Anna Szala

Oakland University · Department of Psychology

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three large-scale psychological studies to examine the effects of loss-gain framing, cognitive reappraisals, and autonomy framing manipulations on behavioral intentions and affective measures. The data collected (April to October 2020) included specific measures...

The COVID-19 pandemic (and its aftermath) highlights a critical need to communicate health information effectively to the global public. Given that subtle differences in information framing can have meaningful effects on behavior, behavioral science research highlights a pressing question: Is it more effective to frame COVID-19 health messages in t...

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. Left unchecked, these emotional changes might have a wide array of adverse impacts. To reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, we tested the effectiveness of reappraisal, an emotion-regulation strategy that modifies how one thinks about...

There has been much debate around the ultimate explanation of cultural displays such as music and art. There are two main competing hypotheses for the function of music: sexual selection or byproduct of the complexity of the human brain. Although there is evidence that playing music increases male attractiveness, the sexual selection explanation ma...

Significance Communicating in ways that motivate engagement in social distancing remains a critical global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study tested motivational qualities of messages about social distancing (those that promoted choice and agency vs. those that were forceful and shaming) in 25,718 people in 89 countries...

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. Left unchecked, these emotional changes might have a wide array of adverse impacts. To reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, we tested the effectiveness of reappraisal, an emotion-regulation strategy that modifies how one thinks about...

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. Left unchecked, these emotional changes might have a wide array of adverse impacts. To reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, we tested the effectiveness of reappraisal, an emotion-regulation strategy that modifies how one thinks about...

Effectively motivating social distancing—keeping a physical distance from others —has become a global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-country preregistered experiment (n=25,718 in 89 countries) tested hypotheses derived from self-determination theory concerning generalizable positive and negative outcomes of differen...

Evolutionary-based predictions imply that the premenstrual syndrome (PMS) affects women who failed to conceive while in biosocial conditions that allow immediate reproduction. We investigated how the PMS is related to the heart rate variability (HRV), a marker of general fitness and well-being. The HRV indices (SDNN and rMSSD) were calculated using...

Discrimination in the housing market is associated with decreased social integration and is costly both at social and individual levels. Here we studied discrimination in English and Polish housing markets. In line with previous research, we expected ethnic- and gender-based discrimination to occur in both housing markets. Conducting a preregistere...

Several studies have documented ethnic and gender discrimination in a variety markets, including the housing market. Discrimination in the housing market is associated with decreased social integration and is costly both at social and individual levels. In the current pre-registered field experiment, we sent inquires to advertisements for rentals i...

In general, adults invest more in related children compared to unrelated children. To test whether this pattern reflects variations in psychological kinship estimates (i.e., putative relatedness weighted by certainty in relatedness), willingness to invest in children belonging to different categories (direct offspring, nieces/nephews, stepchildren,...

Have humans always waged war? Is warring an ancient evolutionary adaptation or a relatively recent behavior—and what does that tell us about human nature? This book brings together experts in evolutionary biology, archaeology, anthropology, and primatology to answer fundamental questions about peace, conflict, and human nature in an evolutionary co...