Jakob Pietschnig

University of Vienna | UniWien · Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology

After almost a century of global generational IQ test score gains, the Flynn effect has, in the past decades, been observed to show stagnation and reversals in several countries. Tentative evidence from academic achievement data has suggested that these trajectory changes may be rooted in a decreasing strength of the positive manifold of intelligen...

Objective Several recent accounts have failed to replicate the so‐called Narcissism Epidemic, suggesting potential influences of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in 2008 as a reason for narcissism trend reversals. Here, we provide evidence for narcissism test score changes from 1982 to 2023. Methods We investigated self‐report data on the Narciss...

Objectives In 2022, assisted suicide (AS) was legalized in Austria. We aimed to investigate the experiences and attitudes of palliative care (PC) and hospice nurses toward AS in Austria after the first year of implementation of the new law. Methods A cross-sectional survey was distributed online to nurses in every known specialized and general hos...

Generational IQ test score changes in the general population (i.e., the Flynn effect, typically reported as increases of 2-4 IQ points per decade) have recently been observed to behave inconsistently. It has been speculated that these inconsistencies may be attributable to the well-established negative relation of test score gains with psychometric...

Stereotype threat refers to the fear of being judged based on negative stereotypes about the performance of a certain group one identifies with. Numerous published studies have found that stereotype threat might lower mathematics test performance among women. However, many studies used suboptimal designs and analyses; the literature might be subjec...

Detachment from nature is contributing to the environmental crisis and reversing this trend requires detailed monitoring and targeted interventions to reconnect people to nature. Most tools measuring nature exposure and attachment were developed in high-income countries and little is known about their robustness across national and linguistic group...

Smoking behavior has been well-established to be more prevalent in individuals with psychosis and bipolar disorder compared to the general population. However, reports about higher suicide attempt prevalence of smoking compared to non-smoking patients suggest that smoking behavior may contribute to identifying at-risk groups of patients in a compar...

Over the past few years, more attention has been paid to jingle and jangle fallacies in psychological science. Jingle fallacies arise when two or more distinct psychological phenomena are erroneously labeled with the same term, while jangle fallacies occur when different terms are used to describe the same phenomenon. Jingle and jangle fallacies em...

Examining the relationship between self-assessed intelligence (SAI) and psychometric intelligence (IQ) is essential for understanding how people's self-evaluations reflect their actual intelligence. Various factors, such as SAI measurement methods, participant characteristics, and testing conditions have been hypothesized to moderate the SAI-IQ lin...

The concept of growth mindset—an individual’s beliefs that basic characteristics such as intelligence are malleable—has gained immense popularity in research, the media, and educational practice. Even though it is assumed that teachers need a growth mindset and that both teachers and their students benefit when teachers adopt a growth mindset, syst...

Negative associations of religiosity and intelligence are well established in psychological research. However, past studies have shown a substantial heterogeneity in reported effect strengths. Causes that may be able to explain the identified inconsistencies pertain to differing religiosity measurement modalities, participant ages, or possibly coho...

The concept of growth mindset—an individual’s beliefs that basic characteristics such as intelligence are malleable—has gained immense popularity in research, the media, and educational practice. Even though it is assumed that teachers need a growth mindset and that both teachers and their students benefit when teachers adopt a growth mindset, syst...

Regression ranks among the most popular statistical analysis methods across many research areas, including psychology. Typically, regression coefficients are displayed in tables. While this mode of presentation is information-dense, extensive tables can be cumbersome to read and difficult to interpret. Here, we introduce three novel visualizations...

Generational IQ test scores in the general population were observed to increase over time (i.e., the Flynn effect) across most of the 1900s. However, according to more recent reports, Flynn effect patterns have seemingly become less consistent. So far, most available evidence on this phenomenon has been categorized by drawing on the classic fluid v...

Transliminality refers to permeable mental boundaries that entail a susceptibility to, and awareness of, material from unconscious sources and the external environment. Here, we examined the extent to which transliminality is associated with the personality trait of Openness to Experience. Three samples of visitors to art galleries (total N = 770)...

Detachment from nature is contributing to the environmental crisis and reversing this trend requires detailed monitoring and targeted interventions to reconnect people to nature. Most tools measuring nature exposure and attachment were developed in high-income countries and little is known about their robustness across national and linguistic group...

Background The effectiveness of cloth face masks to prevent viral spread has not yet been conclusively established. In this meta-analysis, we evaluate their effectiveness in comparison to standard medical/surgical and N95-typed masks against viral spread. Methods We identified literature through a systematic search in three databases and meta-anal...

Quality of life (QoL) is a major patient reported outcome used to measure the psychological treatments success in people with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. To date, the specific impact of different interventions on QoL remains undefined. A meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) was carried out for this purpose. We searched Proques...

Over the past hundred years, a plethora of studies on intelligence and religiosity associations predominantly yielded evidence for a meaningful negative relation between these two variables. However, effect strengths varied substantially between primary studies and it has been suggested that religiosity and intelligence associations change as peopl...

Objective: We aimed to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychological symptom burden against the socioeconomic background of cancer patients using data from routine assessments before and during the pandemic Method: In this cross-sectional study, standardised assessment instruments were applied in N = 1,329 patients to screen for...

The Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) is a widely used measure of a core facet of the positive body image construct. However, extant research concerning measurement invariance of the BAS-2 across a large number of nations remains limited. Here, we utilised the Body Image in Nature (BINS) dataset – with data collected between 2020 and 2022 – to asse...

Causes of sex differences in educational achievement have been controversially discussed in the extant literature. It has been speculated that differing prosperity and equality of opportunities may be linked to these differences, but conclusive empirical evidence for such effects is unavailable. Here, we present evidence for sex differences in inte...

Generational intelligence test score gains over large parts of the 20th century have been observed to be negatively associated with psychometric g. Recent reports about changes in the cross-temporal IQ trajectory suggest that ability differentiation may be responsible for both changes in g as well as increasingly (sub)domain specific and inconsiste...

Generational intelligence test score gains over large parts of the 20th century have been observed to be nega- tively associated with psychometric g. Recent reports about changes in the cross-temporal IQ trajectory suggest that ability differentiation may be responsible for both changes in g as well as increasingly (sub-)domain-specific and inconsi...

In recent years, an ostensible Mozart effect, suggesting beneficial influences of listening to the sonata KV448 on epilepsy, has been extensively covered in popular media outlets. However, the evidential value of such a potential effect seems unclear. Here, we present the first formal meta-analysis on this topic, based on k = 8 studies (N = 207). F...

Introduction Higher intelligence has been associated with improved health and longevity. However, recent findings have claimed that exceptional intelligence may come at a cost. Individuals at the upmost end of the intelligence distribution are reported to be disproportionately afflicted by a set of stress-related physical and mental health conditio...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected psychological wellbeing in many aspects, but its influence on cancer patients it not yet clear, and studies show mixed results. Aims: We aimed to investigate the impact of the pandemic on psychological symptom burden against the socio-economic background of cancer patients using data from routine asses...

Generational IQ test score changes (the Flynn effect) were globally positive over large parts of the 20th century. However, accumulating evidence of recent studies shows a rather inconsistent pattern in past decades. Patterns of recently observed test score changes appeared to be markedly different in strength and even signs between countries and d...

Contrary to the common notion that personality and intelligence are unrelated constructs, numerous correlational studies have demonstrated substantial associations between the two domains. Moreover, samples of intellectually gifted individuals have been found to differ from the general population in specific aspects of their personalities. However,...

When cognitive and educational tests are administered under time limits, tests may become speeded and this may affect the reliability and validity of the resulting test scores. Prior research has shown that time limits may create or enlarge gender gaps in cognitive and academic testing. On average, women complete fewer items than men when a test is...

Novel evidence indicates that quality of sexual life is linked to the Dark Triad personality traits. However, results of Dark Triad research have often remained unreplicated, thus questioning the validity of observed effects. Here, we conceptually replicate and extend previous findings on the links of the Dark Triad to the quality of sexual life (i...

Intelligence has been consistently demonstrated to be a predictor of health outcomes. However, the exact mechanisms are subject of debate. Environmental and behavioral risk factors have been suggested to affect the intelligence-health association, but the available literature has mostly focused on children and young adults. Here, we aimed to invest...

Objective: Individuals with diverse sexual and gender orientations (i.e., identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual, non-binary, transgender, or otherwise as non-heterosexual or non cis-gender) are particularly vulnerable to the adverse psychosocial ramifications of COVID-19-related control measures such as lockdowns, social distancing, and sh...

Brain size and IQ are positively correlated. However, multiple meta-analyses have led to considerable differences in summary effect estimations, thus failing to provide a plausible effect estimate. Here we aim at resolving this issue by providing the largest meta-analysis and systematic review so far of the brain volume and IQ association (86 studi...

Over the past century, a remarkable body of research about the relationship of intelligence and religiosity has accumulated. So far, the majority of studies that investigated this relationship showed a negative correlation, indicating lower cognitive abilities of individuals reporting stronger religious beliefs. Although the effect direction has be...

Background Dementia in people with intellectual disability (ID) is frequent but hard to recognise. Evidence-based recommendations for suitable instruments are lacking. Aims The present study set out to evaluate informant-based dementia assessment instruments and to provide evidence-based recommendations for instruments most suitable in clinical pr...

When cognitive and educational tests are administered under time limits, tests may become speeded and this may affect reliability and validity of the resulting test scores. Prior research has shown that time limits may create or enlarge gender gaps in cognitive and academic testing. On average, women complete fewer items than men when a test is adm...

Effect misestimations plague Psychological Science, but advances in the identification of dissemination biases in general and publication bias in particular have helped in dealing with biased effects in the literature. However, the application of publication bias detection methods appears to be not equally prevalent across subdisciplines. It has be...

Inflated or outright false effects plague Psychological Science, but advances in the identification of dissemination biases in general and publication bias in particular have helped in dealing with biased effects in the literature. However, the application of publication bias detection methods appears to be not equally prevalent across subdisciplin...

Generational intelligence test score changes were predominantly positive over most of the past century. However, so far, only little is known about this so-called Flynn effect in children that have not yet been exposed to formal schooling. So far, the cross-temporal trajectory of performance changes on developmental tests is unclear. Here, we inves...

Wind conditions are well-known to affect results of ski jumping competitions. To alleviate effects of different head or tail winds and differences in inrun length due to jury or coaches’ decisions, the FIS (Féderation Internationale de Ski) has adopted a wind and gate compensation system since January 2010. However, the accuracy and fairness of the...

Happiness has been reported to influence and be influenced by internal and external factors. Among expatriate women, cultural background, employment status, and coping ability seem to influence happiness. In the present study we investigated the effects of culture and employment status on happiness whilst controlling for self-reported resilience as...

Empirical sciences in general and psychological science in particular are plagued by replicability problems and biased published effect sizes. Although dissemination bias-related phenomena such as publication bias, time-lag bias, or visibility bias are well-known and have been intensively studied, another variant of effect distorting mechanisms, so...

Achievement goal theory includes both personal motivational features (achievement goals) and contextual features (goal structures). The theory holds that the prevailing goal structures in learning environments (such as the classroom) influence the achievement goals students adopt. This meta-analysis (k = 68, N = 47,975) examined the strength of the...

Psychological correlates of adult nail biting have received little empirical attention so far, despite its high prevalence and negative associations with physical and mental health. One possible correlate of nail biting is arousal modulation, which has also been linked to smoking (i.e., another oral behavior). Here, we link nail biting to an adapti...

The identification of determinants and correlates of academic entitlement is of particular interest for researchers and (academic) tutors alike. Whilst personality traits have been linked to academic entitlement in the past, the relative importance of familial influence remains unclear. Hence, to address this deficit, this study utilizes a sample o...

Background The initial preference task (IPT) is an implicit measure that has featured prominently in the literature and enjoys high popularity because it offers to provide an unobtrusive and objective assessment of self-esteem that is easy to administer. However, its use for self-esteem assessment may be limited because of weak associations with di...

Characteristics of included samples. (DOCX)

References of included and excluded studies. (DOC)

R-code for included analyses. (DOCX)

When using behavioral-observation methods for coding video footage, it is unknown how much time of an interaction needs to be coded to gain results that are representative for the behavior of interest. The current study examined this problem using the INTAKT, a standardized observational measure for assessing the quality of mother-child interaction...

The Dark Triad of personality (Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy) is widely considered conceptually important for individual differences research into personality and interpersonal behavior. Recent research suggests to add trait sadism to its defining constructs (i.e., to form a Dark Tetrad), and that a single common dimension (the Dark Cor...

Abbreviations: 2D:4D = digit ratio; CI = confidence interval; F = female; FtM = female-to-male transgender; M = male; MtF = male-to-female transgender; TGI = transgender identity.

The Dark Triad of personality has received considerable attention since its introduction to the literature. However, this personality configuration has been assumed to be merely based on observed positive intercorrelations between narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy, whereas the underlying factorial structure has not yet been thoroughly i...

In today's world, researchers frequently utilize indirect measures of implicit (i.e., automatic, spontaneous) evaluations. The results of several studies have supported the usefulness of these measures in predicting behavior, as compared to utilizing direct measures of explicit (i.e., purposeful, deliberate) evaluations. A current, under-debate iss...

Influencing factors of materialism among residents of the UAE: The role of mortality salience and spirituality According to the Terror Management theory, the management of existential insecurity critically influences human behavior. In philosophical schools, spirituality is viewed as a contrast to the acquisition of materialistic possessions. We in...

Generational IQ test score changes (i.e., the Flynn effect) have been shown to affect most measures of cognitive ability, although certain domains appear to be impervious. Because IQ test score changes have been found to differ between domains, evidence for specific domains is warranted to explain the nature, meaning, and causes of the Flynn effect...

Background Previous epidemiological analyses indicated a decreasing trend of suicide rates for 10–19-year-olds in Austria for the period 1970–2001. However, data from the new millennium are missing. This epidemiological update reports on youth suicide in Austria, covering the period 2001–2014 in order to inform suicide preventive interventions targ...

Background: Impairments in facial emotion recognition (FER) have been detected in patients with Parkinson disease (PD). Presently, we aim at assessing differences in emotion recognition performance in PD patient groups with and without mild forms of cognitive impairment (MCI) compared to healthy controls. Methods: Performance on a concise emotio...

This study examined individual difference correlates of belief in a narrative about the discovery of giant skeletal remains that contravenes mainstream scientific explanations. A total of 364 participants from Central Europe completed a survey that asked them to rate their agreement with a short excerpt describing the giant skeleton myth. Participa...

Generational IQ changes (the Flynn effect) have been shown to be predominantly positive but differentiated according to IQ domains and countries. However, evidence from recent studies points towards a decrease of the Flynn effect globally or even a reversal in some countries. In the present meta-analysis, we show an inverse u-shaped trajectory of I...

Positive associations between human intelligence and brain size have been suspected for more than 150 years. Nowadays, modern non-invasive measures of in vivo brain volume (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) make it possible to reliably assess associations with IQ. By means of a systematic review of published studies and unpublished results obtained by pe...

Background: Deficits in facial emotion recognition (FER) have been shown to substantially impair several aspects in everyday life of affected individuals (e.g. social functioning). Presently, we aim at assessing differences in emotion recognition performance in three patient groups suffering from mild forms of cognitive impairment compared to heal...

Background Quality of life (QoL) has gained increasing attention as a desired outcome of psychosocial treatments targeting psychotic patients. Yet, the relationship between the patients’ satisfaction with services and QoL has not been clearly established, perhaps due to the multidimensionality of the QoL concept and the variability in its assessmen...

The Flynn effect (rising intelligence test performance in the general population over time and generations) varies enigmatically across countries and intelligence domains; its substantive meaning and causes remain elusive. This first formal meta-analysis on the topic revealed worldwide IQ gains across more than one century (1909–2013), based on 271...