Fen Edebiyat Fakültesi / Faculty of Letters and Science

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11727/1396

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    Effective Health Communication Depends on the Interaction of Message Source and Content: Two Experiments on Adherence to COVID-19 Measures in Türkiye
    (PSYCHOLOGY & HEALTH, 2024) Bayrak, Fatih; Aktar, Bengi; Aydas, Berke; Yilmaz, Onurcan; Alper, Sinan; Isler, Ozan
    ObjectiveFollowing the COVID-19 outbreak, authorities recommended preventive measures to reduce infection rates. However, adherence to calls varied between individuals and across cultures. To determine the characteristics of effective health communication, we investigated three key features: message source, content, and audience.MethodsUsing a pre-test and two experiments, we tested how message content (emphasizing personal or social benefit), audience (individual differences), message source (scientists or state officials), and their interaction influence adherence to preventive measures. Using fliers advocating preventive measures, Experiment 1 investigated the effects of message content and examined the moderator role of individual differences. Experiment 2 presented the messages using news articles and manipulated sources.ResultsStudy 1 found decreasing adherence over time, with no significant impact from message content or individual differences. Study 2 found messages emphasizing 'protect yourself' and 'protect your country' to increase intentions for adherence to preventive measures. It also revealed an interaction between message source and content whereby messages emphasizing personal benefit were more effective when they came from healthcare professionals than from state officials. However, message source and content did not affect vaccination intentions or donations for vaccine research.ConclusionEffective health communication requires simultaneous consideration of message source and content.
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    Multidimensional Intuitive-Analytic Thinking Style and Its Relation To Moral Concerns, Epistemically Suspect Beliefs, and Ideology
    (2023) Bayrak, Fatih; Dogruyol, Burak; Alper, Sinan; Yilmaz, Onurcan; 0000-0001-6350-6234
    Literature highlights the distinction between intuitive and analytic thinking as a prominent cognitive style distinction, leading to the proposal of various theories within the framework of the dual process model. However, it remains unclear whether individuals differ in their thinking styles along a single dimension, from intuitive to analytic, or if other dimensions are at play. Moreover, the presence of numerous thinking style measures, employing different terminology but conceptually overlapping, leads to confusion. To address these complexities, Newton et al. suggested the idea that individuals vary across multiple dimensions of intuitive-analytic thinking styles and distinguished thinking styles between 4 distinct types: Actively open-minded thinking, close-minded thinking, preference for effortful thinking, and preference for intuitive thinking. They proposed a new measure for this 4-factor disposition, The 4-Component Thinking Styles Questionnaire (4-CTSQ), to comprehensively capture the psychological outcomes related to thinking styles; however, no independent test exists. In the current pre-registered studies, we test the validity of 4-CTSQ for the first time beyond the original study and examine the association of the proposed measure with various factors, including morality, conspiracy beliefs, paranormal and religious beliefs, vaccine hesitancy, and ideology in an underrepresented culture, Turkiye. We found that the correlated 4-factor model of 4-CTSQ is an appropriate measure to capture individual differences based on cognitive style. The results endorse the notion that cognitive style differences are characterized by distinct structures rather than being confined to two ends of a single continuum.
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    All the Dark Triad and some of the Big Five traits are visible in the face
    (2021) Alper, Sinan; Bayrak, Fatih; Yilmaz, Onurcan; 0000-0001-6350-6234
    Some of the recent studies suggested that people can make accurate inferences about the level of the Big Five and the Dark Triad personality traits in strangers by only looking at their faces. However, later findings provided only partial support and the evidence is mixed regarding which traits can be accurately inferred from faces. In the current research, to provide further evidence on whether the Big Five and the Dark Triad traits are visible in the face, we report three studies, two of which were preregistered, conducted on both WEIRD (the US American) and non-WEIRD (Turkish) samples (N = 880). The participants in both the US American and Turkish samples were successful in predicting all Dark Triad personality traits by looking at a stranger's face. However, there were mixed results regarding the Big Five traits. An aggregate analysis of the combined dataset demonstrated that extraversion (only female), agreeableness, and conscientiousness were accurately inferred by the participants in addition to the Dark Triad traits. Overall, the results suggest that inferring personality from faces without any concrete source of information might be an evolutionarily adaptive trait.
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    Inferring political and religious attitudes from composite faces perceived to be related to the dark triad personality traits
    (2021) Alper, Sinan; Bayrak, Fatih; Yilmaz, Onurcan
    We used composite face images perceived to have different levels of Dark Triad personality traits (narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) and asked participants to predict these target individuals' religious and political identities. In Study 1 (N = 550), Turkish participants rated faces with higher levels of perceived Dark Triad traits as less likely to be religious, to believe in God, and more likely to be left-winger, and to vote for a leftleaning party in all categories except for male narcissism. In a pre-registered follow-up study (N = 1001), we recruited a nationally representative US sample and replicated the same results with minor differences regarding male and female narcissism, and voting preferences. Participants' own political and ideological identities and their stereotypical evaluation of the target groups were mostly ineffective in explaining their predictions. The results suggest that people can perceive faces with higher levels of Dark Triad traits as less religious and less conservative.
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    Psychological correlates of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and preventive measures: Evidence from Turkey
    (2020) Alper, Sinan; Bayrak, Fatih; Yilmaz, Onurcan; 32837129
    COVID-19 pandemic has led to popular conspiracy theories regarding its origins and widespread concern over the level of compliance with preventive measures. In the current preregistered research, we recruited 1088 Turkish participants and investigated (a) individual differences associated with COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs; (2) whether such conspiracy beliefs are related to the level of preventive measures; and (3) other individual differences that might be related to the preventive measures. Higher faith in intuition, uncertainty avoidance, impulsivity, generic conspiracy beliefs, religiosity, and right-wing ideology, and a lower level of cognitive reflection were associated with a higher level of belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories. There was no association between COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and preventive measures while perceived risk was positively and impulsivity negatively correlated with preventive measures. We discuss the implications and directions for future research.