read your PDFs!!

look up "sci hub" for a recent mirror | a harmless gdrive folder with some pdfs i read a lot of studies! some for fun, some for work. most in some sort of psychological field. and often i think people on tumblr would appreciate a link to the cool ones. so i'm posting links to cool studies i've read!

[studiesiread]

Fisting Subjectivity: Narratives of Sexual Subjectivity Among Gay Fist-Fuckers

In the kinkster and explorer narratives it is particularly evident that the disarticulation of fist-play from the penis gives rise to a “different economy of bodies and pleasures” (Simula, 2019, p. 209) and provides a less phallocentric framework for making sense of desire, practice, and pleasure. Here, fist-fucking does not appear to be a “narrow” project simply seeking to achieve (genital) orgasmic release, but a more holistic, fulfilling, and multidimensional project of exploring erotic intensities that enable fist-fuckers to tap into otherwise inaccessible physical, psychological, and spiritual horizons.

Martin, J. H. (2024). Fisting Subjectivity: Narratives of Sexual Subjectivity Among Gay Fist-Fuckers. The Journal Of Sex Research, 62(3), 398–410. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2024.2339521

open access!

[studiesiread]

“It is for God to judge”: Understanding Why and When Islamic Religiosity Inhibits Homotolerance

[W]e find that Islamic religiosity as such hardly fuels intolerance of homosexual people. In fact, our results show that even believing that Islam forbids homosexuality does not necessarily fuel Muslims’ intolerance of homosexual people. Rather, what is pivotal, is whether such beliefs are coupled with a willingness to judge, rather than leaving judgment to Allah.

Geurts, N., Glas, S. & Spierings, N. (2023). “It is for God to judge” 1 : Understanding Why and When Islamic Religiosity Inhibits Homotolerance. Journal Of Homosexuality, 71(13), 2901–2926. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2023.2267723

open access!

[studiesiread]

Playing dice with criminal sentences: the influence of irrelevant anchors on experts' judicial decision making

Judicial sentencing decisions should be guided by facts, not by chance. The present research however demonstrates that the sentencing decisions of experienced legal professionals are influenced by irrelevant sentencing demands even if they are blatantly determined at random. [...] Expertise and experience did not reduce this effect. This sentencing bias appears to be produced by a selective increase in the accessibility of arguments that are consistent with the random sentencing demand: The accessibility of incriminating arguments was higher if participants were confronted with a high rather than a low anchor.

Englich, B., Mussweiler, T., & Strack, F. (2006). Playing dice with criminal sentences: the influence of irrelevant anchors on experts' judicial decision making. Personality & social psychology bulletin, 32(2), 188–200. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167205282152

available in full on researchgate!

[studiesiread]

“Always a Step Behind, Dazed”: Romanticized Gender Violence and Melodramatic Convention in Twilight

The enthusiasm that Twilight’s largely female readership expresses for Edward’s abusive behavior may, at first glance, feel exceptionally strange. I argue, however, that the issue becomes less puzzling if we consider Twilight as descended from nineteenth-century melodrama and examine the series’ relationship to three nineteenth-century melodramatic conventions: a whiplash emotional structure, moral polarity, and a lack of character interiority.

Swanson, A. (2024). “Always a Step Behind, Dazed”: Romanticized Gender Violence and Melodramatic Convention in Twilight. Women’s Studies, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/00497878.2024.2358875

if you happen not to be subscribed to women's studies, you may check this blog's description for alternatives <3

[studiesiread]

Biased evaluation of incriminating and exonerating (non)evidence

Recent evidence suggests that convictions in criminal procedures are susceptible to biased decision making. In this study, the potential detrimental effects of confirmation bias and the feature positive effect (FPE) were explored. The former states that decision-makers will be more impressed by incriminating than by exonerating evidence. The latter states that they assign more weight to finding evidence than to the failure to secure it, even though the absence of evidence can be as diagnostic as its presence. [...] Findings partly confirmed the presence of both a confirmation bias and an FPE.

Eerland, A., & Rassin, E. (2010). Biased evaluation of incriminating and exonerating (non)evidence. Psychology, Crime & Law, 18(4), 351–358. https://doi.org/10.1080/1068316X.2010.493889

if you happen not to be subscribed to psychology, crime & law, you may check this blog's description for alternatives <3

[studiesiread]

The Last Bastion of Sexual and Gender Prejudice? Sexualities, Race, Gender, Religiosity, and Spirituality in the Examination of Prejudice Toward Sexual and Gender Minorities

In this article we drew on insights from queer theory to examine attitudes toward heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals, as well as individuals who practice polygamy, among college students. [...] Regression analyses revealed gender and race were significant predictors of attitudes toward various sexual and gender categories. Holding a literalistic view of the Bible and self-identifying as more religious were related to more negative views toward sexual minorities, while self-identifying as more spiritual was related to more positive views.

Cragun, R. T., & Sumerau, J. E. (2014). The Journal of Sex Research, 52(7), 821–834. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2014.925534

if you happen not to have a subscription to the journal of sex research, check this blog's description for some alternatives!

[studiesiread]

Context-Dependent Memory and Chewing Gum

Context-dependent memory refers to improved recall of specific episodes or information when the context present at encoding and retrieval are the same. The effects that chewing gum has on memory during the encoding phase has been studied many times with contrasting results. Some studies show evidence that chewing gum while encoding and during recall may improve performance and other studies show no effect. The current study sought to replicate and extend previous research. Results showed no support for the context-dependent memory phenomenon.

Ocker, M., & Kreitler, C.M. (2016). Context-Dependent Memory and Chewing Gum. free pdf link

TL;DR: nobody agrees whether chewing gum while studying helps you in an exam or not. this study's results showed no support for the claim. tis unfortunate

[studiesiread]

“You’re free from just a girl or a boy”: Nonbinary children’s understanding of their gender

In recent years, research on gender diversity in early childhood has increased significantly. However, much of the published literature still focuses on children whose experiences align with binary gender norms, inadvertently excluding nonbinary experiences from analysis. We seek to explore how nonbinary children, aged five to eight, perceive and understand their gender modality and experiences.

Salinas-Quiroz, F., Aral, T., Hillekens, J., Hölscher, S., & Demos, J. (2024). “You’re free from just a girl or a boy”: Nonbinary children’s understanding of their gender. International Journal of Transgender Health, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/26895269.2024.2351470

open access!