potentially arbitrary) categorisations can strongly influence the final allocation of resources. Diversification bias and partition dependence have important implications for basic theory in judgment and decision-making as well as applications in behavioral economics and finance.
In the current study, Li and Feldman (2022) propose to replicate Studies 1, 2 and 5 from Fox et al. (2002) in a large online sample. In particular, they plan to ask how partitioning influences the allocation of choices between options, and the extent to which partition dependence is reduced in people with greater relevant expertise. The authors also propose extending the original study to explore individual differences in the desire for choice diversity as predictors of partition dependence.
The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated over one round of in-depth review. Based on detailed responses to the reviewers' comments, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 1 criteria and therefore awarded in-principle acceptance (IPA).
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/bx8vq Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that will be used to answer the research question yet exists and no part will be generated until after IPA.
List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals: References 1. Read, D., & Loewenstein, G. (1995). Diversification bias: Explaining the discrepancy in variety seeking between combined and separated choices. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 1, 34-49. https://doi.org/10.1037/1076-898X.1.1.34
2. Fox, C. R., Ratner, R. K., & Lieb, D. S. (2005). How subjective grouping of options influences choice and allocation: Diversification bias and the phenomenon of partition dependence. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 134, 538-551. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.134.4.538
3. Li, M. Y. & Feldman, G. (2022). Revisiting diversification bias and partition dependence: Replication and extension of Fox, Ratner, and Lieb (2005) Studies 1, 2, and 5, in principle acceptance of Version 2 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/bx8vq | Revisiting diversification bias and partition dependence: Replication and extensions of Fox, Ratner, and Lieb (2005) Studies 1, 2, and 5 | Mei Yee (Alice) Li, Gilad Feldman | <p>This is a scheduled PCI-RR snap shot for a planned project: "Revisiting diversification bias and partition dependence: Replication and extensions of Fox, Ratner, and Lieb (2005) Studies 1, 2, and 5 "</p> | Social sciences | Chris Chambers | Leo Cohen, Craig Fox | 2022-02-15 09:57:51 | ||
08 Nov 2024
STAGE 1
Relationship between perceived risk and compliance to infection control measures during the first year of a pandemicThe relationship between risk and compliance during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic in NorwayRecommended by Adrien Fillon based on reviews by Erik Løhre, Gaëlle Marinthe, Lewend Mayiwar and 1 anonymous reviewer
What relationship can be expected between the perception of risk and compliance with protective measures? The authors of the current study measured the perceived risk of COVID-19 and compliance with infection control in Norway during the first year of the pandemic. While the authors state that the perceived risk has a positive association with compliance, they also hypothesize that both measures at Tn will predict the other at Tn+1, indicating a dynamic and bi-directional relationship. Finding support (or not) for this hypothesis can be crucial for developing interventions that will encourage compliance with infection control measures. The analysis will be quantitative.
The authors already collected the data, and the risk of bias due to the accessibility of data was discussed extensively during the peer-reviewing process. In summary, the authors will set up an alpha at 0.01, perform a multiverse analysis and present all the results associated. They will analyse the model with various ways of handling outliers, and the analysis will be made by a colleague who did not have access to the data. The authors already provided a script to produce the multiverse analysis. The recommender and reviewers agreed that these procedures are sufficient to control for the level of bias due to the accessibility of data.
The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated over three rounds of in-depth review. Based on detailed responses to reviewers’ and the recommender’s comments, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 1 criteria and therefore awarded in-principle acceptance. URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/epdn8
Level of bias control achieved: Level 1. At least some of the data/evidence that will be used to the answer the research question has been accessed and observed by the authors, the data analyst excepted, including key variables, but the authors certify that they have not yet performed ANY of their preregistered analyses, and in addition they have taken stringent steps to reduce the risk of bias.
List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals: References Bjørkheim, S., Hystad, S., & Sætrevik, B. (2024). Relationship between perceived risk and compliance to infection control measures during the first year of a pandemic. In principle acceptance of Version 3 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/epdn8
| Relationship between perceived risk and compliance to infection control measures during the first year of a pandemic | Sebastian Bjørkheim, Sigurd Hystad, Bjørn Sætrevik | <p>The way people perceive health risks is often assumed to influence how they adopt precautionary measures. However, people’s assessment of a given phenomenon’s risk may vary over time, and the relationship between perceived risk and compliance w... | Social sciences | Adrien Fillon | Lewend Mayiwar | 2023-10-25 10:16:57 | ||
29 Jan 2025
STAGE 1
Does synchronised singing enhance social bonding more than speaking does? A global experimental Stage 1 Registered ReportDo humans bond more when singing together or speaking together? A global investigationRecommended by Katherine Moore based on reviews by Melissa Brandon, Erin Hannon, Manuela Maria Marin and Anja Göritz
Music is a universal across human cultures, but there is debate as to why and how it evolved. For example, Pinker has famously argued that music is “auditory cheesecake,” with no biological value (Pinker, 1997). Most scholars on the evolution of music make comparisons with language, another human universal that is unique to our species (Friederici, 2017). A current leading hypothesis in the evolution of music is the social bonding hypothesis, which suggests that music plays a special role in social bonding beyond the role that language plays (Savage et al., 2021).
Previous studies have provided evidence that synchronized music-making can promote social bonding (e.g. Stupacher et al., 2021). However, it is unclear whether synchronous singing provides any advantage in social bonding as compared to merely speaking. Previous work on this topic has at times lacked sufficient controls and has potentially been subject to publication bias—it could be that only the studies with statistically significant findings are in the published literature, when in fact additional experiments may have been run with unpublished null results. Also critically, prior studies have been subject to sampling bias—the vast majority are limited to a small set of cultures and musical styles, focusing primarily on English-speaking cultures and western music (Henrich & Heine, 2010). If music has evolved as a mechanism for social bonding, then it is especially critical to demonstrate its effects on social bonding across a wide range of cultures.
In a remarkable global collaboration including 88 collaborators from six continents, Savage et al. (2025) plan to collect data on synchronized singing and speech from 1710 participants across 57 research sites. Participants will be assigned to participate in (1) a synchronized singing activity, (2) a synchronized speech activity, or (3) a natural, prompted conversation.
At each research site, participants will gather in groups of 5-10 and will be randomly assigned to one of the three conditions (for the research site to be valid, it must recruit one group of participants into each condition). The experiment will start with pre-test measures of social bonding and other variables. Next, the intervention will commence. In the singing condition, participants will synchronously sing a song that is highly familiar in that culture. In the lyrics recitation condition, participants will synchronously speak printed lyrics to the songs from the singing condition (twice through, to account for speed differences in song and speech). In the conversation condition, participants will have a natural conversation in response to an ice-breaker question. Finally, each group will engage in post-test measures of social bonding as well as debriefing.
The social bonding hypothesis predicts that participants in the synchronized singing task will experience more social bonding (as measured by a pre- and post-test differences) than will participants who engage in sequential conversation or synchronous lyrics recitation in the absence of musical pitch or rhythm. The unprecedented scale of this global, cross-cultural investigation will make a great impact on the field and on our understanding of the relationship among speech, song, and social connection, regardless of the outcome.
Four expert reviewers provided valuable feedback through two rounds of review. Based on detailed responses to the reviewers’ and the recommender’s comments, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 1 criteria and therefore awarded in-principle acceptance.
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/7t4ck
Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that will be used to answer the research question yet exists, and no part will be generated until after IPA.
List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:
References
1. Friederici, A. (2017). Language in Our Brain: The Origins of a Uniquely Human Capacity. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262036924.001.0001
2. Henrich, J., Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2010). The weirdest people in the world? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33, 61-83. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x0999152x
3. Pinker, S. (1997). How the mind works. WW Norton & Company.
4. Savage, P. E., Loui, P., Tarr, B., Schachner, A., Glowacki, L., Mithen, S., & Fitch, W. T. (2021). Music as a coevolved system for social bonding. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 44, e59. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X20000333
5. Savage, P. E. et al. (2025). Does synchronised singing enhance social bonding more than speaking does? A global experimental Stage 1 Registered Report. In principle acceptance of Version 7 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/7t4ck
6. Stupacher, J., Mikkelsen, J., & Vuust, P. (2022). Higher empathy is associated with stronger social bonding when moving together with music. Psychology of Music, 50, 1511-1526. https://doi.org/10.1177/03057356211050681
| Does synchronised singing enhance social bonding more than speaking does? A global experimental Stage 1 Registered Report | Patrick E. Savage, Adwoa Ampiah-Bonney, Aleksandar Arabadjiev, Adwoa Arhine, Juan F. Ariza, Joshua Silberstein Bamford, Brenda Suyanne Barbosa, Ann-Kathrin Beck, Michel Belyk, Emmanouil Benetos, Damián Ezequiel Blasi, Joseph Bulbulia, Anne Cabildo... | <p>The evolution of music, speech, and sociality have been debated since before Darwin. The social bonding hypothesis proposes that these phenomena may be interlinked: musicality may have facilitated the evolution of social bonding beyond the poss... | | Social sciences | Katherine Moore | Manuela Maria Marin, Erin Hannon, Melissa Brandon, Anja Göritz | 2024-09-02 06:01:32 | |
Unveiling the Positivity Bias on Social Media: A Registered Experimental Study On Facebook, Instagram, And XSocial media positivity bias, or just positivity bias?Recommended by Veli-Matti Karhulahti based on reviews by Marcel Martončik, Julius Klingelhoefer and 1 anonymous reviewer
Both research and public debates around social media use tend to involve a premise of positivity bias, which refers to presenting one’s life in an overly positive light by various different means. This premise contributes to multiple potentially important follow-up hypotheses, such as the fear of missing out and low self-image effects, due to repeated consumption of positive social media content (e.g., Bayer et al. 2020, for a review). The positivity bias of social media use, itself, has received limited research attention.
In the present study, Masciantonio and colleagues (2025) tested positivity bias in the context of three social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, and X. The experiment involved recruiting participants (n=312) into platform-specific user groups and crafting posts to be shared with friends as well as respective social media audiences. For social media positivity bias to differ from everyday positivity bias, posts in the former should introduce more positive valence in comparison to offline sharing—and if the platforms differ in their encouragement of positivity bias, they should introduce significant between-platform differences in valence. Based on how the participants reported events, the study found no significant differences between everyday and social media positivity bias, but messages posted on Twitter/X had a more negative valence than posts in other social media platforms. The results would be consistent with the implication that people's positive actions in social media simply follow the natural human tendency to present oneself positively to others—a hypothesis that should be investigated in follow-up work. More research attention should also be given to specific design features, which may contribute to platform-specific differences in user habits, as suggested by the distinct valence rate found in relation to Twitter/X. The Stage 2 manuscript was evaluated by three experts (areas: experimental methods, social media, statistics) via in-depth peer review across two rounds, with one reviewer returning to validate analysis code and methdological accuracy on a final round. Based on the authors’ careful responses and revisions, the revised manuscript was judged to meet the Stage 2 criteria and was awarded a positive recommendation.
URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/9z6hm Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that was used to answer the research question was generated until after IPA. List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:
References
1. Bayer, J. B., Triệu, P., & Ellison, N. B. (2020). Social media elements, ecologies, and effects. Annual review of psychology, 71, 471-497. https:// doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010419-050944 2. Masciantonio, A., Heiser, N., & Cherbonnier, A. (2025). Unveiling the Positivity Bias on Social Media: A Registered Experimental Study On Facebook, Instagram, And X [Stage 2]. Acceptance of Version 2 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/s93yu
| Unveiling the Positivity Bias on Social Media: A Registered Experimental Study On Facebook, Instagram, And X | Alexandra Masciantonio, Neele Heiser, Anthony Cherbonnier | <p>Social media has transformed how people engage with the world around them. The positivity bias on social media, in particular, warrants in-depth investigation. This is particularly true as previous research has concentrated on one specific plat... | Social sciences | Veli-Matti Karhulahti | Marcel Martončik | 2024-09-23 11:20:07 |
