Primenjena psihologija

The Effects of Emotional Valence and Arousal in the Free Recall of Serbian Nouns

Katarina Protić — 2025-09-16

Recent studies demonstrated inconsistent patterns of results regarding emotional valence (EV) and arousal (A) in memorising words. According to the representational substitution hypothesis, emotions play a central role in representing abstract words, predicting a larger valence effect in the lexical processing of abstract words. Conversely, the multimodal induction hypothesis suggests that emotions may be more accessible for concrete words, as emotions can be readily evoked by activating relevant sensorimotor experiences. In our study, we tested these hypotheses through the incidental free recall task. During the implicit learning phase, 276 psychology students estimated different aspects (vividness of mental images associated with words, EV, and A) of the 64 Serbian nouns (32 concrete, 32 abstract). Concrete and abstract nouns were additionally divided into groups of positively and negatively valenced words that were either low or high in arousal. The stimuli were averaged for length, frequency, familiarity, age of acquisition, and context availability. The higher recall for positive words was recorded, regardless of concreteness, and for words with lower arousal. However, arousal had a distinct effect on abstract negative words, enhancing their recall. The concreteness effect was evident only for non-arousing negative words, highlighting the importance of sensory-based representations for less emotionally charged words during recall. These findings suggest that emotional experience plays a more critical role in representing abstract words, supporting the representational substitution hypothesis. However, since we did not include neutral words, we cannot completely reject the multimodal induction assumption.

AI in psychiatry: Perspectives of patients from Southeast Europe on ChatGPT

Goran Arbanas — 2025-09-16

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into healthcare presents new possibilities and challenges. Large Language Models have shown potential in various psychiatric applications. However, the perspectives of patients with mental disorders on the use of such technologies remain underexplored. The present study aimed to evaluate the perceptions of patients with diagnosable mental disorders regarding the advantages and drawbacks of using ChatGPT for acquiring information about their conditions and medications. The data were collected at major psychiatric centres in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina throughout October 2023. The sample consisted of 89 outpatients. The procedure involved inviting outpatients to participate in a questionnaire-based study that assessed their internet access, prior use of ChatGPT, and, after using ChatGPT to inquire about their mental health conditions and medications, their experiences interacting with ChatGPT. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, t-tests, and logistic regression. The study found that 47.2% of the participants had used ChatGPT before. The main advantages noted were ChatGPT’s availability and immediate response capability. However, significant drawbacks included the lack of personal contact and the generality of the responses. Participants expressed concerns about the quality and specificity of information regarding their medical conditions. While ChatGPT offers notable advantages such as accessibility and promptness, the lack of emotional engagement and the sometimes vague nature of its responses limit its effectiveness from the patients' perspective. These findings suggest a need for enhancements in AI technologies to better address the unique needs and preferences of psychiatric patients.

Peer-perceived popularity and different forms and functions of aggression in Croatian emerging adult women

Marija Šarić Drnas — 2025-09-16

This study examines the associations between peer-perceived popularity and aggression in emerging adult women. The sample included 155 education students from the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb (Mage = 20.5 years). Students were asked to nominate their fellow students whom they perceived as popular and unpopular to assess peer-perceived popularity. The different forms and functions of aggression were measured with the Peer Conflict Scale. The results supported the prediction that peer-perceived popularity among emerging adult women plays a more significant role in proactive compared to reactive aggression. In addition to the linear associations, a curvilinear trend also emerged, indicating that proactive overt aggression is associated with peer-perceived popularity and unpopularity in emerging adult women. The relationship between peer-perceived popularity and reactive types of aggression is more complex, suggesting that the dynamics between popularity and aggression among emerging adult women warrant further research.

Do externalizing problems predict adolescents' life satisfaction: The role of social support

Sofija Dovijanić — 2025-09-16

Externalizing problems include various forms of behavior characterized by rule-breaking, aggression, disregard for others and hyperactivity. Previous research has shown inconsistent findings regarding the life satisfaction of adolescents with elevated levels of externalizing symptoms. In this study, we examined if these problems predict adolescents’ life satisfaction, and whether social support moderates this relationship. A total of 168 high–school aged adolescents participated in the study. We found that only hyperactivity (β = -.25, p = .006) and interaction of conduct problems and social support negatively predicted adolescents’ life satisfaction (β = -.25, p = .004). Though it was not confirmed that increasing social support for troubled adolescents leads to higher levels of life satisfaction, we did notice a certain type of resilience to the lack of social support.

The Effectiveness of Applied Behavior Analysis in Developing Academic Skills Among Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Evaluative Study in Morocco

Brahim Nadir — 2025-09-16

This study aimed to evaluate the academic skills (reading, mathematics, and writing) of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who are benefiting from interventions based on applied behavior analysis (ABA-based) and students with ASD who are not benefiting from ABA-based interventions in Morocco (The cities of Tetouan, M'diq, Fnideq, and Martil). The sample consisted of 112 students (56 in each group) with ASD without intellectual disability. We used Raven's Matrices to measure the level of general non-verbal intelligence, the CARS-2-HF diagnostic test to determine the degree of ASD, and then a skill measurement tool, which is the Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills – Revised (The ABLLS-R®), to evaluate the academic skills of students with ASD participating in the study. The results indicated that students with ASD who used ABA-based interventions showed improvement and development in academic skills compared to students who did not use ABA-based interventions. The results showed statistically significant differences between the two groups (reading: F= 34.188, p < .001; mathematics: F= 44.308, p < .001; writing: F=13.298, p < .001), indicating that the differences are not random, but rather a result of the interventions based on applied behavior analysis. These results may give hope to students with ASD who may develop their academic skills by using ABA-based interventions instead of being integrated into educational institutions without intervention, which leads many of them to not keep up with the curriculum and levels of education.