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Vaccine confidence has emerged as one of the most relevant psychological factors implied in the worldwide affecting the fight against COVID-19-as well as public trust in doctors, medicine, and science. Indeed, the vaccine confidence is crucial to maximize the trust in vaccines and their use for prevention, with several implications for public health. This study aimed to analyse the relationships among between vaccine confidence, conspiracy beliefs about COVID-19, and satisfaction with science and medicine in handling the COVID-19 pandemic. A longitudinal observational survey was administered to a convenience sample (n = 544; mean age 52.76 y.o., SD = 15.11; females 46.69%) from the Italian general population. A two-waves mediation model-a structural equation model technique-was used. The survey was part of a larger international project (https://osf.io/qy65b/). The model highlighted that the conspiracy beliefs about COVID-19 had a negative effect on the satisfaction with medicine and science ([beta] = - 0.13, se = 0.03, p < .001). The latter, in turn, had a positive effect on vaccine confidence ([beta] = 0.10, se = .05, p < .001). Interestingly, the effect of conspiracy beliefs on vaccine confidence was completely mediated by the scientifical-medical satisfaction ([beta] = - 0.02, se = 0.01, p < .05). These results highlight how the scientifical-medical satisfaction can fully mediate the relationship between conspiracy beliefs about COVID-19 and vaccine confidence. These findings about vaccine hesitancy and confidence and disclose have implications for psychological and social interventions that could promote vaccine confidence by targeting the satisfaction with science and medicine., Author(s): Giuseppe Mignemi [sup.1] , Anna Panzeri [sup.1] , Umberto Granziol [sup.1] , Giovanni Bruno [sup.1] , Marco Bertamini [sup.1] , Giulio Vidotto [sup.1] , Andrea Spoto [sup.1] Author Affiliations: [...]

The aesthetics of abstract shapes — shapes devoid of meaning or familiarity — offer an intriguing subject for study, as it can offer insights into how we perceive and appreciate visual stimuli, shedding light on the underlying mechanisms of visual cognition and the nature of artistic experience. This research investigates the impact of contour type (angular versus rounded edges) and complexity (number of vertices) on aesthetic preferences, including their potential interaction. Additionally, we explored the influence of movement as an aesthetic variable, given its potential to enhance complexity, though the relationship between movement and complexity remains unexplored. Our findings indicate that both contour type and complexity significantly influence preferences, with shapes featuring curved contours and fewer vertices being favoured. This highlights the aesthetic appeal of curvature and simplicity. Contrary to expectations, movement did not have a noticeable effect on aesthetic judgements. While no overall interaction between contour type and complexity was found, this lack of interaction was obscured by significant individual differences. Specifically, within individuals, strong interactions between contour type and complexity were observed. It appears that these individual differences are due more to the varying emphasis (dominance) placed on each variable rather than a difference in the preference for specific characteristics. Future research should further analyse these individual differences to understand the nuanced dynamics of aesthetic preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commonly identified patterns of psychological distress in response to adverse events are characterized by resilience (i.e., little to no distress), delayed (i.e., distress that increases over time), recovery (i.e., distress followed by a gradual decrease over time), and sustained (i.e., distress remaining stable over time). This study aimed to examine these response patterns during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Anxiety and depressive symptom data collected across four European countries over the first year of the pandemic were analyzed (N = 3,594). Participants were first categorized into groups based on the four described patterns. Network connectivity and symptom clustering were then estimated for each group and compared. Two thirds (63.6%) of the sample displayed a resilience pattern. The sustained distress network (16.3%) showed higher connectivity than the recovery network (10.0%) group, p =.031; however, the resilient network showed higher connectivity than the delayed network (10.1%) group, p =.016. Regarding symptom clustering, more clusters emerged in the recovery network (i.e., three) than the sustained network (i.e., two). These results replicate findings that resilience was the most common mental health pattern over the first pandemic year. Moreover, they suggest that high network connectivity may be indicative of a stable mental health response over time, whereas fewer clusters may be indicative of a sustained distress pattern. Although exploratory, the network perspective provides a useful tool for examining the complexity of psychological responses to adverse events and, if replicated, could be useful in identifying indicators of protection against or vulnerability to future psychological distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aesthetic appeal of symmetry has been noted and discussed by artists, historians and scientists. To what extent this appeal is universal is a difficult question to answer. From a theoretical perspective, cross-cultural comparisons are important, because similarities would support the universality of the response to symmetry. Some pioneering work has focussed on comparisons between Britain and Egypt (Soueif & Eysenck, 1971, 1972), including both experts and naive subjects. These studies confirmed some degree of universal agreement in preferences for simple abstract symmetry. We revisited this comparison after almost half a century. We compared preferences of naïve students in Egypt (n = 200) and Britain (n= 200) for 6 different classes of symmetry in novel, abstract stimuli. We used three different measurements of complexity: Gif ratio, Edge length and the average cell size (average blob size, ABS). The results support Soueif & Eysenck’s findings regarding preferences for reflectional and rotational symmetry, however they also throw new light on a greater preference for simplicity in Egyptian participants already noted by Soueif & Eysenck (1971).