Who Is Listening? Spokesperson Effect on Communicating Social and Physical Distancing Measures During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Effective communication during a pandemic, such as the current COVID-19 crisis, can save lives. At the present time, social and physical distancing measures are the lead strategy in combating the spread of COVID-19. In this study, a survey was administered to 705 adults from Switzerland about their support and practice of social distancing measures to examine if their responses depended on (1) whether these measures were supported by a government official or an internationally recognized celebrity as a spokesperson, (2) whether this spokesperson was liked, and (3) the respondent's age. We also considered several attitudinal and demographic variables that may influence the degree to which people support and comply with social distancing measures. We found that the government official was more effective in eliciting responses supportive of social distancing, particularly as manifested in the stated current compliance with social distancing measures. The effect was substantially stronger among older respondents, although these respondents expressed a lower risk perception. Although there was a general trend for greater endorsement of the social distancing measures among participants who liked the spokesperson, this was non-significant. In addition, respondents' greater support and compliance was positively associated with (1) higher concern for the current situation, (2) higher concern for the well-being of others, and (3) greater belief that others were practicing social distancing, and negatively with (4) greater self-reported mobility. Current compliance correlated negatively with (5) household size. Since different parts of the population appear to have different perceptions of risk and crisis, our preliminary results suggest that different spokespersons may be needed for different segments of the population, and particularly for younger and older populations. The development of evidence-based knowledge is required to further identify who would be the most effective spokesperson, and in particular to groups with low risk perception and low compliance

The effect of spokesperson attribution on public health message sharing during the COVID-19 pandemic

It is urgent to understand how to effectively communicate public health messages during the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous work has focused on how to formulate messages in terms of style and content, rather than on who should send them. In particular, little is known about the impact of spokesperson selection on message propagation during times of crisis. We report on the effectiveness of different public figures at promoting social distancing among 12,194 respondents from six countries that were severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic at the time of data collection. Across countries and demographic strata, immunology expert Dr. Anthony Fauci achieved the highest level of respondents’ willingness to reshare a call to social distancing, followed by a government spokesperson. Celebrity spokespersons were least effective. The likelihood of message resharing increased with age and when respondents expressed positive sentiments towards the spokesperson. These results contribute to the development of evidence-based knowledge regarding the effectiveness of prominent official and non-official public figures in communicating public health messaging in times of crisis. Our findings serve as a reminder that scientific experts and governments should not underestimate their power to inform and persuade in times of crisis and underscore the crucial importance of selecting the most effective messenger in propagating messages of lifesaving information during a pandemic

The interactive effect of autism tendencies and psychosis proneness on saliency and theory of mind in the typical population

Difficulties with the ability to appreciate the perspective of others (mentalizing) and saliency-based selection are central to both autism and psychosis spectrum disorders. Both disorders can co-occur in the same individual at both the diagnostic and trait levels. It has been hypothesized that their co-occurrence would lead to greater impairment than would be observed in each of the disorders alone. An alternative theory suggests that these disorders are etiologically and phenotypically diametrical, and thus predicts that these disorders would have opposing effects on these abilities. The current thesis examined these contrasting hypotheses using behavioral, eye-tracking and neuroimaging paradigms, in neurotypical adults in whom both autism tendencies and psychosis proneness were assessed in tandem. The thesis provides converging evidence that autism and psychosis tendencies interactively improve mentalizing abilities as well as target selection in the presence of irrelevant salient distractors. This interactive effect is also discerned at the neuronal level where autism and psychosis tendencies diametrically modulate activity within the attentional and mentalizing subdivisions of the right temporo-parietal junction (rTPJ). These findings suggest that co-occurring autistic and psychotic traits can exert opposing influences on performance, resulting in improvement possibly by way of their diametrical effects on attentional and socio-cognitive abilities

Dynamic functional connectivity in the right temporoparietal junction captures variations in male autistic trait expression

Autistic individuals can experience difficulties with attention reorienting and Theory of Mind (ToM), which are closely associated with anterior and posterior subdivisions of the right temporoparietal junction. While the link between these processes remains unclear, it is likely subserved by a dynamic crosstalk between these two subdivisions. We, therefore, examined the dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) between the anterior and posterior temporoparietal junction, as a biological marker of attention and ToM, to test its contribution to the manifestation of autistic trait expression in Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC). Two studies were conducted, exploratory (14 ASC, 15 TD) and replication (29 ASC, 29 TD), using resting‐state fMRI data and the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange repository. Dynamic Independent Component Analysis was performed in both datasets using the CONN toolbox. An additional sliding‐window analysis was performed in the replication study to explore different connectivity states (from highly negatively to highly positively correlated). Dynamic FC was reduced in ASC compared to TD adults in both the exploratory and replication datasets and was associated with increased SRS scores (especially in ASC). Regression analyses revealed that decreased SRS autistic expression was predicted by engagement of highly negatively correlated states, while engagement of highly positively correlated states predicted increased expression. These findings provided consistent evidence that the difficulties observed in ASC are associated with altered patterns of dFC between brain regions subserving attention reorienting and ToM processes and may serve as a biomarker of autistic trait expression

Autistic traits and positive psychotic experiences modulate the association of psychopathic tendencies with theory of mind in opposite directions

Various clinical disorders, including psychopathy, and autism and schizophrenia spectrum disorders, have been linked with impairments in Theory of Mind (ToM). However, although these conditions can co-occur in the same individual, the effect of their inter-play on ToM abilities has not been investigated. Here we assessed ToM abilities in 55 healthy adults while performing a naturalistic ToM task, requiring participants to watch a short film and judge the actors' mental states. The results reveal for the first time that autistic traits and positive psychotic experiences interact with psychopathic tendencies in opposite directions to predict ToM performance-the interaction of psychopathic tendencies with autism traits was associated with a decrement in performance, whereas the interaction of psychopathic tendencies and positive psychotic experiences was associated with improved performance. These effects were specific to cognitive rather than affective ToM. These results underscore the importance of the simultaneous assessment of these dimensions within clinical settings. Future research in these clinical populations may benefit by taking into account such individual differences

Constraints to liberty of movement and attachment styles significantly account for well-being in three Palestinian samples

Background: Political violence and constraints on liberty of movement can have consequences for health and well-being but affect individuals differently. Objective: In three Palestinian samples, we sought to examine the relationship between key environmental and psychological factors and general and mental health, including the previously unexplored roles of constraints to liberty of movement and attachment orientation. Method: Participants (n=519) in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Jordan completed questionnaires on constraints to liberty of movement (4-item scale devised by the authors for the purpose of the current study), attachment insecurity (Experiences in Close Relationships Scale – Short Form, Wei et al., 2007), resource loss (Conservation of Resources Evaluation scale, Hobfoll & Lilly, 1993), experience of political violence (Experience and fear of political violence, Hobfoll et al., 2011), demographics, general health (adapted from DeSalvo et al, 2006) and mental health (PHQ4 for depression, and Ballenger et al.’s, (2001) 2 item screener for anxiety). All measures were translated from English to Arabic and back-translated into English. Results: Findings from regression and mediation analyses indicated that (i) differences in general and mental health among Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the diaspora in Jordan, can be explained by the assessed constructs; (ii) constraints to liberty of movement, attachment avoidance, and resource loss significantly accounted for poor general health; (iii) constraints to liberty of movement, attachment anxiety, and resource loss significantly explained general anxiety symptoms; and (iv) attachment anxiety, resource loss, and experience of political violence significantly explained depression symptoms. Conclusion: Findings have theory-building implications for psychological models of human flourishing and suffering, suggesting that they are incomplete without consideration of liberty as a context, as well as implications for policymakers and champions of global health initiatives, as they highlight the psychological effects of constraints to liberty of movement on health