ECP 2022 C

Embodiment of Abstract Concepts in Right- and Left-Handers: A Replication Study

Asil Ali Özdoğru and Şahsenem Sarı

Theory of embodied cognition implies that human thoughts include mental models of bodily experiences. According to the body specificity hypothesis derived from this theory, individuals' different systematic interactions with their physical environment leads to different mental representations. In his test of this hypothesis with five experiments in 2009, Casasanto showed that right- and left-handed individuals made different concrete object preferences and abstract concept evaluations. This study is a direct replication of the first experiment of the original study in a Turkish sample. The study sample consisted of 164 adults, mostly working in the same organization, from İstanbul, Turkey. Nineteen of the participants were left-handed and 145 were right-handed. A paper-pencil questionnaire including demographic questions and the experimental task were administered to participants in their workplace. In the experimental task, participants were presented with a written depiction of a fictional character’s good or bad evaluations of two animals. On the next page, participants were asked to draw the related animals from the character’s point of view in two empty boxes placed next to each other. Our findings showed that 63% (103 out of 164) of all participants placed the good animal on their dominant side. Additionally, 89% (17 out of 19) of left-handers placed the good animal in the left box and 59% (86 out of 145) of right-handers did the same for the right box. These findings were statistically significant as tested by sign tests. These findings indicate that adults associate positive thoughts with their dominant side and negative thoughts with their nondominant side. Successfully replicating Casasanto's findings in a Turkish sample, this study shows that individuals with different body habits develop corresponding mental representations in consistency with predictions of the body specificity hypothesis.

Citation: Özdoğru, A. A., & Sarı, Ş. (2022, July 5-8). Embodiment of abstract concepts in right- and left-handers: A replication study [Conference presentation]. 17th European Congress of Psychology, Ljubljana, Slovenia. https://www.ecp2022.eu

Media: Üsküdar Üniversitesi Psikoloji Bölümü Çalışmalarıyla Avrupa Psikoloji Kongresinde! (2022, Temmuz 7). Üsküdar Haber Ajansı. https://uskudar.edu.tr/tr/icerik/8143/uskudar-universitesi-psikoloji-bolumu-calismalariyla-avrupa-psikoloji-kongresinde

ECP 2022 B

An Extended Replication of Death Thought Suppression in a Turkish Sample

Asil Ali Özdoğru and Şevval Osmanoğlu

According to terror management theory, individuals experience cognitive discomfort when they think about the inevitability of death. When mortality becomes salient, individuals suppress thoughts of death through cultural beliefs and values that give them meaning in life and a sense of personal value or self-esteem. In some studies with death primes, individuals were found to have higher accessibility of death thoughts after a delay in the task due to cessation of suppression. In their study in 2012, Trafimow and Hughes found that death thought accessibility was higher in no delay condition than the delay condition. As part of an international registered replication, this study aimed to replicate that finding in a Turkish sample with additional variables. A group of 106 Turkish university students (90% female, mean age 24.3) responded to an online questionnaire. Experimental group was asked to think and write about their own death (n = 50), while the control group was asked about dental pain (n = 56). In the delay condition, half of all participants (n = 49) read an unrelated brief news article. After the stimuli, participants were given either a word generation or completion tasks including death related words. Additionally, participants completed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) and the Sense of Humor Scale (SHQ-6-R). Results. We found that the experimental group generated significantly more death-related words than the control group. In both experimental and control groups, there was no significant difference between the two delay conditions or the two word task groups in the amount of death-related words. Number of death-related words were not significantly associated with the RSES or SHQ-6-R scores. Our findings did not replicate the findings of the original study. Theoretical and methodological implications were discussed.

Citation: Özdoğru, A. A., & Osmanoğlu, Ş. (2022, July 5-8). An extended replication of death thought suppression in a Turkish sample [Conference presentation]. 17th European Congress of Psychology, Ljubljana, Slovenia. https://www.ecp2022.eu

Media: Üsküdar Üniversitesi Psikoloji Bölümü Çalışmalarıyla Avrupa Psikoloji Kongresinde! (2022, Temmuz 7). Üsküdar Haber Ajansı. https://uskudar.edu.tr/tr/icerik/8143/uskudar-universitesi-psikoloji-bolumu-calismalariyla-avrupa-psikoloji-kongresinde

ECP 2022 A

Trust in Algorithms and Statistical Literacy in Low- and High-Stake Contexts

Asil Ali Özdoğru and Merve Büşra Çetin

Many organizations and governments around the world are collecting large amounts of data and using various algorithms to process data and make decisions. These algorithms have important consequences as they are trusted to assist decision making in many contexts. Individuals’ trust in algorithms can be shaped by many personal and contextual factors. Since algorithms have a statistical nature and different levels of explainability, statistical literacy, which is individuals’ ability to understand statistical and probabilistic information, may play a role in their trust in algorithms. Individuals’ trust can also show variation depending on the context of decisions. Low-stake situations such as a restaurant reservation and high-stakes situations such as employment decisions can have different effects on trust. This study tested the effects of statistical literacy, degree of explainability, and decision context on Turkish university students’ level of trust in algorithms. A total of 110 students (95 females, 14 males, 1 unknown) from a foundation university in İstanbul participated in the study. Participants responded to an online survey including basic demographic questions, six items on trust in algorithms, 14 items on statistical literacy, and two items about 12 scenarios featuring algorithms with different levels of explainability and context. Half of the participants (n = 52) received low-stake scenarios with explainability and high-stake scenarios without explainability, while others (n = 58) received low-stake scenarios without explainability and high-stake scenarios with explainability. There was no statistically significant correlation between trust in algorithms and statistical literacy scores. Trust in algorithm ratings in the scenarios did not significantly differ between explainability conditions. On the other hand, trust ratings in high-stake scenarios were significantly lower than the low-stake ones. Results show that individuals’ tendency to trust in algorithms is not related to their levels of statistical literacy but related to context of algorithms in use.

Citation: Özdoğru, A. A., & Çetin, M. B. (2022, July 5-8). Trust in algorithms and statistical literacy in low- and high-stake contexts [Conference presentation]. 17th European Congress of Psychology, Ljubljana, Slovenia. https://www.ecp2022.eu

Media: Üsküdar Üniversitesi Psikoloji Bölümü Çalışmalarıyla Avrupa Psikoloji Kongresinde! (2022, Temmuz 7). Üsküdar Haber Ajansı. https://uskudar.edu.tr/tr/icerik/8143/uskudar-universitesi-psikoloji-bolumu-calismalariyla-avrupa-psikoloji-kongresinde