Health mindsets refer to beliefs about the malleability (growth mindset) versus stability (fixed mindset) of physical health and have gained traction as a predictor of health beliefs and behaviors. Across two studies, we tested whether health mindsets were associated with avoiding personalized health risk information. In Study 2, we also tested whether conceptually-related constructs of internal and chance health locus of control, health self-efficacy, fatalism, and genetic determinism were associated with information avoidance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF: There is continued interest in understanding what leads people to engage in CDC-recommended COVID-19 prevention behaviors. We tested whether fear and COVID-19 worry would replicate as the primary drivers of six CDC recommended prevention behaviors. : We recruited 741 adult participants during the second major peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States (early 2021).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMath proficiency is an important predictor of educational attainment and life success. However, developing mathematical competency is challenging, and some content (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the present age of unprecedented access to information, it is important to understand how and why people avoid information. Multiple definitions of "information avoidance" exist, and key aspects of these definitions deserve attention, such as distinguishing information avoidance from (lack of) information seeking, considering the intentionality and temporal nature of information avoidance, and considering the personal relevance of the information. In this review, we provide a cross-disciplinary historical account of theories and empirical research on information avoidance and seeking, drawing from research in multiple fields.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhether to undergo genome sequencing in a clinical or research context is generally a voluntary choice. Individuals are often motivated to learn genomic information even when clinical utility-the possibility that the test could inform medical recommendations or health outcomes-is low or absent. Motivations to seek one's genomic information can be cognitive, affective, social, or mixed (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF