FSD3260 Understanding People and Understanding Things 2013 and 2015

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Study title

Understanding People and Understanding Things 2013 and 2015

Dataset ID Number

FSD3260

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3260

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

Abstract

The psychological follow-up study charted beliefs, thinking and reasoning. It surveyed, among others, the respondents' capacity for compassion, social skills, vaccine attitudes, and faulty reasoning (e.g. assigning spiritual traits to things that are not generally seen as having such traits). The dataset also contains the participants' responses to a previous study (FSD3259 Understanding People and Understanding Things 2013) to enable combining the responses to both studies. Some of the batteries of questions included standardised measures and some were developed by the researchers. The data were collected as part of a project funded by the Academy of Finland examining reasoning skills, intuitive skills in psychology and physics and the relationship of these skills with supernatural beliefs. Below is a description of the content and themes of the data collected in 2015. See the data description of FSD3259 for detailed information on the data collected in 2013.

The respondents' empathy was charted using the Basic Empathy Scale in Adults and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. Insight was measured with the help of Beck Cognitive Insight Scale. A modified Epistemic Understanding Questionnaire was used to examine views of knowing and knowledge.

The respondents were asked how often they acted tactlessly (e.g. were late for appointments, used their phone a lot in company, jumped queues) and whether acting that way would make them feel they were doing wrong. They were also asked whether they would describe certain words as being "spiritual" or "non-spiritual". Several statements were presented to gauge opinions on vaccination and its effects. A few test statements were presented to see whether the respondents read the instructions carefully. Finally, the respondents were asked whether they suspected they had Asperger's syndrome or autism and whether they had been diagnosed with either.

Background variables included, among others, age, gender, religious denomination, handedness, education, economic activity, place of study, and field of study or work.

Keywords

beliefs; cognitive processes; emotional states; knowledge (awareness); magic; perception; personality; personality traits; problem solving; reasoning; social behaviour; social interaction; supernatural

Topic Classification

Series

Individual datasets

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

  • Lindeman, Marjaana (University of Helsinki. Department of Psychology and Logopedics)
  • Svedholm-Häkkinen, Annika (University of Helsinki. Department of Psychology and Logopedics)
  • Riekki, Tapani (University of Helsinki. Department of Psychology and Logopedics)

Funders

  • Academy of Finland (266573)

Time Period Covered

2013 – 2015

Collection Dates

2013-10 – 2015-11

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Respondents who had participated in the earlier survey conducted in the research project

Time Method

Cross-section ad-hoc follow-up

Sampling Procedure

Total universe/Complete enumeration

The 2015 questionnaire was sent to the persons who had participated in the 2013 study and given their consent to be contacted for further studies. Both studies were conducted in October-November. In 2013, the participants were recruited through open online discussion forums and student email lists. The participants were able to share the invitation with others. Participation was voluntary and there were no exclusion criteria.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

1.0

Related Datasets

FSD3259 Understanding People and Understanding Things 2013

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

The questionnaire from 2013 does not contain the images related to the Pictorial Empathy Test battery 'PET' but they are available in a separate file. Additionally, in the map task, negative values for x1-y4 signify that the participant has clicked on a position outside the map. Variables x1oikein through yhtoik were added to the data based on the original researchers' syntaxes and they contain information on whether the respondent clicked on the correct spot on the map. The size of the correct spot was defined as 40 pixels wide and high. In order to have a value of 1 in variables k1oikein - k4oikein, the respondent had to have both x and y values correct - otherwise the value is 0.

The data from 2015 and its variables from bes_1 to as4_1 are listed first in the dataset. The subsequent variables belong to the data collected in 2013. Background variables are at the end of the dataset and they contain variables from both years.

The data from 2013 do not contain open-ended responses or questions related to stories presented to the respondents. In addition, image variable pet5_1 was removed from the data at the researchers' request.

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Lindeman, Marjaana (University of Helsinki) & Svedholm-Häkkinen, Annika (University of Helsinki) & Riekki, Tapani (University of Helsinki): Understanding People and Understanding Things 2013 and 2015 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2019-07-04). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3260

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Publications Tooltip

Svedholm-Häkkinen, A. M., & Lindeman, M. (2018). Actively Open-Minded Thinking: Development of a shortened scale and disentangling attitudes towards knowledge and people. Thinking & Reasoning, 24, 2140.

Lindeman, M. & Lipsanen, J. (2017). Mentalizing: Seeking the underlying dimensions. International Journal of Psychological Studies, 9, 10-23.

Svedholm-Häkkinen, A. M., Ojala, S. J., & Lindeman, M. (2018). Male brain type women and female brain type men: Gender atypical cognitive profiles and their correlates. Personality and Individual Differences, 122, 7-12.

Svedholm-Häkkinen, A. M., Halme, S., & Lindeman, M. (2018). Empathizing and systemizing are differentially related to dimensions of autistic traits in the general population. International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, 18, 35-42.

Svedholm-Häkkinen, A. M. & Lindeman, M. (2017): Intuitive and Deliberative Empathizers and Systemizers. Journal of Personality, 85, 593-602.

Lindeman, M., Koirikivi, I. & Lipsanen, J. (2016). Pictorial Empathy Test (PET). An easy-to-use method for assessing affective empathic reactions. European Journal of Psychological Assessment. https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000353

Svedholm-Häkkinen, A. M. & Lindeman, M. (2016). Testing the Empathizing-Systemizing theory in the general population: Occupations, vocational interests, grades, hobbies, friendship quality, social intelligence, and sex role identity. Personality and Individual Differences, 90, 365-370.

Lindeman, M. & Lipsanen, J. (2016). Diverse cognitive profiles of religious believers and nonbelievers. International Journal for The Psychology of Religion, 26, 185-192.

Lindeman, M., Svedholm-Häkkinen, A. M., Lipsanen, J. (2015). Ontological confusions but not mentalizing abilities predict religious belief, paranormal belief, and belief in supernatural purpose. Cognition, 134, 63-76.

Lindeman, M., Koirikivi, I., & Lipsanen, J. (2018). Pictorial Empathy Test. An easy-to use method of affective empathic abilities. European Journal of Psychological Assessment., 34, 421-431. doi:10.1027/1015-5759/a000353

Lindeman, M. & Svedholm-Häkkinen, A. M. (2016). Does poor understanding of physical world predict religious and paranormal beliefs? Applied Cognitive Psychology, 30, 736-742.

Lindeman, M., Svedholm-Häkkinen, A. & Riekki, T. (2022) Searching for the Cognitive Basis of Anti-Vaccination Attitudes. Lehti: Thinking & Reasoning.

Study description in machine readable DDI-C 2.5 format

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