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Browse the failure-mode index

309 real negative results, null findings, and replication failures in Psychology. 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

First-Year Students’ Research Challenges: Does Watching Videos on Common Struggles affect Students’ Research Self-Efficacy?

Savannah Kelly · 2017 · Evidence Based Library and Information Practice

Abstract Objective – The purpose of this quantitative study was to measure the impact of providing research struggle videos on first-year students’ research self-efficacy. The three-part video series explicated and briefly addressed common…

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Replication FailureOpen accessPsychology

Concurrent Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Alcohol Use Disorder in Women

Anna Persson, Åsa Axén, Andrea Johansson Capusan et al. · 2025 · JAMA Network Open

Importance: Trauma-focused treatments are effective for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but are rarely offered to patients with comorbid substance use disorder. Research suggests gender-based differences in prevalence and treatment needs for these patients, but treatment trials have mainly included men. Objective: To evaluate whether integrated trauma-focused psychological treatment (ie, integrated treatment) leads to greater reduction in PTSD symptom severity and weekly alcohol use than usual treatment (ie, relapse prevention) for alcohol use disorder (AUD) in women. Design, Setting, and

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Dental Hygiene Students’ Perceptions of Older Adults

R. Constance Wiener, Alcinda Trickett Shockey, D. Leann Long · 2014 · Journal of Dental Education

Geriatric education is an important component of the dental hygiene curriculum because, in it, students acquire skills and attitudes to help provide quality care to older adults. The purpose of this study was to determine if off-site…

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Replication FailureOpen accessPsychology

Efficacy and Safety of Psilocybin in Treatment-Resistant Major Depression

Lea J. Mertens, Michael Koslowski, Felix Betzler et al. · 2026 · JAMA Psychiatry

Importance: Psilocybin shows promise in treating depression, although limitations of previous research warrant further research. Objective: To investigate the efficacy and safety of oral psilocybin, 25 mg, with adjunct psychotherapy in…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Power vs. persuasion: can open body postures embody openness to persuasion?

Ioana M. Latu, Sean Duffy, Vaani Pardal et al. · 2017 · Comprehensive Results in Social Psychology

In the current study, we sought to replicate the finding that adopting an open/expansive body posture increases subjective feelings of power, while also investigating how these body postures influence the processing of persuasive messages.…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Advancing the psychology of social class with large-scale replications in four countries

Anatolia Batruch, Nicolas Sommet, Frédérique Autin · 2025 · Nature Human Behaviour

Abstract Theoretical models have been developed to understand how social class influences individual thoughts, feelings and behaviours. However, the validity of these models is threatened by the prevailing use of small, non-diverse samples and flexible measurement practices. We preregistered replications of 35 key hypotheses from 17 correlational and 5 experimental studies, and collected large, quota-based or probability samples from the USA, France, Switzerland and India ( N total = 33,536). Our analysis yielded three central findings: (1) ~50% of the effects were successfully replicated; (2)

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

The Influence of Reward on Facial Mimicry: No Evidence for a Significant Effect of Oxytocin

Irene Trilla, Hanna Drimalla, Malek Bajbouj et al. · 2020 · Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience

Recent findings suggest a role of oxytocin on the tendency to spontaneously mimic the emotional facial expressions of others. Oxytocin-related increases of facial mimicry, however, seem to be dependent on contextual factors. Given previous literature showing that people preferentially mimic emotional expressions of individuals associated with high (vs. low) rewards, we examined whether the reward value of the mimicked agent is one factor influencing the oxytocin effects on facial mimicry. To test this hypothesis, 60 male adults received 24 IU of either intranasal oxytocin or placebo in a doubl

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

The effects of exposure to objective coherence on perceived meaning in life: a preregistered direct replication of Heintzelman, Trent & King (2013)

Kaylin Ratner, Anthony L. Burrow, Felix Thoemmes · 2016 · Royal Society Open Science

Having a sense of meaning in life (MIL) has been acknowledged as a catalyst to psychological flourishing. As such, understanding ways to promote MIL represents a worthy goal for those interested in bolstering positive outcomes. This study sought to replicate the findings of Heintzelman, Trent & King (2013 Psychol. Sci. 24 , 991–998 ( doi:10.1177/0956797612465878 )), who found that MIL could be influenced by external stimulation. Their findings suggest that exposure to coherent stimuli produces significantly higher MIL scores than exposure to incoherent stimuli. Using materials and methodol

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Perceived Stress and Self-Esteem as Significant Predictors of Cigarette Smoking Behavior of Bangladeshi Male Adults

Muhammad Kamal Uddin, Md Tarikul Islam, Muhammad Asaduzzaman · 2026 · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)

A large body of research has documented that smoking behavior is associated with a number of psychological variables. Weiss, Mouttapa, Cen, Johnson, and Unger (2011) studied a culturally diverse sample of 1,771 adolescents who reported that the risk of smoking initiation was significantly higher among students who scored higher on hostility and depressive symptoms, and were bully-victims. Mykletun, Overland, Aaro, Liabo, and Stewart (2008) carried out a population-based health survey on 60,814 adults aged between 20 to 89 years and reported that anxiety and depression were the most common in c

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Association between glutamate transporter gene polymorphisms and obsessive-compulsive disorder/trait empathy in a Korean population

Hae Won Kim, Jee In Kang, Eunhee Hwang et al. · 2018 · PLoS ONE

Accumulating evidence suggests that the glutamatergic system plays a major role in the pathophysiology of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and empathic processing. Particularly, genetic influence of glutamate transporter gene (SLC1A1) on OCD has been frequently replicated in previous studies, but several studies did not replicate the result. Therefore, we aimed to replicate the associations between the SLC1A1 and OCD in a Korean population. In addition, we investigated the influence of SLC1A1 on trait empathy, impairments in which are characteristic of OCD. Six single-nucleotide polymorphis

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Interventions for children and adolescents with specific learning disability and co-occurring disorders

Daniel R. Espinas, Sharon Vaughn, Lynn S. Fuchs · 2025 · Pediatric Research

Interventions for individuals with specific learning disabilities (SLD) largely focus on performance within a single performance domain (e.g., reading). However, it is more the rule than the exception that individuals with SLD will experience difficulties that span multiple domains (e.g., reading and mathematics), and that co-occur with other disorders (e.g., attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder). In this article, we discuss what has been learned about supporting children and adolescents with SLD affecting multiple performance domains (i.e., reading and mathematics), and with common co-occ

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Apology Cost Is More Strongly Associated With Perceived Sincerity Than Forgiveness

Yohsuke Ohtsubo, Miyu Higuchi · 2022 · Letters on Evolutionary Behavioral Science

This study aimed at replicating a previously reported pattern: costly apologies are perceived as more sincere than non-costly apologies even when the transgression was unintentional, while costly apologies do not foster forgiveness more than non-costly apologies when the transgression was unintentional. We conducted a vignette study with a 2 (apology cost: costly vs. non-costly) × 3 (intention: no vs. ambiguous vs. malicious intention) between-participants factorial design. We failed to replicate the aforementioned pattern. Instead, we found that costly apologies promote not only perceived sin

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Detecting the contagion effect in mass killings; a constructive example of the statistical advantages of unbinned likelihood methods

Sherry Towers, Anuj Mubayi, Carlos Castillo‐Chávez · 2018 · PLoS ONE

BACKGROUND: When attempting to statistically distinguish between a null and an alternative hypothesis, many researchers in the life and social sciences turn to binned statistical analysis methods, or methods that are simply based on the moments of a distribution (such as the mean, and variance). These methods have the advantage of simplicity of implementation, and simplicity of explanation. However, when null and alternative hypotheses manifest themselves in subtle differences in patterns in the data, binned analysis methods may be insensitive to these differences, and researchers may erroneou

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Enhancing Intuitive Decision-Making and Reliance Through Human–AI Collaboration: A Review

Gerui Xu, Shruthi Venkatesha Murthy, Bochen Jia · 2025 · Informatics

As AI decision support systems play a growing role in high-stakes decision making, ensuring effective integration of human intuition with AI recommendations is essential. Despite advances in AI explainability, challenges persist in fostering appropriate reliance. This review explores AI decision support systems that enhance human intuition through the analysis of 84 studies addressing three questions: (1) What design strategies enable AI systems to support humans’ intuitive capabilities while maintaining decision-making autonomy? (2) How do AI presentation and interaction approaches influence

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Robustness of the rule‐learning effect in 7‐month‐old infants: A close, multicenter replication of Marcus et al. (1999)

Andreea Geambașu, Sybren Spit, Daan van Renswoude et al. · 2022 · Developmental Science

We conducted a close replication of the seminal work by Marcus and colleagues from 1999, which showed that after a brief auditory exposure phase, 7-month-old infants were able to learn and generalize a rule to novel syllables not previously present in the exposure phase. This work became the foundation for the theoretical framework by which we assume that infants are able to learn abstract representations and generalize linguistic rules. While some extensions on the original work have shown evidence of rule learning, the outcomes are mixed, and an exact replication of Marcus et al.'s study has

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Impact of family engagement on client participation in coordinated specialty care for first episodes of psychosis

Marielle Demarais, Melissa Fisher, Anne Williams-Wengerd et al. · 2024 · BMC Psychiatry

BACKGROUND: Coordinated specialty care (CSC) programs for first episodes of psychosis are increasingly offered in the United States. A component of CSC programs is active family engagement in treatment, though research on the impact of…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Virtual reality training to improve socio‐emotional functioning in adolescents with developmental language disorders: A multiple baseline effectiveness study

E. G. J. M. Arts, Bram Orobio de Castro, Ellen Luteijn et al. · 2024 · Social Development

Abstract This study investigated whether interactive virtual reality (VR) training of social and emotional abilities (InterAction) improves socio‐emotional functioning of youth with developmental language disorders (DLD). To this end we conducted a multiple baseline intervention study, comparing participants’ social abilities during a baseline phase with their changes in abilities during the intervention and posttest phase. The training group consisted of 29 adolescents ( 20 boys, 9 girls ) with DLD from the Netherlands. The training consisted of nine, weekly (45–50 min) individual sessions wi

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Negative / Null Result ReportPsychology

Narcissism and Reactions to a Self-Esteem Insult: An Experiment Using Predictions from Self-Report and the Rorschach Task

Emanuela S. Gritti, Gregory J. Meyer, Robert F. Bornstein et al. · 2020 · Journal of Personality Assessment

We used self-reported narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability and a component derived from 11 potential grandiosity and narcissism variables (GNVs) coded from Rorschach behavior to predict fluctuations in self-esteem and their links to…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Does baseline severity interact with the effects of psychotherapy for depression? A meta-analytic review

Pim Cuijpers, Mathias Harrer, Clara Miguel et al. · 2026 · Journal of Affective Disorders

It is not yet clear whether baseline severity is associated with the effects of psychotherapies. We examined baseline severity at the study level in a large sample of randomized controlled trials comparing psychotherapies against a control condition for the treatment of depression. We used an existing large database of randomized trials comparing psychotherapies for depression with control groups ( www.metapsy.org ). We converted baseline severity scores across different depression measures into a common metric. We ran bivariable and multivariable meta-regression analyses to examine the associ

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Training language models to be warm can reduce accuracy and increase sycophancy

Lujain Ibrahim, Franziska Sofia Hafner, Luc Rocher · 2026 · Nature

. Here we show how this can create a significant trade-off: optimizing language models for warmth can undermine their performance, especially when users express vulnerability. We conducted controlled experiments on five different language models, training them to produce warmer responses, then evaluating them on consequential tasks. Warm models showed substantially higher error rates (+10 to +30 percentage points) than their original counterparts, promoting conspiracy theories, providing inaccurate factual information and offering incorrect medical advice. They were also significantly more lik

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

On the universality of aesthetic preference and inference: a cross-cultural (Chinese–German) study

Chantal A. Miller, Keshun Zhang, Ronald Hübner · 2025 · Humanities and Social Sciences Communications

Abstract Aesthetic preferences vary widely among individuals and across cultures. These culture-specific aesthetic preferences are reflected in the environment, artistic behaviour, and consumer choices. People have the ability to infer the aesthetic preferences of others within their own culture through their Theory of Aesthetic Preferences , which is a subcategory of the Theory of Mind. An important question is whether people can also infer aesthetic preferences across different cultures. This study aimed to investigate aesthetic preference and aesthetic inference, as well as the underlying m

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Manipulating self and other schemas to explore psychological processes associated with paranoid beliefs: an online experimental study

Anton P. Martinez, Elizabeth Milne, Georgina Rowse et al. · 2025 · Frontiers in Psychology

BackgroundInformation about the self and others is organized in cognitive-affective structures that influence and guide interpersonal behavior. These structures are referred to as relational schemas and are thought to be influenced by early interpersonal experiences with significant others leading to secure or insecure attachment patterns as adults. When insecure, these patterns appear to contribute to paranoid interpretations about the intentions of others by indirect pathways such as negative self-esteem and a bias toward untrustworthiness. Experimental studies employing classical conditioni

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

The selective cognitive benefits of long-term Tai Chi practice on executive function of students: a study on young adults

Sime Nkemeni Darrin, Hong Hao, Cheng Long et al. · 2026 · Frontiers in Psychology

IntroductionThis study investigates the cognitive effects of long term (years of practice) Tai Chi practice, revealing mixed outcomes for executive functions. This study equally addresses the gap in research regarding the long term effects of Tai Chi, emphasizing its influence on the executive functions of young adults.MethodsUsing the BRIEFA scale and tasks like the Flanker task, More Odd Shift Task, and Nback tasks, significant differences emerged between Tai Chi students and nonstudents.ResultsIn the results, Tai Chi students demonstrated superior inhibitory control and working memory compa

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Does Action vs. State Orientation Really Matter in The Susceptibility to Sunk Cost Fallacy? A Conceptual Replication Study

Miroslava Galasová, Matúš Grežo · 2021 · Studia Psychologica

The theory of action versus state orientation suggests that state-oriented people are more susceptible to sunk cost fallacy than action-oriented people because they ruminate about past costs and are reluctant to change their course of actions. However, research on the role of action versus state orientation in sunk cost fallacy is fairly limited. Therefore, the present paper aims to conceptually replicate the seminal study by van Putten et al. (2010) and verify whether action versus state orientation really matters in the susceptibility to sunk cost fallacy. We also examined the role of gender

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Dual Task Effects on Visual Attention Capacity in Normal Aging

Erika C. S. Künstler, Melanie D. Penning, Natan Napiórkowski et al. · 2018 · Frontiers in Psychology

Older adults show higher dual task performance decrements than younger adults. While this is assumed to be related to attentional capacity reductions, the precise affected functions are not specified. Such specification is, however, possible based on the “theory of visual attention” (TVA) which allows for modeling of distinct attentional capacity parameters. Furthermore, it is unclear whether older adults show qualitatively different attentional effects or whether they show the same effects as younger adults experience under more challenging conditions. By varying the complexity of the seconda

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