Physical health mindsets and information avoidance.

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.

What drives preventative health behaviors one year into a pandemic? A replication and extension.

: 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).

Information Avoidance: Past Perspectives and Future Directions.

In 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.

Injunctive social norms and perceived message tailoring are associated with health information seeking.

Social norms messages may promote information seeking, especially when the norms refer to a group with which a person identifies. We hypothesized that tailored social norms messages would increase COVID-19 testing willingness and intentions. College students (n = 203, 75% female, 87% White) were randomly assigned to one of four conditions in a 2 (Descriptive norms: Relevant vs.

Field experiment of signs promoting hand hygiene during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. public was encouraged to practice good hand hygiene, such as hand washing or the use of hand sanitizer.

Math matters: A novel, brief educational intervention decreases whole number bias when reasoning about COVID-19.

At the onset of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) global pandemic, our interdisciplinary team hypothesized that a mathematical misconception-whole number bias (WNB)-contributed to beliefs that COVID-19 was less fatal than the flu. We created a brief online educational intervention for adults, leveraging evidence-based cognitive science research, to promote accurate understanding of rational numbers related to COVID-19. Participants from a Qualtrics panel (N = 1,297; 75% White) were randomly assigned to an intervention or control condition, solved health-related math problems, and subsequently completed 10 days of daily diaries in which health cognitions and affect were assessed.

What Drives Preventive Health Behavior During a Global Pandemic? Emotion and Worry.

Background & Purpose: Primary prevention of COVID-19 has focused on encouraging compliance with specific behaviors that restrict contagion. This investigation sought to characterize engagement in these behaviors in U.S.

Adherence of Internet-Based Cancer Risk Assessment Tools to Best Practices in Risk Communication: Content Analysis.

Background: Internet-based risk assessment tools offer a potential avenue for people to learn about their cancer risk and adopt risk-reducing behaviors. However, little is known about whether internet-based risk assessment tools adhere to scientific evidence for what constitutes good risk communication strategies. Furthermore, their quality may vary from a user experience perspective.