In the face of COVID-19 and necessary shifts in service delivery for behavior analysts, caregiver involvement in behavioral interventions will likely increase. Resources caregivers can consume and implement independently are critical in helping caregivers manage behavior in their homes. This paper includes antecedent and consequent behavior management strategies which correspond with provided written instructions and video tutorials designed for caregivers. The materials presented within this paper were originally produced and found effective in aiding caregivers managing behavior in the home within the Alabama foster care system. Although individuals within this system are at a higher risk of abuse and neglect and may engage in higher levels of aberrant behavior, we are distributing this document in hopes it will help behavior analysts working across a variety of populations as they navigate changes in service delivery and adopt resources for continued care and caregiver training.

Increasing nonresponse rates are a pressing issue for many longitudinal panel studies. Respondents frequently either refuse participation in single survey waves (temporary dropout) or discontinue participation altogether (permanent dropout). Contemporary statistical methods that are used to elucidate predictors of survey nonresponse are typically limited to small variable sets and ignore complex interaction patterns. The innovative approach of Bayesian additive regression trees (BART) is an elegant way to overcome these limitations because it does not specify a parametric form for the relationship between the outcome and its predictors. We present a BART event history analysis that allows identifying predictors for different types of nonresponse to anticipate response rates for upcoming survey waves. We apply our novel method to data from the German National Educational Panel study including N = 4,559 students in grade 5 that observed nonresponse rates of up to 36% across five waves. A cross-validation and comparison with logistic regression models with LASSO (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator) penalization underline the advantages of the approach. Our results highlight the potential of Bayesian discrete time event modeling for the long-term projection of panel stability across multiple survey waves. Finally, potential applications of this approach for operational use in survey management are outlined.

This position paper discusses emerging behavioral, social, and economic dynamics related to the COVID-19 pandemic and puts particular emphasis on two emerging issues: First, delayed effects (or second strikes) of pandemics caused by dread risk effects are discussed whereby two factors which might influence the existence of such effects are identified, namely the accessibility of (mis-)information and the effects of policy decisions on adaptive behavior. Second, the issue of individual preparedness to hazardous events is discussed. As events such as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds complex behavioral patterns which are hard to predict, sophisticated models which account for behavioral, social, and economic dynamics are required to assess the effectivity and efficiency of decision-making.

We conducted a rapid review and quantitative summary of meta-analyses that have examined interventions which can be used by individuals during quarantine and social distancing to manage anxiety, depression, stress and subjective well-being. A literature search yielded 34 meta-analyses (total number of studies k = 1,390, n = 145,744) that were summarized. Overall, self-guided interventions showed small to medium effects in comparison to control groups demonstrating their effectiveness. In particular, third-wave therapeutic approaches (including cognitive-behavioral, mindfulness, and acceptance-based interventions), selected positive psychology interventions, and multi-component and activity based interventions (music, physicalexercise) showed promising evidence for effectiveness. Many of these interventions are available in online or smartphone app form. At the same time, self-guided interventions on average did not show the same degree of effectiveness as traditional guided individual or group therapies. The review points to activities and practices that can be adapted by individuals as a first step to manage their mental health during social distancing and quarantines. Further research is clearly needed on activities helping individuals to interact and live in constrained living conditions (e.g, improving social interactions during quarantine) and the relative effectiveness of self-guided interventions across cultural boundaries

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has plunged the world into a crisis. Tocontain the crisis, it is essential to build full cooperation between the government andthe public. However, it is unclear which governmental and individual factors are thedeterminants and how they interact on protective behaviors against COVID-19. Toresolve this issue, this study built a multiple mediation model and found governmentemergency management as information transparency and positive propaganda hadmore important impacts on protective behaviors than refuting rumors and supplies.Moreover, governmental factors could indirectly affect protective behaviors throughindividual factors such as perceived control, positive emotions, and risk perception.These findings suggest that systematic intervention programs for governmentalfactors need to be integrated with individual factors to finally achieve effectiveprevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic among the public

What drives people’s perceptions of risks and benefits associated with novel technologies? Al-though various psychological models of risk perception have been proposed, it has not yet beensystematically tested how well such models can account forinterindividualdierences in largepopulation samples, as well as forintraindividualvariability that may occur across time. Thisarticle capitalizes on the current deployment of5G—the latest generation of cellular networktechnology—as a topical case study to model the psychological drivers of risk perception andits associations with policy-related attitudes (e.g., voting intention). Study 1 collected a rep-resentative population sample (N=2;919) to directly compare three psychological models ofrisk perception, finding that predictors such as trust, feelings of dread, and objective knowledgeprovide a good account for interindividual dierences in perceived risk and benefit, which inturn were strongly associated with policy-related attitudes. Study 2 corroborated these findingsin a cross-sectional sample (N=960); moreover, in a longitudinal sample (N=780), varia-tions in the same psychological drivers were also systematically associated with intraindividualchanges in perceived risk and benefit—and consequently, with policy-related attitudes. In sum,this article provides a systematic investigation of the drivers of risk perception at the levelof individual participants, and corroborates the important role of risk perception in shapingpolicy-related attitudes.

During the pandemic, people may experience various mental health problems. Psychological strengths may help them to cope with emerging challenges and foster mental health and well-being. This study examined the associations between resilience, dispositional hope, subjective well-being, and psychological health among adults during early stage of COVID-19.A total of 220 participants from general public participated this study completing a battery of measures(134 men [Mage= 42.36 years, SD= 8.99, range = 18 to 60] and 86 women [Mage= 36.73 years, SD= 7.44, range = 18 to 51]).This cross-section study indicated that resilience mediated the relationship between hope and psychological health and subjective well-being. Resultsalsoshowed an indirect effect of resilience in the relationship between hope, subjective well-being and psychological health as well as an indirect effect of subjective well-being in the relationship between hope and psychological health. Additionally, hope, subjective well-being, and resilience had significant direct effects on psychological health, and hope and resilience had direct effects on subjective well-being. The results suggest that we should pay attention to hope and resilience for the development and improvement of well-being and psychological health during the times of crisis.

Seven emerging trends from the COVID-19 pandemic that have led to the return of experts and evidence

COVID-19—and the ensuing economic fallout—exposed society’s vast inequalities. Current stimulus plans and ongoing debates revolve around restoring society to its pre-COVID-19 state, a singular focus driven by a prevalent status quo bias. We propose that policymakers should adopt a more ambitious goal: to take advantage of the change momentum of COVID-19 to reduce social inequalities in order to build society’s resilience for the next time disaster strikes. We suggest that this redesign will require a focus on the multidimensional nature of social and economic inequalities, and a shift toward strengthening communities rather than a sole focus on individual households and businesses. This crisis should be seen as a unique window for restructuring society by creating new norms and ideals rather than returning to the pre-COVID-19 status quo.

The COVID-19 pandemic entails challenging psychological conditions for the population, requiring them to make many decisions under stress. In this study, 641 participants were presented with different moral decision-making tasks, and completed a survey on mental health status and experiences, concerns, behaviors and beliefs related to the COVID-19. Results showed that the pandemic is placing a great psychological burden on the population. Also, that decision-making processes are being affected during the crisis, in a dichotomous way. Altruistic behaviors are promoted when people are suffering with high levels of psychological impact, and when they are concerned about others contracting the disease. However, egoistic behaviors are facilitated when concerns affect the self. Similarly, psychological impact, concerns about the self, and worsened physical health predict more automatic responses to framing problems and moral dilemmas. Nevertheless, when concerns relate to the others, or when people are more informed and/or carefree, more controlled responses emerge.

Auditors often have prior information about the auditee before starting the substantive testing phase. For example, an auditor might have performed an audit last year, they might have information on certain controls in place, or they might have performed analytical procedures in an earlier stage of the audit. In this article, we show that applying Bayesian statistics in substantive testing allows for integration of this information into the statistical analysis through the prior distribution. This enables auditors to tailor their sampling procedure to the auditee, thereby increasing audit transparency, efficiency, and quality. However, defining a suitable prior distribution can be difficult because what constitutes a suitable prior depends on the specifics of the audit and the auditee. To help the auditor construct a prior distribution we discuss five methodologies, discuss their pros and cons, and give examples of how to apply them in practice.

BCBAs may encounter situations, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, that preclude them from providing traditional in-person ABA services to clients. When conditions prevent BCBAs and behavior technicians from working directly with clients, digital instructional activities designed by BCBAs and delivered via a computer or tablet may be a viable substitute. Google applications, including Google Slides, Google Forms, and Google Classroom, can be particularly useful for creating and sharing digital instructional activities. In the current paper, we provide task analyses for utilizing basic Google Slides functions, developing independent instructional activities, developing caregiver-supported instructional activities, and sharing activities with clients and caregivers. We also provide practical recommendations for implementing digital instructional activities with clients and caregivers.

Pan·dem·ic /panˈdemik/ (of a disease) prevalent over a whole country or the world. As humans have spread across the world, so have infectious diseases. Even in this modern era, outbreaks are nearly constant, though not every outbreak reaches pandemic level as the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) has. Today’s visualization outlines some of history’s most deadly pandemics, from the Antonine Plague to the current COVID-19 event.

The COVID-19 pandemic is increasing negative emotions and decreasing positive emotions globally. If left unchecked, these emotional changes may have a wide array of adverse outcomes. To enhance psychological resilience, this study in the Psychological Science Accelerator COVID-19 Rapid Project will examine the impact of reappraisal, a widely studied and highly effective form of emotion regulation. Participants from 55 countries (expected N = 25,448) will be randomly assigned to one of two reappraisal interventions (reconstrual and repurposing) or an active control condition. We predict that both reappraisal interventions will reduce negative emotional responses and increase positive emotional responses relative to the control condition. We further predict that reconstrual will decrease negative emotions more than repurposing, and that repurposing will increase positive emotions more than reconstrual. We hope results will inform efforts to create a scalable intervention for use around the world to build psychological resilience during the pandemic and beyond.

Social distancing during the coronavirus-disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is crucial to reduce the spread of the virus. However, its effectiveness hinges on adherence by individuals who face substantial burdens from the required behavioral restrictions. Here, we investigate sources of individual variation in adhering to social distancing guidelines. In a high-powered study (N = 895), we tested direct and indirect effects of boredom and self-control on adherence. The results showed that both traits were important predictors of adherence but the underlying mechanisms differed. Specifically, individuals high in boredom perceived social distancing as more difficult, which in turn reduced their adherence (i.e., a mediated effect). In contrast, individuals high in self-control adhered more to the guidelines without perceiving them as more or less difficult; however, self-control moderated the effect of difficulty on adherence. Our results are immediately relevant to improve the efficacy of social distancing guidelines in the COVID-19 response.

As the coronavirus crisis continues to take its deadly toll across the world, it does so with varying degrees of severity depending on the country. Some states are considering relaxing preventive measures against the disease, others are doing so already. Many analysts and politicians are beginning to turn their attention from short-term measures to contain the virus and save economies from collapse to longer-term challenges, such as the pandemic’s impact on international governance, defence, foreign policy and the international debt market

More than 1 billion people worldwide report no religious affiliation. These religious “nones” represent the world’s third largest religion-related identity group and are a diverse group, with some having previous religious identification and others never identifying as religious. We examined how three forms of religious identification—current, former, and never—influence a range of cognitions, emotions, and behavior. Three studies using nationally representative samples of religious Western (United States), secular Western (Netherlands, New Zealand) and Eastern (Hong Kong) cultures showed evidence of a religious residue effect: formerly religious individuals (i.e., religious “dones”) differed from never religious and currently religious individuals in cognitive, emotional, and behavioral processes. Study 1 (n=3,071) offered initial cross-cultural evidence, which was extended in a preregistered replication study that also included measures of charitable contribution (Study 2; n=1,626). Study 3 (N=31,604) found that individuals who deidentified were still relatively likely to engage in prosocial behavior (e.g., volunteering) after leaving religion. This research has broad implications for understanding changing global trends in religious identification and their consequences for psychology and behavior.

Understanding the topological characteristics of complex networks and how they affect navigability is one of the most important goals in science today, as it plays a central role in various economic, biological, ecological, and social systems. Here we apply first-passage analysis tools to investigate the properties and characteristics of random walkers in networks with different topology. Starting with the simplest two-dimensional square lattice, we modify its topology incrementally by randomly reconnecting links between sites. We characterize these networks by first-passage time from a significant number of random walkers without interaction, varying the departure and arrival locations. We also apply the concept of first-passage simultaneity, which measures the likelihood of two walkers reaching their destination together. These measures, together with the site occupancy statistics during the processes, allowed us to differentiate the studied networks, especially the random networks from the scale-free networks, by their navigability. We also show that small-world features can also be highlighted with the proposed technique.

Josh Rushton writes: I’ve been following your blog for a while and checked in today to see if there was a thread on last week’s big-splash Stanford antibody study (the one with the shocking headline that they got 50 positive results in a “random” sample of 3330 antibody tests, suggesting that nearly 2% of the population has been infected “under the radar”). I didn’t see anything, so I thought I’d ask if you’d consider opening a discussion. This paper is certainly relevant to the MrP thread on politicization of the covid response, in that the paper risks injecting misinformation into an already-broken policy discussion. But I think it would be better to use it as a case study on poor statistics and questionable study design. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but if scientists are afraid to “police” ourselves, I don’t know how we can ask the public to trust us. Simply put, I see two potentially fatal flaws with the study (full disclosure: I [Rushton] haven’t read the entire paper — a thousand apologies if I’m jumping the gun — but it’s hard to imagine these getting explained away in the fine print): The authors’ confidence intervals cannot possibly be accounting for false positives correctly (I think they use the term “specificity” to mean “low rate of false-positives). I say this because the test validation included a total of 30+371 pre-covid blood tests, and only 399 of them came back negative. I know that low-incidence binomial CIs can be tricky, and I don’t know the standard practice these days, but the exact binomial 95% CI for the false-positive rate is (0.0006, 0.0179); this is pretty consistent to the authors’ specificity CI (98.3%, 99.9%). For rates near the high end of this CI, you’d get 50 or more false positives in 3330 tests with about 90% probability. Hard to sort through this with strict frequentist logic (obviously a Bayesian could make short work of it), but the common-sense take-away is clear: It’s perfectly plausible (in the 95% CI sense) that the shocking prevalence rates published in the study are mostly, or even entirely, due to false positives. So the fact that their prevalence CIs don’t go anywhere near zero simply can’t be right. Recruitment was done via facebook ads with basic demographic targeting. Since we’re looking for a feature that affects something like 2% of the population (or much, much less), we really have to worry about self selection. They may have discussed this in the portions of the paper I didn’t read, but I can’t imagine how researchers would defeat the desire to get a test if you had reason to believe that you, or someone near you, had the virus (and wouldn’t some people hide those reasons to avoid being disqualified from getting the test?)…

Background: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic caused >1 million infections during January-March 2020. There is an urgent need for robust antibody detection approaches to support diagnostics, vaccine development, safe individual release from quarantine and population lock-down exit strategies. The early promise of lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) devices has been questioned following concerns about sensitivity and specificity. Methods: We used a panel of plasma samples designated SARS-CoV-2 positive (from SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR-positive individuals; n=40) and negative (samples banked in the UK prior to December-2019 (n=142)). We tested plasma for SARS-Cov-2 IgM and IgG antibodies by ELISA and using nine different commercially available LFIA devices. Results: ELISA detected SARS-CoV-2 IgM or IgG in 34/40 individuals with an RT-PCR-confirmed diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection (sensitivity 85%, 95%CI 70-94%), vs 0/50 pre-pandemic controls (specificity 100% [95%CI 93-100%]). IgG levels were detected in 31/31 RT-PCR-positive individuals tested ≥10 days after symptom onset (sensitivity 100%, 95%CI 89-100%). IgG titres rose during the 3 weeks post symptom onset and began to fall by 8 weeks, but remained above the detection threshold. Point estimates for the sensitivity of LFIA devices ranged from 55-70% versus RT-PCR and 65-85% versus ELISA, with specificity 95-100% and 93-100% respectively. Within the limits of the study size, the performance of most LFIA devices was similar. Conclusions: The performance of current LFIA devices is inadequate for most individual patient applications. ELISA can be calibrated to be specific for detecting and quantifying SARS-CoV-2 IgM and IgG and is highly sensitive for IgG from 10 days following symptoms onset.

n South Sudan, all schools and churches have been closed to promote social distancing. In South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a 3-week total lockdown of his country’s 57 million citizens. In Uganda, pop star Bobi Wine’s newly recorded song “Sensitise to Sanitise” is playing on radios throughout the country to raise awareness about reducing coronavirus transmission. At the large regional hospital in Kisumu, Kenya, teams of health workers have set up tents to provide information on Covid-19 and to take visitors’ temperatures and log their travel histories before they enter the hospital. The coronavirus is coming to Africa, and with creative actions, large and small, Africans are aiming to meet it head on.

The coronavirus outbreak manifested in Norway in March 2020. It was met a combination of mandatory changes (closing of public institutions) and recommended changes (hygiene behavior, physical distancing). It has been emphasized that health-protective behavior such as increased hygiene or physical distancing are able to slow the spread of infections and flatten the curve. Drawing on previous health-psychological studies during the outbreak of various pandemics, we investigated psychological and demographics factors predicting the adoption and engagement in health-protective behavior and changes in such behavior, attitudes, and emotions over time. We recruited a non-representative sample of Norwegians (n = 8676) during a 15-day period (March 12–26 2020) at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in Norway. Employing both traditional methods and exploratory machine learning, we replicated earlier findings that engagement in health-protective behavior is associated with specific demographic characteristics. Further, we observed that increased media exposure, perceiving measures as effective, and perceiving the outbreak as serious positively predicted engagement in health-protective behavior. We also found indications that hygiene and physical distancing behaviors were predicted by somewhat different psychological and demographic factors. Over the sampling period, reported engagement in physical distancing increased, while experienced concern or fear declined. Contrary to previous studies, we found no or only small positive predictions by confidence in authorities, knowledge about the outbreak, and perceived individual risk, while all of those variables were rather high. These findings provide guidance for health communications or interventions targeting the adoption of health-protective behaviors in order to diminish the spread of COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread rapidly across the globe. Based on recommendations from health organizations, many individuals have made significant changes to their daily lives to prevent the spread of the disease. OBJECTIVE/METHOD: This study sought to identify demographic and psychosocial factors associated with concern about COVID-19 and engagement in preventative health behaviors suggested to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 (social distancing, handwashing, cleaning/disinfecting, avoiding touching face, and wearing facemasks). From March 20 to 23, 2020, a US national sample (N=1019) completed an online survey. RESULTS: Recent illness, religiosity, germ aversion, and pathogen disgust sensitivity were the most consistent predictors of COVID-19 concern and preventative health behaviors. CONCLUSION: Findings have implications for the development of interventions intended to increase preventative health behaviors.

Current computational models suggest that paranoia may be explained by stronger higher-order beliefs about others and increased sensitivity to environments. However, it is unclear whether this applies to social contexts, and whether it is specific to harmful intent attributions, the live expression of paranoia. We sought to fill this gap this by fitting a computational model to data (n = 1754) from a modified serial dictator game, to explore whether pre-existing paranoia could be accounted by specific alterations to cognitive parameters characterising harmful intent attributions. We constructed a ‘Bayesian brain’ model of others’ intent, which we fitted to harmful intent and self-interest attributions made over 18 trials, across three different partners. We found that pre-existing paranoia was associated with greater uncertainty about other’s actions. It moderated the relationship between learning rates and harmful intent attributions, making harmful intent attributions less reliant on prior interactions. Overall, the level of harmful intent attributions was inversely related to their precision, and importantly, the opposite was true for self-interest attributions. Our results explain how pre-existing paranoia may be the result of an increased need to attend to immediate experiences in determining intentional threat, at the expense of what is already known, and more broadly, they suggest that environments that induce greater probabilities of harmful intent attributions may also induce states of uncertainty, potentially as an adaptive mechanism to better detect threatening others. Importantly, we suggest that if paranoia were able to be explained exclusively by domain-general alterations we wouldn’t observe differential parameter estimates underlying harmful-intent and self-interest attributions.

In the article Do higher-class individuals feel more entitled? The role of system-justifying belief, Xu et al. (2019) argued that higher class individuals would feel more entitled when perceiving social hierarchies as fair and legitimate. These authors presented two studies - correlational and experimental - to support this hypothesis. Nevertheless, the experiment reported in Study 2 presents important limitations. An analysis of the data, made publicly available by the authors, suggests that randomization failed. Treating the data as correlational shows that the main hypothesis stated by Xu et al. (2019) is not supported. This does not invalidate the theoretical argument by itself, but it means that further research is necessary to properly contrast the hypotheses proposed by these authors.

10.31234/osf.io/fbhn3

Schools have been closed in many countries due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, but education continues online. Little is known about how parents cope with educating their children in this unprecedented situation. Here, we present the results of a rapid survey examining the experience of Czech parents of children in Grades 1-9 (Age ~ 6-15; N = 9,810) with respect to education at home during the COVID-19 lockdown. This survey was distributed widely, but only online and parents participated voluntarily. Mainly families with an internet connection and interested in their children’s education (i.e., the majority of families with school-aged children in the Czech Republic) took part in the survey. The results show that these families tend to cope well with the current educational situation and view the overall schoolwork transferred to homes as useful. Most children spend 2-4 hours a day studying, while parents help them at least half the time. Parents mostly explain task instructions, check the work their children have done, and teach new topics. To a lesser extent, they help their children solve tasks. Teachers appear to assign tasks more often than they provide feedback and/or interact with children. Some parents face difficulties, but those are generally not severe. These include, most notably, a lack of time, issues with technologies, and inadequate teaching skills and content knowledge. Altogether, this work maps the current educational situation in a large segment of Czech families and highlights possible pitfalls to be avoided: in the Czech Republic and beyond.

We report findings from a survey of Dutch forensic mental health practitioners (N = 110) about use and the perceived utility of specific structured risk assessment instruments (SRAIs) for forensic risk evaluations (FREs). Overall, respondents’ views of specific SRAIs were positive. They had concerns about potential bias and errors in FREs. Yet, contrary to prior surveys, we found no evidence for the tendency to think of oneself as less prone to bias than others, known as the bias blind spot. Similar to previous surveys, our respondents also endorsed introspection as an effective method to mitigate bias, whereas research indicates it is not. Finally, they rated SRAIs as the most effective debiasing strategy. We found few differences in beliefs about bias or debiasing strategies between respondents who had cognitive bias training and those who had not, suggesting the need for research to gain insight into effective debiasing strategies and the development of specific forensic bias training.

Understanding who in the population is psychologically resilient in the face of major life events, and who is not, is important for policies that target reductions in disadvantage. In this paper we construct a measure of adult resilience, document its distribution, and test its predictability by childhood socioeconomic circumstances. We use a dynamic finite mixture model applied to 17 years of panel data, and focus on the psychological reaction to ten major adverse life events. These include serious illness, major financial events, redundancy and crime victimisation. Our model accounts for non-random selection into events, anticipation of events, and differences between individuals in the immediate response and the speed of adaptation. We find considerable heterogeneity in the response to adverse events, and that resilience is strongly correlated with clinical measures of mental health. Resilience in adulthood is predictable by childhood socioeconomic circumstances; the strongest predictor is good childhood health.

Scientists have complained about the inconsistency and politics of academic publishing for hundreds of years. Among the explanations offered are that evaluators lack time and use shortcuts, that they lack the expertise to judge things properly, that they can't put aside personal biases and we must hide the names of authors, and that they are conscientious instead of creative and cannot judge new ideas. All of these are actually wrong. As a literary analyst, I spent the last ten years independently studying this same problem in book and movie production. I've found that the human decision-making apparatus doesn't work the way we think, and the solutions based on this misunderstanding could never have solved the problem. In this paper, we present the first method that actually can, which is a technique adapted from computer hacking, as well as a new view of how our brains make choices.

IMPORTANCE Crisis text lines have proven to be an effective and low-cost means for delivering texting-based mental health support to youth. Yet there has been limited research examining the use of these services in capturing the psychological impact of youth affected by a weather-related disaster. OBJECTIVE This ecologic study examined changes in help-seeking behavior for youth in North and South Carolina, USA, before and after Hurricane Florence (2018). DESIGN AND MAIN OUTCOMES A retrospective, interrupted time-series design was used to examine pre- and post-hurricane changes in crisis text volume among youth help seekers in the Carolinas for the following outcomes: (1) text for any reason; (2) stress & anxiety; (3) depression; and (4) suicidal thoughts. RESULTS Results showed an immediate and sustained increase in crisis texts for stress/anxiety and suicidal thoughts in the six weeks following Florence. Overall, an immediate 15% increase in crisis texts for anxiety/stress (SE=.05, p=0.005) and a 17% increase in suicidal thoughts (SE=.07, p=0.02) occurred during the week of the storm. Text volume for anxiety/stress increased 17% (SE=.08, p=0.005) and 23% for suicidal ideation (SE=.08, p=0.01) in the 6-week post-intervention period. Finally, forecast models revealed observed text volume for all mental health outcomes was higher than expected in the 6 weeks post-Florence. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE A low-cost, crisis texting intervention platform provided 24/7 mental health support available to young people in the Carolinas impacted by Hurricane Florence. These findings highlight a new application for text-based crisis support services to address the mental health consequences among individuals following a weather-related disaster.

Taking a functional approach to future thinking, this paper reports on the development of a scale to assess the frequency of thinking about one’s personal future for specific purposes: The Functions of Future Thinking Scale (FoFTS). In Study 1, items were developed and subjected to exploratory factor analysis in a large sample (N = 565). Ten factors were extracted representing distinct functions of engaging in thinking about one’s personal future: Boredom Reduction, Death Preparation, Identity Contrasting, Negative Emotion Regulation, Social Bonding, Goal Setting, Planning, Problem-Solving, Decision-Making, and Positive Emotion Regulation. Construct validity, convergent and divergent validity is reported. In Study 2 (N = 467) confirmatory factor analysis showed that the 10-factor FoFTS model was an excellent fit to the data. Subscale analyses revealed differences in the frequency of different functions. The FoFTS can be used to examine how individual differences in future thinking functions and the correlates of these.

We examined whether scientific reasoning predicts health-related beliefs and behaviors over and above the general analytic thinking ability in general public (N = 783, aged between 18 – 84 years). Health-related beliefs included: the anti-vaccination attitudes, conspiracy beliefs related to the COVID-19 disease, and some generic epistemically suspect beliefs related to health. Scientific reasoning predicted generic pseudoscientific and conspiracy beliefs related to health and also conspiracy beliefs related specifically to COVID-19. Crucially, scientific reasoning was a stronger independent predictor of unfounded beliefs (including anti-vaccination attitudes) than general analytic thinking, however, its role in the health-related behaviors was more modest.

A substantial literature has revealed gender gaps in political participation. However, little is known about such gaps when using more comprehensive measures of conventional and non-conventional civic and political participation including online participation. In the present study, we recruited a sample (n = 1792) of young people living in Italy. Controlling for age, majority/minority status, socioeconomic status, respondents’ educational attainment, and parents’ educational attainment, we found that female participants reported higher scores on online and civic participation, while male participants were more likely to report political and activist participation. The effect size for these gender differences was small. In addition, we did not find any gender differences in voting behavior in last European parliamentary elections, national parliamentary elections, and local elections. These findings highlight the need to move toward a more comprehensive and detailed picture of gender gaps in political engagement and participation including different types of participation.

Emergency situations require individuals to make important changes in their behavior. In the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, official recommendations to slow the spread of the virus include costly behaviors such as self-quarantining, which individuals might be reluctant to adopt. However, whether or not people adopt those behaviors could make a huge difference in the impact of the pandemic. In this context, it is important to elucidate what psychological traits underlie people’s (lack of) compliance with official recommendations to slow the spread of the virus. In three exploratory studies and one preregistered replication in a representative sample of US participants, we found converging evidence that compliance with official recommendations is not related to epistemic attitudes such as beliefs in conspiracy theories and pseudoscience, fear, or psychological reactance. Instead, participants’ behavioral intentions were predicted by their (1) disgust towards pathogens, and (2) moral values regarding the importance of caring about others.

There has been a long-held assumption that a citizen’s socioeconomic circumstance is one of the most powerful predictors of what they believe and how they vote. Nonetheless, an emerging science is suggesting that individuals’ ideological attitudes may also reflect their idiosyncratic psychological traits. Using an unprecedented number of cognitive tasks (N=37) and personality surveys (N=22), along with data-driven analyses including drift-diffusion and Bayesian modelling, we uncovered the psychological dispositions that were most strongly linked to individuals’ ideological orientations. This revealed the cognitive and personality signatures of a large set of ideologies in the domains of politics, nationalism, religion, and dogmatism. Conservatism and nationalism were related to greater caution in perceptual decision-making tasks and to reduced strategic information processing, while dogmatism was associated with slower evidence accumulation and impulsive tendencies. Religiosity was implicated in heightened agreeableness and risk perception. Ideological worldviews may thus be reflective of low-level perceptual and cognitive functions.

Many Labs projects have become the gold standard for assessing the replicability of key findings in psychological science. The Many Labs 4 project recently failed to replicate the mortality salience effect where being reminded of one’s own death strengthens the own cultural identity. Here, we provide a Bayesian reanalysis of Many Labs 4 using meta-analytic and hierarchical modeling approaches and model comparison with Bayes factors. In a multiverse analysis we assess the robustness of the results with varying data inclusion criteria and prior settings. Bayesian model comparison results largely converge to a common conclusion: We find evidence against a mortality salience effect across the majority of our analyses. Even when ignoring the Bayesian model comparison results we estimate overall effect sizes so small (between d = 0.03 and d = 0.18) that it renders the entire field of mortality salience studies as uninformative.

The past few years were marked by increased online offensive strategies perpetrated by state and non-state actors to promote their political agenda, sow discord and question the legitimacy of democratic institutions in the US and Western Europe. In 2016 the US congress identified a list of Russian state-sponsored Twitter accounts that were used to try to divide voters on a wide range of issues. Previous research used Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) to estimate latent topics in data extracted from these accounts. Howerver, LDA is has characteristics that may pose significant limitations to be used in data from social media: the number of latent topics must be specified by the user, interpretability can be difficult to achieve, and it doesn’t model short-term temporal dynamics. In the current paper we propose a new method to estimate latent topics in texts from social media termed Dynamic Exploratory Graph Analysis (DynEGA). We compare DynEGA and LDA in a Monte-Carlo simulation in terms of their capacity to estimate the number of simulated latent topics. Finally, we apply the DynEGA method to a large dataset with Twitter posts from state-sponsored right- and left-wing trolls during the 2016 US presidential election. The results show that DynEGA is substantially more accurate to estimate the number of simulated topics than several different LDA algorithms. Our empirical example shows that DynEGA revealed topics that were pertinent to several consequential events in the election cycle, demonstrating the coordinated effort of trolls capitalizing on current events in the U.S. This demonstrates the potential power of our approach for revealing temporally relevant information from qualitative text data.

Gender inequality is an articulate and multidimensional phenomenon that affects various domains of existence. We started from this multidimensionality to understand how the relative importance of human values varies through the different dimensions of gender inequality - namely work, money, knowledge, time, power, and health. Through a cross-sectional design that includes 18 European countries and the use of Bayesian correlational analysis, the findings seemed to outline three groups of values: (1) universalism, benevolence and self-direction are strongly and positively correlated to gender equality; (2) security, power and achievement are strongly and negatively correlated to equality while (3) conformity, tradition, stimulation, and hedonism have weak/non-significant correlation coefficients with gender equality. Relevance to cultural values and ideologies that support social equality are discussed. Furthermore, the specificities of some values find an explanation in relation to certain dimensions. The widening of the perspective on gender equality rectifies the previous findings by outlining a more complex scenario than the one previously identified, where the results included only two groups of values.

As continued COVID-19 disruption looks likely across the world, perhaps until 2021, contingency plans are evolving in case of further disruption in the 2020-2021 academic year. This includes delivering face-to-face programmes fully-online for at least part of the upcoming academic year for new and continuing cohorts This temporary pivot will necessitate distance teaching and learning across almost every conceivable pedagogy, from fundamental degrees to professionally accredited ones. Each institution, programme, and course will have its own myriad of individualised needs , however, there is a common question that unites us all: how do we provide teaching and assessment to students in a manner that is accessible, fair, equitable, and provides the best learning whilst acknowledging the temporary nature of the Pivot? No ‘one size fits all’ solution exists and many of the choices that need to be made will be far from simple, however, this paper provides a starting point and basic principles to facilitate discussions taking place around the globe by balancing what we know from the pedagogy of online learning with the practicalities imposed by this crisis.

1AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic presents a critical need to identify best practices for communicatinghealth information to the global public. It also provides an opportunity to test theories about riskcommunication. As part of a larger Psychological Science Accelerator COVID-19 Rapid Project,a global consortium of researchers will experimentally test competing hypotheses regarding theeffects of framing messages in terms of losses versus gains. We will examine effects on threeprimary outcomes: intentions to adhere to policies designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19,opinions about such policies, and the likelihood that participants seek additional policyinformation. Whereas research on negativity bias and loss aversion predicts that loss-framingwill have greater impact, research on encouraging the adoption of protective health behavioursuggests the opposite (i.e., gain-framing will be more persuasive). We will also assess effects onexperienced anxiety. Given the potentially low cost and the scalable nature of framinginterventions, results could be valuable to health organizations, policymakers, and news sourcesglobally.

A recent trial assessed the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) in the treatment of patients with common coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). 1 The results showed that “On day 7, COVID-19 nucleic acid of throat swabs was negative in 13 (86.7%) cases [of out 15] in the HCQ group and 14 (93.3%) cases [out of 15] in the control group (P>0.05). Here we

COVID-19 PANDEMIC CONSERVATISM2AbstractThe first months of 2020 threw peopleintoaperiod ofsocietal turmoil andpathogen threatwith thenovel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.By promoting epistemic and existential motivational processes and activating people’s behavioral immune systems, this pandemicmay have changedsocial and political attitudes.The current research specifically askedthe following question:As COVID-19became pronounced in the United States during March-April2020, did peopleliving therebecome more socially conservative?Wepresent a longitudinal study(N=695)that assessed political ideology, gender role conformity, and gender stereotypesamongU.S. adultsbefore (two months preceding) versusduring the pandemic. During the pandemic, participants reported conforming more strongly to traditional gender roles and believing more strongly in traditional gender stereotypesthan they did before the pandemic.Political ideology remained constant from before to during the pandemic.These findings suggest thata pandemic maypromote preferencefortraditional gender roles

Addressingpublicgoodproblemstypicalrequirespeopletoadoptbehaviorsthatarepersonallyburdensomebutbeneficialforsociety.Forinstance,duringtheCOVID-19pandemic,peoplehavebeenaskedtostayhomeexceptinextenuatingcircumstances,maintainsocialdistance,andwashtheirhandsfrequently.Whatisthebestwaytophraseone’srequeststoensurethatpeoplearemaximallymotivatedtoadhere?Wedistillthreekeyinsightsfromthebehavioralscienceliteratureonsocialnormstocreateasimplemessagingchecklist:communicatethebenefittothecommunity;maketheaskunambiguous,categorical,andconcise;andgeneratetheimpressionthatothersexpectcompliance.Wejustifythisguidanceandillustrateitusingpracticalexamples,withafocusonCOVID-19preventionbehaviors

We tested if challenges to basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, relatedness) during the COVID-19 pandemic undermines people’s mental well-being. Furthermore, we tested if an intervention, affirmation of these psychological needs, counteracts this negative impact. Results of Study 1 (N = 153) showed that higher levels of satisfaction of basic psychological needs was related to higher mental well-being during the COVID-19 outbreak. In Study 2 (N = 215) we employed an online intervention enhancing these basic psychologicalneeds. We found increased mental well-being through bolstered relatedness in particular. The intervention also decreased perceived stress. Both studies showed that mental well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic is positively related to the ability to work as usual and the number of people contacted via phone or Internet, but not in person.

We conducted a large-scale survey covering 58 countries and over 100,000 re-spondents between late March and early April 2020 to study beliefs and at-titudes towards citizens’ and governments’ responses to the COVID-19 pan-demic. Most respondents reacted strongly to the crisis: they report engagingin social distancing and hygiene behaviors, and believe that strong policy mea-sures, such as shop closures and curfews, are necessary. They also believe thattheir government and their country’s citizens are not doing enough and under-estimate the degree to which others in their country support strong behavioraland policy responses to the pandemic. The perception of a weak governmentand public response is associated with higher levels of worries and depression.Using both cross-country panel data and an event-study, we additionally showthat strong government reactions correct misperceptions, and reduce worriesand depression. Our findings highlight that policy-makers not only need toconsider how their decisions affect the spread of COVID-19, but also how suchchoices influence the mental health of their population

The current studyassessesanxiety and predictors of anxiety associated with quarantine due to COVID-19 exposureamong the first community to be quarantinedin the US. Further, potential areas of intervention are identified in order to reduce distress and minimize psychological and physiological sequelae associated with heightened and sustained anxiety.303 individuals from the first communities in the NYC area where a quarantine was ordered during the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak, responded to an anonymous online survey. We measured anxiety as well as behavioral, psychological, situational, and informational factors thatmay be associated with anxiety. Mean levels of anxiety in the sample were heightened and sustained, with 69.0% of the sample reporting moderate to severe levels of anxiety. Mutable behavioral factors were better predictors of anxiety than psychological, situational or informational factors, but all were significant.In order to mitigate anxiety while in quarantine, as well as the long term physical and psychological effects of sustained anxiety, expanding access to professional mental health care as well as behavioral interventions should be prioritized. Additionally, clear guidelines should be shared to promote healthy sleep and curtail media use.

The COVID-19 outbreak has had a huge impact on how people go about their day to day life. This sudden change, along with necessary measures such as self-isolation and social distancing may be particularly challenging for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families, given the reliance of many on carefully established routines and relationships as well as professional and informal support. Two hundred and thirty four parents of children with SEND completed an online survey during the first two weeks of the social distancing measures introduced by the UK Government. Whilst a minority (~11%) felt adequately supported, most respondents felt that more support was needed from schools, health and social care services, the government, and other sources. The different types of support mentioned by parents are described further. These findings shed new light on how parents of children with SEND would like to be supported during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A recent randomized clinical trial assessed the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) in the treatment of patients with common coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). 1 The results showed that “the body temperature recovery time and the cough remission time were significantly shortened in the HCQ treatment group. Besides, a larger proportion of patients with improved pneumonia in the HCQ treatment group (80.6%, 25 of 31) compared with the control group (54.8%, 17 of 31).” A Bayesian reanalysis of the pneumonia data provides support for the hypothesis that HCQ improves pneumonia in patients with COVID-19. However, the degree of this support is moderate. In line with the authors’ conclusion, more data are needed to draw definite conclusions

We read with interest the correspondence by Representatives of the STARSurg Collaborative, EuroSurg Collaborative, and TASMAN Collaborative1 about the involvement of medical students in response to worldwide COVID-19 crisis. There is a positive correlation between inadequate health-care resources and COVID-19 related mortality.2 As this pandemic is ravaging through countries worldwide, even the most competent health systems are facing a dire need of workforce demand,3 likes of which have never been seen before. While developed countries are still skirmishing to get to grip with this crisis, developing nations like Bangladesh with comparatively incapacitated healthcare system is of no exception, and is in urgent need of innovative and outrageous ideas to tackle.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is evolving rapidly as an overwhelming burden on human health and health systems of many countries includes low resource countries like Bangladesh. The country is facing crisis and several challenges to manage confirmed and symptomatic cases with limited administrative and logistic support, inadequate governance and widespread panic and stigma throughout the country. As the number of persons with COVID-19 and death are increasing there is a potential of heightened mass panic, stress and discrimination in coming days which can be predicted from recent protests in different parts of the country, spread of rumours and falsehoods, non-scientific information, limitations in governance and growing discrimination towards certain group of population and professionals. As World Health Organization (WHO) speculated this trajectory of pandemic is uncertain, this emerging body of stigma and discrimination needs to be addressed by proper authorities, infodemic should be controlled by legal steps and mass awareness campaigns should be launched without further delays.

Background–The pandemic of COVID-19 in Italy represents a unique threat in terms of psychological distress, especially among healthcare professionals. This study represents a first attempt to investigate both the psychological states and coping strategies of Italian healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 outbreak. Importantly, we assessed psychological distress and coping strategies regarding two phases, pre-COVID (asking participants to retrospectively recall their state in December 2019) and during the time of survey, which was in the midst of the COVID emergency outbreak (March-April 2020). Methods–Self-administered questionnaires were distributed online to healthcare professionals of different Italian regions from March 26 to April 9, 2020. The questionnaire included three main sections measuring changes in psychological states, coping strategies and demographic variables. Two linear regression models were run to analyze variations in both general health and infection-risk perception depending on changes in psychological states, coping strategies, personality trait, and demographic variables. Results– Altogether, the direct exposure to the virus and a negative impact of the COVID-19 emergency outbreak on contextual psychological functioning contribute to the deterioration of physical and mental health, which may lead to severe future consequences for Italian healthcare workers, if not provided immediately with an effective support program. Conclusions– Both immediate and long-term monitoring psychological assistance services for healthcare workers should be implemented by local and national institutions to reestablish psychological well-being and enhance self-confidence and resilience of Italian hospital personnel. These intervention programs should especially target women, and professionals at their first steps into the hospital job.

Background The current Corona pandemic is not only a threat to physical health. First data from China and Europe indicate that symptoms of anxiety and depression and perceptions of stress rise significantly as a consequence of the pandemic. There are also anecdotal reports of increased domestic violence, divorce, and suicide rates. Hence, the Corona crisis is also a mental health crisis. There is urgent need for knowledge about factors that can protect mental health (resilience factors) in this world-wide crisis, which is different in nature from other crises that have so far been studied in resilience research. Methods Potential resilience factors, exposure to Corona-specific and general stressors, as well as internalizing symptoms were assessed online in N=5000 adult Europeans. Resilience, as an outcome, was conceptualized as good mental health despite stressor exposure and measured as the inverse residual between actual and predicted symptom total score. Preregistered hypotheses (osf.io/r6btn) were tested with multiple regression models and mediation analyses. Results Results confirmed our primary hypothesis that positive appraisal style (PAS) is positively associated with resilience (p<0.001). The resilience factor PAS also mediated the positive association between perceived social support (PSS) and resilience (p<0.001). In comparison with other resilience factors, positive appraisal specifically of the consequences of the Corona crisis was the single strongest factor. Conclusions This research identifies modifiable protective factors that can be targeted by public mental health efforts. Future work will have to identify potential group differences in the effectiveness of these resilience factors, for improved prevention planning.

How can the behavioral science community be most effective in responding to the present global COVID–19 crisis? What kind of science can we do, and how should we go about doing it?

The paper forms part of a series of two papers outlining the theoretical framework for a new model of uncertainty distress (paper one) as well as treatment implications (paper two) arising from the model. We define uncertainty distress as the subjective negative emotions experienced in response to the as yet unknown aspects of a given situation. In the first paper we drawn on a robust body of research on distinct areas including: threat models of anxiety, perceived illness uncertainty and intolerance of uncertainty. We explore how threat and uncertainty are separable in anxiety and how we can understand behaviours in response to uncertainty. Finally, we propose a clinically, theoretically and empirically informed model for uncertainty distress and outline how this model can be tested. Clinical applications and practitioner key points are briefly included, however these are more fully outlined in our treatment implications (paper two). While we outline this model in the context of novel coronavirus (Covid-19), the model has broader applications to both mental and physical health care settings.

Conspiracy theories offer unvalidated explanations for important political and societal events and thus are likely to develop around a crisis, such as the Corona pandemic. Research has shown that a general tendency to believe in conspiracy theories—a so-called conspiracy mentality—comes with negative societal consequences, such as decreased social engagement and less trust in authorities. However, this has not been tested for concrete conspiracy theories like the ones around the Corona pandemic. Social engagement and trust in authorities are essential to successfully fight the pandemic. Therefore, we examined the relation between the belief in two Corona-related conspiracy theories and trust in authorities, support for governmental regulations, social engagement, social distancing, and hygiene measures in two studies (total N = 909). Believing in a Political Corona Conspiracy (accusing government and media) showed a stronger (and unique) negative relation to all desired outcomes than believing in a China Corona Conspiracy (accusing China of developing the virus). However, believing in the theories was not related to hygiene measures. Overall, believing in specific conspiracy theories predicts harmful attitudes and behaviours similarly to conspiracy mentality, but to a stronger extent. Findings underscore the relevance of conspiracy theories in the context of the Corona pandemic.

Background: Mental health service policymakers require evidence-based information to optimise effective care provision based on local need, but tools are unavailable. We developed and validated a population-level prediction model to forecast need for early intervention in psychosis [EIP] services in England up to 2025. Methods: We fitted six candidate Bayesian Poisson regression models, combining epidemiological data on psychosis risk, to predict new annual caseload of referrals, assessed, treated, and probable first episode psychosis [FEP] cases in EIP services, aged 16-64 years at small-area level. Models were validated against observed NHS Mental Health Services Data Set [MHSDS] data at Clinical Commissioning Group [CCG] and national levels for 2017. Projections were made up to 2025, based on small-area demographic forecasts. Outcome: In 2017, our best-fitting model predicted 8,112 (95% interval: 7,623 to 8,597) individuals with probable FEP in England, compared with 8,038 observed in the MHSDS (difference: n=+74; +0·92%), after accounting for psychosis risk by age, sex, ethnicity, small area-level deprivation, social fragmentation and regional cannabis use. In 2020, this model forecasted 9,066 new treated FEP cases (8,485 to 9,618), rising 1% annually up to 2025. For every ten treated cases, we forecasted that 23 and 21 people would be referred to and assessed by EIP services, respectively, for “suspected FEP”. Interpretation: Our methodology provides an accurate, validated toolkit to inform planners, commissioners and providers about future population need for psychosis care at different stages of the referral pathway, based on local determinants of need. Funding: Wellcome Trust, Royal Society, National Institute for Health Research

States of apprehension and tension resulting from the covid19 pandemic process, showed in health technicians states similar to the symptoms of anxiety disorder, in addition to depressive states in nurses, nursing technicians and doctors in an emergency unit. The adoption of hygiene procedures minimized risk and states of tension; however, the subjective questions show the emotional fragility and the psychological vulnerability of health professionals. Interventions combining brief psychotherapy and Positive Psychology practices, helped the resilience of these professionals.

The unexpected COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent lockdown impositions are having a significant impact on people’s day-to-day life, confronting Western countries with hitherto unknown contagion threats and restrictions on freedoms. Given the serious effects of stress on physical and mental health, the stressful impact of the COVID-19 emergency represents an important public health issue. The present study assessed the stressful impact of the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy, identifying possible mediators of perceived stress (sociodemographic variables and stable psychological traits). High levels of perceived stress were found in the Italian population. Being female, having low income and living with other people were associated with higher levels of stress. Higher rates of emotional stability, self-control, positive coping style and internal locus of control were protective factors against psychological distress. These results may provide indications for early and targeted prevention and intervention programs.

Conventional economic policy focuses on ‘economic’ solutions (e.g. taxes, incentives, regulation) to problems caused by market-level factors such as externalities, misaligned incentives and information asymmetries. By contrast, ‘nudges’ provide behavioural solutions to problems that have generally been assumed to originate from limitations in human decision making, such as present bias. While policy-makers have good reason for exploiting the power of nudges, we argue that these extremes leave open a large space of policy options that have received less attention in the academic literature. First, there is no reason that solution and problem need have the same theoretical basis: there are promising behavioural solutions to problems that have causes that are well explained by traditional economics, and conventional economic solutions often offer the best line of attack on problems of behavioural origin. Second, there is a wide range of hybrid policy actions with both economic and behavioural components (e.g. framing a tax or incentive in a specific way), and there exist many societal problems – perhaps the majority – that arise from both economic and behavioural factors (e.g. firms’ exploitation of consumers’ behavioural biases). This paper aims to remind policy-makers that behavioural economics can influence policy in a variety of ways, of which nudges are the most prominent but not necessarily the most powerful.

During COVID-19 people were asked by health authorities to adopt protective behaviors to avoid the infection. One of these behaviors is social distancing which is influenced by a variety of variables. Using an online survey of 405 responses, a multiple regression analysis was carried out to explore the effects of personality, risk perception, and personal hygiene on social distancing among residents in Qatar. The results showed that conscientiousness, neuroticism, risk perception, and personal hygiene predicted social distancing with moderate effect size. Gender differences were found in social distancing practices. These results shed light on the importance of these factors to predict the human’s protective behaviors to COVID-19

It has become increasingly clear that COVID-19 transmits between individuals. It stands to reason that the spread of the virus depends on sociocultural ecologies that facilitate or inhibit social contact. In particular, the community-level tendency to engage with strangers and freely choose friends, called relational mobility, entails increased opportunities to interact with a larger variable range of others. It may therefore be associated with a faster spread of infectious viruses, including COVID-19. Here, we tested this possibility by analyzing the growth curves of confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection in the first 30 days of the outbreaks in 37 countries. We found the growth was significantly accelerated as a function of a country-wise measure of relational mobility. This relationship remained highly significant either with or without a set of control variables, including cultural dimensions of individualism and tightness-looseness of norms. Policy implications in the fight against COVID-19 are discussed.

We see little benefit to separating Honesty-Humility from the broader FFM Agreeableness domain. In our commentary, we summarize several studies showing that although lexically-based Big Five measures under-represent H-H content, the same cannot be said for FFM-based measures. We also indicate that contrary to claims by some advocates, FFM-based Agreeableness is more strongly related to the Dark Triad than H-H. Finally, we review a recent study examining the lower-order structure of FFM Agreeableness that failed to reveal a separate H-H factor, despite more than adequate representation of that content.

Given that much research suggests conservatives are more sensitive to disease threat, it is curious that conservatives in the U.S. seem less concerned than liberals with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Across three studies totaling nearly 1,000 participants, we evaluated two different potential reasons why conservatives are less concerned: Experiential (conservatives are less directly affected by the outbreak than liberals) versus Political (conservatives hold COVID-specific political beliefs that make them motivated to reduce their concern). All three studies consistently showed evidence that motivated political (and not experiential) reasons more strongly underlie conservatives’ lack of concern for COVID-19. Whereas experience with (e.g., knowing people with symptoms) and impacts of (e.g., financial hardships resulting from COVID-19) the disease did not consistently mediate the conservatism-COVID concern relationship, COVID-specific Political Beliefs (e.g., opposition to government restrictions) did consistently mediate the key relationship. Pooled analyses further suggested that, while it did not strongly mediate the relationship, experience nonetheless provided a boundary condition for the conservatismperceived threat relationship: As experience/impacts with COVID-19 increased, ideology played less of a role in predicting perceived threat. Taken together, this evidence suggests that (1) conservatives’ lack of concern with the pandemic is not based in direct experience but rather motivated by desired political outcomes. However, it further suggests that (2) as experiences and impact of COVID-19 grow, the ideological effect on COVID-19 threat diminishes. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of this set of findings.

COVID-19 emerged in November 2019 leading to a global pandemic that has not only resulted in widespread medical complications and loss of life, but has also impacted global economies and transformed daily life. The current rapid response study in a convenience online sample quickly recruited 2,065 participants across the United States, Canada, and Europe in late March and early April 2020. Cross-sectional findings indicated elevated anxiety and depressive symptoms compared to historical norms, which were associated with COVID-19 concern more strongly than epidemiological data signifying objective risk. Employment loss was associated with greater depressive symptoms and COVID-19 concern, and depressive symptoms and COVID-19 concern were significantly associated with more stringent self-quarantine behavior. The rapid collection of data during the early phase of this pandemic is limited by under-representation of non-Caucasians and middle age and older adults. Nevertheless, these findings have implications for interventions to slow the spread of COVID-19 inflection.

Pandemics like COVID-19 poses several challenges which not only include medical but also have a psycho-social impact on the society. It is important to understand how public appraise a pandemic in a large country like India and how do they mentally and behaviorally respond during this threat. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data and examine the Health Anxiety, Coping and Locus of Control-Internal/External variables using five-point Likert Scale. Responses (n = 231 ) were collected during 24th March to 30th March; this duration is part of nation-wide lockdown period. There was a significant difference between various age groups and their Health Anxiety. (F (8, 222)=2.772. p<.05). Analysis of health related anxiety reveals that respondents are more worried over the health of their loved ones than theirs. With regard to coping mechanism, it was found that, during the Covid-19 outbreak period, respondents displayed high engagement with the social media and connect with their loved ones using technology. Respondents feel responsible towards disease control, prevention, spread and healthy protective behaviour. The study provides preliminary insights into people’s perception on Health Anxiety, Locus of Control and Coping mechanism.

In two pre-registered studies, we tracked changes in individuals’ feelings of social connection during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both studies capitalized on measures of social connection and well-being obtained prior to the COVID-19 pandemic by recruiting the same participants again in the midst of the pandemic’s upending effects. Study 1 included a sample of undergraduates from a Canadian university (N = 467), and Study 2 included community adults primarily from the United States and the United Kingdom (N = 336). Our results suggest that people exhibited remarkable resilience in the face of the initial reshaping of their social lives caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, on the surface, extraversion was associated with greater declines in social connection, but after controlling for levels of social connection prior to the pandemic, we found no evidence supporting the popular idea that extraverts have fared worse during the pandemic compared to introverts.

Introduction: The novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) outbreak currently puts health care workers at high risk of both infection and mental health problems. Considering their pivotal role in tackling this pandemic crisis, providing adequate mental health care for health care workers is imperative. This study aimed to identify the risk and protective factors for mental health outcomes in health care workers during coronavirus epidemics. Methods: A rapid systematic review was performed in three databases and current COVID-19 resources (search date March 24, 2020). Following study selection, study characteristics and effect measures were tabulated, and data were synthesized by using vote counting based on direction of effect. Risk of bias of each study was assessed and the certainty of evidence was appraised according to the GRADE methodology. Results: Out of 2605 references, 28 observational studies were selected and the identified risk and protective factors were categorized in ten thematic categories. The level of disease exposure, being quarantined as health care worker, and health fear were significantly associated with worse mental health outcomes. There was evidence that clear communication and support from the organization, social support and personal sense of control and coping ability are effective protective factors. No specific mental health interventions for assisting health care workers in mental distress during infectious disease outbreaks were identified. The evidence was of very low certainty, because of risk of bias and imprecise results. Conclusion: Safeguarding mental health of health care workers during infectious disease outbreaks should not be treated as a separate mental health intervention strategy, but requires a protective approach. This study therefore suggests that embedding mental health support in a safe and efficient working environment which promotes collegial social support and personal sense of control can help to maximize resilience of health care workers during the COVID-19 global health crisis.

With the exponential spread of COVID-19 across the United States, federal and local government agencies have issued orders for residents to shelter-in-place. This study utilizes data collected from Unacast Inc. spanning observations of 3,142 counties across 50 states and the District of Columbia from March 8, 2020 to April 17, 2020 (N = 122,918) in a 3-level multilevel model to examine the correlates of social distancing behavior, as measured by the percentage reduction in 1) distance traveled, 2) non-essential visitations, and 3) the frequency of encounters with other people (i.e., human encounters) since pre-COVID-19 times. Results indicate that at the county-level, population and the proportion of Democrats were positively related to all measures of social distancing while the average education attainment was only positively related to travel-related social distancing. County vaccination rates, proportion of fair/poor health, and income inequality were positively related to reduction in non-essential visitations while unemployment rate was positively related to reduction in distance traveled. State-level neuroticism and cultural tightness were positively related to reduction in distance traveled and human encounters, but health and economic state variables yielded little to no effect across all county-level social distancing measures. Implications of findings and future directions are discussed.

En este monográfico se presentan 10 propuestas teóricas sobre la forma en que la Psicología Social puede —potencialmente— ayudar a afrontar la pandemia del COVID-19. En concreto, en estas propuestas se discute: a) cómo se podrían utilizar distintos modelos teóricos para entender mejor la pandemia, sus consecuencias y cómo afrontarlas; b) la importancia de considerar variables —como la clase social o el género— al examinar las causas y consecuencias de la pandemia; c) los retos y las preguntas de investigación que se podrían abordar desde algunos ámbitos de aplicación psicosociales, como la Psicología Ambiental, la Psicología Organizacional y la Psicología Social Comunitaria.

Stellungnahme zur offenen Wissenschaft in der Zeit von Covid-19 und möglichen Implikationen für die Psychologie

The coronavirus pandemic represents a serious challenge for modern societies. How individuals perceive the risk influences their choice of action, and the collective effect determines the societal impact of the pandemic. We collected survey data (N = 4,083) from a representative sample of Norwegian citizens during the early phases of the pandemic (March 20-29, 2020). We find that most of the population considered the risk for being infected as small and more so for becoming seriously ill, but they worried that family members could be infected, and that their daily life could change drastically. Most were optimistic that they would handle the challenges of the virus, and that they would receive good medical treatment if they were to become sick. Almost all stated that they intended to follow the authorities’ advice for how to limit the contagion, and that doing so would be effective in preventing them from getting sick and more so for preventing others from becoming sick. The population expressed a careful attitude in how they would gather information about the pandemic. All in all, the survey showed that the population had realistic perceptions of risks, optimistic attitudes and pro-social behavioural intentions related to the pandemic.

INTRODUCTION: Due to the spread of SARS CoV-2 virus responsible for COVID-19 disease, there is an urgent need to analyse COVID-2019 epidemic perception in Poland. This would enable authorities for preparation of specific actions minimizing public health and economic risks. This study aims to illustrate the media exposure of the social perception of coronavirus using the means available during the epidemic and our goal is to signal the main issues in public perception and medical commutation in real time. METHODS: We study the perception of COVID-2019 epidemic in Polish society using quantitative analysis of its digital footprints on the Internet (on mainly Google and supported by Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia and electronic media represented by Event Registry) from January 2020 to 07.04.2020 (before and after official introduction to Poland on 04.03.2020). To this end we utilize trend analysis with a support of simple natural language processing techniques. Each examined internet platform was analysed representativeness and composition of the target group too. RESULTS: We identified three temporal major clusters of interest before disease introduction on the topic COVID-2019: China- and Italy-related peaks on all platforms, as well as a peak on social media related to the recent special law on combating COVID-2019. Besides, there was a peak in interest on the day of officially confirmed introduction as well as an exponential increase of interest when the Polish government “declared war against disease” around 11/12.03.2020 with a massive mitigation program. Later on, there is a decay in interest with additional phases: social distancing and anticrisis act with local peaks. From a sociolinguistic perspective, we found that concepts and issues of threat, fear and prevention prevailed before introduction. After introduction, practical concepts about disease and epidemic dominate. We have found out that declarations of mitigation strategies by Polish Prime Minister or Minister of Health gather high attention on Internet users. So enacted or in force events do not affect interest in such an extent. We have observed very low correlation between colloquial searching term 'antiviral mask' in Wikipedia and encyclopaedic definition at Wikipedia “SARS-CoV-2”, which suggest that there are different mechanisms for searching for knowledge against panic related behaviour. CONCLUSIONS: Traditional and social media do not only reflect reality, but also create it. As traditional media ahead social media in time, we advise to choose news for a quick dissemination of information, however for a greater impact, social media should be used. Otherwise public information campaigns might have less impact on society than expected. For greater penetration, it might be necessary to diversify information channels to reach as many people as possible.

Data from two MTurk studies with U.S. respondents (total N =1,153) revealed an ideological divide in adherence to social distancing guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, political conservatism inversely predicted compliance with behaviors aimed at preventing the spread of the COVID-19. Differences in reported social distancing were mediated by divergent perceptions of the health risk posed by COVID-19 (Studies 1 and 2), which were explained by differences in self-reported knowledge of COVID-19 (Study 1) and perceived media accuracy in covering the pandemic (Studies 1 and 2). The politicization of COVID-19 may have prompted conservatives to discount mainstream media reports of the severity of the virus, leading them to downplay its health risks and consequently adherence less to social distancing protocols. These effects hold when controlling for key demographic characteristics as well as psychological variables, including belief in science and COVID-19-related anxiety. Thus, political ideology may uniquely explain COVID-19 behavior.

At the state level within the United States, did political ideology predict the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19)? Throughout March 2020, the United States became the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, recording the most cases of any country worldwide. The current research found that, at the state level within the United States, more conservative political ideology predicted delayed implementation of stay-at-home orders and more rapid spread of COVID-19. Effects were significant across two distinct operationalizations of political ideology and held over and above relevant covariates, suggesting a potentially unique role of political ideology in the United States’ COVID-19 outbreak. Considering political ideological factors may offer valuable insights into epidemiological processes surrounding COVID-19.

The COVID-19 outbreak has become one of the largest public health crises of our time. Governments have responded by implementing self-isolation and physical distancing measures that have profoundly impacted daily life throughout the world. In this study, we surveyed how an Irish sample experience the activities, interactions and settings of their lives during the pandemic. The sample (N = 604) were assessed in Ireland on the 25th March, 2020, following the closure of schools and non-essential businesses. To overcome difficulties in between-person comparisons we examined within-person variance in emotional well-being and how people spend their time. We found that while most time was spent in the home, time spent outdoors was associated with markedly raised positive affect and reduced negative feelings. Exercising, pursuing hobbies and taking care of children were the activities associated with the greatest affective benefits. Home schooling children and obtaining information about COVID-19 were ranked lowest of all activities in terms of emotional experience. These findings highlight key activities that may play a protective role in relation to well-being during the pandemic, the importance of setting personal limits for exposure to COVID-19 related media coverage, and the need for greater educational supports to facilitate home schooling during this extremely challenging period.

The COVID-19 mitigation measures require a fundamental shift in human behavior. The present study assesses what factors influence Americans to comply with the stay at home and social distancing measures. It analyzes data from an online survey, conducted on April 3, 2020, of 570 participants from 35 states that have adopted such measures. The results show that while perceptual deterrence was not associated with compliance, people actually comply less when they fear the authorities. Further, two broad processes promote compliance. First, compliance depended on people’s capacity to obey the rules, opportunity to break the rules, and self-control. As such, compliance results from their own personal abilities and the context in which they live. Second, compliance depended on people’s intrinsic motivations, including substantive moral support and social norms. This paper discusses the implications of these findings for ensuring compliance to effectively mitigate the virus.

Although the scientific evidence of anthropogenic climate change continues to grow, public discourse still reflects a high level of scepticism and political polarisation towards anthropogenic climate change. In this study (N = 499) we attempted to replicate and expand upon an earlier finding that environmental terminology (“climate change” versus “global warming”) could partly explain political polarisation in environmental scepticism (Schuldt, Konrath, & Schwarz, 2011). Participants completed a series of online questionnaires assessing personality traits, political preferences, belief in environmental phenomenon, and various pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours. Those with a Conservative political orientation and/or party voting believed less in both climate change and global warming compared to those with a Liberal orientation and/or party voting. Furthermore, there was an interaction between continuously measured political orientation, but not party voting, and question wording on beliefs in environmental phenomena. Personality traits did not confound these effects. Furthermore, continuously measured political orientation was associated with pro-environmental attitudes, after controlling for personality traits, age, gender, area lived in, income, and education. The personality domains of Openness, and Conscientiousness, were consistently associated with pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours, whereas Agreeableness was associated with pro-environmental attitudes but not with behaviours. This study highlights the importance of examining personality traits and political preferences together and suggests ways in which policy interventions can best be optimised to account for these individual differences.

Contact tracing is a central public health response to infectious disease outbreaks, especially in the early stages of an outbreak when specific treatments are limited. Importation of novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) from China and elsewhere into the United Kingdom highlights the need to understand the impact of contact tracing as a control measure. Using detailed survey information on social encounters coupled to predictive models, we investigate the likely efficacy of the current UK definition of a close contact (within 2 meters for 15 minutes or more) and the distribution of secondary cases that may go untraced. Taking recent estimates for COVID-19 transmission, we show that less than 1 in 5 cases will generate any subsequent untraced cases, although this comes at a high logistical burden with an average of 36.1 individuals (95th percentiles 0-182) traced per case. Changes to the definition of a close contact can reduce this burden, but with increased risk of untraced cases; we estimate that any definition where close contact requires more than 4 hours of contact is likely to lead to uncontrolled spread

Preferential contact process limited by contact capacity remarkably affects the spreading dynamics on complex networks, but the influence of this preferential contact in social contagions has not been fully explored. To this end, we propose a behavior spreading model based on the mechanism of preferential contact. The probability in the model that an adopted individual contacts and tries to transmit the behavioral information to one of his/her neighbors depends on the neighbor's degree. Besides, a preferential exponent determines the tendency to contact with either small-degree or large-degree nodes. We use a dynamic messaging method to describe this complex contagion process and verify that the method is accurate to predict the spreading dynamics by numerical simulations on strongly heterogeneous networks. We find that the preferential contact mechanism leads to a crossover phenomenon in the growth of final adoption size. By reducing the preferential exponent, we observe a change from a continuous growth to an explosive growth and then to a continuous growth with the transmission rate of behavioral information. Moreover, we find that there is an optimal preferential exponent which maximizes the final adoption size at a fixed information transmission rate, and this optimal preferential exponent decreases with the information transmission rate. The used theory can be extended to other types of dynamics, and our findings provide useful and general insights into social contagion processes in the real world.

Several psychologists are actively working on the response to Covid-19, and psychological theory / research is relevant in many ways… this page will serve as a growing resource collecting and linking to those contributions.

In Africa and South Asia more than 3 billion people live with almost no access to intensive care facilities. With little prospect of treatment, their only hope is through knowledge and information, allowing communities to slow the epidemic and protect those most vulnerable. Picturing Health is working in partnership with leading research organisations, as well as UNICEF and NGOs to produce films and public health messages to get the right information to the people who need it. And we are creating films to present research and information to those who have to make difficult policy decisions.

Third lecture (seminar) of the Net-COVID online series: Understanding and Exploring Network Epidemiology in the Time of Coronavirus. Seminar by Sam Scarpino of Northeastern University. See go.umd.edu/net-covid for more information about the online series.

The Psychological Science Accelerator is a globally distributed network of psychological science laboratories (currently over 500), representing over 70 countries on all six populated continents, that coordinates data collection for democratically selected studies.   Our mission is to accelerate the accumulation of reliable and generalizable evidence in psychological science, reducing the distance between truth about human behavior and mental processes and our current understanding. This challenge cannot be adequately met by a single researcher or small team. Instead, we attempt to meet this challenge with a distributed laboratory network that is ongoing (as opposed to time or task limited), diverse (both in terms of human subjects and participating researchers), and inclusive (we welcome ideas, contributions, study proposals, or other input from anyone in the field of psychology).

Background: During the novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) outbreak, the internet became the main channel for the public to access all kinds of information. Through search engines and other media, people can aquire information about the epidemic situation in real time. Baidu, currently the top online search tool in China, has developed an internet search trends gathering and analysis tool called Baidu Index. The aim of this study was to understand the public’s focus on the epidemic and their most pressing needs through analysis of the Chinese internet usage during the first month of the outbreak, which was also the most severe period.  Method: The data period selected was from January 23, 2020 to February 22, 2020. Through Baidu index, we identified hot search terms related to COVID-19 which were grouped into four categories. Searching trend analysis was obtained depicting the quantities with which each category was searched. Next, we selected the category with the highest search volume, and obtained data regarding geographic and demographic characteristics. Finally, we explored Wuhan residents’ interest in COVID-19 by tracking their online seeking behavior. Results: The public was most concerned about news of "latest developments of epidemic". The remaining categories in descending order of attention received were "basic information of disease", "extended information" and "diagnosis and treatment of the novel coronavirus pneumonia". The mobile search volume was dominant. People searching for "latest developments of epidemic" mostly came from economically developed regions with a large floating population. The group with the maximum concern were men aged 20-49. The most searched terms by Wuhan residents were "how to use a thermometer", "n95 mask", "testing kit" and "nucleic acid testing". Conclusion: Through big data from internet, we can accurately understand public concerns and needs during the epidemic. If this data is used in media coverage, public health policy decision-making, and personal epidemic prevention education, it will certainly play an important role. Other countries and regions in the early stages of the epidemic can also benefit from China's experience.

When validating psychological surveys, researchers tend to concentrate on analyzing item responses instead of the processes that generate them. Thus, the threat of invalid response on validity is neglected. Such invalid responses occur when participants unintentionally or intentionally select response options that are otherwise inaccurate. In this paper, we explore the effect of survey use on survey responses under the hypothesis that participants may intentionally give invalid responses if they disagree with the uses of the survey results. Results show that nearly all participants reflect on the intended uses of an assessment when responding to items and most decline to respond or modify their responses if they are not comfortable with the way the results will be used. We introduce methods to prevent and detect invalid responses, thus providing researchers with more confidence in the validity of their inferences.

Psychological scientists have attempted to speak to the COVID-19 crisis. Psychology research on COVID-19, we argue, is unsuitable for making policy decisions. We offer a taxonomy that lets our science advance in Evidence Readiness Levels to be suitable for policy; we caution practitioners to take extreme care translating our findings to applications.

Behavioural economics is being abused by politicians as a justification for flawed policies over the coronavirus outbreak

COVID-19 has brought with it a wave of information, misinformation, and disinformation as it has spread through Latin America. In Brazil and Mexico, two of the region’s largest countries, responses to curbing the pandemic have exacerbated polarization and sparked pushback. How have the administrations of Presidents Jair Bolsonaro and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador approached this pandemic? How has the spread of disinformation and misinformation about COVID-19 impacted citizens’ response to the crisis? And how can government, media, and civil society come together to tackle the dangers posed by misleading narratives? Join the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) and Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center on Monday, April 27 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 pm EDT for a 360/virtual conversation on the real impacts of disinformation about COVID-19 in Brazil and Mexico.

WHO has published guidance on adjusting public health and social measures for the next phase of the COVID-19 response.1 Some governments have suggested that the detection of antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, could serve as the basis for an “immunity passport” or “risk-free certificate” that would enable individuals to travel or to return to work assuming that they are protected against re-infection. There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from COVID-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection.

Background: The cessation of lock-down measures will require an effective testing strategy. Much focus at the beginning of the UK's Covid-19 epidemic was directed to deficiencies in the national testing capacity. The quantity of tests may seem an important focus, but other characteristics are likely more germane. False positive tests are more probable than positive tests when the overall population has a low prevalence of the disease, even with highly accurate tests. Methods: We modify an SIR model to include quarantines states and test performance using publicly accessible estimates for the current situation. Three scenarios for cessation of lock-down measures are explored: (1) immediate end of lock-down measures, (2) continued lock-down with antibody testing based immunity passports, and (3) incremental relaxation of lock-down measures with active viral testing. Sensitivity, specifcity, prevalence and test capacity are modified for both active viral and antibody testing to determine their population level effect on the continuing epidemic. Findings: Diagnostic uncertainty can have a large effect on the epidemic dynamics of Covid-19 within the UK. The dynamics of the epidemic are more sensitive to test performance and targeting than test capacity. The quantity of tests is not a substitute for an effective strategy. Poorly targeted testing has the propensity to exacerbate the peak in infections. Interpretation: The assessment that 'no test is better than a bad test' is broadly supported by the present analysis. Antibody testing is unlikely to be a solution to the lock-down, regardless of test quality or capacity. A well designed active viral testing strategy combined with incremental relaxation of the lock-down measures is shown to be a potential strategy to restore some social activity whilst continuing to keep infections low.

But the fight to control the pandemic is likely to be a long and slow one

This document provides guidance to those who employ and/or supervise individuals in assistant psychologist and other associated posts, both within the NHS and privately, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Please utilise this document alongside Trust policies and other guidance referenced throughout, particularly the BPS Guidance for psychological professionals during the Covid-19 pandemic (2020).This guidance has been written to offer a structure of support for those aspiring psychologists who are working during this difficult period.

We see the coronavirus shock as akin to a large-scale natural disaster that severely disrupts activity in the near term, but eventually results in an economic recovery.

We extend the canonical epidemiology model to study the interaction between economic decisionsand epidemics. Our model implies that people’s decision to cut back on consumption and work reducesthe severity of the epidemic, as measured by total deaths. These decisions exacerbate the size of therecession caused by the epidemic. The competitive equilibrium is not socially optimal because infectedpeople do not fully internalize the effect of their economic decisions on the spread of the virus. Inour benchmark model, the best simple containment policy increases the severity of the recession butsaves roughly half a million lives in the U.S.

The widespread prevalence and persistence of misinformation in contemporary societies, such as the false belief that there is a link between childhood vaccinations and autism, is a matter of public concern. For example, the myths surrounding vaccinations, which prompted some parents to withhold immunization from their children, have led to a marked increase in vaccine-preventable disease, as well as unnecessary public expenditure on research and public-information campaigns aimed at rectifying the situation.We first examine the mechanisms by which such misinformation is disseminated in society, both inadvertently and purposely. Misinformation can originate from rumors but also from works of fiction, governments and politicians, and vested interests. Moreover, changes in the media landscape, including the arrival of the Internet, have fundamentally influenced the ways in which information is communicated and misinformation is spread.We next move to misinformation at the level of the individual, and review the cognitive factors that often render misinformation resistant to correction. We consider how people assess the truth of statements and what makes people believe certain things but not others. We look at people’s memory for misinformation and answer the questions of why retractions of misinformation are so ineffective in memory updating and why efforts to retract misinformation can even backfire and, ironically, increase misbelief. Though ideology and personal worldviews can be major obstacles for debiasing, there nonetheless are a number of effective techniques for reducing the impact of misinformation, and we pay special attention to these factors that aid in debiasing.We conclude by providing specific recommendations for the debunking of misinformation. These recommendations pertain to the ways in which corrections should be designed, structured, and applied in order to maximize their impact. Grounded in cognitive psychological theory, these recommendations may help practitioners—including journalists, health professionals, educators, and science communicators—design effective misinformation retractions, educational tools, and public-information campaigns.

The nature of the COVID-19 pandemic may require governments to use big data technologies to help contain its spread. Countries that have managed to “flatten the curve”, (e.g., Singapore), have employed collocation tracking through mobile Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth as a strategy to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. Through collocation tracking, Government agencies may observe who you have been in contact with and when this contact occurred, thereby rapidly implementing appropriate measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The effectiveness of collocation tracking relies on the willingness of the population to support such measures, implying that government policy-making should be informed by the likelihood of public compliance. Gaining the social license - broad community acceptance beyond formal legal requirements - for collocation tracking requires the perceived public health benefits to outweigh concerns of personal privacy, security, and any potential risk of harm.This project involves a longitudinal cross-cultural study to trace people’s attitudes towards different tracking-based policies during the crisis. At present, we are planning 4 weekly waves in Australia, at least 1 wave in the UK (data collection currently under way), several waves in Germany, at least one wave in the U.S., and we are reaching out to collaborators and colleagues in other countries to broaden our scope.We aim to understand (1) the factors that influence the social license around governmental use of location tracking data in an emergency, (2) how this may change over time, and (3) how it may differ across cultures. We will present participants with one of two vignettes describing mild or severe Government tracking methods that may reduce the spread of COVID-19, and then question participants’ attitudes towards the proposed methods.

The Psychological Science Accelerator's Rapid-Response COVID-19 Project (PSACR) is a project to rapidly select and conduct rigorous, multi-site, and multinational research to understand the psychological and behavioral aspects of the COVID-19 crisis. Here we describe the process we used to select our projects and our general methods for implementing them. We will update this document periodically throughout the project's lifecycle.

ABSTRACTBACKGROUND: Latin American countries have been profoundly affected by COVID-19. Due to the alarming incidence of identified cases, we intended to explore which psycho-social elements may be influencing the poor adherence toward the mandatory control measures amongthe population. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes and vulnerability perception of Peruvians during the coronavirus outbreak.METHOD: Using a web-based cross-sectional survey, we collected data from 225 self-selectedparticipants, evaluating demographic information. The overall respondents were between 18 and29 years old (56.8%), being female (n = 134), belonging to educated groups, and graduated professionals (69.3%), the majority of them. RESULTS: Logistic regression showed that knowledge is highly correlated with education (p=0.031), occupation (p=0.002), and age (p= 0.016). Our study identified that, although peoplereported adequate knowledge by identifying expected symptoms and virus transmission ways inCOVID-19 disease. There is a significant perceived susceptibility to contract the mentioning virus, displaying stigmatized behavior (59.1%) and fear of contracting the virus from others (70.2%). Additionally, it is reported to lack people's confidence to health national authorities onthe sanitary responses (62.7%), preparedness for the disease (76.9%) and the lack of adequate measures to deal with it (51.1%). CONCLUSION: We suggest that public policies consider guidelines on knowledge translation and risk communication strategies for both containing psychological responses in a timely manner and ensuring compliance with public control measures by the population.

Abstract Background: The outbreak and spread of a novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) led to a confinement situation in many countries worldwide. Our objective was to analyze the short-term psychological effects of the COVID-19 crisis and the quarantine on the population. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. A survey was completed by 3550 adults from Spain. Symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress were analyzed using the 21-item version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale.Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder were analyzed using the Impact of Event Scale.Results: Symptomatic scoresof anxiety, depression, stress were observed in 32.4%, 44.1%and37.0% of respondents, respectively.Also, symptomatic scores indicating psychological stresswere found in 88.6% of respondents.Increased prevalence of anxiety, depression and stress symptoms was associated with female sex, younger age, self-reported COVID-19 symptoms, previous psychological or psychiatric treatment, intake of psychoactive medication and negative effect on social relationships and relationships with people living in the same place. Higher scores related tosymptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder was associated with most of those factors, and also with the acquaintance with a COVID-19 patient.Conclusion:Animportant emotional impact of confinementrelated to COVID-19hasbeen foundin Spanish population. Considering a possible long period of confinement, the evolution of the psychological effects should be controlledto prevent severe mental health disorders.

Preprint, data & code at: https://osf.io/mvdpe2AbstractStudents are at elevated risk for mental health problems. The COVID-19pandemicand public health responses such as school and university closures caused once-in-a-lifetime disruptions of daily lifeformost students. In March 2020, during the beginning of the outbreak in the Netherlands, we used Ecological Momentary Assessment to follow80 bachelor students4 times a day for 2 weeks. Despite rapidly increasing rates of infectionsand deaths, short-term dynamics revealedslight decreases of mental health problems, COVID-19related concerns,and loneliness, especially in the first fewdays of the study.Students showed no changes in the frequency of in-personsocial activities. Dynamic network models indicatedthatsocialactivities were negativelyrelated to being at home,and identifiedreinforcing vicious cycles among mental health problemsand being alone, which in turn predicted concerns about COVID-19. Findings and implications are discussed in detail.

Health authorities have warned that an overabundance of information can make it harder for people to obtain reliable guidance about the coronavirus pandemic.Helping the world make sense of this information requires a broad response, involving scientists, journalists, public figures, technology platforms and many others. Here are some ways we plan to help.

There are a lot of upsides to urban density — but viral contagion is not one of them. Also: a nationwide lockdown will show if familiarity really breeds contempt. And: how to help your neighbor.

This chapter reviews current research on telework. We first examine the literature on telework and job performance, job attitudes, and professional isolation, beforereviewing the outcomes of telework on employee well-being as characterized by stress and work-life balance. We then turn our attention to factors that contribute to a successful telework experience: characteristics of the job, characteristics of the employee, and characteristics of the employee’s manager(s). We also identify the key role of technology support in influencing many of the established outcomes of and contributors to telework. Finally, we discuss the gaps in our knowledge of telework’s repercussions for employees and organizations. We conclude by identifying the implications of what we do know for theory and practice. To maximize positive outcomes, we recommend evidence-based guidelines for organizations with regard to 1) selecting and preparing employees for telework, and 2) managing their use of this flexible work practice.

Ministers are answering criticism by insisting they were “guided by the science”. But government experts say the science is “riddled with doubt, uncertainty, and debate”.

Inferring topological characteristics of complex networks from observed data is critical to understand the dynamical behavior of networked systems, ranging from the Internet and the World Wide Web to biological networks and social networks. Prior studies usually focus on the structure-based estimation to infer network sizes, degree distributions, average degrees, and more. Little effort attempted to estimate the specific degree of each vertex from a sampled induced graph, which prevents us from measuring the lethality of nodes in protein networks and influencers in social networks. The current approaches dramatically fail for a tiny sampled induced graph and require a specific sampling method and a large sample size. These approaches neglect information of the vertex state, representing the dynamical behavior of the networked system, such as the biomass of species or expression of a gene, which is useful for degree estimation. We fill this gap by developing a framework to infer individual vertex degrees using both information of the sampled topology and vertex state. We combine the mean-field theory with combinatorial optimization to learn vertex degrees. Experimental results on real networks with a variety of dynamics demonstrate that our framework can produce reliable degree estimates and dramatically improve existing link prediction methods by replacing the sampled degrees with our estimated degrees.

Controversy exists regarding whether severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can be transmitted in utero from an infected mother to her infant.1Qiao J What are the risks of COVID-19 infection in pregnant women?.Lancet. 2020; 395: 760-762Google Scholar To date, studies have mainly focused on women in late pregnancy.2Huijun C Juanjuan G Chen W et al.Clinical characteristics and intrauterine vertical transmission potential of COVID-19 infection in nine pregnant women: a retrospective review of medical records.Lancet. 2020; 395: 809-815Google Scholar,  3Zeng H Xu C Fan J et al.Antibodies in infants born to mothers with COVID-19 pneumonia.JAMA. 2020; (published online March 26.)DOI:10.1001/jama.2020.4861Google Scholar,  4Dong L Tian J He S et al.Possible vertical transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from an infected mother to her newborn.JAMA. 2020; (published online March 26.)DOI:10.1001/jama.2020.4621Google Scholar We report SARS-CoV-2 negativity in amniotic fluid from two pregnant women who were diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the early stage of pregnancy. The ethics committee of Tongji Hospital approved the study, and written informed consent was obtained from both patients.Clinical records and laboratory results were retrospectively reviewed for two pregnant women with COVID-19 admitted to Wuhan Tongji Hospital (Wuhan, China) in the first trimester of pregnancy. The first patient (case 1; figure; appendix) was a 34-year-old primiparous woman who was admitted to hospital on Jan 30 after developing a cough on Jan 26 (8 weeks plus 5 days of gestation); her husband had previously had a fever and been diagnosed with COVID-19. On Feb 3, chest CT showed typical signs of viral infection of both lungs, and so a clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 was made. On Feb 13, the patient was observed as being in the recovery phase on CT, discharged from hospital, and isolated at home.

We can “nudge” our way toward a healthier planet

Delays in diagnosing and treating people with cancer could lead to more years of lost life than with Covid-19, according to a leading cancer expert.

Government ministers in the UK are reportedly in disagreement over whether to lift lockdown restrictions in May, or to keep these measures in place until the summer. Onlookers ranging from journalists to Conservative MP Liam Fox have presumed that British people want the lockdown to end “as quickly as possible”. But the results of a recent survey my team ran indicate the opposite.

Informal networks including community organizations and faith-based groups are stepping in to help people during the COVID-19 pandemic. They fill gaps in resources and services often left empty by traditional public and private organizations. The informal networks forming today may shape our economic and health recovery from COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred the creation of many formal emergency responses, initiatives and partnerships. But often the first people on the scene within communities most impacted by the outbreak are informal networks, groups of people connected by social ties, including community organizations, faith groups and clubs. Here are four reasons why informal networks are essential to enacting meaningful change and must be an important part of the COVID-19 response.

A lot of people infected with the coronavirus have very mild or even no symptoms, or ones that don’t match the usual markers of fever, dry cough or difficulty breathing. The discovery of larger numbers of so-called asymptomatic cases, initially thought to be rare, underscores a key challenge in stopping the pandemic: If people don’t know they’re infected, they’re probably not taking steps to prevent transmitting it.

Behavioral scientists have made recommendations based on empirical evidence on how to keep social distancing up. More information about this project is here. We have created an infographic with these tips. Behavioral changes are critically needed to reduce the spread of coronavirus. Please share the information!

Online learning and teaching has necessarily come to the fore over the past few weeks and months as we adapt to Covid-19. In a new virtual issue of the British Journal of Educational Technology (BJET) the editors offer a free-to-view collection of practical, high-quality research on online resources and practices that professionals across the education sector can draw guidance and inspiration from as they rise to these new challenges.

How we communicate research is changing because of new (especially digital) possibilities. This article sets out 10 easy steps researchers can take to disseminate their work in novel and engaging ways, and hence increase the impact of their research on science and society.

The NIHR and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) are jointly calling for research proposals to investigate emerging evidence of an association between ethnicity and COVID-19 incidence and adverse health outcomes.

Bringing Face-to-Face Events Online: Virtual Policy Events and Online Meetings With this WebTalk series, DGAP, WonkComms and Soapbox are joining forces to bring the international Think Tank community together to better understand how we can continue our work under lockdown. Each week, experts from across our community will share tips and tools for bringing your work as a Think Tank online.

CDC is responding to a pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by a novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, that is spreading from person to person. The federal government is working closely with state, tribal, local, and territorial health departments, and other public health partners, to respond to this situation.  Forecasts of deaths will help inform public health decision-making by projecting the likely impact in coming weeks.

“In medias res” is a narrative technique, used in a variety of works ranging from The Odyssey to Raging Bull, in which a story opens in the middle of the action. I am co-opting the term here to describe the kind of learning teams we need now to learn alongside covid-19 responses.

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the JRC’s Emanuele Ciriolo and Marianna Baggio have been sharing their expertise on human behaviour to help inform the EU’s response. From getting people to comply with social distancing measures, to tackling misinformation and fostering trust, behavioural economics and human psychology can provide valuable insights to help tackle this crisis. We caught up with the two experts to find out more.

Lancet Migration1Orcutt M Spiegel P Kumar B Abubakar I Clark J Horton R Lancet Migration: global collaboration to advance migration health.Lancet. 2020; 395: 317-319Google Scholar calls for migrants and refugees to be urgently included in responses to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.2Lancet MigrationLeaving no one behind in the COVID-19 pandemic: a call for urgent global action to include migrants and refugees in the COVID-19 response.https://www.migrationandhealth.org/statementsDate: April 10, 2020Date accessed: April 22, 2020Google Scholar Many of these populations live, travel, and work in conditions where physical distancing and recommended hygiene measures are impossible because of poor living conditions3Orcutt M Mussa R Hiam L et al.EU migration policies drive health crisis on Greek islands.Lancet. 2020; 395: 668-670Google Scholar and great economic precarity. This global public health emergency highlights the exclusion and multiple barriers to health care4Abubakar I Aldridge RW Devakumar D et al.The UCL–Lancet Commission on Migration and Health: the health of a world on the move.Lancet. 2018; 392: 2606-2654Google Scholar that are faced by migrants and refugees, among whom COVID-19 threatens to have rapid and devastating effects.5Lau LS Samari G Moresky RT et al.COVID-19 in humanitarian settings and lessons learned from past epidemics.Nat Med. 2020; (published online April 8.)DOI:10.1038/s41591-020-0851-2Google Scholar From an enlightened self-interest perspective, measures to control the outbreak of COVID-19 will only be successful if all populations are included in the national and international responses. Moreover, excluding migrants and refugees contradicts the commitment to leave no one behind and the ethics of justice that underpin public health. Principles of solidarity, human rights, and equity must be central to the COVID-19 response; otherwise the world risks leaving behind those who are most marginalised. Join our global call to action for the inclusion of migrants and refugees in the COVID-19 response (panel).

Millions of refugees and migrants reside in countries devastated by protracted conflicts with weakened health systems, and in countries where they are forced to live in substandard conditions in camps and compounds, and high-density slum settings.1International Organization for MigrationWorld Migration Report 2020. International Organization for Migration, Geneva2019Google Scholar Although many such settings have yet to feel the full impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the pandemic is now having an unprecedented impact on mobility, in terms of border and migration management, as well as on the health, social, and economic situation of migrant populations globally. An urgent coordinated effort is now needed to align these populations with national and global COVID-19 responses.Migrants—including the internally displaced, asylum seekers and refugees, undocumented migrants, and low-waged labour migrants—can be neglected and marginalised, live in precarious conditions, and face barriers to accessing public health and social services in the countries in which they reside. These factors considerably complicate the control of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is exemplified by the situation facing low-waged labour migrants in the Middle East working in the construction sector, where living quarters are completely sealed off after cases of COVID-19 are detected. Movement in and out of compounds is being prohibited, with workers left living in suboptimal and overcrowded conditions with limited access to health care, and substantial knock-on effects from foregone salaries for both themselves and their families back home.2Pattisson P Sedhai R Covid-19 lockdown turns Qatar's largest migrant camp into ‘virtual prison’.https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/mar/20/covid-19-lockdown-turns-qatars-largest-migrant-camp-into-virtual-prisonDate: March 20,2020Date accessed: March 21, 2020Google Scholar Elsewhere, there have been reports of tens of thousands of labour migrants being expelled overnight back to their country of origin with no clear arrangements or provision of basic needs, such as food or shelter. In other countries, the mass movement of now unemployed labour migrants, who are evacuating cities to return home to rural communities, highlights that labour migrants—the biggest global migrant group—have not been well considered since public health measures have been introduced.3Singh J Kazmin A Parkin B Indian coronavirus lockdown triggers exodus to rural areas.The Financial Times (London). March 30, 2020; Google Scholar Despite a strong public health rationale to extend COVID-19 strategies to everyone to prevent ongoing transmission, governments might prioritise their own citizens, with migrants facing devastating consequences.

Around the world reports are emerging of numerous residential institutions for children being closed as a result of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Children appear to be being sent back to their communities without proper consideration of where they will reside, how their transition will be supported, and whether their safety will be monitored. Our view as international experts on institutional care reform is that although overall a shift from institutional to family-based care is a priority, these transitions need to be carefully planned and managed, with effective and sustained family preparation, strengthening, monitoring, and other support provided to ensure the best interests of the child are maintained. We are gravely concerned that the best interests of children might not be met by releasing them en masse back to households and communities. We are especially concerned for children's physical, emotional, and social vulnerabilities, with immunodeficiencies that make them susceptible to COVID-19, and those returning to households without the knowledge or resources to support children with disabilities or those susceptible to COVID-19. We fear that this process of abrupt unplanned relocation will lead to unanticipated emotional stress, exacerbated health issues, and lack of education, as well as an increased risk of abuse and being trafficked.