Browsing by Author "Aczel, Balazs"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

Citation - Scopus: 1
Erratum: Publisher Correction: Situational Factors Shape Moral Judgements in the Trolley Dilemma in Eastern, Southern and Western Countries in a Culturally Diverse Sample (nature Human Behaviour (2022) 6 6 (880-895))
(NLM (Medline), 2022) Bago, B.; Kovacs, M.; Protzko, J.; Nagy, T.; Kekecs, Z.; Palfi, B.; Adamkovic, M.; Aczel, Balazs
[No abstract available]
Citation - WoS: 87
Citation - Scopus: 86
A many-analysts approach to the relation between religiosity and well-being
(Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2022) Hoogeveen, Suzanne; Sarafoglou, Alexandra; Aczel, Balazs; Aditya, Yonathan; Alayan, Alexandra J.; Allen, Peter J.; Altay, Sacha; Wagenmakers, Eric-Jan
The relation between religiosity and well-being is one of the most researched topics in the psychology of religion, yet the directionality and robustness of the effect remains debated. Here, we adopted a many-analysts approach to assess the robustness of this relation based on a new cross-cultural dataset (N = 10, 535 participants from 24 countries). We recruited 120 analysis teams to investigate (1) whether religious people self-report higher well-being, and (2) whether the relation between religiosity and self-reported well-being depends on perceived cultural norms of religion (i.e., whether it is considered normal and desirable to be religious in a given country). In a two-stage procedure, the teams first created an analysis plan and then executed their planned analysis on the data. For the first research question, all but 3 teams reported positive effect sizes with credible/confidence intervals excluding zero (median reported beta = 0.120). For the second research question, this was the case for 65% of the teams (median reported beta = 0.039). While most teams applied (multilevel) linear regression models, there was considerable variability in the choice of items used to construct the independent variables, the dependent variable, and the included covariates.
Citation - WoS: 51
Citation - Scopus: 56
Situational factors shape moral judgements in the trolley dilemma in Eastern, Southern and Western countries in a culturally diverse sample
(Nature Portfolio, 2022) Bago, Bence; Kovacs, Marton; Protzko, John; Nagy, Tamas; Kekecs, Zoltan; Palfi, Bence; Adamkovic, Matus; Aczel, Balazs
The study of moral judgements often centres on moral dilemmas in which options consistent with deontological perspectives (that is, emphasizing rules, individual rights and duties) are in conflict with options consistent with utilitarian judgements (that is, following the greater good based on consequences). Greene et al. (2009) showed that psychological and situational factors (for example, the intent of the agent or the presence of physical contact between the agent and the victim) can play an important role in moral dilemma judgements (for example, the trolley problem). Our knowledge is limited concerning both the universality of these effects outside the United States and the impact of culture on the situational and psychological factors affecting moral judgements. Thus, we empirically tested the universality of the effects of intent and personal force on moral dilemma judgements by replicating the experiments of Greene et al. in 45 countries from all inhabited continents. We found that personal force and its interaction with intention exert influence on moral judgements in the US and Western cultural clusters, replicating and expanding the original findings. Moreover, the personal force effect was present in all cultural clusters, suggesting it is culturally universal. The evidence for the cultural universality of the interaction effect was inconclusive in the Eastern and Southern cultural clusters (depending on exclusion criteria). We found no strong association between collectivism/individualism and moral dilemma judgements. Including participants from 45 countries, Bago et al. find that the situational factors that affect moral reasoning are shared across countries, with diminished observed cultural variation.
Why I Declare a Conflict of Interest and You Should Not
(Springer, 2025) Acem, Ensar; Aczel, Balazs; Albayrak, Nihan; Brown, Nicholas J. L.; Dudda, Leonie A.; Elsherif, Mahmoud Medhat; Zubaly, Benjamin
Academic publishing is both an indication of scientific contribution and a currency for career advancement. This dual role gives rise to a normative scientific conflict: Does the structural incentive to publish constitute a conflict of interest (COI) that ought to be disclosed? In this paper, we address this conflict through an action research approach, engaging collaboratively and reflexively to answer four related questions: (1) What evidence suggests that researchers face a (financial) COI when publishing? (2) What are the benefits and drawbacks of explicitly acknowledging that publications function as academic currency? (3) How should such conflicts be disclosed? (4) Do mechanisms such as pre-registration and registered reports resolve these concerns? This paper contends that while researchers are clearly incentivised to publish, this interest need not necessarily constitute a conflict or be explicitly disclosed. Treating this issue as a normative scientific conflict does reveal the need for a shift in how researchers understand and navigate the subjective, self-interested dimensions of their work. We propose four key responses: (1) integrating discussions of COIs and biases more extensively into undergraduate science education, (2) promoting greater reflexivity in everyday research practice (e.g., through reflexivity journals, peer-led audit groups, and the reintegration of discussions on the historicity and cultural nature of research into scientific publications), (3) critically investigating institutional incentives and journal policies, and (4) proactively adopting methodological safeguards such as pre-registration. By addressing this conflict through action research, we demonstrate how normative tensions in science can be made productive - supporting both critical reflection and structural improvement.