Jonathon Mcphetres
Biographic Data
| ID | 4802007 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jonathon Mcphetres |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jonathon |
| FAMILY NAME | Mcphetres |
| SIGNATURE | MCPHETRES J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Regina |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6370-7789 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 6 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Moral disagreements: Unearthing pathways to constructive and destructive behavioral responses
Issues like transgender rights often provoke strong emotional reactions, leading to polarized conflicts. Moral psychology suggests that emotions like anger and disgust drive destructive behaviors, such as avoiding or insulting the opponent. However, we argue that constructive behaviors, such as listening to the opponent, are also possible. We propose that appraisals related to engaging and coping with moral disagreements also play critical roles …
Psychological Distance to Science as a Predictor of Science Skepticism Across Domains
This article presents and tests psychological distance to science (PSYDISC) as a domain-general predictor of science skepticism. Drawing on the concept of psychological distance, PSYDISC reflects the extent to which individuals perceive science as a tangible undertaking conducted by people similar to oneself ( social), with effects in the here ( spatial) and now ( temporal), and as useful and applicable in the real world ( hypothetical distance).…
Beliefs About Covid-19 in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States: A Novel Test of Political Polarization and Motivated Reasoning
What are the psychological consequences of the increasingly politicized nature of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States relative to similar Western countries? In a two-wave study completed early (March) and later (December) in the pandemic, we found that polarization was greater in the United States ( N = 1,339) than in Canada ( N = 644) and the United Kingdom. ( N = 1,283). Political conservatism in the United States was strongly associated…
Religious Americans Have Less Positive Attitudes Toward Science, but This Does Not Extend to Other Cultures
It is commonly claimed that science and religion are logically and psychologically at odds with one another. However, previous studies have mainly examined American samples; therefore, generalizations about antagonism between religion and science may be unwarranted. We examined the correlation between religiosity and attitudes toward science across 11 studies including representative data from 60 countries ( N = 66,438), nine convenience samples …
The role of facial coloration in emotion disambiguation
Previous research has demonstrated that some pairs of emotion expressions are confusing to observers because they share common facial-muscular expressive features. Recent research has suggested that another expressive feature, facial coloration, can facilitate the disambiguation of these emotion expressions. The current work tests this hypothesis by presenting participants with pairs of ambiguous emotion expressions with varying facial coloration…
Character deprecation in fake news: Is it in supply or demand
A major focus of current research is understanding why people fall for and share fake news on social media. While much research focuses on understanding the role of personality-level traits for those who share the news, such as partisanship and analytic thinking, characteristics of the articles themselves have not been studied. Across two pre-registered studies, we examined whether character-deprecation headlines - headlines designed to deprecate…
Fighting Covid-19 misinformation on social media: Experimental evidence for a scalable accuracy nudge intervention
Across two studies with over 1,600 U.S. adults recruited online, we present evidence that people share false claims about COVID-19 partly because they simply fail to think sufficiently about whether or not content is accurate when deciding what to share. In Study 1, participants were far worse at discerning between true and false content when deciding what they would share on social media relative to when they are asked directly about accuracy. F…
Fighting Covid-19 Misinformation on Social Media: Experimental Evidence for a Scalable Accuracy-Nudge Intervention
Across two studies with more than 1,700 U.S. adults recruited online, we present evidence that people share false claims about COVID-19 partly because they simply fail to think sufficiently about whether or not the content is accurate when deciding what to share. In Study 1, participants were far worse at discerning between true and false content when deciding what they would share on social media relative to when they were asked directly about a…
Religiosity predicts negative attitudes towards science and lower levels of science literacy
Past research suggests that religion and science may conflict on which is a better tool for explaining the world. This conflict implies that religiosity might negatively impact both attitudes toward science and science knowledge. However, past research has focused mostly on religious affiliation and has not consistently identified such a relation using a general religiosity measure that assesses religious beliefs and religious practice. Using two…
Using findings from the cognitive science of religion to understand current conflicts between religious and scientific ideologies
The body of research looking at the public understanding and acceptance of science has been growing in recent years. Here, we argue that religiosity is one important factor influencing the perception and understanding of science and scientific information. In the present article, we review recent literature with the goal of answering three questions: what is the relationship between science and religion, when do science and religion conflict, and…
Reflecting on God's will: Reflective processing contributes to religious peoples' deontological dilemma responses
Religious People Endorse Different Standards of Evidence When Evaluating Religious Versus Scientific Claims
Recent research has begun to investigate the relationship between religion and science. However, it remains unclear whether religious and nonreligious people differ on the standards of evidence used when evaluating claims in religious versus scientific contexts. Across three studies ( N = 702), we presented participants with effects that were attributed to scientific methodology or to God and asked them to rate how many more times an effect needs…
Reflecting on God's will: Reflective processing contributes to religious peoples' deontological dilemma responses
Character deprecation in fake news: Is it in supply or demand
A major focus of current research is understanding why people fall for and share fake news on social media. While much research focuses on understanding the role of personality-level traits for those who share the news, such as partisanship and analytic thinking, characteristics of the articles themselves have not been studied. Across two pre-registered studies, we examined whether character-deprecation headlines - headlines designed to deprecate…
Religious People Endorse Different Standards of Evidence When Evaluating Religious Versus Scientific Claims
Recent research has begun to investigate the relationship between religion and science. However, it remains unclear whether religious and nonreligious people differ on the standards of evidence used when evaluating claims in religious versus scientific contexts. Across three studies ( N = 702), we presented participants with effects that were attributed to scientific methodology or to God and asked them to rate how many more times an effect needs…
Religiosity predicts negative attitudes towards science and lower levels of science literacy
Past research suggests that religion and science may conflict on which is a better tool for explaining the world. This conflict implies that religiosity might negatively impact both attitudes toward science and science knowledge. However, past research has focused mostly on religious affiliation and has not consistently identified such a relation using a general religiosity measure that assesses religious beliefs and religious practice. Using two…
Using findings from the cognitive science of religion to understand current conflicts between religious and scientific ideologies
The body of research looking at the public understanding and acceptance of science has been growing in recent years. Here, we argue that religiosity is one important factor influencing the perception and understanding of science and scientific information. In the present article, we review recent literature with the goal of answering three questions: what is the relationship between science and religion, when do science and religion conflict, and…
Reflecting on God's will: Reflective processing contributes to religious peoples' deontological dilemma responses
Fighting Covid-19 misinformation on social media: Experimental evidence for a scalable accuracy nudge intervention
Across two studies with over 1,600 U.S. adults recruited online, we present evidence that people share false claims about COVID-19 partly because they simply fail to think sufficiently about whether or not content is accurate when deciding what to share. In Study 1, participants were far worse at discerning between true and false content when deciding what they would share on social media relative to when they are asked directly about accuracy. F…
Fighting Covid-19 Misinformation on Social Media: Experimental Evidence for a Scalable Accuracy-Nudge Intervention
Across two studies with more than 1,700 U.S. adults recruited online, we present evidence that people share false claims about COVID-19 partly because they simply fail to think sufficiently about whether or not the content is accurate when deciding what to share. In Study 1, participants were far worse at discerning between true and false content when deciding what they would share on social media relative to when they were asked directly about a…
Religious Americans Have Less Positive Attitudes Toward Science, but This Does Not Extend to Other Cultures
It is commonly claimed that science and religion are logically and psychologically at odds with one another. However, previous studies have mainly examined American samples; therefore, generalizations about antagonism between religion and science may be unwarranted. We examined the correlation between religiosity and attitudes toward science across 11 studies including representative data from 60 countries ( N = 66,438), nine convenience samples …
The role of facial coloration in emotion disambiguation
Previous research has demonstrated that some pairs of emotion expressions are confusing to observers because they share common facial-muscular expressive features. Recent research has suggested that another expressive feature, facial coloration, can facilitate the disambiguation of these emotion expressions. The current work tests this hypothesis by presenting participants with pairs of ambiguous emotion expressions with varying facial coloration…
Character deprecation in fake news: Is it in supply or demand
A major focus of current research is understanding why people fall for and share fake news on social media. While much research focuses on understanding the role of personality-level traits for those who share the news, such as partisanship and analytic thinking, characteristics of the articles themselves have not been studied. Across two pre-registered studies, we examined whether character-deprecation headlines - headlines designed to deprecate…
Beliefs About Covid-19 in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States: A Novel Test of Political Polarization and Motivated Reasoning
What are the psychological consequences of the increasingly politicized nature of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States relative to similar Western countries? In a two-wave study completed early (March) and later (December) in the pandemic, we found that polarization was greater in the United States ( N = 1,339) than in Canada ( N = 644) and the United Kingdom. ( N = 1,283). Political conservatism in the United States was strongly associated…
Psychological Distance to Science as a Predictor of Science Skepticism Across Domains
This article presents and tests psychological distance to science (PSYDISC) as a domain-general predictor of science skepticism. Drawing on the concept of psychological distance, PSYDISC reflects the extent to which individuals perceive science as a tangible undertaking conducted by people similar to oneself ( social), with effects in the here ( spatial) and now ( temporal), and as useful and applicable in the real world ( hypothetical distance).…
Moral disagreements: Unearthing pathways to constructive and destructive behavioral responses
Issues like transgender rights often provoke strong emotional reactions, leading to polarized conflicts. Moral psychology suggests that emotions like anger and disgust drive destructive behaviors, such as avoiding or insulting the opponent. However, we argue that constructive behaviors, such as listening to the opponent, are also possible. We propose that appraisals related to engaging and coping with moral disagreements also play critical roles …
Psychology (12 works) · Social Psychology (12 works) · Epistemology (6 works) · Misinformation and Its Impacts (5 works) · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology (5 works) · Philosophy (4 works) · Political science (4 works) · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment (4 works) · Religiosity (4 works) · Social and Intergroup Psychology (4 works)