e-ISSN: Pending

Browse the failure-mode index

276 real negative results, null findings, and replication failures in Psychology · Negative / Null Result Report. Search the index →

WASTE indexes published research — it does not host or republish full papers. Each entry is a metadata record compiled from open scholarly databases; the abstract is shown in full only where the paper is openly licensed, otherwise a short excerpt under fair use. Classifications are automated and approximate.

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Community-based randomized controlled trial of psychological first aid with crime victims.

Michael R. McCart, Jason E. Chapman, Kristyn Zajac et al. · 2020 · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

OBJECTIVE: The first randomized controlled trial of psychological first aid (PFA) was conducted, using crime victims as participants. For study Aim 1, investigators tested whether paraprofessional victim advocates could be trained to…

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Test-retest reliability of a smartphone-based approach-avoidance task: Effects of retest period, stimulus type, and demographics

Hilmar Zech, Philip A. Gable, W. van Dijk et al. · 2022 · Behavior Research Methods

The approach-avoidance task (AAT) is an implicit task that measures people's behavioral tendencies to approach or avoid stimuli in the environment. In recent years, it has been used successfully to help explain a variety of health problems (e.g., addictions and phobias). Unfortunately, more recent AAT studies have failed to replicate earlier promising findings. One explanation for these replication failures could be that the AAT does not reliably measure approach-avoidance tendencies. Here, we first review existing literature on the reliability of various versions of the AAT. Next, we examine

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Opening Pandora’s Loot Box: Weak Links Between Gambling and Loot Box Expenditure in China, and Player Opinions on Probability Disclosures and Pity-Timers

Leon Y. Xiao, Tullia C. Fraser, Philip Newall · 2022 · Journal of Gambling Studies

Loot boxes are quasi-gambling virtual products in video games that provide randomised rewards of varying value. Previous studies in Western contexts have identified a positive correlation between loot box purchasing and problem gambling severity. A preregistered survey of People's Republic of China (PRC) video game players (N = 879) failed to replicate this correlation. We observed statistically significant but weak positive correlations between loot box expenditure and past-year gambling participation, and between loot box expenditure and impulsiveness. This study cannot prove that loot boxes

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Issues and advances in research methods on video games and cognitive abilities

Bartosz Sobczyk, Paweł Dobrowolski, Maciek Skorko et al. · 2015 · Frontiers in Psychology

The impact of video game playing on cognitive abilities has been the focus of numerous studies over the last 10 years. Some cross-sectional comparisons indicate the cognitive advantages of video game players (VGPs) over non-players (NVGPs) and the benefits of video game trainings, while others fail to replicate these findings. Though there is an ongoing discussion over methodological practices and their impact on observable effects, some elementary issues, such as the representativeness of recruited VGP groups and lack of genre differentiation have not yet been widely addressed. In this articl

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Published estimates of group differences in multisensory integration are inflated

John F. Magnotti, Michael S. Beauchamp · 2018 · PLoS ONE

A common measure of multisensory integration is the McGurk effect, an illusion in which incongruent auditory and visual speech are integrated to produce an entirely different percept. Published studies report that participants who differ in age, gender, culture, native language, or traits related to neurological or psychiatric disorders also differ in their susceptibility to the McGurk effect. These group-level differences are used as evidence for fundamental alterations in sensory processing between populations. Using empirical data and statistical simulations tested under a range of conditio

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Perinatal and psychosocial circumstances associated with risk of attempted suicide, non-suicidal self-injury and psychiatric service use. A longitudinal study of young people

Robert Young, Daniel Vincent Riordan, Cameron Stark · 2011 · BMC Public Health

BACKGROUND: Past studies using large population based datasets link certain perinatal circumstances (birth weight, parity, etc) with mental health outcomes such as suicide, self-harm and psychiatric problems. Problematically, population datasets omit a number of social confounds. The aim of this study is to replicate past research linking perinatal circumstances and mental health (suicidality and use of psychiatric services) and to determine if such associations remain after adjusting for social circumstances. METHODS: A longitudinal school-based survey of 2157 young people (surveyed at age 11

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

To interact or not to interact: The pros and cons of including interactions in linear regression models

Aljoscha Rimpler, Henk A. L. Kiers, Don van Ravenzwaaij · 2025 · Behavior Research Methods

Interaction effects are very common in the psychological literature. However, interaction effects are typically very small and often fail to replicate. In this study, we conducted a simulation comparing the generalizability and estimability of two linear regression models: one correctly specified to account for interaction effects and one misspecified including simple effects only. We manipulated noise levels, predictor variable correlations, and different sets of regression weights, resulting in 9216 different conditions. From each dataset, we drew 1000 samples of N = 25, 50, 100, 250, 500, a

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Limited generalisation of changes in attentional bias following attentional bias modification with the visual probe task

Bram Van Bockstaele, Elske Salemink, Susan M. Bögels et al. · 2015 · Cognition & Emotion

Although attentional bias modification (ABM) can change anxiety, recent studies failed to replicate such effects, possibly because the visual probe ABM failed to induce changes in attentional bias (AB). We investigated whether visual probe…

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Sequential Bayes Factor designs in developmental research: Studies on early word learning

Nivedita Mani, Melanie S. Schreiner, Julia Brase et al. · 2021 · Developmental Science

Developmental research, like many fields, is plagued by low sample sizes and inconclusive findings. The problem is amplified by the difficulties associated with recruiting infant participants for research as well as the increased variability in infant responses. With sequential testing designs providing a viable alternative to paradigms facing such issues, the current study implemented a Sequential Bayes Factor (SBF) design on three findings in the developmental literature. In particular, using the framework described by Schönbrödt and colleagues (2017), we examined infants' sensitivity to mis

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

“Can You Remember What Was in Your Pocket When You Were Stung by a Bee?”: Eliciting Cues to Deception by Asking the Unanticipated

Meiling Liu, Pär Anders Granhag, Sara Landström et al. · 2010 · The Open Criminology Journal

In this paper we focused on children's deception (10-12 years, Experiment 1), and adult's ability detect deception in children (Experiment 2). The self-presentational perspective By asking unanticipated questions we put the liars in the…

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Can a Commercial Video Game Prevent Depression? Null Results and Whole Sample Action Mechanisms in a Randomized Controlled Trial

Marlou Poppelaars, Anna Lichtwarck‐Aschoff, Roy Otten et al. · 2021 · Frontiers in Psychology

Depressive symptoms and disorders are major public health concerns, affecting many adolescents and young adults. Despite extensive research, depression prevention programs for youth show limited effectiveness. Moreover, the maximal potential of youth psychotherapy — on which depression prevention programs are based — may have been reached. Commercial video games may offer an engaging alternative vehicle for youth to practice emotional and social skills vital to mental health. The current study investigated the potential for the commercial video game Journey to prevent the exacerbation of depre

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Social Support Predicts Differential Use, but not Differential Effectiveness, of Expressive Suppression and Social Sharing in Daily Life

Lisanne S. Pauw, Hayley Medland, Sarah J. Paling et al. · 2022 · Affective Science

Abstract While emotion regulation often happens in the presence of others, little is known about how social context shapes regulatory efforts and outcomes. One key element of the social context is social support. In two experience sampling studies ( N s = 179 and 123), we examined how the use and affective consequences of two fundamentally social emotion-regulation strategies—social sharing and expressive suppression—vary as a function of perceived social support. Across both studies, we found evidence that social support was associated with variation in people’s use of these strategies, such

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

The role of goal-directed and habitual processes in food consumption under stress after outcome devaluation with taste aversion.

Eike Kofi Buabang, Yannick Boddez, Oliver T. Wolf et al. · 2022 · Behavioral Neuroscience

People are more likely to engage in various suboptimal behaviors such as overeating, addictive behaviors, and short-sighted financial decision-making when they are under stress. Traditional dual-process models propose that stress can…

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportPsychology

Revisiting desirable response bias in well-being reports

Samantha J. Heintzelman, Jason Trent, Laura A. King · 2014 · The Journal of Positive Psychology

Growing popular interest in positive psychology may have important implications for the measurement of well-being. Five studies tested the prediction that well-being ratings are influenced by desirability bias. In Study 1, participants (N…

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Association Between Care Utilization and Anxiety Outcomes in an On-Demand Mental Health System: Retrospective Observational Study

Sarah Kunkle, Manny Yip, Justin Hunt et al. · 2020 · JMIR Formative Research

BACKGROUND: Anxiety is an extremely prevalent condition, and yet, it has received notably less attention than depression and other mental health conditions from a research, clinical, and public health perspective. The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated growing concerns about the burden of anxiety due to the confluence of physical health risks, economic stressors, social isolation, and general disruption of daily activities. OBJECTIVE: This study examines differences in anxiety outcomes by care modality (coaching, teletherapy and telepsychiatry, and combined care) within an on-demand mental

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Inferiority, not similarity of the decoy to target, is what drives the transfer of attention underlying the attraction effect: Evidence from an eye-tracking study with real choices.

Michał Król, Magdalena Ewa Król · 2019 · Journal of Neuroscience Psychology and Economics

Recent studies reported that the attraction effect, whereby inferior decoys cause choice reversals, fails to replicate if the choice options are presented in a pictorial rather than abstract numerical form. We argue that the pictorial…

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Foreign accent does not influence cognitive judgments.

André Luiz Souza, Arthur B. Markman · 2013 · eScholarship (California Digital Library)

A recent paper by Lev-Ari and Keysar (2010) reported that the processing fluency associated with non-native speech causes non-native speakers to sound less credible.The authors found that the same trivia statements were rated as less…

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Null results of oxytocin and vasopressin administration on mentalizing in a large fMRI sample: evidence from a randomized controlled trial

Mark A. Straccia, Adam R. Teed, Perri L. Katzman et al. · 2021 · Psychological Medicine

BACKGROUND: Although potential links between oxytocin (OT), vasopressin (AVP), and social cognition are well-grounded theoretically, most studies have included all male samples, and few have demonstrated consistent effects of either neuropeptide on mentalizing (i.e. understanding the mental states of others). To understand the potential of either neuropeptide as a pharmacological treatment for individuals with impairments in social cognition, it is important to demonstrate the beneficial effects of OT and AVP on mentalizing in healthy individuals. METHODS: = 186) of healthy individuals, we exa

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportPsychology

Structured assessment of suicide risk in a psychiatric emergency service: Psychometric evaluation of the Nurses’ Global Assessment of Suicide Risk scale (NGASR)

Mark van Veen, Inge van Weeghel, Bauke Koekkoek et al. · 2014 · International Journal of Social Psychiatry

BACKGROUND: Risk of suicide is notoriously difficult to assess, and no gold standard is available, in terms of an instrument of first choice. Many different instruments are in use, among which are some that are not properly…

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportPsychology

Affect labelling increases the intensity of positive emotions

Valeriia V. Vlasenko, Emma G. Rogers, Christian E. Waugh · 2021 · Cognition & Emotion

Although affect labelling has been widely reported to decrease negative emotions, it is less clear whether affect labelling also decreases positive emotions. In four studies, we explored how affect labelling (choosing the emotion that best…

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

How bad is the mere presence of a phone? A replication of Przybylski and Weinstein (2013) and an extension to creativity

Claire Linares, Anne-Laure Sellier · 2021 · PLoS ONE

A 2013 article reported two experiments suggesting that the mere presence of a cellphone (vs. a notebook) can impair the relationship quality between strangers. The purpose of the present research is twofold: (1) closely replicate this article's findings, and (2) examine whether there may be an impact of the mere presence of a phone on creativity, whether at a group- or an individual- level. In two experiments (N = 356 participants, 136 groups), we followed the original procedure in the 2013 article. In particular, groups of participants who had never seen each other before the study had a con

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Journal N-Pact Factors From 2011 to 2019: Evaluating the Quality of Social/Personality Journals With Respect to Sample Size and Statistical Power

R. Chris Fraley, Jia Y. Chong, Kyle A. Baacke et al. · 2022 · Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science

Scholars and institutions commonly use impact factors to evaluate the quality of empirical research. However, a number of findings published in journals with high impact factors have failed to replicate, suggesting that impact alone may…

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportPsychology

Small-Group, Emergent Literacy Intervention Under Two Implementation Models: Intent-to-Treat and Dosage Effects for Preschoolers at Risk for Reading Difficulties

Shayne B. Piasta, Jessica A. R. Logan, Cynthia M. Zettler‐Greeley et al. · 2022 · Journal of Learning Disabilities

Preschool-age children identified as at risk for later reading difficulties can benefit from supplemental, small-group emergent literacy intervention. As such interventions become commercially available and marketed to preschool programs,…

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportPsychology

Simulating semantics: Are individual differences in motor imagery related to sensorimotor effects in language processing?

Emiko J. Muraki, Penny M. Pexman · 2021 · Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition

In embodied theories of semantic representation, the processes and mechanisms of modal simulations that are engaged during semantic processing have tended to be underspecified. We investigated the possibility that motor imagery may be a…

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Human brain changes after first psilocybin use

Terence J. Lyons, Merle Spriggs, Leevi Kerkelä et al. · 2026 · Nature Communications

Psychedelics have robust effects on acute brain function and long-term behavior but whether they also cause enduring functional and anatomical brain changes is largely unknown. In an exploratory, placebo-controlled, within-subjects, electroencephalography (EEG), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study in 28 healthy, entirely psychedelic-naive participants, anatomical and functional brain changes are detected from one-hour to one-month after a single high-dose (25 mg) of psilocybin. Increases in cognitive flexibility, psychological insight, and well-being are seen at one-month. Diffusion ten

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Motivational Computing: Transformer-Based Automation of Implicit Motive Coding

Joyce S. Pang, Hiram Ring, Kate Y Huang et al. · 2026 · Journal of Personality Assessment

Implicit motives have a clear relation to observed behavior but are time-consuming to measure. Automating the content coding of implicit motives has been a pursuit since the 1960s, but has not been widely adopted due to limitations with…

View details →
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

“It's not Paul, it's a robot”: The impact of linguistic framing and the evolution of trust and distrust in a collaborative robot during a human-robot interaction

Tobias Kopp, Marco Baumgartner, Steffen Kinkel · 2023 · International Journal of Human-Computer Studies

An appropriate level of human-robot trust is widely acknowledged as a crucial factor for successful human-robot interaction (HRI). Previous research has addressed anthropomorphic design but mostly neglected linguistic framing as a means to…

View details →