Chimpanzee and Human Risk Preferences Show Key Similarities—In the world of chimpanzees, too, young males take the greatest risks, to get a better position in the hierarchy

Chimpanzee and Human Risk Preferences Show Key Similarities. Lou M. Haux et al. Psychological Science, January 3, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976221140326

Abstract: Risk preference impacts how people make key life decisions related to health, wealth, and well-being. Systematic variations in risk-taking behavior can be the result of differences in fitness expectations, as predicted by life-history theory. Yet the evolutionary roots of human risk-taking behavior remain poorly understood. Here, we studied risk preferences of chimpanzees (86 Pan troglodytes; 47 females; age = 2–40 years) using a multimethod approach that combined observer ratings with behavioral choice experiments. We found that chimpanzees’ willingness to take risks shared structural similarities with that of humans. First, chimpanzees’ risk preference manifested as a traitlike preference that was consistent across domains and measurements. Second, chimpanzees were ambiguity averse. Third, males were more risk prone than females. Fourth, the appetite for risk showed an inverted-U-shaped relation to age and peaked in young adulthood. Our findings suggest that key dimensions of risk preference appear to emerge independently of the influence of human cultural evolution.

Discussion

Risk preference is central to human and nonhuman behavior. The current results demonstrate that chimpanzee and human risk preference share key structural similarities and converge in crucial ways. Consistent with recent findings in humans (Frey et al., 2017), our results showed that chimpanzees’ willingness to take risks appears to manifest as a traitlike preference, with high rank-order stability across a set of important domains (based on observers’ assessments) and economic choice behavior. The social-risk domain proves to be the exception (Josef et al., 2016). Furthermore, chimpanzees are, like humans, ambiguity averse and less willing to choose options with unknown risks (Ellsberg, 1961; Trautmann & van de Kuilen, 2015). Our results indicate that males are more risk seeking than females, mirroring the same difference in human risk preference (Frey et al., 2021). Finally, chimpanzee risk taking shows an inverted-U-shaped relation to age, peaks in young adulthood, and is lower in older age—again mirroring similar trends in humans (Frey et al., 2021; Josef et al., 2016; Mata et al., 2016).

According to life-history theory, risk preference should be elevated in periods in which the goal of reproduction and associated proximal goals (e.g., gaining social status) is paramount (Stearns, 1992). Young adulthood is an indispensable transitional stage for male chimpanzees to learn the techniques of socially mature males in order to establish their own social position (Kawanaka, 1993; Watts, 2018). Consistent with the young male syndrome in humans (Wilson & Daly, 1985), our results show that male chimpanzees are especially risk prone around their 20s and particularly willing to take risks in order to get a better position in the hierarchy. Higher rank is associated with both relatively high mating (Kaburu & Newton-Fisher, 2015; Muller et al., 2011) and paternity (Boesch et al., 2006; Langergraber et al., 2013; Newton-Fisher et al., 2010; Wroblewski et al., 2009) success. Furthermore, our finding of heightened general risk tolerance during young adulthood converges with a recent overview of risk behavior in humans concluding that risk taking is heightened during emerging adulthood (Willoughby et al., 2021).

The current findings, in combination with the multimethod design, enrich the comparative approach in important ways. First, the general and traitlike preference for risk is congruent with evidence suggesting that animal personalities exist across a range of species and that risk-related traits are common characteristics (Wolf et al., 2007). Second, we found that the strangers risk domain was only weakly correlated with the other risk domains. This finding is in line with those of earlier studies indicating that trusting other individuals is not just a special case of risk taking but is based on important forms of social preferences, such as betrayal aversion (Fehr, 2009; Haux et al., 2021). Moreover, in humans, willingness to trust does not follow an inverted-U-shaped pattern but instead remains relatively stable across the adult life span (Josef et al., 2016). These results fit ideas that in humans and chimpanzees, the social domain remains prioritized across adulthood (Carstensen et al., 1999; Rosati et al., 2020). Third, chimpanzees’ observed ambiguity aversion is in line with results by Rosati and Hare (2011). They found that chimpanzees and bonobos are sensitive to ambiguity in the first trials of their experiment, suggesting that subjects dislike choosing options with unknown risks. Yet it remains unclear to what extent chimpanzees knew that only probability but not the information about outcomes was missing. This raises the question of whether ambiguity attitudes in Ellsberg’s (1961) implementation of the construct can be measured in nonverbal populations.

Fourth, our results suggest that chimpanzees are risk neutral to (minimally) risk prone. Past research offers inconsistent findings in this regard. The variation in risk sensitivity in studies may be explainable in terms of the presentation and experience of probabilities (see Hau et al., 2010; Heilbronner & Hayden, 2016; Hertwig, 2015; Wulff et al., 2018), that is, whether decisions were based on experienced frequencies (see Calcutt et al., 2019; Haux et al., 2021; Heilbronner et al., 2008; Keupp et al., 2021), or whether subjects had to infer probabilities from the task design (see Haun et al., 2011; Rosati & Hare, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016). Furthermore, the possibility of coming away empty-handed—whether the risky option included the possibility of receiving nothing or always provided at least some amount of food—could also alter the decision (see Haux et al., 2021; Keupp et al., 2021).

Finally, the relatively small sample sizes and the concomitant sex and age distributions of past studies limit the generalizability of previous findings. Future research should expand the multimethod approach, for instance, by including several behavioral measures. This would allow researchers to examine the causes behind the variation in previous work and delineate which task characteristics influence chimpanzee risk sensitivity. Studies involving chimpanzees from different groups and environments will further enrich the discussion about the generalizability of behavioral variations. Because of their early-life experiences, sanctuary chimpanzees might display different risk preferences and behavior from those living in zoos and those in the wild (for a discussion on the generalizability across groups, see King et al., 2005; Laméris et al., 2021; Lutz et al., 2022; Weiss et al., 2007; Wobber & Hare, 2011). Last but not least, because it has been proposed that bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (humans’ two closest living relatives) show divergent risk preferences (see Rosati, 2017), for a complete reconstruction of our last common ape ancestors preferences, it is essential to also study bonobos’ willingness to take risks in more depth in the future.

In the behavioral sciences, risk preference is a mainstay of and a key building block in theories of choice (Barseghyan et al., 2013; Brailovskaia et al., 2018; Clark & Lisowski, 2017; Dohmen et al., 2011; Mata et al., 2018; Schonberg et al., 2011; Slovic, 1987). In recent years, the measurement and stability has been central to the debate about the nature of risk preferences (Frey et al., 2017, 2021; Josef et al., 2016; Schildberg-Hörisch, 2018; Weber et al., 2002). Our multimethod approach can enrich this discussion, indicating that across various aspects of risk preference, both observer ratings (for a discussion on the validity of human ratings, see the Supplemental Material) and behavioral choices are directionally consistent. These findings offer an important first step toward a general mapping of the construct of risk preference in chimpanzees. Understanding the degree of temporal stability and systematic individual change in chimpanzee risk preference will be an important endeavor for future research (Schildberg-Hörisch, 2018). In addition, “actuarial” data such as the frequency of injuries from hierarchy fights will offer another important addition to a multimethod approach to study risk preference in chimpanzees.

In humans, scholars have proposed that the willingness to take risks and to trust others is transmitted across generations through socialization experiences (Dohmen et al., 2012; Roberts et al., 2005; Slovic, 1966) but is also subject to genetic influences (Karlsson Linnér et al., 2019). Our findings suggest that human risk preference may in addition also have deeper phylogenetic roots than previously suspected. Structural similarities in risk preferences of humans and one of our closest living relatives are likely to reflect adaptations to similar dynamics in primate life histories.

Firms price at 99-ending prices because of left-digit bias—the tendency of consumers to perceive a $4.99 as much lower than a $5.00; retailers forgo profits due to this coarse response to the bias

More than a Penny’s Worth: Left-Digit Bias and Firm Pricing. Avner Strulov-Shlain. The Review of Economic Studies, rdac082, December 19 2022. https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdac082

Abstract: Firms arguably price at 99-ending prices because of left-digit bias—the tendency of consumers to perceive a $4.99 as much lower than a $5.00. Analysis of retail scanner data on 3500 products sold by 25 US chains provides robust support for this explanation. I structurally estimate the magnitude of left-digit bias and find that consumers respond to a 1-cent increase from a 99-ending price as if it were more than a 20-cent increase. Next, I solve a portable model of optimal pricing given left-digit biased demand. I use this model and other pricing procedures to estimate the level of left-digit bias retailers perceive when making their pricing decisions. While all retailers respond to left-digit bias by using 99-ending prices, their behavior is consistently at odds with the demand they face. Firms price as if the bias were much smaller than it is, and their pricing is more consistent with heuristics and rule-of-thumb than with optimization given the structure of demand. I calculate that retailers forgo 1 to 4 percent of potential gross profits due to this coarse response to left-digit bias.

"Ouch!" or "Aah!": People are very bad at perceiving the valence of vocalizations of high-intensity affective states

Binter, Jakub, Silvia Boschetti, Tomáš Hladký, and Hermann Prossinger. 2023. “"ouch!" or "aah!": Are Vocalizations of 'laugh', 'neutral', 'fear', 'pain' or 'pleasure' Reliably Rated?.” PsyArXiv. January 2. doi:10.31234/osf.io/rf7vw

Abstract: Our research consisted of two studies focusing on the probability of humans being able to perceive the difference between valence of human vocalizations of high (pain, pleasure and fear) and low intensity (laugh and neutral speech). The first study was conducted online and used a large sample (n=902) of respondents. The second study was conducted in a laboratory setting and involved a stress induction procedure. For both, the task was to categorize whether the human vocalization was rated positive, neutral or negative. Stimuli were audio records extracted from freely downloadable online videos and can be considered semi-naturalistic. Each rating participant (rater) was presented with five audio records (stimuli) of five females and of five males. All raters were presented with the stimuli twice (so as to statistically estimate the consistency of the ratings). Using a Bayesian statistical approach, we could test for consistencies and due-to-chance probabilities. The outcomes support the prediction that the results (ratings) are repeatable (not due to chance) but incorrectly attributed, decreasing the communication value of the expressions of fear, pain, and pleasure. Stress induction (in study two conducted on 28 participants) did have an impact on the ratings of male neutral and laugh – it caused decrease in correct attribution.

Greater self-knowledge was not associated with better psychological adjustment, but at least with nicer personality traits

Self as both target and judge: Who has an easier time knowing their own personality? Elizabeth U. Long, Erika N. Carlson, Lauren J. Human. Journal of Personality, January 1 2023. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12806

Abstract: The past two decades have established that people generally have insight into their personalities, but less is known about how and why self-knowledge might vary between individuals. Using the Realistic Accuracy Model as a framework, we investigate whether some people make better “targets” of self-perception by behaving more consistently in everyday life, and whether these differences have benefits for psychological adjustment.

Methods: Using data from the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR, n=286), we indexed self-knowledge as the link between self-reports of personality and actual daily behaviour measured over one week. We then tested if consistency in daily behaviour as well as psychological adjustment predicted stronger self-knowledge.

Results: We found that behaving more consistently in everyday life was associated with more accurate self-reports, but that psychological adjustment was not.

Conclusion: Analogous to interpersonal perception, self-knowledge of personality might be affected by “target-side” factors, like the quality of information provided through one's behaviour. However, unlike being a good target of interpersonal perception, self-knowledge does not seem to be related to psychological adjustment.

Introduction to a Culturally Sensitive Measure of Well-Being: Combining Life Satisfaction and Interdependent Happiness Across 49 Different Cultures

Introduction to a Culturally Sensitive Measure of Well-Being: Combining Life Satisfaction and Interdependent Happiness Across 49 Different Cultures. Kuba Krys et al. Journal of Happiness Studies, Dec 26 2022. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-022-00588-1

Abstract: How can one conclude that well-being is higher in country A than country B, when well-being is being measured according to the way people in country A think about well-being? We address this issue by proposing a new culturally sensitive method to comparing societal levels of well-being. We support our reasoning with data on life satisfaction and interdependent happiness focusing on individual and family, collected mostly from students, across forty-nine countries. We demonstrate that the relative idealization of the two types of well-being varies across cultural contexts and are associated with culturally different models of selfhood. Furthermore, we show that rankings of societal well-being based on life satisfaction tend to underestimate the contribution from interdependent happiness. We introduce a new culturally sensitive method for calculating societal well-being, and examine its construct validity by testing for associations with the experience of emotions and with individualism-collectivism. This new culturally sensitive approach represents a slight, yet important improvement in measuring well-being.

Discussion

We developed a new approach to measure levels of well-being across diverse cultural contexts. We designed a new culturally sensitive approach to measuring well-being along two dimensions based on mounting empirical evidence that cultures vary in the way well-being and/or happiness is valued and construed. Cultures vary in relative focus on the individual versus the family (Delle Fave et al., 2016; Krys et al., 2019b, 2022a), and in construing well-being using an individual-focused life satisfaction framework versus an interdependent conceptual framework (Hitokoto & Uchida, 2015; Krys et al., 2020). Accordingly, our new, culturally sensitive approach adjusts individual-level well-being scores according to the particular type of well-being that tends to be valued within a respondent’s indigenous culture. This new approach represents an incremental improvement to the array of methods available to researchers seeking to measure, describe, and compare levels of well-being across the world.

It is important to note that, empirically, the CS approach is not substantially different from the vast array of other well established quantitative measures of well-being. Indeed, our new CS measure of well-being is explicitly comprised of several thoroughly tested and well validated measures of well-being. Each of the measures used to calculate CS Well-being, as well as many others, has been shown to be highly reliable and valid across many different cultural contexts. We acknowledge that the current status quo of empirical research on well-being is highly valid, credible, and valuable. Empirically, the advent of the CS approach represents a slight, yet important, improvement in the fidelity of well-being measurement.

The CS approach represents a substantial improvement with respect to other measures when considered conceptually. The vast majority of existing evidence for differences in country-level well-being was derived based on the use of identical measures across diverse cultural contexts (Cheng et al., 2016; Diener et al., 1995; Hofstede, 2001; Jasielska et al., 2018; Kuppens et al., 2008; Steel et al., 2018). Well-being research is a subfield within psychological science that is in need of tools that are more applicable across diverse cultural contexts. Many large scale studies show that an overwhelming majority of empirical psychological research is based on WEIRD samples (Adams et al., 2017; cf. Lee et al., 2021). For example, an analysis of the top journals across six sub-disciplines of psychology found that 68% of participants were American and that 96% of participants were from Western industrialized nations (Arnett, 2008). The development of the CS approach to measure well-being is a marked, incremental step towards conceptualizing psychological phenomena less ethnocentrically.

The CS approach involves the use of several different previously established and well-validated measures. Although all the measures used in our study have been shown to be valid and reliable across several different cultural contexts, there also exists evidence that different well-being measures (including the IH) do not perform in the same way across different cultural contexts. Recently Gardiner et al. (2020) found that well-being measures tend to perform better when they are used within the culture in which they were developed. This finding further supports the importance and potential utility of using culturally sensitive measures of well-being for large-scale cross-cultural research.

We found that individual LS, as measured by the SWLS, is positively associated with country-level values of individualism. This finding is consistent with prior reports that LS tends to covary with societal levels of individualism (Cheng et al., 2016; Diener et al., 1995; Hofstede, 2001; Kuppens et al., 2008; Steel et al., 2018). Conversely, we did not observe that CS well-being was associated with societal levels of individualism. We did however find that across both types of well-being measures, country level values of de-contextualized versus contextualized self, were positively associated with happiness. De-contextualized versus contextualized self represents how much a person thinks about their identity within the context of others (e.g., Someone could understand who you are without needing to know which social groups you belong to vs If someone wants to understand who you are, they would need to know which social groups you belong to). Prior research demonstrates that contextualism is an important facet of cultural collectivism (Owe et al., 2013). Our current findings suggest the de-contextualism may also confer some societal characteristics linked to well-being measured in several different ways.

We also found that both methods of measuring well-being tended to be associated with the experience of positive and negative emotions (r = -0.215). This finding supports the construct validity of CS Well-being and contributes to a growing body of research demonstrating the link between emotional experience and life satisfaction (Kang et al., 2003; Kuppens et al., 2008). Across our sample, we also found that the association between CS Well-being and positive emotions (r = 0.455) were stronger than between well-being and negative emotions (r = −0.215). This finding is consistent with that of a previous study showing that the experience of positive emotions is more strongly related to life satisfaction than the absence of negative emotions (Kuppens et al., 2008). Emotional experience seems to play an important role in determining many different forms well-being, that include happiness and LS.

This study and the CS approach are limited in several important ways. We focused on only two different types of well-being originating from WEIRD and Confucian cultural contexts: LS and IH. There exist other forms of well-being and/or happiness that are applicable to people of other cultures. For example, spirituality is strongly associated with well-being in Africa and Latin America (Selman et al., 2013), and dispositional simpatico (emphasis on expressive displays of personal charm, graciousness, and hospitality) is an important part of well-being and happiness within many Latin-American cultures (Sanchez-Burks et al., 2000). This study is also limited in terms of the way participants responded to each scale. More specifically, being asked about one’s individual life-satisfaction may indirectly affect the way one responds to items related to interdependent happiness of one’s family. Furthermore, it remains unclear whether our instructions to think about ideal levels of well-being (Diener et al., 2000) activated the ideal self or the ought self (Higgins, 1987); future studies may need to employ more direct instruction. In addition, this study is limited in the way culture was operationalized. In our analyses, we equated culture with country. However there exists considerable heterogeneity of cultural values within countries, which we did not consider here. These issues need further empirical research to uncover their potential effects.

Furthermore, we conceptualized well-being more in terms of feeling good than functioning well or one’s sense of meaning. One’s sense of meaning is often construed as an important factor related to happiness and well-being in many different parts of the world (Costin & Vignoles, 2020; Oishi & Diener, 2014). The fact that these other aspects of well-being and/or happiness were not included in the current study is an important limitation. We anticipate that future research will consider how these other forms of well-being and/or happiness can be incorporated into global and cross-cultural studies on well-being. Furthermore, future research is needed based on more representative samples. Our study was based primarily on student samples and serves as one step towards developing more culturally sensitive indices of well-being. Lastly, this study was also limited in that measures individualism-collectivism were obtained from country-level databases and not measured directly in this study. By adding data from different databases, assessed on national level, an additional level of ambiguity was created. We anticipate that this study will stimulate further empirical research on culturally sensitive methods of measuring many different psychological constructs.

The above limitations and future directions are of “technical” nature. However, it is also important to highlight other broad and conceptual issues. For example, as of the beginning of 2000s, most people and most nations tend to report being happy or very happy (e.g., Oishi et al., 2007). Despite this fact, policy-makers and scientists are striving to develop ways to enhance happiness. We affirm that happiness of many people and many nations can be enhanced, but in our understanding, well-being is not completely interchangeable with happiness. What other-than-happiness constructs people across cultures recognize as key components to their good life, and what are their ideal levels, is currently an important but open empirical question.

The results of this study have practical implications. This tool holds potential to examine the way several other culture-level variables, such as cultural tightness-looseness (Gelfand et al., 2011) or relational mobility (Thomson et al., 2018), may correspond to variation in well-being. Furthermore, our findings illustrate the importance of considering how much a particular construct is valued within a context, and that this approach could be applied to other psychological phenomenon. For example, cultures vary in terms of what types of social policies are valued and prioritized (Krys et al., 2022b). Thus, by incorporating what types of societal goals a culture or country tends to have, policy makers may be better positioned to measure how proximate or distal actual realization of culture-specific goals are.

People around the world want to be happy. Therefore, more and more governing bodies employ well-being as a compass for guiding their societies (Durand, 2018). To escape post-colonial traps in well-being indicators research and in policy-making, researchers and international governing bodies may need to acknowledge that happiness across cultures has various facets. Doing so will promote “buy-in” from many non-WEIRD societies. Large-scale cross-cultural research on well-being will be improved by considering more culturally sensitive measures of well-being. We hope this study serves as one small step forward inspiring this research focus.

Most people uncritically swallowed the fake diagnosis of their true selves by a supposedly transformative, but bogus new brain-reading machine

Emulating future neurotechnology using magic. Jay A. Olson et al. Consciousness and Cognition, Volume 107, January 2023, 103450. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2022.103450

Abstract: Recent developments in neuroscience and artificial intelligence have allowed machines to decode mental processes with growing accuracy. Neuroethicists have speculated that perfecting these technologies may result in reactions ranging from an invasion of privacy to an increase in self-understanding. Yet, evaluating these predictions is difficult given that people are poor at forecasting their reactions. To address this, we developed a paradigm using elements of performance magic to emulate future neurotechnologies. We led 59 participants to believe that a (sham) neurotechnological machine could infer their preferences, detect their errors, and reveal their deep-seated attitudes. The machine gave participants randomly assigned positive or negative feedback about their brain’s supposed attitudes towards charity. Around 80% of participants in both groups provided rationalisations for this feedback, which shifted their attitudes in the manipulated direction but did not influence donation behaviour. Our paradigm reveals how people may respond to prospective neurotechnologies, which may inform neuroethical frameworks.

Introduction

Novelist Arthur C. Clarke (2013) famously asserted that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. But the reverse can also be true: magic tricks can be made indistinguishable from advanced technology. When paired with real scientific equipment, magic techniques can create compelling illusions that allow people to experience prospective technologies first-hand. Here, we demonstrate that a magic-based paradigm may be particularly useful to emulate neurotechnologies and potentially inform neuroethical frameworks.

Broadly defined, neurotechnology involves invasive or non-invasive methods to monitor or modulate brain activity (Goering et al., 2021). Recent developments in neural decoding and artificial intelligence have made it possible, in a limited fashion, to infer various aspects of human thought (Ritchie et al., 2019). The pairing of neural imaging with machine learning has allowed researchers to decode participants’ brain activity in order to infer what they are seeing, imagining, or even dreaming (Horikawa et al., 2013, Horikawa and Kamitani, 2017). For example, one study identified the neural correlates of viewing various face stimuli; EEG data from a single participant could be used to determine which of over one hundred faces was being presented (Nemrodov et al., 2018). Other studies have used fMRI brain activity patterns to infer basic personality traits after exposing people to threatening stimuli (Fernandes et al., 2017). Similar decoding methods have also been used to determine what verbal utterances participants were thinking about in real time (Moses et al., 2019).

Other recent developments have enabled researchers to decode information that participants are not even aware of themselves. One fMRI study decoded the semantic category of words (e.g., animal or non-animal) presented below the level of awareness (Sheikh et al., 2019). Researchers have used the same method to infer which of two images participants would choose several seconds before the participants themselves were aware of making this decision (Koenig-Robert and Pearson, 2019).

Although these findings are impressive, brain reading remains in its infancy. The information decoded from brain activity is often relatively rudimentary and requires cooperation from participants. Brain reading is further limited by the cost and technical expertise required to design and operate the imaging machines. Nevertheless, given that brain reading has the potential to become a powerful and commonplace technology in the future (Yuste et al., 2017), it is important to avoid the delay fallacy wherein discussions of the implications of emerging technologies lag behind the technological frontier (Mecacci and Haselager, 2017, van de Poel and Royakkers, 2011).

Ethicists have accordingly started to speculate about the potential ramifications of various neurotechnologies. Future developments in neural decoding may carry implications across several domains including personal responsibility, autonomy, and identity (Goering et al., 2021, Ryberg, 2017). For example, brain reading could be used to predict the risk of recidivism (Ienca and Andorno, 2017) or to influence attributions of criminal responsibility by inferring one’s mental state at the time of the crime (Meynen, 2020). Regarding autonomy, employers could use future brain reading to screen out undesirable characteristics in their employees. Brain reading also has the potential to undermine personal identity by changing how we think about ourselves. Some people may see feedback from neurotechnology as a more objective and accurate representation of personality traits, biases, or beliefs than those accessible through introspection (cf. Berent and Platt, 2021). In this way, technology may trump our subjective experiences in the understanding of who we are.

Although neurotechnology could potentially boost self-understanding, many people find the prospect of brain reading intrusive (Richmond, 2012); it violates the long-standing expectation that one’s thoughts are private (Moore, 2016). The implications of this potential loss of privacy, however, remain unclear. Thomas Nagel (1998, p. 4) argues that such privacy is fundamental to a properly functioning society: “the boundary between what we reveal and what we do not, and some control over that boundary, are among the most important attributes of our humanity.” Conversely, aside from nefarious uses such as government control, Lippert-Rasmussen (2016) argues that access to others’ thoughts could offer an additional source of information to foster intimacy and authenticity. In his view, “the gaze of others would become much less oppressive if everyone’s inner lives were transparent to everyone else” (p. 230). The speculated consequences of future neurotechnology thus show considerable range.

Importantly, these consequences may not remain merely speculative. Given the widespread and complex implications of future brain reading technologies, ethicists have proposed forward-thinking policies such as the adoption of “neurorights” to protect citizens (Baselga-Garriga et al., 2022, Yuste et al., 2017). These efforts to safeguard people from the uses and misuses of brain reading depend, in part, on our ability to anticipate people’s future reactions. More caution is needed, for example, if people see brain reading as an invasion of privacy versus a novel way to promote authenticity.

However, simply asking people about how they would react to future neurotechnologies may be insufficient. People often overestimate their responses to future events (Dillard et al., 2020, Gilbert et al., 1998) and have difficulty explaining their attitudes reliably (Hall et al., 2012). One study found that when people read vignettes of neurotechnology predicting and influencing behaviour, they interpret the situations based on their current metaphysical assumptions, even if these assumptions would be contradicted by the information in the vignettes (Rose et al., 2015). Reasoning hypothetically about a future machine may have limited validity compared to the concrete experience of having a machine control one’s mind. Instead, “Wizard of Oz” prototyping could offer a potential solution (Kelley, 1984). Here, a simulation is created of a future product by fabricating an apparently working prototype, which is then tested in real-world scenarios to generate more accurate responses from users.

We developed a Wizard of Oz-style paradigm to emulate prospective neurotechnologies based on elements of performance magic. Indeed, many of the abilities enabled by future neurotechnologies can be mimicked using magic tricks. Most relevant is the branch of performance magic known as mentalism, which involves mimicking abilities such as mind reading, thought insertion, and prediction. A brain scanner decoding a participant’s thoughts resembles a magician reading the mind of a spectator, and a device that inserts thoughts to affect behaviour resembles magicians influencing the audience’s decisions without their awareness (Olson et al., 2015). In this way, magic could create the compelling illusion of future neurotechnological developments before they are available.

We have previously demonstrated the believability of combining magic with neurotechnology by convincing university students that a brain scanner could both read and influence their thoughts (Olson et al., 2016). In a condition designed to simulate mind reading, participants chose an arbitrary two-digit number while inside a sham MRI scanner. The machine ostensibly decoded their brain activity while they focused on the number. A simple magic trick allowed the experimenter to demonstrate that the machine’s decoded number matched the one that the participant had previously chosen. The same magic trick was then used to simulate thought insertion. In this mind-influencing condition, participants were again instructed to think of a number. Instead of being told that the machine would decode their brain activity, they were told that the machine would manipulate their brain through “electromagnetic fluctuations”. The magic trick made it appear as if the machine had randomly chosen a number and then influenced participants to choose it. In this condition, participants felt less control over their decisions and reported a range of experiences, including hearing an ominous voice controlling their choices.

By combining neuroscientific-looking props with magic, we were thus able to convince educated participants to both believe in and directly experience a “future” machine that could accurately read and influence their decisions. However, given the relatively inconsequential target of the brain reading — arbitrary number choices — it is difficult to assess how participants would react to having the machine decode thoughts that are more meaningful or private, including those relevant to neuroethics.

Here, we extend our method to create a future context in which brain reading is powerful enough to decode information central to the self, such as political attitudes. We focused on attitudes towards charity because people often believe that such moral values characterise one’s “true self” (Strohminger et al., 2017). According to the lay understanding, this true self is a more private and accurate version of the self that is indicative of one’s core identity (Schlegel et al., 2011). We aimed to manipulate this core aspect of the self in order to assess reactions to more personal and ethically relevant domains. To do so, we emulated a neurotechnological machine that could identify people’s attitudes towards charity better than their own introspection. First, we aimed to explore how participants would react to a potential invasion of mental privacy by having a machine seemingly infer their consumer preferences and political attitudes. Second, we explored the crucial issue of people’s trust in neurotechnology by simulating a scenario in which the machine could give personal feedback that is inconsistent with what participants report. Finally, we investigated how people might adapt their own beliefs based on this discrepant feedback. How might people react to this dissonance between their own subjective feelings and the machine’s seemingly objective assessment? Could such brain reading supersede one’s own judgement? We present a novel method to begin answering these questions.

Psychology students reported particularly high rates of mental health problems, business students reported the highest rate of drug abuse, while law students reported the highest alcohol misuse

Variations in psychological disorders, suicidality, and help-seeking behaviour among college students from different academic disciplines. Margaret McLafferty,Natasha Brown,John Brady,Jonathon McLaughlin,Rachel McHugh,Caoimhe Ward,Louise McBride,Anthony J. Bjourson,Siobhan M. O’Neill,Colum P. Walsh,Elaine K. Murray. PLoS One, December 30, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279618

Abstract

Background: Elevated levels of suicidality, ADHD, mental ill-health and substance disorders are reported among college students globally, yet few receive treatment. Some faculties and courses appear to have more at-risk students than others. The current study aimed to determine if students commencing college in different academic disciplines were at a heightened risk for psychopathology, substance use disorders and suicidal behaviour, and examined variations in help-seeking behaviour.

Materials and methods: The study utilised data collected from 1,829 first-year undergraduate students as part of the Student Psychological Intervention Trial (SPIT) which commenced in September 2019 across four Ulster University campuses in Northern Ireland and an Institute of Technology, in the North-West of Ireland. The SPIT study is part of the World Mental Health International College Student Initiative (WMH-ICS) which uses the WMH-CIDI to identify 12-month and lifetime disorders.

Results: Students from Life and Health Sciences reported the lowest rates of a range of psychological problems in the year prior to commencing college, while participants studying Arts and Humanities displayed the highest levels (e.g. depression 20.6%; social anxiety 38.8%). However, within faculty variations were found. For example, psychology students reported high rates, while nursing students reported low rates. Variations in help seeking behaviour were also revealed, with male students less likely to seek help.

Conclusions: Detecting specific cohorts at risk of psychological disorders and suicidality is challenging. This study revealed that some academic disciplines have more vulnerable students than others, with many reluctant to seek help for their problems. It is important for educators to be aware of such issues and for colleges to provide information and support to students at risk. Tailored interventions and prevention strategies may be beneficial to address the needs of students from different disciplines.

Discussion

Early analysis of the SPIT data revealed variations in the prevalence of mental health and substance disorders, suicidal behaviour and ADHD among undergraduate students commencing college in NI and the ROI [10, 12]. The current study added to this research, revealing that prevalence rates varied between faculties and also within faculties, providing important information for educators, with some courses having more students with psychological difficulties than others. Variations in help seeking behaviour were also revealed.

Overall, the study found high prevalence rates of suicidal behaviour and a range of mental health and substance abuse problems, which is of great concern. Suicidal behaviour was particularly high among students in the IT in the ROI. A recent study conducted among third level students in Ireland, found that students attending Institutes of Technology had poorer mental health [38]. Furthermore, the IT has the highest proportion of students from a disadvantaged area, when compared to other higher education institutes in the ROI [39], which may partially explain the elevated prevalence rates revealed in the current study.

When examining students attending college in NI, variations were revealed across the four UU campuses, with very high rates of psychopathology revealed among those attending Campus B. Conversely, students on Campus D reported the lowest rates of mental health problems but had the highest rate for drug abuse, and when comparing students across the NI campuses they also had the highest rate for alcohol abuse. Some geographical locations may have higher levels of mental health problems in the population than others for a number of reasons, for example, they may have elevated levels of deprivation. However, as students are not necessarily from the area the campuses are located in, further analyses were conducted to determine why these variations might occur.

The finding that students on Campus D were the least likely to engage in suicidal behaviour and have the lowest levels of depression or panic disorder, but high rates of substance abuse may be related to the demographic characteristics of students attending the campus, with males making up a large percentage of the student population. This is in line with previous research which reported higher levels of substance problems among male students, while females are more likely to have internalizing problems such as depression [7], as was found in the current study. It should also be noted however, that males may be less likely to admit to having a psychological problem, due to stigma, internalized traditional masculine norms and fears of looking weak [40]. Indeed, studies have found that young males are more prone to underreporting symptoms of mood disorders, and demonstrate higher levels of denial about psychological disorders on self-report surveys [41, 42].

When considering variations in prevalence rates between faculties, the lowest rates of mental health and substance problems were revealed among students in L&HS. A higher proportion of students in L&HS were 21 or over when compared to students from other faculties. Many students may have completed exams in the year prior to starting college, which may partially account for the elevated 12-month prevalence rates reported among younger students. The highest prevalence rates were found within the faculty of AH&SS, with the exception of alcohol misuse which was highest amongst students from the Business School. This is consistent with findings from another Irish study [32]. It should be noted that the Business School had the highest percentage of younger students in the current study, therefore this finding is particularly concerning, as prolonged, heavy alcohol usage throughout the academic course of study is associated with poorer academic performance, attrition, and increased likelihood of mood disorders [43]. Substance awareness campaigns during secondary education may be beneficial and further information sessions in the college setting would be advantageous.

In relation to treatment seeking, students in L&HS were least likely to have received treatment while those in AH&SS were most likely to have received treatment or felt that they may have needed treatment in the year prior to starting college, which is in line with the reported prevalence rates. Nevertheless, the proportion of students receiving or acknowledging that they may need help is much lower than the prevalence rates of disorders reported. In accordance with prior studies [34], students from CE&BE were least likely to believe that they may have needed help, which may be related to the fact that many males are enrolled on these courses. Indeed, it has been reported that male college students tend to have poorer mental health literacy and are poorer at recognising symptoms of depression, therefore male dominated courses may have lower levels of help-seeking and they may score lower on self-report questionnaires due to poor recognition of symptoms [44]. The most important reason participants in the current study reported for not seeking help was that they wanted to handle it themselves or they talked to friends or family. It is important therefore to encourage help seeking behaviour and provide information on a wide range of services available within the college and community setting.

Further analyses were conducted to uncover at risk subgroups, within the student population. While many students in the faculty of L&HS had low levels of mental health problems, when individual courses were examined, distinct variations were uncovered. For example, psychology students reported elevated rates of panic disorder and social anxiety, which is in line with previous research [20]. Furthermore, these students were most likely to say that they felt that they may have needed treatment which would suggest that while the psychology students had an awareness about their mental health issues, it did not encourage them to seek help. This is in accordance with prior research which reported that taking psychology classes does not appear to predict positive attitudes to seeking mental health care for mental health problems [45, 46]. One of the reasons provided for not seeking help, by psychology students in the current study, was a fear of it impacting on their academic and future career. These findings would imply that when promoting help-seeking behavior among those in the health profession, especially psychology students, it is important to be mindful of their fears and encourage them to disclose any problems.

Nursing students were least likely to report a range of psychological problems. It should be noted however that mental health nursing students reported higher rates of disorders than those studying general nursing, with the exception of depression, which may have drawn them towards the course, in the first instance. Mental health nursing students were most likely to have received treatment despite lower levels of disorders. This may be related to their knowledge and understanding of the importance of treatment [20]. Engineering students were least likely to have received treatment or felt that they needed treatment, but they also reported low levels of psychological and substance related issues. As this is a male dominated course, the question remains if these findings may be related to a reluctance of males to disclose mental health issues and to seek help for their problems or poor symptom awareness.

Indeed, many students appear to be unwilling to seek help from traditional sources within the college. This maybe be because they are concerned that the information may be shared with academic staff, although if adjustments are made, such as extensions to deadlines, this can be very advantageous. Moreover, stigma, preference for self-management and time commitments can be deterrents. Students on the health professional courses, for example, mental health nurses or psychology students, may be particularly reluctant to divulge that they have a mental health problem for fear that it may impact on their career [46]. It may be useful therefore for colleges to employ the use of more anonymised, self-directed, digital or online interventions [47]. The second phase of the SPIT study involves the trial of an online CBT based guided intervention and the findings may provide a useful alternative to face-to-face sessions, particularly for those who don’t want to seek help from traditional sources.

The study also found that art students, in particular, reported very high rates of a range of mental health problems and suicidal behaviour, which is in accordance with prior research [30]. An interesting finding was that the prevalence rate of bipolar disorder among those studying art was almost twice the average rate reported in the study overall. Indeed, studies have revealed high levels of creativity among those with bi-polar disorder [48, 49]. Almost a fifth of art students also had clinical levels of depression in the previous 12 months and were most likely to engage in self-harm or have attempted suicide. It is very important therefore that support is offered to this vulnerable cohort within the college setting.

Business students reported the highest rate of drug abuse, while law students reported the highest alcohol misuse rates and suicide ideation and plans but not attempts. Prior studies have suggested that such findings are connected to stressors related to the course [31, 50]. It must be remembered, however, that this cohort was surveyed shortly after registering at college, before they had engaged on their course. It may be beneficial to conduct further research to help determine factors that may draw students with such problems towards these courses.

Previous authors have theorised that specific traits and environmental influences shape intellectual interests and attract certain individuals to specific courses [51]. Socioeconomic status and problematic early life experiences may have an impact. Widening access to higher education, while being extremely beneficial, can bring additional challenges, with students enrolling from diverse backgrounds. They may be attracted towards certain courses, such as psychology or law, due to negative early life experiences. For example, it has been found that students who study humanities, social work and counselling were more likely to report childhood adversities [52, 53], which are strongly associated with poor mental health [11]. Additionally, personality is thought to influence degree selection. For example, high levels of neuroticism have been found in law and psychology students [29, 54]. These factors may not only attract individuals towards specific degrees but also predispose them to poorer mental wellbeing. Further research is therefore warranted to explore these risk factors in greater detail and plans are in place to conduct additional analyses utilising the SPIT data.

As this study identified courses with many at-risk students it may be beneficial to provide targeted support and information to students through their lectures and encourage social interaction with their peers, creating a sense of belonging as they embark on their college life. Discipline specific support may be warranted. For example, students on some courses, such as those involving the arts, may feel isolated and they may benefit from initiatives to increase social interaction. Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) and wellbeing sessions may be beneficial to help support the transition to university life [55]. As these are embedded within courses, such sessions can be tailored to the needs of the students, addressing the individual challenges of that specific course, with first year students being supported by their higher year peers.

Limitations

While this study identified several important findings, a number of limitations should be considered when interpreting the results. Firstly, the study relies on self-report measures, therefore some students may not have responded accurately or honestly. Secondly, only the 191 students who said that they felt that they may have needed help in the previous year, but were not in treatment, were asked the subsequent question related to reasons why they would not seek help, therefore these findings may not be generalised to the wider population. Furthermore, the current study is cross-sectional in nature, and is based on findings from year one only, when students started college for the first time. It will be very beneficial to monitor these students throughout their time at college, to determine if suicidality, psychopathology and substance abuse prevalence rates vary as they progress through their courses, some of which may be more stressful and academically challenging than others. Finally, it should be noted that a number of courses were not well represented in the study.

To conclude, the study revealed that many students commence college with pre-existing psychological and substance related problems and suicidal behaviour. However, the prevalence rates varied considerably across academic disciplines, with some courses having many at-risk students enrolled. However, many of these students did not seek help for these problems. It is important therefore for educators to be aware of such issues and for colleges to provide information and support to students at risk. Tailored interventions and prevention strategies may be beneficial to address the needs of students from different disciplines. This may be even more important, since the pandemic, when students were working remotely, with some cohorts missing out on practical classes, lab work and placements, with many struggling since the return to face-to face leaning. The findings from this study should appeal to educators and those with an interest in student mental health and wellbeing.