Your search

The fear of missing out (FoMO)—the apprehension that others are having rewarding experiences in one's absence—has been linked to diminished well-being and maladaptive behaviors. While research has primarily focused on neurotypical populations, little is known about how FoMO associates with and manifests in neurodiverse cognitive profiles. The present study examined associations between general and workplace FoMO and individual differences in ADHD symptoms, autistic traits, and internal cognitive representation styles (visual imagery, internal verbalization, representational manipulation) in a U.S. sample of full-time employees ( N = 302). Across both regression and machine learning analyses, ADHD symptoms emerged as the most robust and consistent predictor of FoMO in both domains. Visual imagery significantly predicted general FoMO, whereas internal verbalization and representational manipulation showed stronger associations with workplace FoMO. Autistic traits, as measured by the AQ-10, were not significantly related to FoMO. Classification models (e.g., logistic regression, SVM) distinguished high versus low FoMO participants with moderate-to-high accuracy, with ADHD symptoms consistently ranked as the most influential feature. These findings extend the literature by highlighting domain-specific predictors of FoMO and the potential of neurodiversity-informed approaches for understanding and addressing FoMO in both social and occupational settings. © 2026 Elsevier Ltd.

Philosophers have long speculated that individual differences in temperament influence philosophical thinking, yet empirical research has rarely explored the role of neurodivergent traits in this domain. In this large online study (N = 1,254), we investigated whether participants with training in philosophy differ from the general population when it comes to six psychological traits–autism, ADHD, aphantasia, anendophasia, anauralia, and representational manipulation–and also whether these traits correlate with responses to two widely studied philosophical thought experiments: the “trolley problem” and the “rollback deterministic universe.” Compared to the general population, participants with training in philosophy had higher scores on measures of ADHD, internal verbalization, and representational manipulation, but lower scores on measures of visual imagery. These cognitive traits were also correlated with participants’ moral and metaphysical judgments (independent of their level of philosophical training)–e.g. participants who scored higher in visualization were less likely to judge that hitting the switch in the trolley problem is permissible but not obligatory, and also less likely to attribute free will and moral responsibility to agents in the rollback universe. Finally, we employed machine learning to develop predictive models that classify a randomly selected participant as either a philosopher or a non-philosopher. Models trained solely on responses to measures for neurodivergent traits achieved better performance than models trained solely on responses to philosophical thought experiments. This suggests that stable, trait-level neurodivergent characteristics may be more diagnostic of philosophical interest, aptitude, or training than judgments philosophers make on domain-relevant problems. © 2026 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This paper reports a two-part study examining the relationship between fear of missing out (FoMO) and maladaptive behaviors in college students. This project used a cross-sectional study to examine whether college student FoMO predicts maladaptive behaviors across a range of domains (e.g., alcohol and drug use, academic misconduct, illegal behavior). Participants (N = 472) completed hard copy questionnaire packets assessing trait FoMO levels and questions pertaining to unethical and illegal behavior while in college. Part 1 utilized traditional statistical analyses (i.e., hierarchical regression modeling) to identify any relationships between FoMO, demographic variables (socioeconomic status, living situation, and gender) and the behavioral outcomes of interest. Part 2 looked to quantify the predictive power of FoMO, and demographic variables used in Part 1 through the convergent approach of supervised machine learning. Results from Part 1 indicate that college student FoMO is indeed related to many diverse maladaptive behaviors spanning the legal and illegal spectrum. Part 2, using various techniques such as recursive feature elimination (RFE) and principal component analysis (PCA) and models such as logistic regression, random forest, and Support Vector Machine (SVM), showcased the predictive power of implementing machine learning. Class membership for these behaviors (offender vs. non-offender) was predicted at rates well above baseline (e.g., 50% at baseline vs 87% accuracy for academic misconduct with just three input variables). This study demonstrated FoMO’s relationships with these behaviors as well as how machine learning can provide additional predictive insights that would not be possible through inferential statistical modeling approaches typically employed in psychology, and more broadly, the social sciences. Research in the social sciences stands to gain from regularly utilizing the more traditional statistical approaches in tandem with machine learning.

Research suggests that addictive traits are indeed heritable, but very few preclinical studies have explored transgenerational effects of paternal alcohol exposure. The present study addressed this gap in knowledge. We explored whether offspring of ethanol-exposed sires would be more likely to accept ethanol than descendants of water-exposed and control sires. We also investigated whether the second generation of ethanol-exposed descendants would accept ethanol more than controls and were more or less likely to experience anxiety-like behavior in behavioral assessments. We exposed male rats to repeated binge doses of alcohol (4 g/kg/day across 8 days), water, or left them untreated and mated them with untreated females. We then bred the offspring of these rats to test transgenerational effects of paternal alcohol exposure. We tested 14-day-old offspring from the first and second filial generation for their acceptance of ethanol and water, and measured anxiety-like behavior in 38-day-old, second-generation offspring using an elevated plus maze. The results indicate that offspring of ethanol-exposed sires increase ethanol acceptance in the first generation compared to untreated controls, whereas in the second-generation increased ethanol acceptance vs. these controls is seen in descendants of both ethanol- and vehicle-treated sires. At adolescence, the second generation of rats derived from alcohol-exposed sires exhibited significantly more time spent in the open arms and significantly more arm entries than any other group. The present study suggests that parental ethanol exposure is associated with lingering effects in the infant and adolescent offspring. The second filial generation was also found to be affected, albeit similarly by grandparental ethanol exposure or by the stress of the vehicle administration. Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Across three online studies, we examined the relationship between the Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) and moral cognition and behavior. Study 1 (N = 283) examined whether FoMO influenced moral awareness, judgments, and recalled and predicted behavior of first-person moral violations in either higher or lower social settings. Study 2 (N = 821) examined these relationships in third-person judgments with varying agent identities in relation to the participant (agent = stranger, friend, or someone disliked). Study 3 (N = 604) examined the influence of recalling activities either engaged in or missed out on these relationships. Using the Rubin Causal Model, we created hypothetical randomized experiments from our real-world randomized experimental data with treatment conditions for lower or higher FoMO (median split), matched for relevant covariates, and compared differences in FoMO groups on moral awareness, judgments, and several other behavioral outcomes. Using a randomization-based approach, we examined these relationships with Fisher Tests and computed 95% Fisherian intervals for constant treatment effects consistent with the matched data and the hypothetical FoMO intervention. All three studies provide evidence that FoMO is robustly related to giving less severe judgments of moral violations. Moreover, those with higher FoMO were found to report a greater likelihood of committing moral violations in the past, knowing people who have committed moral violations in the past, being more likely to commit them in the future, and knowing people who are likely to commit moral violations in the future.

To better explain daily fluctuations in physical activity and sedentary behavior, investigations of motivation are turning from social cognitive frameworks to those centered on affect, emotion and automaticity, such as the Affect and Health Behavior Framework (AHBF), Integrated Framework and Affective-Reflective Theory (ART). This shift has necessitated: (a) re-examination of older theories and their constructs, such as drives, needs and tensions and (b) an inspection of competing theories from other fields that also attempt to explain dynamic changes in health behaviors. The Dynamical Model of Desire, Elaborated Intrusion Theory and others commonly share with AHBF the idea that human behavior is driven strongly by desires and/or the similar concepts of wants, urges, and cravings. These affectively-charged motivation states (ACMS) change quickly and may better explain physical activity behavior from one moment to the next. Desires for movement predominantly derive from negative but also positive reinforcement. Data from clinical populations with movement dysfunction or psychiatric disorders provides further evidence of these drivers of movement. Those with Restless Legs Syndrome, akathisia, tic disorders and exercise dependence all report strong urges to move and relief when it is accomplished. Motor control research has identified centers of the brain responsible for wants and urges for muscular movement. Models elaborated herein differentiate between wants, desires, urges and cravings. The WANT model (Wants and Aversions for Neuromuscular Tasks) conceptualizes desires for movement and rest as varying by magnitude, approach or avoidance-orientation (wants versus aversions) and as occupying independent dimensions instead of opposite ends of the same axis. For instance, one hypothetically might be in a state of both high desire for movement and rest simultaneously. Variations in motivation states to move and rest may also be associated with various stress states, like freezing or fight and flight. The first validated instrument to measure feelings of desire/want for movement and rest, the CRAVE Scale (Cravings for Rest and Volitional Energy Expenditure) is already shedding light on the nature of these states. With these advances in theory, conceptual modeling and instrumentation, future investigations may explore the effects of desires and urges for movement and sedentary behavior in earnest. Copyright © 2020 Stults-Kolehmainen, Blacutt, Bartholomew, Gilson, Ash, McKee and Sinha.

Motivation for physical activity and sedentary behaviors (e.g., desires, urges, wants, cravings) varies from moment to moment. According to the WANT model, these motivation states may be affectively-charged (e.g., felt as tension), particularly after periods of maximal exercise or extended rest. The purpose of this study was to examine postulates of the WANT model utilizing a mixed-methods approach. We hypothesized that: (1) qualitative evidence would emerge from interviews to support this model, and (2) motivation states would quantitatively change over the course of an interview period. Seventeen undergraduate students (mean age = 18.6y, 13 women) engaged in focus groups where 12 structured questions were presented. Participants completed the “right now” version of the CRAVE scale before and after interviews. Qualitative data were analyzed with content analysis. A total of 410 unique lower-order themes were classified and grouped into 43 higher order themes (HOTs). From HOTs, six super higher order themes (SHOTs) were designated: (1) wants and aversions, (2) change and stability, (3) autonomy and automaticity, (4) objectives and impulses, (5) restraining and propelling forces, and (6) stress and boredom. Participants stated that they experienced desires to move and rest, including during the interview, but these states changed rapidly and varied both randomly as well as systematically across periods of minutes to months. Some also described a total absence of desire or even aversion to move and rest. Of note, strong urges and cravings for movement, typically from conditions of deprivation (e.g., sudden withdrawal from exercise training) were associated with physical and mental manifestations, such as fidgeting and feeling restless. Urges were often consummated with behavior (e.g., exercise sessions, naps), which commonly resulted in satiation and subsequent drop in desire. Importantly, stress was frequently described as both an inhibitor and instigator of motivation states. CRAVE-Move increased pre-to-post interviews (p < .01). CRAVE-Rest demonstrated a trend to decline (p = .057). Overall, qualitative and quantitative data largely corroborated postulates of the WANT model, demonstrating that people experience wants and cravings to move and rest, and that these states appear to fluctuate significantly, especially in the context of stress, boredom, satiety, and deprivation.

NASA’s TESS mission has unveiled a plethora of eclipsing binaries (EBs), among them hundreds of triples and higher-order, hierarchical systems. These complex targets require follow-up observations to enable full characterization of system architectures and identify the most compact multiples expected to undergo the most dramatic dynamical evolution. We report first results from a long-term effort to perform such follow-up, focusing here on multiband speckle imaging of a majority (57) of the sample of 97 quadruple- and higher-order eclipsing binaries (Q+EBs) identified via TESS light curves by V. B. Kostov et al. Diffraction-limited imaging with the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument on the Astrophysical Research Consortium 3.5 m telescope and HRCam on the Southern Astrophysical Research 4.1 m telescope reveals nearly 60% of the 57 to resolve into two sources separated by ≥0. ″03. For these partly resolved systems, we report derived characteristics (e.g., relative position angle, angular separation, and magnitude differences in multiple passbands) from the speckle imaging. We find those Q+EBs partly resolved with 4 m class telescopes to have significantly inflated Gaia parallax errors and large Gaia renormalized unit weight errors, particularly for systems with separations comparable to Gaia’s resolution limit (∼0. ″6). For unresolved systems we report upper limits on angular and linear projected separations. We find two partly resolved Q+EBs with wide linear separations having eclipse timing variations that are therefore candidates of higher-than-quadruple multiplicity. Finally, we demonstrate how speckle imaging of resolved Q+EBs during an eclipse can clarify which speckle-resolved Q+EB subsystem is associated with a particular set of TESS eclipses. © 2025. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.

Physical activity, and likely the motivation for it, varies throughout the day. The aim of this investigation was to create a short assessment (CRAVE: Cravings for Rest and Volitional Energy Expenditure) to measure motivation states (wants, desires, urges) for physical activity and sedentary behaviors. Five studies were conducted to develop and evaluate the construct validity and reliability of the scale, with 1,035 participants completing the scale a total of 1,697 times. In Study 1, 402 university students completed a questionnaire inquiring about the want or desire to perform behaviors "at the present moment (right now). " Items related to physical activity (e.g., "move my body") and sedentary behaviors (e.g., "do nothing active"). An exploratory structural equation model (ESEM) revealed that 10 items should be retained, loading onto two factors (5 each for Move and Rest). In Study 2, an independent sample (n = 444) confirmed these results and found that Move and Rest desires were associated with stage-of-change for exercise behavior. In Study 3, 127 community-residing participants completed the CRAVE at 6-month intervals over two years- two times each session. Across-session interclass correlations (ICC) for Move (ICC = 0.72-0.95) and Rest (ICC = 0.69-0.88) were higher than when they were measured across 24-months (Move: ICC = 0.53; Rest: ICC = 0.49), indicating wants/desires have state-like qualities. In Study 4, a maximal treadmill test was completed by 21 university students. The CRAVE was completed immediately pre and post. Move desires decreased 26% and Rest increased 74%. Changes in Move and Rest desires were moderately associated with changes in perceived physical fatigue and energy. In Study 5, 41 university students sat quietly during a 50-min lecture. They completed the CRAVE at 3 time points. Move increased 19.6% and Rest decreased 16.7%. Small correlations were detected between move and both perceived energy and tiredness, but not calmness or tension. In conclusion, the CRAVE scale has good psychometric properties. These data also support tenets of the WANT model of motivation states for movement and rest (Stults-Kolehmainen et al., 2020a). Future studies need to explore how desires to move/rest relate to dynamic changes in physical activity and sedentarism. Copyright © 2021 Stults-Kolehmainen, Blacutt, Fogelman, Gilson, Stanforth, Divin, Bartholomew, Filgueiras, McKee, Ash, Ciccolo, Brotnow Decker, Williamson and Sinha.

Motivation for bodily movement, physical activity and exercise varies from moment to moment. These motivation states may be “affectively-charged,” ranging from instances of lower tension (e.g., desires, wants) to higher tension (e.g., cravings and urges). Currently, it is not known how often these states have been investigated in clinical populations (e.g., eating disorders, exercise dependence/addiction, Restless Legs Syndrome, diabetes, obesity) vs. healthy populations (e.g., in studies of motor control; groove in music psychology). The objective of this scoping review protocol is to quantify the literature on motivation states, to determine what topical areas are represented in investigations of clinical and healthy populations, and to discover pertinent details, such as instrumentation, terminology, theories, and conceptual models, correlates and mechanisms of action. Iterative searches of scholarly databases will take place to determine which combination of search terms (e.g., “motivation states” and “physical activity”; “desire to be physically active,” etc.) captures the greatest number of relevant results. Studies will be included if motivation states for movement (e.g., desires, urges) are specifically measured or addressed. Studies will be excluded if referring to motivation as a trait. A charting data form was developed to scan all relevant documents for later data extraction. The primary outcome is simply the extent of the literature on the topic. Results will be stratified by population/condition. This scoping review will unify a diverse literature, which may result in the creation of unique models or paradigms that can be utilized to better understand motivation for bodily movement and exercise.

The same dataset can be analysed in different justifiable ways to answer the same research question, potentially challenging the robustness of empirical science1-3. In this crowd initiative, we investigated the degree to which research findings in the social and behavioural sciences are contingent on analysts' choices. We examined a stratified random sample of 100 studies published between 2009 and 2018, in which, for one claim per study, at least five reanalysts independently reanalysed the original data. The statistical appropriateness of the reanalyses was assessed in peer evaluations, and the robustness indicators were inspected along a range of research characteristics and study designs. We found that 34% of the independent reanalyses yielded the same result (within a tolerance region of ±0.05 Cohen's d) as the original report; with a four times broader tolerance region, this indicator increased to 57%. Of the reanalyses conducted, 74% reached the same conclusion as the original investigation, 24% yielded no effects or inconclusive results and 2% reported the opposite effect. This exploratory study indicates that the common single-path analyses in social and behavioural research should not be simply assumed to be robust to alternative analyses4. Therefore, we recommend the development and use of practices to explore and communicate this neglected source of uncertainty. © 2026. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.