A global experiment on motivating social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic

Finding communication strategies that effectively motivate social distancing continues to be a global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-country, preregistered experiment (n = 25,718 from 89 countries) tested hypotheses concerning generalizable positive and negative outcomes of social distancing messages that promoted personal agency and reflective choices (i.e., an autonomy-supportive message) or were restrictive and shaming (i.e., a controlling message) compared with no message at all. Results partially supported experimental hypotheses in that the controlling message increased controlled motivation (a poorly internalized form of motivation relying on shame, guilt, and fear of social consequences) relative to no message. On the other hand, the autonomy-supportive message lowered feelings of defiance compared with the controlling message, but the controlling message did not differ from receiving no message at all. Unexpectedly, messages did not influence autonomous motivation (a highly internalized form of motivation relying on one’s core values) or behavioral intentions. Results supported hypothesized associations between people’s existing autonomous and controlled motivations and self-reported behavioral intentions to engage in social distancing. Controlled motivation was associated with more defiance and less long-term behavioral intention to engage in social distancing, whereas autonomous motivation was associated with less defiance and more short- and long-term intentions to social distance. Overall, this work highlights the potential harm of using shaming and pressuring language in public health communication, with implications for the current and future global health challenges

A global experiment on motivating social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic

Finding communication strategies that effectively motivate social distancing continues to be a global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-country, preregistered experiment (n = 25,718 from 89 countries) tested hypotheses concerning generalizable positive and negative outcomes of social distancing messages that promoted personal agency and reflective choices (i.e., an autonomy-supportive message) or were restrictive and shaming (i.e. a controlling message) compared to no message at all. Results partially supported experimental hypotheses in that the controlling message increased controlled motivation (a poorly-internalized form of motivation relying on shame, guilt, and fear of social consequences) relative to no message. On the other hand, the autonomy-supportive message lowered feelings of defiance compared to the controlling message, but the controlling message did not differ from receiving no message at all. Unexpectedly, messages did not influence autonomous motivation (a highly-internalized form of motivation relying on one’s core values) or behavioral intentions. Results supported hypothesized associations between people’s existing autonomous and controlled motivations and self-reported behavioral intentions to engage in social distancing: Controlled motivation was associated with more defiance and less long-term behavioral intentions to engage in social distancing, whereas autonomous motivation was associated with less defiance and more short- and long-term intentions to social distance. Overall, this work highlights the potential harm of using shaming and pressuring language in public health communication, with implications for the current and future global health challenges

A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. Left unchecked, these emotional changes might have a wide array of adverse impacts. To reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, we tested the effectiveness of reappraisal, an emotion-regulation strategy that modifies how one thinks about a situation. Participants from 87 countries and regions (n = 21,644) were randomly assigned to one of two brief reappraisal interventions (reconstrual or repurposing) or one of two control conditions (active or passive). Results revealed that both reappraisal interventions (vesus both control conditions) consistently reduced negative emotions and increased positive emotions across different measures. Reconstrual and repurposing interventions had similar effects. Importantly, planned exploratory analyses indicated that reappraisal interventions did not reduce intentions to practice preventive health behaviours. The findings demonstrate the viability of creating scalable, low-cost interventions for use around the world

Αυτονομία και παρακίνηση στο χώρο της εργασίας: ο ρόλος τους στην ευημερία, την απόδοση των εργαζομένων και την καινοτομία

In Greece research about organizational and personal factors which associate autonomy and motivation with labor outcomes, such as well being, innovative work behavior and performance is relatively limited. This thesis aims to contribute to this research agenda taking into consideration the fact that both levels of job satisfaction and innovation in Greece is significantly lower compared to the European average. More specifically, the aim of this thesis is to study how the dimensions of autonomy in the employment context and autonomy as a personality trait are associated with well being, work performance and innovative work behavior of employees. This thesis is consisted of the main survey and two (2) additional empirical studies. In these three (3) studies a total of 1040 employees (N-1041) from five (5) different workplace sectors (public servants, private employees, self-employed people, artists and teachers) were involved. Some of the main findings of the thesis are: The level of autonomous and controlled motivation differ based on the work sector. The autonomous motivation explains how the organizational and personal dimensions of autonomy are associated to well being and to innovative work behavior. The employees who are autonomously motivated report higher level of well being and lower level of negative emotions and burnout. They also report being more innovative and more efficient, regardless of the work sector. The job autonomy, career autonomy and workplace justice are highly related to autonomous motivation in all work sectors under research. The job autonomy charges the labor well being of the employees in the case which the employee is autonomously motivated in low levels. Employees who have autonomous causality orientation are more autonomously motivated and more often demonstrate innovative behavior. Justice in the workplace is related to job performance and autonomous motivation moderates this relation. The thesis concludes with a general discussion, the proposed practical applications for organizations, the limitations and suggestions for future research.Στην Ελλάδα η έρευνα για το πώς συνδέεται η αυτονομία και η παρακίνηση με τα εργασιακά αποτελέσματα, όπως η ευημερία, η καινοτομία και η απόδοση είναι σχετικά περιορισμένη. Η παρούσα διατριβή έχει σκοπό να συνεισφέρει στην ερευνητική αυτή ατζέντα αφού τόσο τα επίπεδα της εργασιακής ικανοποίησης όσο και της καινοτομίας στην Ελλάδα είναι χαμηλότερα σε γενικές γραμμές σε σύγκριση με το μέσο ευρωπαϊκό όρο. Συγκεκριμένα, σκοπός της παρούσας διατριβής είναι να μελετήσει πως οι διαστάσεις της αυτονομίας στο εργασιακό πλαίσιο και η αυτονομία ως χαρακτηριστικό της προσωπικότητας συνδέονται με την ευημερία, την απόδοση και την καινοτομική συμπεριφορά των εργαζομένων. Η διατριβή αποτελείται από την κύρια έρευνα και δύο (2) συμπληρωματικές έρευνες. Στις τρεις (3) αυτές έρευνες συμμετείχαν συνολικά 1041 εργαζόμενοι (Ν=1041) από πέντε (5) διαφορετικούς εργασιακούς χώρους (δημόσιοι υπάλληλοι, ιδιωτικοί υπάλληλοι, ελεύθεροι επαγγελματίες, καλλιτέχνες και εκπαιδευτικοί). Μερικά από τα κυριότερα ευρήματα της διατριβής είναι τα παρακάτω: Το επίπεδο της αυτόνομης και της ελεγχόμενης παρακίνησης διαφοροποιείται με βάση το χώρο εργασίας. Οι εργαζόμενοι οι οποίοι παρακινούνται αυτόνομα, σε σύγκριση με όσους παρακινούνται ελεγχόμενα είναι περισσότερο ευχαριστημένοι, καινοτόμοι και αποδοτικοί ανεξάρτητα από το χώρο εργασίας. Η αυτόνομη παρακίνηση εξηγεί πως οργανωσιακές και ατομικές διαστάσεις της αυτονομίας σχετίζονται με την ευημερία και την καινοτομική συμπεριφορά. Η αυτονομία εργασίας, η αυτονομία διαχείρισης σταδιοδρομίας και η δικαιοσύνη στον εργασιακό χώρο συσχετίζονται με την αυτόνομη παρακίνηση σε όλους τους υπό μελέτη χώρους εργασίας. Η υψηλή αυτονομία εργασίας επιβαρύνει την εργασιακή ευημερία στους μισθωτούς στην περίπτωση που ο εργαζόμενος παρακινείται αυτόνομα σε χαμηλό επίπεδο. Οι εργαζόμενοι με αυτόνομο προσανατολισμό αιτιότητας παρακινούνται περισσότερο αυτόνομα και επιδεικνύουν πιο συχνά καινοτομική συμπεριφορά. Η δικαιοσύνη στο χώρο της εργασίας συσχετίζεται με την εργασιακή απόδοση και η αυτόνομη παρακίνηση ερμηνεύει και διαφοροποιεί τη σχέση μεταξύ τους. Η διατριβή ολοκληρώνεται με τη γενική συζήτηση, τις προτεινόμενες πρακτικές εφαρμογές για τους οργανισμούς, τους περιορισμούς και τις προτάσεις για μελλοντική έρευνα

Organizational Behavior, Decision Making and Virtual Simulations in Military Personnel

The aim of this study is to make a brief review of the research on Human Behavior Models (HBMs) in military simulations. The need to represent the behavior of individual combatants as well as teams and larger organizations is expanding as a result of increasing use of simulations for training, systems analysis, mission rehearsal, systems acquisition, joint force analysis and command decision aiding. Both for training and command decision aiding, the behaviors that are important to represent realistically are those that can be observed by the other participants in the simulation, including physical movement, detection and identification of enemy forces, as well as the aspects of behavior influenced by the cultural background, such as Beliefs, Desires and Intents. Innovative technologies provide opportunities to train the required skills in an interactive and realistic setting, for this reason are needed adequate models that generate the behavior of virtual players. Areas of modelling human behaviors are combat field situations and situations of high risk decision making, teamwork, culturally and emotionally affected behavior. In this paper we provide an overview of current research on human behavior models in military simulation, in order to be used to train military forces, develop force structures and design weapon systems. Implications for further research are made

Author correction: A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic

Correction to: Nature Human Behaviour https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01173-x, published online 2 August 2021. In the version of this article initially published, the following authors were omitted from the author list and the Author contributionssection for “investigation” and “writing and editing”: Nandor Hajdu (Institute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest,Hungary), Jordane Boudesseul (Facultad de Psicología, Instituto de Investigación Científica, Universidad de Lima, Lima, Perú), RafałMuda (Faculty of Economics, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Lublin, Poland) and Sandersan Onie (Black Dog Institute, UNSWSydney, Sydney, Australia & Emotional Health for All Foundation, Jakarta, Indonesia). In addition, Saeideh FatahModares’ name wasoriginally misspelled as Saiedeh FatahModarres in the author list. Further, affiliations have been corrected for Maria Terskova (NationalResearch University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia), Susana Ruiz Fernandez (FOM University of Applied Sciences,Essen; Leibniz-Institut fur Wissensmedien, Tubingen, and LEAD Research Network, Eberhard Karls University, Tubingen, Germany),Hendrik Godbersen (FOM University of Applied Sciences, Essen, Germany), Gulnaz Anjum (Department of Psychology, Simon FraserUniversity, Burnaby, Canada, and Department of Economics & Social Sciences, Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, Pakistan)

Author Correction: A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Correction to: Nature Human Behaviour https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01173-x, published online 2 August 2021. In the version of this article initially published, the following authors were omitted from the author list and the Author contributionssection for “investigation” and “writing and editing”: Nandor Hajdu (Institute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest,Hungary), Jordane Boudesseul (Facultad de Psicología, Instituto de Investigación Científica, Universidad de Lima, Lima, Perú), RafałMuda (Faculty of Economics, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Lublin, Poland) and Sandersan Onie (Black Dog Institute, UNSWSydney, Sydney, Australia & Emotional Health for All Foundation, Jakarta, Indonesia). In addition, Saeideh FatahModares’ name wasoriginally misspelled as Saiedeh FatahModarres in the author list. Further, affiliations have been corrected for Maria Terskova (NationalResearch University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia), Susana Ruiz Fernandez (FOM University of Applied Sciences,Essen; Leibniz-Institut fur Wissensmedien, Tubingen, and LEAD Research Network, Eberhard Karls University, Tubingen, Germany),Hendrik Godbersen (FOM University of Applied Sciences, Essen, Germany), Gulnaz Anjum (Department of Psychology, Simon FraserUniversity, Burnaby, Canada, and Department of Economics & Social Sciences, Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, Pakistan)

In COVID-19 Health Messaging, Loss Framing Increases Anxiety with Little-to-No Concomitant Benefits: Experimental Evidence from 84 Countries.

The COVID-19 pandemic (and its aftermath) highlights a critical need to communicate health information effectively to the global public. Given that subtle differences in information framing can have meaningful effects on behavior, behavioral science research highlights a pressing question: Is it more effective to frame COVID-19 health messages in terms of potential losses (e.g., "If you do not practice these steps, you can endanger yourself and others") or potential gains (e.g., "If you practice these steps, you can protect yourself and others")? Collecting data in 48 languages from 15,929 participants in 84 countries, we experimentally tested the effects of message framing on COVID-19-related judgments, intentions, and feelings. Loss- (vs. gain-) framed messages increased self-reported anxiety among participants cross-nationally with little-to-no impact on policy attitudes, behavioral intentions, or information seeking relevant to pandemic risks. These results were consistent across 84 countries, three variations of the message framing wording, and 560 data processing and analytic choices. Thus, results provide an empirical answer to a global communication question and highlight the emotional toll of loss-framed messages. Critically, this work demonstrates the importance of considering unintended affective consequences when evaluating nudge-style interventions

In COVID-19 health messaging, loss framing increases anxiety with little-to-no concomitant benefits: Experimental evidence from 84 countries

The COVID-19 pandemic (and its aftermath) highlights a critical need to communicate health information effectively to the global public. Given that subtle differences in information framing can have meaningful effects on behavior, behavioral science research highlights a pressing question: Is it more effective to frame COVID-19 health messages in terms of potential losses (e.g., "If you do not practice these steps, you can endanger yourself and others") or potential gains (e.g., "If you practice these steps, you can protect yourself and others")? Collecting data in 48 languages from 15,929 participants in 84 countries, we experimentally tested the effects of message framing on COVID-19-related judgments, intentions, and feelings. Loss- (vs. gain-) framed messages increased self-reported anxiety among participants cross-nationally with little-to-no impact on policy attitudes, behavioral intentions, or information seeking relevant to pandemic risks. These results were consistent across 84 countries, three variations of the message framing wording, and 560 data processing and analytic choices. Thus, results provide an empirical answer to a global communication question and highlight the emotional toll of loss-framed messages. Critically, this work demonstrates the importance of considering unintended affective consequences when evaluating nudge-style interventions