[FRIAM] [in|ex]tensional effects on (English) language

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Eye-tracking study finds depression memes act like visual magnets for people experiencing depressive symptoms
https://www.psypost.org/2020/12/eye-tracking-study-finds-depression-memes-act-like-visual-magnets-for-people-experiencing-depressive-symptoms-58939

"It also seems that this group are less interested in generally humorous memes unrelated to the depression experience,"

That just *sounds* wrong to me. I would've written "this group is". But according to this website: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/is-vs-are/

"But even in American English, a collective noun can take are when you need to emphasize the individual members of the group."

Perhaps the important thing, here, is that this "group" was classed together from the outside. The grouping of "depressed people" is very susceptible to criticism and, I'd bet money, derived from external self-reported expressions. So by saying "this group are", the authors might be expressing that, even though we've grouped them thusly, that grouping is extensional/phenomenal, not intensional/generative. So they really should retain their plural status and not be singularized into the group.

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