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.

Mandatory Home Education during the COVID-19 Lockdown in the Czech Republic: A Rapid Survey of 1st-9th Graders’ Parents

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.

Forensic Mental Health Practitioners’ Use of Structured Risk Assessment Instruments, Views About Bias in Risk Evaluations, and Strategies to Counteract It

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.

Psychological Resilience to Major Socioeconomic Life Events

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.

A Novel Solution to Academic Publishing

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.

Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of Text-based Crisis Patterns in Youth following Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas, 2018

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.

Why We Imagine Our Future: Introducing the Functions of Future Thinking Scale (FoFTS)

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.

Scientific reasoning as a predictor of health-related beliefs and behaviors in the time of COVID-19

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.

Gender Differences in Political Engagement and Participation among Italian Young People

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.

Moral values and trait pathogen disgust predict compliance with official recommendations regarding COVID-19 pandemic in US samples

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.

A Data-Driven Analysis of the Cognitive and Perceptual Attributes of Ideological Attitudes

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.

A Bayesian Multiverse Analysis of Many Labs 4: Quantifying the Evidence against Mortality Salience

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.

Modeling latent topics in social media using Dynamic Exploratory Graph Analysis: The case of the right-wing and left-wing trolls in the 2016 US elections

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.

Are Dimensions of Gender Inequality Uniformly Associated with Human Values?

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.

Conspiracy Theories in Times of Crisis and their Societal Effects: Case “Corona”

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.

Who takes care of health professional?

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

Personality Traits, Risk Perception and Social Distancing During 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.

Relational mobility predicts the increased speed of the spread of COVID-19: A 37 country study

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.

Why are Conservatives Less Concerned about the Coronavirus (COVID-19) than Liberals? Testing Experiential Versus Political Explanations

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.

Rapid Assessment of Psychological and Epidemiological Correlates of COVID-19 Concern, Financial Strain, and Health-Related Behavior Change in a Large Online Sample

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.

A Descriptive Study of Indian General Public’s Psychological responses during COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown Period in India

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.

Have Introverts or Extraverts Declined in Social Connection During the First Wave of COVID-19?

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.

Factors affecting mental health of health care workers during coronavirus disease outbreaks: a rapid systematic review

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.

An Early Examination: Psychological, Health, and Economic Correlates and Determinants of Social Distancing Amidst COVID-19

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.

La Psicología Social ante el COVID19: Monográfico del International Journal of Social Psychology (Revista de Psicología Social)

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

Offene Wissenschaft in der Zeit von Covid-19 – Eine Blaupause für die psychologische Forschung?

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.

Realistic expectations and pro-social behavioural intentions to the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Norwegian population

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.

TRENDS IN PERCEPTION OF COVID-19 IN POLISH INTERNET

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.

Politicizing the COVID-19 Pandemic: Ideological Differences in Adherence to Social Distancing

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.

Political Ideology and the Outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States

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.

Daily emotional well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic

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.

Compliance with COVID-19 Mitigation Measures in the United States

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

The Efficacy of Contact Tracing for the Containment of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

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.

Impact of contact preference on social contagions on complex networks

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.

Films about coronavirus (COVID-19)

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).

Psychological Science Accelerator a distributed laboratory network

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.

Use of Internet data to track Chinese behavior and interest in COVID-19

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.

Survey Uses May Influence Survey Responses

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.

Psychological Science is Not Yet a Crisis-Ready Discipline

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.

"Immunity passports" in the context of COVID-19

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.

"No test is better than a bad test": Impact of diagnostic uncertainty in mass testing on the spread of Covid-19

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.

COVID-19 Forecasts

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.

How insights on human behaviour can help us manage a pandemic

The intelligent lockdown is certainly necessary, but is also causing serious damage to society on almost every conceivable level. That’s why it’s essential to resume ‘normal life’ as quickly as possible. So it’s a quest for the ideal exit strategy. The new crowdsourcing website Strategies versus Corona invites network researchers, programmers, data scientists, psychologists and economists to come up with exit strategies and also to directly calculate the consequences.

University of Amsterdam scientists launch website that seeks ideal COVID-19 exit strategy

In the midst of the Coronavirus lockdown of 2020, the first webinar from the newly formed Mental Health Working Group of the Leibniz PhD Network was held online. Many people had already been under some form of quarantine for a few weeks, and it was clear that many junior researchers have been struggling with social isolation, confinement and uncertainty under the pandemic.  Recently, it has become more and more evident that there is an ongoing mental health crisis in academia. For example, a recent survey of 50,000 graduate students in the UK showed that 86% reported significant levels of anxiety. The current pandemic is compounding existing issues. The aim of the webinar was to: Raise awareness about potential stressors triggered during the pandemic in the academic community.Provide tools and strategies to help researchers cope with anxiety, motivational issues, depression and other potential stressors related to working in academia under the current pandemic.

Successful Webinar about Mental health strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic and more resources for doctoral researchers

What are the socio-political consequences of infectious diseases? Humans have evolved to avoid disease and infection, resulting in a set of psychological mechanisms that promote disease-avoidance, referred to as the behavioural immune system (BIS). One manifestation of the BIS is the cautious avoidance of unfamiliar, foreign, or potentially contaminating stimuli. Specifically, when disease infection risk is salient or prevalent, authoritarian attitudes can emerge that seek to avoid and reject foreign outgroups while favoring homogenous, familiar ingroups. In the largest study conducted on the topic to date (N>240,000), elevated regional levels of infectious pathogens were related to more authoritarian attitudes on three geographical levels: across US metropolitan regions, US states, and cross-culturally across 47 countries. The link between pathogen prevalence and authoritarian psychological dispositions predicted conservative voting behavior in the 2016 US Presidential Election as well as more authoritarian governance and state laws, in which one group of people imposes asymmetrical laws on others in a hierarchical structure. Furthermore, cross-cultural analysis illustrated that the relationship between infectious diseases and authoritarianism was pronounced for infectious diseases that can be acquired from other humans (nonzoonotic), and does not generalize to other infectious diseases that can only be acquired from non-human species (zoonotic diseases). At a time of heightened awareness of infectious diseases, these findings are important reminders that public health and ecology can have ramifications for socio-political attitudes, and this can shape how citizens vote as well as how they govern and are governed.

The Psychological and Socio-political Consequences of Infectious Diseases

This study assessed knowledge and perceptions about COVID-19 among the general public in Nigeria during the initial week of the pandemic lockdown in the country. From March 28 to April 4, 2020, this cross-sectional survey used an anonymous online questionnaire to collect data from respondents within Nigeria. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used to recruit 1357 respondents, aged 15-70 years, from 180 cities and towns within Nigeria. Study data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Approximately more than half (57.02%) of the respondents were male with high level of education (48.86% bachelor’s degree or higher). Approximately half of the respondents (46.94%) opined that COVID-19 was “a biological weapon designed by the Chinese government.” About 94% of the respondents identified “contact with airborne droplets via breathing, sneezing, or coughing” as the most common mode of transmission; most respondents associated COVID-19 with coughing (81.13%), shortness of breath (73.47%) and fever (62.79%). “Regular hand washing and social distancing” was selected by most respondents (94.25%) as a way of preventing infection whereas 11.86% reported “consuming gins, garlic, ginger, herbal mixtures and African foods/soups” as preventive measures against COVID-19. Majority of the respondents (91.73%) thought COVID-19 is deadly; and most respondents (84.3%) got 4 or more answers correctly. It was also observed that the traditional media (TV/Radio) are the most common source of health information about COVID-19 (93.5%). Findings revealed that Nigerians have relatively high knowledge, mostly derived from traditional media, about COVID-19. Their perceptions of COVID-19 bear implications across public health initiatives, compliance with precautionary behavior as well as bilateral relations with foreign nations. Evidence-based campaign should be intensified to remove misconceptions and promote precautionary measures.

COVID-19 Knowledge and Perceptions in Nigeria