People

Professor Miroslav Sirota

Professor
Department of Psychology
Professor Miroslav Sirota

Profile

Biography

I obtained my PhD from Comenius University (Slovakia). Before moving to the United Kingdom, I worked as a statistician for research companies and held a teaching fellow position. I conducted my post-doctoral research at the University of Hertfordshire and King's College London. Before joining our department in 2015, I was briefly a lecturer at Kingston University. I am coordinating activities of the Antimicrobials: Behaviour and Cognition (ABC) Network, a network of researchers and other stakeholders interested in the role human behaviours play in spreading antimicrobial resistance (https://www.a-bc.network/). I serve on the editorial board of several journals (e..g, the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, Judgment and Decision-Making). I also serve as a member of the Study Selection Committee of the Psychological Science Accelerator, an international network of psychological laboratories across the world aiming to conduct large-scale pre-registered studies. My collaborators and I have secured over 20 grants, amounting to an overall value of over £3.6 million, from funders such as the British Academy, the National Institute for Health Research, Cancer Research UK, EU Horizon 2020, the Experimental Psychology Society, and the Leverhulme Trust.

Qualifications

  • PhD.

  • MSc.

Research and professional activities

Research interests

In my research, I am trying to understand how people judge, reason, and make decisions in situations of uncertainty.

My current research interests are centred on two key topics: (i) exploring the reasons and mechanisms behind why individuals do or do not correct their errors, and (ii) examining the psychology of human behaviours and cognition in relation to antimicrobial resistance.

Why people expect antibiotics even when not needed?

Open to supervise

Risk and probability communication

Open to supervise

Why people (do not) correct their own errors in judgments and reasoning (e.g., intuitive and deliberate errors, effect of feedback)

Open to supervise

Teaching and supervision

Current teaching responsibilities

  • Decision making science in theory and practice (PS512)

  • MSc Psychology Research Project (PS900)

  • Research Methods in Psychology (PS954)

Previous supervision

Andriana Theodoropoulou
Andriana Theodoropoulou
Thesis title: Using Signal Detection Theory to Understand People’S Antibiotic Expectations
Degree subject: Psychology
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 16/7/2024
Kelly Wolfe
Kelly Wolfe
Thesis title: Age Differences in Risk-Taking Behaviour: The Role of Risk Preference and Cognitive Ability.
Degree subject: Psychology
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 1/7/2021
Andriana Theodoropoulou
Andriana Theodoropoulou
Degree subject: Research Methods in Psychology
Degree type: Master of Science
Awarded date: 7/10/2020
Dawn Holford
Dawn Holford
Thesis title: Integrating Dual-Process and Pragmatic Theories for the Processing of Verbal and Numerical Food Quantifiers
Degree subject: Psychology
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 15/1/2020
Alistair Thorpe
Alistair Thorpe
Thesis title: The Role of Information in the Reduction of Clinically Inappropriate Expectations of Antibiotics
Degree subject: Psychology
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 30/10/2019

Publications

Journal articles (95)

Juanchich, M., Whiley, LA. and Sirota, M., (2024). Self-serving perception of charitable donation request: An effective cognitive strategy to boost benefits and reduce drawbacks. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making. 37 (1)

Sirota, M., Navarrete, G. and Juanchich, M., (2024). When intuitive Bayesians need to be good readers: The problem-wording effect on Bayesian reasoning. Cognition. 245, 105722-105722

Sirota, M., (2024). Should we stop referring to the pandemic of antimicrobial resistance as silent?. JAC-Antimicrobial Resistance. 6 (1), dlae018-

Juanchich, M., Oakley, CM., Sayer, H., Holford, DL., Bruine de Bruin, W., Booker, C., Chadborn, T., Vallee-Tourangeau, G., Wood, R. and Sirota, M., (2024). Vaccination invitations sent by warm and competent medical professionals disclosing risks and benefits increase trust and booking intention and reduce inequalities between ethnic groups.. Health Psychology. 43 (10), 718-729

Sirota, M. and Juanchich, M., (2024). Seeing an apocalyptic post-antibiotic future lowers antibiotics expectations and requests. Communications Medicine. 4 (1), 141-

Findor, A., Hruška, M., Gould, JA., Hlatky, R., Tomková, Z. and Sirota, M., (2023). Framing Effects, Social Norm Perception, and Tolerance of Lesbian and Gay Individuals: Experimental Evidence from Slovakia. Journal of Homosexuality. 70 (4), 729-753

Buchanan, EM., Lewis, SC., Hanel, PHP., Chiu, F., Sirota, M. and et al, (2023). The Psychological Science Accelerator's COVID-19 Rapid-Response Dataset. Scientific Data. 10 (1)

Sobkow, A., Sirota, M. and Olszewska, A., (2023). The Factor Structure of Cognitive Reflection, Numeracy, and Fluid intelligence. The evidence from the Polish adaptation of the Verbal CRT. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making. 36 (2)

Juanchich, M., Sirota, M. and Halvor Teigen, K., (2023). People prefer to predict middle, most likely quantitative outcomes (not extreme ones), but they still over-estimate their likelihood.. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. 76 (11), 2629-2649

Buchanan, EM., Lewis, SC., Paris, B., Forscher, PS., Pavlacic, JM., Beshears, JE., Drexler, SM., Gourdon-Kanhukamwe, A., ..., Gross, JJ., de Holanda Coelho, GL., Hanel, PHP., Sirota, M., ... and Primbs, MA., (2023). The Psychological Science Accelerator’s COVID-19 rapid-response dataset. Scientific Data. 10 (1), 87-

Sirota, M., Juanchich, M. and Holford, DL., (2023). Rationally irrational: When people do not correct their reasoning errors even if they could. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 152 (7), 2052-2073

Byrd, N., Joseph, B., Gongora, G. and Sirota, M., (2023). Tell Us What You Really Think: A Think Aloud Protocol Analysis of the Verbal Cognitive Reflection Test. Journal of Intelligence. 11 (4), 76-76

Holford, D., Fasce, A., Hanel, PHP., Sirota, M. and et al, (2023). Science Communication as a Collective Intelligence Endeavour: A Manifesto and Examples for Implementation. Science Communication. 45 (4), 539-554

Huber, C., Dreber, A., Huber, J., Johannesson, M., Kirchler, M., Weitzel, U., Abellán, M., Adayeva, X., Ay, FC., Barron, K., Berry, Z., Bönte, W., Brütt, K., Bulutay, M., Campos-Mercade, P., Cardella, E., Claassen, MA., Cornelissen, G., Dawson, IGJ., Delnoij, J., Demiral, EE., Dimant, E., Doerflinger, JT., Dold, M., Emery, C., Fiala, L., Fiedler, S., Freddi, E., Fries, T., Gasiorowska, A., Glogowsky, U., M. Gorny, P., Gretton, JD., Grohmann, A., Hafenbrädl, S., Handgraaf, M., Hanoch, Y., Hart, E., Hennig, M., Hudja, S., Hütter, M., Hyndman, K., Ioannidis, K., Isler, O., Jeworrek, S., Jolles, D., Juanchich, M., Pratap KC, R., Khadjavi, M., Kugler, T., Li, S., Lucas, B., Mak, V., Mechtel, M., Merkle, C., Meyers, EA., Mollerstrom, J., Nesterov, A., Neyse, L., Nieken, P., Nussberger, A., Palumbo, H., Peters, K., Pirrone, A., Qin, X., Rahal, RM., Rau, H., Rincke, J., Ronzani, P., Roth, Y., Saral, AS., Schmitz, J., Schneider, F., Schram, A., Schudy, S., Schweitzer, ME., Schwieren, C., Scopelliti, I., Sirota, M., Sonnemans, J., Soraperra, I., Spantig, L., Steimanis, I., Steinmetz, J., Suetens, S., Theodoropoulou, A., Urbig, D., Vorlaufer, T., Waibel, J., Woods, D., Yakobi, O., Yilmaz, O., Zaleskiewicz, T., Zeisberger, S. and Holzmeister, F., (2023). Competition and moral behavior: A meta-analysis of forty-five crowd-sourced experimental designs. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 120 (23), e2215572120-

Sirota, M., (2023). When a thinker does not want to think: Adding meta-control into the working model. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 46, e141-

Juanchich, M., Sirota, M. and Holford, DL., (2023). How Should Doctors Frame the Risk of a Vaccine's Adverse Side Effects? It Depends on How Trustworthy They Are.. Medical Decision Making. 43 (7-8), 835-849

Sirota, M., Habersaat, KB., Betsch, C., Bonga, DL., Borek, A., Buckel, A., Butler, R., Byrne-Davis, L., Caudell, M., Charani, E., Geiger, M., Gross, M., Hart, J., Kostopoulou, O., Krockow, EM., Likki, T., Lo Fo Wong, D., Santana, AP., Sievert, EDC., Theodoropoulou, A., Thorpe, A., Wanat, M. and Böhm, R., (2023). We must harness the power of social and behavioural science against the growing pandemic of antimicrobial resistance.. Nature Human Behaviour. 8 (1), 11-13

Schaerer, M., du Plessis, C., Nguyen, MHB., van Aert, RCM., Tiokhin, L., Lakens, D., Giulia Clemente, E., Pfeiffer, T., Dreber, A., Johannesson, M., Clark, CJ. and Luis Uhlmann, E., (2023). On the trajectory of discrimination: A meta-analysis and forecasting survey capturing 44 years of field experiments on gender and hiring decisions. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. 179, 104280-104280

Holford, DL., Juanchich, M. and Sirota, M., (2022). Characteristics of quantifiers moderate the framing effect. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making. 35 (1)

Holford, DL., Sirota, M. and Juanchich, M., (2022). Ambiguity and unintended inferences about risk messages for COVID-19. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. 28 (3), 486-508

Bago, B., Kovacs, M., Protzko, J., Kekecs, Z., Nagy, T., Hoekstra, R., Li, M., Musser, ED., Arvanitis, A., Iones, MT., Bayrak, F., Papadatou-Pastou, M., Belaus, A., Storage, D., Thomas, AG., Buchanan, EM., Becker, B., Baskin, E., Kendrick, K., Sirota, M., Lynds, TM., Calvillo, DP., Mensink, MC., Zezelj, I., Wagge, JR., Röer, JP., Vaughn, LA., Reyna, C., Wood, S., Adamkovic, M., Brown, BT., Lu, JG., Liu, X., Gill, T., Gollwitzer, M., Magraw-Mickelson, Z., Batres, C., Hristova, E., Grinberg, M., Marcu, GM., Mackinnon, SP., Frank, D-A., Bialek, M., Wilton, LS., Parzuchowski, M., Kocalar, HE., Burak, EGD., Solas, SÁ., Evans, TR., Levitan, C., Paruzel-Czachura, M., Findor, A., Shane-Simpson, C., Puvia, E., Vally, Z., Vadillo, MA., Zein, RA., Lantian, A., Czoschke, S., Carnes, N., Peters, KO., Fiedler, S., Lazarevic, LB., Milfont, TL., Celniker, J., Wlodarczyk, A., Chopik, WJ., Stephen, ID., Shi, J., fei, X., Owsley, NC., Li, Y., Feldman, G., Dixson, B., Mitkidis, P., Lalot, F., Mirisola, A., Zheng, X., Quiamzade, A., Tiede, KE., Fleischmann, A., Rutjens, BT., Becker, M., Purić, D., Tonkovic, M., Dumačić, F., Lins, S., Zhang, DC., Reips, U-D., Gordon-Finlayson, AR., Harris, EA., McLatchie, N., Yoon, S., Lange, EB., Matibag, C-J., Hudson, CA., Stevens-Wilson, LJ., Tunstead, LV., West, S-L., Reinero, DA., Batalha, L., Clancy, RF., Castille, CM., Szekely-Copîndean, RD., Karimi-Malekabadi, F., Olsen, J., Kaminski, G., Twardawski, M., Schild, C., Ścigała, KA., Kačmár, P., Stieger, S., Mattiassi, A., Bilancini, E., Lenz, JN., Moeini-Jazani, M., Pärnamets, P., Sternisko, A., Ochoa, D., Jokic, B., Hidding, J., Leliveld, MC., Perez, CC., Yilmaz, O., Kühberger, A., Steffens, NK., Alper, S., Albalooshi, S., Eudave Ramos, L., Susa, KJ., Schmidt, K., Voracek, M., Ghossainy, ME., Barzykowski, K., Adamus, S., Hartanto, A., GRATON, A., Jaeger, B., Moreau, D., Sievers, E., Goh, JX., Boudesseul, J., Lammers, J., Paterlini, J., Rybus, K., Szostak, N., Huskey, R., Janssen, SMJ., Lima, TJS., Gjoneska, B., Chartier, CR., Primbs, M., Ross, RM., Dutra, NB. and Aczel, B., (2022). Situational factors shape moral judgments in the trolley dilemma in Eastern, Southern, and Western countries in a culturally diverse sample. Nature Human Behaviour. 6 (6), 880-895

Legate, N., Nguyen, T-VT., Hanel, PHP., Holford, DL., Sirota, M., Chiu, F. and et al, (2022). A global experiment on motivating social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 119 (22), e2111091119-e2111091119

Bago, B., Kovacs, M., Protzko, J., Nagy, T., Kekecs, Z., Palfi, B., Adamkovic, M., Adamus, S., Albalooshi, S., Albayrak-Aydemir, N., Alfian, IN., Alper, S., Alvarez-Solas, S., Alves, SG., Amaya, S., Andresen, PK., Anjum, G., Ansari, D., Arriaga, P., Aruta, JJBR., Arvanitis, A., Babincak, P., Barzykowski, K., Bashour, B., Baskin, E., Batalha, L., Batres, C., Bavolar, J., Bayrak, F., Becker, B., Becker, M., Belaus, A., Białek, M., Bilancini, E., Boller, D., Boncinelli, L., Boudesseul, J., Brown, BT., Buchanan, EM., Butt, MM., Calvillo, DP., Carnes, NC., Celniker, JB., Chartier, CR., Chopik, WJ., Chotikavan, P., Chuan-Peng, H., Clancy, RF., Çoker, O., Correia, RC., Adoric, VC., Cubillas, CP., Czoschke, S., Daryani, Y., de Grefte, JAM., de Vries, WC., Burak, EGD., Dias, C., Dixson, BJW., Du, X., Dumančić, F., Dumbravă, A., Dutra, NB., Enachescu, J., Esteban-Serna, C., Eudave, L., Evans, TR., Feldman, G., Felisberti, FM., Fiedler, S., Findor, A., Fleischmann, A., Foroni, F., Francová, R., Frank, D-A., Fu, CHY., Gao, S., Ghasemi, O., Ghazi-Noori, A-R., Ghossainy, ME., Giammusso, I., Gill, T., Gjoneska, B., Gollwitzer, M., Graton, A., Grinberg, M., Groyecka-Bernard, A., Harris, EA., Hartanto, A., Hassan, WANM., Hatami, J., Heimark, KR., Hidding, JJJ., Hristova, E., Hruška, M., Hudson, CA., Huskey, R., Ikeda, A., Inbar, Y., Ingram, GPD., Isler, O., Isloi, C., Iyer, A., Jaeger, B., Janssen, SMJ., Jiménez-Leal, W., Jokić, B., Kačmár, P., Kadreva, V., Kaminski, G., Karimi-Malekabadi, F., Kasper, ATA., Kendrick, KM., Kennedy, BJ., Kocalar, HE., Kodapanakkal, RI., Kowal, M., Kruse, E., Kučerová, L., Kühberger, A., Kuzminska, AO., Lalot, F., Lamm, C., Lammers, J., Lange, EB., Lantian, A., Lau, IY-M., Lazarevic, LB., Leliveld, MC., Lenz, JN., Levitan, CA., Lewis, SC., Li, M., Li, Y., Li, H., Lima, TJS., Lins, S., Liuzza, MT., Lopes, P., Lu, JG., Lynds, T., Máčel, M., Mackinnon, SP., Maganti, M., Magraw-Mickelson, Z., Magson, LF., Manley, H., Marcu, GM., Seršić, DM., Matibag, C-J., Mattiassi, ADA., Mazidi, M., McFall, JP., McLatchie, N., Mensink, MC., Miketta, L., Milfont, TL., Mirisola, A., Misiak, M., Mitkidis, P., Moeini-Jazani, M., Monajem, A., Moreau, D., Musser, ED., Narhetali, E., Ochoa, DP., Olsen, J., Owsley, NC., Özdoğru, AA., Panning, M., Papadatou-Pastou, M., Parashar, N., Pärnamets, P., Paruzel-Czachura, M., Parzuchowski, M., Paterlini, JV., Pavlacic, JM., Peker, M., Peters, K., Piatnitckaia, L., Pinto, I., Policarpio, MR., Pop-Jordanova, N., Pratama, AJ., Primbs, MA., Pronizius, E., Purić, D., Puvia, E., Qamari, V., Qian, K., Quiamzade, A., Ráczová, B., Reinero, DA., Reips, U-D., Reyna, C., Reynolds, K., Ribeiro, MFF., Röer, JP., Ross, RM., Roussos, P., Ruiz-Dodobara, F., Ruiz-Fernandez, S., Rutjens, BT., Rybus, K., Samekin, A., Santos, AC., Say, N., Schild, C., Schmidt, K., Ścigała, KA., Sharifian, M., Shi, J., Shi, Y., Sievers, E., Sirota, M., Slipenkyj, M., Solak, Ç., Sorokowska, A., Sorokowski, P., Söylemez, S., Steffens, NK., Stephen, ID., Sternisko, A., Stevens-Wilson, L., Stewart, SLK., Stieger, S., Storage, D., Strube, J., Susa, KJ., Szekely-Copîndean, RD., Szostak, NM., Takwin, B., Tatachari, S., Thomas, AG., Tiede, KE., Tiong, LE., Tonković, M., Trémolière, B., Tunstead, LV., Türkan, BN., Twardawski, M., Vadillo, MA., Vally, Z., Vaughn, LA., Verschuere, B., Vlašiček, D., Voracek, M., Vranka, MA., Wang, S., West, S-L., Whyte, S., Wilton, LS., Wlodarczyk, A., Wu, X., Xin, F., Yadanar, S., Yama, H., Yamada, Y., Yilmaz, O., Yoon, S., Young, DM., Zakharov, I., Zein, RA., Zettler, I., Žeželj, IL., Zhang, DC., Zhang, J., Zheng, X., Hoekstra, R. and Aczel, B., (2022). 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. 6 (6), 897-898

Sirota, M., Thorpe, A. and Juanchich, M., (2022). Explaining and reducing the public’s expectations of antibiotics: A utility-based signal detection theory approach. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition. 11 (4), 587-597

Dorison, C., Lerner, JS., Heller, BH., Rothman, A., Kawachi, II., Wang, K., Rees, VW., Gill, BP., Gibbs, N., Hanel, PHP., Sirota, M., Chiu, F., Holford, DL., Theodoropoulou, A., Coles, NA. and et al, (2022). In COVID-19 health messaging, loss framing increases anxiety with little-to-no concomitant benefits: Experimental evidence from 84 countries. Affective Science. 3 (3), 577-602

Sirota, M., Theodoropoulou, A. and Juanchich, M., (2021). Disfluent fonts do not help people to solve math and non-math problems regardless of their numeracy. Thinking and Reasoning. 27 (1), 142-159

Sirota, M., Dewberry, C., Juanchich, M., Valuš, L. and Marshall, A., (2021). Measuring Cognitive Reflection without Maths: Development and Validation fo the Verbal Cognitive Reflection Test. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making. 34 (3), 322-343

Thorpe, A., Sirota, M., Orbell, S. and Juanchich, M., (2021). Effect of information on reducing inappropriate expectations and requests for antibiotics. British Journal of Psychology. 112 (3), 804-827

Jones, BC., DeBruine, LM., Flake, JK., Liuzza, MT., Antfolk, J., Arinze, NC., Ndukaihe, ILG., Bloxsom, NG., Lewis, SC., Foroni, F., Willis, ML., Cubillas, CP., Vadillo, MA., Turiegano, E., Gilead, M., Simchon, A., Saribay, SA., Owsley, NC., Jang, C., Mburu, G., Calvillo, DP., Wlodarczyk, A., Qi, Y., Ariyabuddhiphongs, K., Jarukasemthawee, S., Manley, H., Suavansri, P., Taephant, N., Stolier, RM., Evans, TR., Bonick, J., Lindemans, JW., Ashworth, LF., Hahn, AC., Chevallier, C., Kapucu, A., Karaaslan, A., Leongómez, JD., Sánchez, OR., Valderrama, E., Vásquez-Amézquita, M., Hajdu, N., Aczel, B., Szecsi, P., Andreychik, M., Musser, ED., Batres, C., Hu, C-P., Liu, Q-L., Legate, N., Vaughn, LA., Barzykowski, K., Golik, K., Schmid, I., Stieger, S., Artner, R., Mues, C., Vanpaemel, W., Jiang, Z., Wu, Q., Marcu, GM., Stephen, ID., Lu, JG., Philipp, MC., Arnal, JD., Hehman, E., Xie, SY., Chopik, WJ., Seehuus, M., Azouaghe, S., Belhaj, A., Elouafa, J., Wilson, JP., Kruse, E., Papadatou-Pastou, M., De La Rosa-Gómez, A., González-Santoyo, I., Hsu, T., Kung, C-C., Wang, H-H., Freeman, JB., Oh, D., Schei, V., Sverdrup, TE., Levitan, CA., Cook, CL., Chandel, P., Kujur, P., Parganiha, A., Parveen, N., Pati, AK., Pradhan, S., Singh, MM., Pande, B., Bavolar, J., Kačmár, P., Zakharov, I., Álvarez-Solas, S., Baskin, E., Thirkettle, M., Schmidt, K., Christopherson, CD., Leonis, T., Suchow, JW., Olofsson, JK., Jernsäther, T., Lee, A-S., Beaudry, JL., Gogan, TD., Oldmeadow, JA., Balas, B., Stevens, LM., Colloff, MF., Flowe, HD., Gülgöz, S., Brandt, MJ., Hoyer, K., Jaeger, B., Ren, D., Sleegers, WWA., Wissink, J., Kaminski, G., Floerke, VA., Urry, HL., Chen, S-C., Pfuhl, G., Vally, Z., Basnight-Brown, DM., Ijzerman, H., Sarda, E., Neyroud, L., Badidi, T., Van der Linden, N., Tan, CBY., Kovic, V., Sampaio, W., Ferreira, P., Santos, D., Burin, DI., Gardiner, G., Protzko, J., Schild, C., Ścigała, KA., Zettler, I., O'Mara Kunz, EM., Storage, D., Wagemans, FMA., Saunders, B., Sirota, M., Sloane, GV., Lima, TJS., Uittenhove, K., Vergauwe, E., Jaworska, K., Stern, J., Carvalho, L., Ask, K., van Zyl, CJJ., Körner, A., Weissgerber, SC., Boudesseul, J., Ruiz-Dodobara, F., Ritchie, KL., Michalak, NM., Blake, KR., White, D., Gordon-Finlayson, AR., Anne, M., Janssen, SMJ., Lee, KM., Nielsen, TK., Tamnes, CK., Zickfeld, JH., Dalla Rosa, A., Vianello, M., Kocsor, F., Kozma, L., Putz, Á., Tressoldi, P., Irrazabal, N., Chatard, A., Lins, S., Pinto, IR., Lutz, J., Adamkovic, M., Babincak, P., Baník, G., Ropovik, I., Coetzee, V., Dixson, BJW., Ribeiro, G., Peters, K., Steffens, NK., Tan, KW., Thorstenson, CA., Fernandez, AM., Hsu, RMCS., Valentova, JV., Varella, MAC., Corral-Frías, NS., Frías-Armenta, M., Hatami, J., Monajem, A., Sharifian, MH., Frohlich, B., Lin, H., Inzlicht, M., Alaei, R., Rule, NO., Lamm, C., Pronizius, E., Voracek, M., Olsen, J., Mac Giolla, E., Akgoz, A., Özdoğru, AA., Crawford, MT., Bennett-Day, B., Koehn, MA., Okan, C., Ansari, D., Gill, T., Miller, JK., Dunham, Y., Yang, X., Alper, S., Borras-Guevara, ML., Cai, SJ., Tiantian, D., Danvers, AF., Feinberg, DR., Armstrong, MM., Gilboa- Schechtman, E., McCarthy, RJ., Muñoz-Reyes, JA., Polo, P., Shiramazu, VKM., Yan, W-W-J., Forscher, PS., Chartier, CR. and Coles, NA., (2021). To Which World Regions Does the Valence-Dominance Model of Social Perception Apply?. Nature Human Behaviour. 5 (1), 159-169

Medvedeva, A., Saw, R., Silvestri, C., Sirota, M., Fuggetta, G. and Galli, G., (2021). Offset-related brain activity in the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex promotes long-term memory formation of verbal events. Brain Stimulation. 14 (3), 564-570

Holford, DL., Juanchich, M., Foulsham, T., Sirota, M. and Clarke, ADF., (2021). Eye-tracking evidence for fixation asymmetries in verbal and numerical quantifier processing. Judgment and Decision Making. 16 (4), 969-1009

Wolfe, K., Sirota, M. and Clarke, ADF., (2021). Age differences in COVID-19 risk-taking, and the relationship with risk attitude and numerical ability. Royal Society Open Science. 8 (9), 201445-

Juanchich, M., Sirota, M., Jolles, D. and Whiley, LA., (2021). Are COVID‐19 conspiracies a threat to public health? Psychological characteristics and health protective behaviours of believers. European Journal of Social Psychology. 51 (6), 969-989

Wang, K., Goldenberg, A., Hanel, PHP., Holford, DL., Sirota, M., Chiu, F. and et al, (2021). A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nature Human Behaviour. 5 (8), 1089-1110

Liu, D., Juanchich, M., Sirota, M. and Orbell, S., (2021). Differences between decisions made using verbal or numerical quantifiers. Thinking and Reasoning. 27 (1), 69-96

Juanchich, M. and Sirota, M., (2020). Do people really prefer verbal probabilities?. Psychological Research. 84 (8), 2325-2338

Landy, J., Jia, M., Ding, I., Viganola, D., Tierney, W., Dreber, A., Johanneson, M., Pfeiffer, T., Ebersole, C., Gronau, Q., Ly, A., Bergh, DVD., Marsman, M., Derks, K., Wagenmakers, E-J., Proctor, A., Bartels, D., Bauman, C., Brady, W., Cheung, F., Cimpian, A., Dohle, S., Donnellan, B., Hahn, A., Hall, M., Jimenez-Leal, W., Johnson, D., Lucas, R., Monin, B., Montealegre, A., Mullen, E., Pang, J., Ray, J., Reinero, D., Reynolds, J., Sowden, W., Storage, D., Su, R., Tworek, C., Bavel, JV., Walco, D., Wills, J., Xu, X., Yam, KC., Yang, X., Cunningham, W., Schweinsberg, M., Urwitz, M., Adamkovic, M., Alaei, R., Albers, C., Allard, A., Anderson, I., Andreychik, M., Babincak, P., Baker, B., Banik, G., Baskin, E., Bavolar, J., Berkers, R., Bialek, M., Blanke, J., Breuer, J., Brizi, A., Brown, S., Bruhlmann, F., Bruns, H., Caldwell, L., Campercy, J-F., Chan, E., Chang, Y-P., Cheung, B., Chin, A., Cho, K., Columbus, S., Conway, P., Corretti, C., Craig, A., Curran, P., Danvers, A., Dawson, I., Day, M., Dietl, E., Doerflinger, J., Domenici, A., Dranseika, V., Edelsbrunner, P., Edlund, J., Fisher, M., Fung, A., Genschow, O., Gnambs, K., Goldberg, M., Graf-Vlachy, L., Hafenbrack, A., Hafenbradl, S., Hartanto, A., Heck, P., Heffner, J., Hilgard, J., Holzmeister, F., Horchak, O., Huang, T., Huffmeier, J., Hughes, S., Hussey, I., Imhoff, R., Jaeger, B., Jamro, K., Johnson, S., Jones, A., Keller, L., Kombeiz, O., Krueger, L., Lantian, A., Laplante, J., Lazarevic, L., Leclerc, J., Legate, N., Leonhardt, J., Leung, D., Levitan, C., Lin, H., Liu, Q., Liuzza, M., Locke, K., Ly, A., MacEacheron, M., Madan, C., Manley, H., Mari, S., Martoncik, M., McLean, S., McPhetres, J., Mercier, B., Michaels, C., Mullarkey, M., Musser, E., Nalborczyk, L., Nilsonne, G., Otis, N., Otner, S., Otto, P., Oviedo-Trespalacios, O., Paruzel-Czachura, M., Pellegrini, F., Pereira, V., Perfecto, H., Pfuhl, G., Phillips, M., Plonsky, O., Pozzi, M., Puric, D., Raymond-Barker, B., Redman, D., Reynolds, C., Ropovik, I., Roseler, L., Ruessmann, J., Ryan, W., Sablaturova, N., Schuepfer, K., Schutz, A., Sirota, M., Stefan, M., Stocks, E., Strosser, G., Suchow, J., Szabelska, A., Tey, K., Teokhin, L., Troian, J., Utesch, T., Vasquez-Echevarria, A., Vaughn, LA., Verschoor, M., Helverson, BV., Wallisch, P., Weissgerber, S., Wichman, A., Woike, J., Zezelj, I., Zickfield, J., Ahn, Y., Blaettchen, P., Kang, X., Lee, YJ., Parker, P., Parker, P., Song, J., Very, M-A., Wong, L. and Uhlmann, E., (2020). Crowdsourcing hypothesis tests: Making transparent how design choices shape research results. Psychological Bulletin. 146 (5), 451-479

Juanchich, M., Sirota, M. and Bonnefon, J-F., (2020). Anxiety-induced miscalculations, more than differential inhibition of intuition, explain the gender gap in cognitive reflection. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making. 33 (4), 427-443

Juanchich, M. and Sirota, M., (2020). Most family physicians report communicating the risks of adverse drug reactions in words (vs. numbers). Applied Cognitive Psychology. 34 (2), 526-534

Thorpe, A., Sirota, M., Juanchich, M. and Orbell, S., (2020). ‘Always take your doctor’s advice’: Does trust moderate the effect of information on inappropriate antibiotic prescribing expectations?. British Journal of Health Psychology. 25 (2), 358-376

Liu, D., Juanchich, M., Sirota, M. and Orbell, S., (2020). The Intuitive Use of Contextual Information in Decisions made with Verbal and Numerical Quantifiers. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. 73 (4), 481-494

Juanchich, M., Shepherd, TG. and Sirota, M., (2020). Negations in uncertainty lexicon affect attention, decision-making and trust. Climatic Change. 162 (3), 1677-1698

Liu Xiaodan, D., Juanchich, M. and Sirota, M., (2020). Focus to an attribute with verbal or numerical quantifiers affects the attribute framing effect. Acta Psychologica. 208, 103088-103088

Thorpe, A., Sirota, M., Juanchich, M. and Orbell, S., (2020). Action bias in the public’s clinically inappropriate expectations for antibiotics. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. 26 (3), 422-431

Juanchich, M., Sirota, M. and Bonnefon, J-F., (2019). The polite wiggle-room effect in charity donation decisions. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making. 32 (2), 179-193

Sirota, M. and Juanchich, M., (2019). Ratio format shapes health decisions: The practical significance of the "1-in-X" effect. Medical Decision Making. 39 (1), 32-40

Galli, G., Vadillo, MA., Sirota, M., Feurra, M. and Medvedeva, A., (2019). A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on Episodic Memory.. Brain Stimulation. 12 (2), 231-241

Juanchich, M. and Sirota, M., (2019). Not as gloomy as we thought Reassessing how the public understands probability of precipitation forecasts. Journal of Cognitive Psychology. 31 (1), 116-129

Walasek, L., Juanchich, M. and Sirota, M., (2019). Adaptive cooperation in the face of social exclusion. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 82, 35-46

Løhre, E., Juanchich, M., Sirota, M., Teigen, KH. and Shepherd, TG., (2019). Climate scientists’ wide prediction intervals are more likely but perceived to be less certain. Weather, Climate and Society. 11 (3), 565-575

Clarke, RM., Paterson, P. and Sirota, M., (2019). Determinants of satisfaction with information and additional information-seeking behaviour for the pertussis vaccination given during pregnancy. Vaccine. 37 (20), 2712-2720

Clarke, RM., Paterson, P. and Sirota, M., (2019). Do previously held vaccine attitudes dictate the extent and influence of vaccine information seeking behaviour during pregnancy?. Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics. 15 (9), 2081-2089

Liu, D., Juanchich, M., Sirota, M. and Orbell, S., (2019). People Overestimate Verbal Quantities of Nutrients on Nutrition Labels. Food Quality and Preference. 78, 103739-103739

Vallee-Tourangeau, G., Promberger, M., Moon, K., Wheelock, A., Sirota, M., Norton, C. and Sevdalis, N., (2018). Motors of influenza vaccination uptake and vaccination advocacy in healthcare workers: Development and validation of two short scales. Vaccine. 36 (44), 6540-6545

Sirota, M., Juanchich, M., Petrova, D., Garcia-Retamero, R., Walasek, L. and Bhatia, S., (2018). Health professionals prefer to communicate risk-related numerical information using "1-in-X" ratios. Medical Decision Making. 38 (3), 366-376

Galli, G., Sirota, M., Gruber, MJ., Ivanof, BE., Ganesh, J., Materassi, M., Thorpe, A., Loaiza, V., Cappelletti, M. and Craik, FIM., (2018). Learning facts during aging: the benefits of curiosity. Experimental Aging Research. 44 (4), 311-328

Juanchich, M., Walasek, L. and Sirota, M., (2018). Decision-makers are resilient in the face of social exclusion. British Journal of Psychology. 109 (3), 604-630

Sirota, M. and Juanchich, M., (2018). Effect of response format on cognitive reflection: Validating a two- and four-option multiple choice question version of the Cognitive Reflection Test. Behavior Research Methods. 50 (6), 2511-2522

Moshontz, H., Campbell, L., Ebersole, CR., IJzerman, H., Urry, HL., Forscher, PS., Grahe, JE., McCarthy, RJ., Musser, ED., Protzko, J., Flake, JK., Forero, DA., Janssen, SMJ., Keene, J., Aczel, B., Ansari, D., Antfolk, J., Baskin, E., Batres, C., Lucia, M., Brick, C., Castille, CM., Chandel, P., Chopik, WJ., Clarance, D., Corker, KS., Dixson, B., Dranseika, V., Dunham, Y., Evans, TR., Fiedler, S., Fu, CHY., Gardiner, G., Garrison, SM., Gill, T., Hahn, A., Jaeger, B., Kačmár, P., Gwenaël, K., Kanske, P., Kekecs, Z., Kline, M., Koehn, MA., Kujur, P., Levitan, C., Miller, JK., Okan, C., Olsen, J., Oviedo-Trespalacios, O., gru, AAÖU., Pande, B., Parganiha, A., Parveen, N., Pfuhl, G., Pradhan, S., Ropovik, I., Rule, N., Saunders, B., Schei, V., Schmidt, K., Singh, MM., Sirota, M., Solas, SÁ., Steltenpohl, CN., Stieger, S., Storage, D., Sullivan, GB., Szabelska, A., Tamnes, CK., Vadillo, MA., vanpaemel, W., Vergauwe, E., Verschoor, M., Vianello, M., Voracek, M., Williams, GP., Wilson, JP., Zickfeld, JH., Awlia, D., Chatard, A., Fernandez, AM., Kapucu, A., Mensink, MC. and Chartier, CR., (2018). Psychological Science Accelerator: Advancing Psychology through a Distributed Collaborative Network. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science. 1 (4), 501-515

Sirota, M., Juanchich, M. and Bonnefon, J-F., (2018). 1-in-X" bias: "1-in-X" format causes overestimation of health-related risks. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. 24 (4), 431-439

Costantini, M., Migliorati, D., Donno, B., Sirota, M. and Ferri, F., (2018). Expected but omitted stimuli affect crossmodal interaction. Cognition. 171, 52-64

Moshontz, H., Campbell, L., Ebersole, CR., IJzerman, H., Urry, HL., Forscher, PS., Grahe, JE., McCarthy, RJ., Musser, ED., Antfolk, J., Castille, CM., Evans, TR., Fiedler, S., Flake, JK., Forero, DA., Janssen, SMJ., Keene, JR., Protzko, J., Aczel, B., Solas, SA., Ansari, D., Awlia, D., Baskin, E., Batres, C., Borras-Guevara, ML., Brick, C., Chandel, P., Chatard, A., Chopik, WJ., Clarance, D., Coles, NA., Corker, KS., Dixson, BJW., Dranseika, V., Dunham, Y., Fox, NW., Gardiner, G., Garrison, SM., Gill, T., Hahn, AC., Jaeger, B., Kacmar, P., Kaminski, G., Kanske, P., Kekecs, Z., Kline, M., Koehn, MA., Kujur, P., Levitan, CA., Miller, JK., Okan, C., Olsen, J., Oviedo-Trespalacios, O., Ozdogru, AA., Pande, B., Parganiha, A., Parveen, N., Pfuhl, G., Pradhan, S., Ropovik, I., Rule, NO., Saunders, B., Schei, V., Schmidt, K., Singh, MM., Sirota, M., Steltenpohl, CN., Stieger, S., Storage, D., Sullivan, GB., Szabelska, A., Tamnes, CK., Vadillo, MA., Valentova, JV., Vanpaemel, W., Varella, MAC., Vergauwe, E., Verschoor, M., Vianello, M., Voracek, M., Williams, GP., Wilson, JP., Zickfeld, JH., Arnal, JD., Aydin, B., Chen, S-C., DeBruine, LM., Fernandez, AM., Horstmann, KT., Isager, PM., Jones, B., Kapucu, A., Lin, H., Mensink, MC., Navarrete, G., Silan, MA. and Chartier, CR., (2018). The Psychological Science Accelerator: Advancing Psychology Through a Distributed Collaborative Network. ADVANCES IN METHODS AND PRACTICES IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE. 1 (4), 501-515

Kostopoulou, O., Sirota, M., Round, T., Samaranayaka, S. and Delaney, BC., (2017). The Role of Physicians’ First Impressions in the Diagnosis of Possible Cancers without Alarm Symptoms. Medical Decision Making. 37 (1), 9-16

Galli, G., Feurra, M., Pavone, EF., Sirota, M. and Rossi, S., (2017). Dynamic changes in prefrontal cortex involvement during verbal episodic memory formation. Biological Psychology. 125, 36-44

Sirota, M., Round, T., Samaranayaka, S. and Kostopoulou, O., (2017). Expectations for antibiotics increase their prescribing: Causal evidence about localized impact.. Health Psychology. 36 (4), 402-409

Sirota, M., Kostopoulou, O., Round, T. and Samaranayaka, S., (2017). Prevalence and alternative explanations influence cancer diagnosis: An experimental study with physicians.. Health Psychology. 36 (5), 477-485

Juanchich, M. and Sirota, M., (2017). How Much Will the Sea Level Rise? Outcome Selection and Subjective Probability in Climate Change Predictions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. 23 (4), 386-402

Navarrete, G., Correia, R., Sirota, M., Juanchich, M. and Huepe, D., (2017). Doctor, what does my positive test mean? From Bayesian textbook tasks to personalized risk communication. Frontiers in Psychology. 6, 1327-

Juanchich, M., Gourdon-Kanhukamwe, A. and Sirota, M., (2017). “I am uncertain” vs “It is uncertain”. How linguistic markers of the uncertainty source affect uncertainty communication. Judgment and Decision Making. 12 (5), 445-465

Galli, G., Sirota, M., Materassi, M., Zaninotto, F. and Terry, P., (2017). Brain indices of disagreement with one's social values predict EU referendum voting behavior.. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. 12 (11), 1758-1765

Vallée-Tourangeau, F., Steffensen, SV., Vallée-Tourangeau, G. and Sirota, M., (2016). Insight with hands and things. Acta Psychologica. 170, 195-205

Vallee-Tourangeau, F., Sirota, M. and Vallee-Tourangeau, G., (2016). Interactivity Mitigates the Impact of Working Memory Depletion on Mental Arithmetic Performance. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications. 1 (26), 26-

Juanchich, M. and Sirota, M., (2016). How to improve people's interpretation of probabilities of precipitation. Journal of Risk Research. 19 (3), 388-404

Juanchich, M., Dewberry, C., Sirota, M. and Narendran, S., (2016). Cognitive Reflection Predicts Real-Life Decision Outcomes, but Not Over and Above Personality and Decision-Making Styles. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making. 29 (1), 52-59

Sirota, M. and Juanchich, M., (2015). A direct and comprehensive test of two postulates of politeness theory applied to uncertainty communication. Judgment and Decision Making. 10 (3), 232-240

Vallée-Tourangeau, G., Sirota, M., Juanchich, M. and Vallée-Tourangeau, F., (2015). Beyond getting the numbers right: what does it mean to be a "successful" Bayesian reasoner?. Frontiers in Psychology. 6 (JUN), 712-

Juanchich, M. and Sirota, M., (2015). How to improve people's interpretation of probabilities of precipitation. Journal of Risk Research

Sirota, M., Kostovi?ov�, L. and Vall�e-Tourangeau, F., (2015). How to train your Bayesian: A problem-representation transfer rather than a format-representation shift explains training effects. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. 68 (1), 1-9

Gilhooly, KJ., Georgiou, GJ., Sirota, M. and Paphiti-Galeano, A., (2015). Incubation and suppression processes in creative problem solving. Thinking & Reasoning. 21 (1), 130-146

Sirota, M., Kostovi?ov�, L. and Vall�e-Tourangeau, F., (2015). Now you Bayes, now you don?t: effects of set-problem and frequency-format mental representations on statistical reasoning. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. 22 (5), 1465-1473

Sirota, M., Vallée-Tourangeau, G., Vallée-Tourangeau, F. and Juanchich, M., (2015). On Bayesian problem-solving: helping Bayesians solve simple Bayesian word problems. Frontiers in Psychology. 6 (1141), 1141-

Sirota, M., Kostovičová, L. and Juanchich, M., (2014). The effect of iconicity of visual displays on statistical reasoning: evidence in favor of the null hypothesis. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. 21 (4), 961-968

Sirota, M., Juanchich, M., Kostopoulou, O. and Hanak, R., (2014). Decisive Evidence on a Smaller-Than-You-Think Phenomenon. Medical Decision Making. 34 (4), 419-429

Sirota, M., Juanchich, M. and Hagmayer, Y., (2014). Ecological rationality or nested sets? Individual differences in cognitive processing predict Bayesian reasoning. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. 21 (1), 198-204

HANÁK, R., SIROTA, M. and JUANCHICH, M., (2013). EXPERTS USE COMPENSATORY STRATEGIES MORE OFTEN THAN NOVICES IN HIRING DECISIONS. Studia Psychologica. 55 (4), 251-263

Juanchich, M. and Sirota, M., (2013). Do people really say it is “likely” when they believe it is only “possible”? Effect of politeness on risk communication. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. 66 (7), 1268-1275

Juanchich, M., Sirota, M., Karelitz, TM. and Villejoubert, G., (2013). Can membership-functions capture the directionality of verbal probabilities?. Thinking & Reasoning. 19 (2), 231-247

Sirota, M. and Juanchich, M., (2012). Risk Communication on Shaky Ground. Science. 338 (6112), 1286-1287

Sirota, M. and Juanchich, M., (2012). To what extent do politeness expectations shape risk perception? Even numerical probabilities are under their spell!. Acta Psychologica. 141 (3), 391-399

Juanchich, M., Sirota, M. and Butler, CL., (2012). The perceived functions of linguistic risk quantifiers and their effect on risk, negativity perception and decision making. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. 118 (1), 72-81

Cavojova, V., Sirota, M. and Belovicova, Z., (2012). Slovak validation of the Basic Empathy Scale in pre-adolescents.. Studia Psychologica. 54 (3), 195-208

Gilhooly, KJ., Georgiou, GJ., Garrison, J., Reston, JD. and Sirota, M., (2012). Don’t wait to incubate: Immediate versus delayed incubation in divergent thinking. Memory & Cognition. 40 (6), 966-975

Sirota, M. and Juanchich, M., (2011). Role of numeracy and cognitive reflection in bayesian reasoning with natural frequencies. Studia Psychologica. 53 (2), 151-161

Cavojova, V., Belovicova, Z. and Sirota, M., (2011). Mindreading and emphaty as predictors of prosocial behavior.. Studia Psychologica. 53 (4), 351-362

Sirota, M., (2008). The evidence of Bayesian reasoning and its place in the context of the empirical argument about rationality. Filozofia. 63 (5), 417-426

Book chapters (2)

Juanchich, M., Sirota, M. and Bonnefon, J-F., Verbal Uncertainty. In: The Oxford Handbook of Experimental Semantics and Pragmatics. Oxford University Press. 354- 368

Gilhooly, K., Georgiou, G., Garrison, J., Reston, JD. and Sirota, M., (2015). Don't wait to incubate: immediate versus delayed incubation in divergent thinking. In: Studies of Thinking. Routledge. 253- 269. 9781138848870

Conferences (2)

Vallée-Tourangeau, F., Sirota, M. and Vallée-Tourangeau, G., (2016). Do Do Do, The The The: Interactivity and Articulatory Suppression in Mental Arithmetic

Vallée-Tourangeau, F., Sirota, M. and Villejoubert, G., (2013). Reducing the Impact of Math Anxiety on Mental Arithmetic: The Importance of Distributed Cognition

Grants and funding

2022

On the Purpose of Cognitive Reflection

Leverhulme Trust

2018

Rationally irrational: When people don�t correct errors in their reasoning

Leverhulme Trust

A utility-based signal detection account of severity effect

Experimental Psychology Society

2015

Measuring Intuition Inhibition without Math

The British Academy

Contact

msirota@essex.ac.uk
+44 (0) 1206 874229

Location:

4.713, Colchester Campus