Addressing climate change with behavioral science: A global intervention tournament in 63 countries
Science Advances, vol. 10, pp. eadj5778
Abstract
Effectively reducing climate change requires marked, global behavior change. However, it is unclear which strategies are most likely to motivate people to change their climate beliefs and behaviors. Here, we tested 11 expert-crowdsourced interventions on four climate mitigation outcomes: beliefs, policy support, information sharing intention, and an effortful tree-planting behavioral task. Across 59,440 participants from 63 countries, the interventions' effectiveness was small, largely limited to nonclimate skeptics, and differed across outcomes: Beliefs were strengthened mostly by decreasing psychological distance (by 2.3%), policy support by writing a letter to a future-generation member (2.6%), information sharing by negative emotion induction (12.1%), and no intervention increased the more effortful behavior-several interventions even reduced tree planting. Last, the effects of each intervention differed depending on people's initial climate beliefs. These findings suggest that the impact of behavioral climate interventions varies across audiences and target behaviors.
Authors 98
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Madalina Vlasceanu corresponding
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Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA
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Kimberly C Doell corresponding
University of Vienna · New York University
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Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna 1010, Austria
Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA
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Joseph B. Bak-Coleman corresponding
Harvard University · Columbia University
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Craig Newmark Center for Journalism Ethics and Security, Columbia University, New York, NY 10018, USA
Institute for Rebooting Social Media, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
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Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna 1010, Austria
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Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA
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Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
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Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA
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Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA
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San Luis Obispo, CA 93405, USA
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Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna 1010, Austria
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Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Utrecht, 3584 CB, Netherlands
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Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
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Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
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Amazon, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
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Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg
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Department of Psychology, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg 26129, Germany
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Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA
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Fondazione Santa Lucia · Sapienza University of Rome
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Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome 185, Italy
Santa Lucia Foundation, IRCCS, Rome 179, Italy
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Department of Philosophy, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
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Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia
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Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, San Martín de Porres 15102, Peru
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Universidade Federal do Paraná
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Post-Graduation Program in Linguistics, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba 80060150, Brasil
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UNSW Business School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
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Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
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Psixologiya Elmi Tədqiqat İnstitutu
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Psychology Scientific Research Institute, Baku, Azerbaijan
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Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute
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Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, Kisumu 1881-40100, Kenya
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Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen 9712TS, Netherlands
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Department of Economics, University of Hamburg, Hamburg 20146, Germany
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Department of Psychology, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi 129188, United Arab Emirates
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Department of Sociology, University of Bern, Bern 3012, Switzerland
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Université Libre de Bruxelles · Université Côte d'Azur · Laboratoire d'Anthropologie et de Psychologie Cognitives et Sociales
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Center for Social and Cultural Psychology, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels 1050, Belgium
LAPCOS, Université Côte d’Azur, Nice 6357, France
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Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Historical and Pedagogical Sciences, University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw 50-120, Poland
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Institute of Psychology, SWPS University, Warsaw 03-815, Poland
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Department of Psychology, Division of Behavioral & Organizational Sciences, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, NH 91711, USA
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Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, 6500 HE, Netherlands
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Department of Strategy and Management, Norwegian School of Economics, Bergen 5045, Norway
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Leuphana University of Lüneburg
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Department of Economic Psychology, Social Psychology and Experimental Methods, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Lüneburg 21335, Germany
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Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie
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Social and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, Sao Paulo 1241001, Brazil
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Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse
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Toulouse Business School, Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse. Toulouse, 31000, France
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Department of Economics, University of Hamburg, Hamburg 20146, Hamburg
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School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
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University of Wisconsin–Madison
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Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
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University of Inland Norway · University of Amsterdam
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Department of Psychology, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Elverum 2418, Norway
Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, 1018 WT, Netherlands
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Policy Research Department, Kyiv School of Economics, Kyiv 2000, Ukraine
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Department of Organisation, Strategy, and Entrepreneurship, School of Business and Economics, Maastricht University, Maastricht 6211 LK, Netherlands
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Department of Psychology and Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva 1205, Switzerland
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Slovak Academy of Sciences · Institute for Sociology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences
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Institute for Sociology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava 81364, Slovakia
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Psychological Science, Pomona College, Claremont, CA 91711, USA
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Department of Movement Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven 3001, Belgium
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Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
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Escuela de Psicología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
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School of Psychology, Speech, and Hearing, University of Canterbury, University of Canterbury, Christchurch 8051, New Zealand
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Department of Marketing, King’s Business School, King’s College London, London WC2B 4BG, UK
Department of Marketing, King's Business School, King's College London, London WC2B 4BG, UK
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Department of Management and Marketing, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
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Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology
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Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan 44919, Republic of Korea
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Department of Marketing, University of Virginia, Darden School of Business, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA
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University of Groningen · Hebrew University of Jerusalem
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Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 9190501, Israel
Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen 9712 CP, Netherlands
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Adolfo Ibáñez University · University of Birmingham
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Center for Social and Cognitive Neuroscience (CSCN), School of Psychology, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Viña del Mar, Chile
Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
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Faculty of Management, Canadian University Dubai, Dubai 117781, United Arab Emirates
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Kieskompas–Election Compass, Amsterdam 1052XH, Netherlands
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Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
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Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
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Escuela de Psicología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 8331150, Chile
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Ghent University · Esade · Universitat Ramon Llull
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Department of Developmental, Personality and Social Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent 9000, Belgium
Department of People Management and Organization, Esade Business School, Universitat Ramon Llull, Barcelona 8034, Spain
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Behavioral Economics and Engineering Group, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium
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Université Rennes 2 · Laboratoire de Psychologie : Cognition, Comportement, Communication
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LP3C, Université Rennes 2, Rennes 35000, France
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Department of Psychology, Saarland University, Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
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University of Wisconsin–Madison
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Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
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Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN), University of Hamburg, Hamburg 20146, Germany
Department of Economics, University of Hamburg, Hamburg 20146, Germany
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Amsterdam School of Communication Research, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1018WV, Netherlands
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Department of Psychology, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia
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Department of Management, Aarhus University, Aarhus 8210, Denmark
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University of Leicester · University of Birmingham
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Department of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
Department of Vision Science, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
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Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht 3508 TC, Netherlands
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Leuphana University of Lüneburg
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Institute of Management & Organization, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Lüneburg 21335, Germany
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Department of Political Science & Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
Kieskompas–Election Compass, Amsterdam 1052XH, Netherlands
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Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg 5020, Salzburg
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HEI-Lab: Digital Human-Environment Interaction Labs, Lusófona University, Lisbon 1700, Portugal
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Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
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School of Management, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich 80539, Germany
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Comenius University Bratislava
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Institute of European Studies and International Relations, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University Bratislava, Bratislava 82105, Slovakia
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Laboratorio de Neurociencia, Escuela de Negocios, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Buenos Aires C1428, Argentina
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Department of Psychology, Saarland University, Saarbrücken 66123, Germany
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School of Global Studies, Thammasat University, Bangkok 12121, Thailand
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National Research University Higher School of Economics
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Center for Sociocultural Research, HSE University, Moscow 101000, Russia
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Environmental Psychology, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna A-1010, Austria
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Leuphana University of Lüneburg
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Institute for Management and Organization, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Lüneburg 21335, Germany
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Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts
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Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Skopje 1000, North Macedonia
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Faculty of Philosophy, Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, Krakow 30-060, Poland
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Jigsaw, Google, New York, NY 10011, USA
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Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 2138, USA
Digital Data and Design Institute at Harvard, Harvard University, Allston, Boston, MA 2134, USA
Harvard Business School, Harvard University, Boston, MA 2163, USA
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School of Psychology and Sport Science, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge CB1 1PT, UK
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University of Bergen · University of Stavanger
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Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory, University of Stavanger, Stavanger 4021, Norway
Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, Bergen 5007, Norway
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University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
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Department of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum 44801, Germany
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Department of Psychology, University of Limerick, Limerick V94T9PX, Ireland
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Department of Psychology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
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Department of Personality Psychology, Yerevan State University, Yerevan 0025, Armenia
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National Research University Higher School of Economics
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Center for Sociocultural Research, HSE University, Moscow 101000, Russia
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University of Colorado Boulder
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Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
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University of the Philippines Visayas
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Division of Social Sciences, University of the Philippines Visayas, Miagao 5023, Philippines
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Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University, Herzliya 4610101, Israel
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Faculty of Psychology, University of Basel, Basel 4055, Switzerland
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