Exposing omitted moderators: Explaining why effect sizes differ in the social sciences.

ABSTRACT: Policymakers increasingly rely on behavioral science in response to global challenges, such as climate change or global health crises. But applications of behavioral science face an important problem: Interventions often exert substantially different effects across contexts and individuals. We examine this heterogeneity for different paradigms that underlie many behavioral interventions. We study the paradigms in a series of five preregistered studies across one in-person and 10 online panels, with over 11,000 respondents in total. We find substantial heterogeneity across settings and paradigms, apply techniques for modeling the heterogeneity, and introduce a framework that measures typically omitted moderators. The framework's factors (Fluid Intelligence, Attentiveness, Crystallized Intel

SUBMITTER: Krefeld-Schwalb A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10962994 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature