The burden of missed healthcare appointments is so great that even small reductions in Did Not At... more The burden of missed healthcare appointments is so great that even small reductions in Did Not Attend (DNA) rate can secure tangible benefits. Previous studies have identified demographic factors that predict DNA rate. However, it is not obvious that these insights can be used to improve attendance, as healthcare providers do not control patient demographics. One factor that providers do control is appointment scheduling. We previously reported that appointments at the beginning of the week are more likely to be missed than appointments at the end of the week. This observation suggests a simple intervention to reduce DNA rate: schedule appointments for later in the week. Using data from a UK mental health hospital, we compared attendance rates for 12-months before and 12-months after the intervention began (916 appointments in total). Overall DNA rate fell from 34.2% pre-intervention to 23.4% post-intervention [χ2 (1, N = 916) = 13.01, p < 0.001; Relative Risk Reduction, 31.6%]. This effect was carried mainly by female patients, for whom more appointments could be moved to later in the week. Our findings confirm that DNA rate can be significantly reduced by loading appointments onto high-attendance days.
To inform future Dutch Covid-19 testing policies we did an experimental vignette study to investi... more To inform future Dutch Covid-19 testing policies we did an experimental vignette study to investigate whether inclusion of the less reliable lateral flow tests (self-tests) would change test-uptake sufficiently to improve population-level test sensitivity. A representative sample (n = 3.270) participated in a 2-by-2 online experiment to evaluate the effects of test-guidelines including self-testing advice (IV1), and the effects of self-test availability (IV2) on test uptake (PCR test, self-test or no test) and sensitivity of the overall test strategy (primary outcome). Across four scenarios, changing test advice did not affect testing behaviour. Self-test availability, however, increased the timeliness of testing, the number of people testing, and overall test strategy sensitivity. Based on these findings, we recommend that (national) policy facilitates a supply of self-tests at home, for example through free and pro-active distribution of test-kits. This could substantially enhance...
This preregistered, randomized controlled experiment attempts to distil the effects of Moral Foun... more This preregistered, randomized controlled experiment attempts to distil the effects of Moral Foundational Framing on attitudes and behaviours towards refugees in the UK. First, moral foundations were found to robustly predict both attitudes and behaviours practised towards refugees. Next, a degree of support was found for the effectiveness of moral foundational framing in adjusting attitudes, but not behaviour, toward refugees in the UK. Individuals who scored highly on certain morals were susceptible to influence by moral foundational framing, but not always in ways that may have been expected. We conclude that the robust relationship found between moral foundations and attitudes towards refugees stresses the importance of actively shaping moral foundations. This notion is strengthened by the comparatively less robust effects of framing. Findings could be used to inform the practice of individuals interested in influencing opinion and behaviour, particularly in support of refugee a...
London School of Economics and Political Science, Mar 5, 2021
Deaths, hospitalisations and cases have been the default metrics for policymakers during the pand... more Deaths, hospitalisations and cases have been the default metrics for policymakers during the pandemic. Paul Dolan (LSE) and a team of behavioural science experts propose a broader way of measuring policy outcomes that considers life experience as well as life expectancy. The policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic has relied almost entirely on evidence about virus transmission risks, hospitalisations and mortality. It has been dictated by concerns for lives lost from COVID-19. As most people recognise, this is far too narrow a focus. Other outcomes matter too, such as the effects on livelihoods, and the life chances of children and young adults. COVID is not the last crisis the UK will face. And even in calmer times, we need a better way of analysing the effects of a policy. Ultimately, any policy will affect one or both of people's main welfare concerns: life expectancy, and life experience.
Previous research into the factors affecting Risk-taking have observed that individuals' tole... more Previous research into the factors affecting Risk-taking have observed that individuals' tolerance of risk follows a weekly cycle. Using the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), Sanders and Jenkins (2016) tested risk-taking behaviour and reported that risk tolerance decreased from Monday to Thursday before returning to a higher level on Friday. Their findings revealed that the seven-day weekly cycle has real-world consequences for human decision-making. This study aims to examine the role of the psychological factors that are relevant to Risk-taking - specifically God Salience, Salience of Social Support and Future Time Perspective- in explaining the systematic fluctuations in risk tolerance over the weekly cycle that have been observed in prior literature. Reference: Sanders, J. G., & Jenkins, R. (2016). Weekly fluctuations in risk tolerance and voting behaviour. PloS one, 11(7). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159017
At the start of 2021, the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) set out to assess the... more At the start of 2021, the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) set out to assess the implementability, scalability, and uses of open-access community-wide Covid-19 testing of asymptomatic individuals in addition to symptomatic individuals. This approach was piloted in collaboration with regional preventative healthcare services (GGD Flevoland and GGD regio Utrecht) and two local councils (Dronten and Bunschoten), respectively. As part of these pilots, we evaluated the effect of behavioural interventions on self-isolation compliance in two trials, one fully and one partially randomised controlled. Participants in all conditions have access to regular care. We evaluate the effectiveness of additional care offered to participants with their consent. Residents that do not wish to participate in research receive care in accordance with national guidelines. In Dronten, we examined whether referral to (passive) vs. personal guidance in (active) developing a coping plan (aimed ...
Motivation The outbreak of Covid-19, and the imposed lockdown measures, expose large parts of the... more Motivation The outbreak of Covid-19, and the imposed lockdown measures, expose large parts of the global population to uncertainty in many domains: financial stability, housing, health, social and ethical dimensions. To aid the development of policies around such decisions, we need to understand fundamental aspects of decision-making, such as the willingness to take risks (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979). Understanding risk tolerance has previously shown to be crucial for predicting and changing behaviour across domains, including health and safety, finance and ethical behaviours (Lejuez et al., 2002). As new decisions appear before us, generalizable findings thus rely on understanding such fundamental aspects under the current Covid-19-related circumstances. One limitation to our understanding of risk-tolerance today is that it relies on the external validity and predictive ability of the risk-taking measures currently available. Under the current circumstances one concern is that pre-Co...
The outbreak of Covid-19, and the imposed lockdown measures, expose large parts of the global pop... more The outbreak of Covid-19, and the imposed lockdown measures, expose large parts of the global population to uncertainty in many domains: financial stability, housing, health, social and ethical dimensions. To aid the development of policies around such decisions, we need to understand fundamental aspects of decision-making, such as the willingness to take risks (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979). Understanding risk tolerance has previously shown to be crucial for predicting and changing behaviour across domains, including health and safety, finance and ethical behaviours (Lejuez et al., 2002). As new decisions appear before us, generalizable findings thus rely on understanding such fundamental aspects under the current Covid-19-related circumstances. We are using these extraordinary circumstances to test for effects of everyday time perception of population-level risk taking. Previous research by Sanders & Jenkins (2016) showed risk tolerance fluctuations over the days of the week in a labo...
Here we replicate the intervention designed for Guildford County with Greensboro County, with min... more Here we replicate the intervention designed for Guildford County with Greensboro County, with minor alterations: the same intervention is administered with the addition of a commitment contract through a link offered in the challenge emails, and a choice of challenge (A or B) offered once weekly. Measurement of wellbeing is also reduced to bi-weekly. This lengthens the intervention duration, but halves the amount of correspondence received by the participant.
A promising approach to increase well-being is through positive psychology interventions (PPIs)—t... more A promising approach to increase well-being is through positive psychology interventions (PPIs)—that is, treatment methods or intentional activities that aim to cultivate positive feelings, behaviors, or cognitions. For instance, PPI strategies as diverse as writing gratitude letters, practicing optimistic thinking, replaying positive experiences, and socializing have been shown to increase WB in nonclinical samples (Sin & Lyubomirsky, 2009; Bolier et al., 2013). From an initial pilot study with Guilford county, we find that sending people daily happiness prompts through email reduces their self-reported stress/anxiety and (with trending significance) increases their experiences of life satisfaction and happiness. As a result, we are proposing to replicate and extend this finding.
In recent years behavioural science has quickly become embedded in national level governance. As ... more In recent years behavioural science has quickly become embedded in national level governance. As the contributions of behavioural science to the UK's COVID-19 response policies in early 2020 became apparent, a debate emerged in the British media about its involvement. This served as a unique opportunity to capture public discourse and representation of behavioural science in a fast-track, high-stake context. We aimed at identifying elements which foster and detract from trust and credibility in emergent scientific contributions to policy making. With this in mind, in Study 1 we use corpus linguistics and network analysis to map the narrative around the key behavioural science actors and concepts which were discussed in the 647 news articles extracted from the 15 most read British newspapers over the 12-week period surrounding the first hard UK lockdown of 2020. We report and discuss (1) the salience of key concepts and actors as the debate unfolded, (2) quantified changes in the...
Previous research has shown that deliberate disguise deteriorates human and automatic face recogn... more Previous research has shown that deliberate disguise deteriorates human and automatic face recognition, with consequences for person identification in criminal situations. Common forms of deliberate disguise (e.g. balaclavas or hoodies) are easy to detect. When such disguises are used, viewer can distinguish between an unmasked individual – whose identity they knowingly can observe from facial appearance – and a masked individual – whose identity they knowingly cannot. Hyper-realistic silicone masks change this. Their recent use in criminal settings suggests that they effectively disguise identity and are difficult to detect. In this thesis, I first show that viewers are strikingly poor at distinguishing hyper-realistic masks from real faces under live and photographic test conditions, and are worse in other-race conditions. I also show large individual differences in discriminating realistic masks from real faces (5%-100% accuracy), and use an image analysis to isolate information ...
This document outlines the need for the NHS to improve its offer as an employer to look after the... more This document outlines the need for the NHS to improve its offer as an employer to look after the health and wellbeing of its staff. In doing so we will highlight the reasons for taking action, drawing on the emerging evidence within the NHS Healthy Workforce Programme, whilst also providing specific clarification and support to help introduce the measures in the Health and Wellbeing CQUIN.
Unnecessary antibiotic prescribing contributes to Antimicrobial Resistance posing a major public ... more Unnecessary antibiotic prescribing contributes to Antimicrobial Resistance posing a major public health risk. Estimates suggest as many as half of antibiotics prescribed for respiratory infections may be unnecessary. We conducted a three-armed unblinded cluster randomized controlled trial (ISRCTN trial registry 83322985). Interventions were a commitment poster (CP) advocating safe antibiotic prescribing or a CP plus an antimicrobial stewardship message (AM) on telephone appointment booking lines, tested against a usual care control group. The primary outcome measure was antibiotic item dispensing rates per 1000 population adjusted for practice demographics. The outcome measures for post-hoc analysis were dispensing rates of antibiotics usually prescribed for upper respiratory tract infections and broad spectrum antibiotics. In total, 196 practice units were randomized to usual care (n = 60), CP (n = 66), and CP&AM (n = 70). There was no effect on the overall dispensing rates for eit...
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2017
Trying to focus on a piece of text and keep unrelated thoughts at bay can be a surprisingly futil... more Trying to focus on a piece of text and keep unrelated thoughts at bay can be a surprisingly futile experience. The current study explored the effects of different instructions on participants’ capacity to control their mind-wandering and maximize reading comprehension, while reading. Participants were instructed to (a) enhance focus on what was read (external) or (b) enhance meta-awareness of mind-wandering (internal). To understand when these strategies were important, we induced a state of self-focus in half of our participants at the beginning of the experiment. Results replicated the negative association between mind-wandering and comprehension and demonstrated that both internal and external instructions impacted on the efficiency of reading following a period of induced self-focus. Techniques that foster meta-awareness improved task focus but did so at the detriment of reading comprehension, while promoting a deeper engagement while reading improved comprehension with no chang...
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands, the National Institute of Public Health ... more In response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands, the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) established a longitudinal collaborative cohort study to examine adherence to COVID-19 behaviours, its psychosocial determinants, participant well-being, trust in the Dutch government, with additional attention for COVID-19 test and vaccination uptake. The cohort profile gives a comprehensive description of the cohort’s recruitment and its mixed-method design.
Children under the age of 5, will likely all be offered vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 soon. Pare... more Children under the age of 5, will likely all be offered vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 soon. Parental concerns over vaccination of children are long standing and could impede the success of a vaccination campaign. In the UK, a trusted source to inform vaccination choices is the NHS website. Here we used a randomized controlled experiment of framing effects in NHS information content for COVID-19 and flu with 550 mothers under the age of 5. We compared both vaccination offers following two commonly used frames in vaccination informational campaigns: alerting to the risks of no vaccination for the child itself vs. those in their community. We find that vaccination intention was twice as high when risks to the child are emphasized, relative to risks to the community. Exploratory analyses suggest that these effects may differ between white and non-white mothers. Whilst communication directed at adult vaccination against COVID-19 generally focuses on risks of infecting others, communicat...
Hyper-realistic silicone masks provide a viable route to identity fraud. Over the last decade, mo... more Hyper-realistic silicone masks provide a viable route to identity fraud. Over the last decade, more than 40 known criminal acts have been committed by perpetrators using this type of disguise. With the increasing availability and bespoke sophistication of these masks, research must now focus on ways to enhance their detection. In this study, we investigate whether super-recognisers (SRs), people who excel at identity recognition, are more likely to detect this type of fraud, in comparison to typical-recogniser controls. Across three tasks, we examined mask detection rates in the absence of a pre-task prompt (covert task), and again after making participants aware of their use in criminal settings (explicit task). Finally, participants were asked to indicate which aspects of the masks could support their detection (regions of interest task). The findings show an SR advantage for the detection of hyper-realistic masks across the covert and explicit mask detection tasks. In addition, t...
Security and crime prevention often rely on facial appearance to connect individuals to behaviour... more Security and crime prevention often rely on facial appearance to connect individuals to behaviours. Hyper-realistic face masks can potentially frustrate this connection by allowing the wearer to look like someone else. In this chapter, we review the evidence that hyper-realistic masks are truly realistic, in the sense that they are accepted as real faces. We begin by outlining relevant experimental studies of face identification and disguise. We then tabulate all criminal cases known to involve hyper-realistic face masks (41 cases between 2009 and 2019). Experimental tests suggest that failures to detect such masks can be attributed to the realism of the masks, without invoking inattention or incompetence on the part of observers. We end with eight proposals for improving mask detection, encompassing training, personnel selection, and machine vision. If the misuse of hyper-realistic masks becomes widespread, our inability to detect them will compromise face recognition infrastructure.
The burden of missed healthcare appointments is so great that even small reductions in Did Not At... more The burden of missed healthcare appointments is so great that even small reductions in Did Not Attend (DNA) rate can secure tangible benefits. Previous studies have identified demographic factors that predict DNA rate. However, it is not obvious that these insights can be used to improve attendance, as healthcare providers do not control patient demographics. One factor that providers do control is appointment scheduling. We previously reported that appointments at the beginning of the week are more likely to be missed than appointments at the end of the week. This observation suggests a simple intervention to reduce DNA rate: schedule appointments for later in the week. Using data from a UK mental health hospital, we compared attendance rates for 12-months before and 12-months after the intervention began (916 appointments in total). Overall DNA rate fell from 34.2% pre-intervention to 23.4% post-intervention [χ2 (1, N = 916) = 13.01, p < 0.001; Relative Risk Reduction, 31.6%]. This effect was carried mainly by female patients, for whom more appointments could be moved to later in the week. Our findings confirm that DNA rate can be significantly reduced by loading appointments onto high-attendance days.
To inform future Dutch Covid-19 testing policies we did an experimental vignette study to investi... more To inform future Dutch Covid-19 testing policies we did an experimental vignette study to investigate whether inclusion of the less reliable lateral flow tests (self-tests) would change test-uptake sufficiently to improve population-level test sensitivity. A representative sample (n = 3.270) participated in a 2-by-2 online experiment to evaluate the effects of test-guidelines including self-testing advice (IV1), and the effects of self-test availability (IV2) on test uptake (PCR test, self-test or no test) and sensitivity of the overall test strategy (primary outcome). Across four scenarios, changing test advice did not affect testing behaviour. Self-test availability, however, increased the timeliness of testing, the number of people testing, and overall test strategy sensitivity. Based on these findings, we recommend that (national) policy facilitates a supply of self-tests at home, for example through free and pro-active distribution of test-kits. This could substantially enhance...
This preregistered, randomized controlled experiment attempts to distil the effects of Moral Foun... more This preregistered, randomized controlled experiment attempts to distil the effects of Moral Foundational Framing on attitudes and behaviours towards refugees in the UK. First, moral foundations were found to robustly predict both attitudes and behaviours practised towards refugees. Next, a degree of support was found for the effectiveness of moral foundational framing in adjusting attitudes, but not behaviour, toward refugees in the UK. Individuals who scored highly on certain morals were susceptible to influence by moral foundational framing, but not always in ways that may have been expected. We conclude that the robust relationship found between moral foundations and attitudes towards refugees stresses the importance of actively shaping moral foundations. This notion is strengthened by the comparatively less robust effects of framing. Findings could be used to inform the practice of individuals interested in influencing opinion and behaviour, particularly in support of refugee a...
London School of Economics and Political Science, Mar 5, 2021
Deaths, hospitalisations and cases have been the default metrics for policymakers during the pand... more Deaths, hospitalisations and cases have been the default metrics for policymakers during the pandemic. Paul Dolan (LSE) and a team of behavioural science experts propose a broader way of measuring policy outcomes that considers life experience as well as life expectancy. The policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic has relied almost entirely on evidence about virus transmission risks, hospitalisations and mortality. It has been dictated by concerns for lives lost from COVID-19. As most people recognise, this is far too narrow a focus. Other outcomes matter too, such as the effects on livelihoods, and the life chances of children and young adults. COVID is not the last crisis the UK will face. And even in calmer times, we need a better way of analysing the effects of a policy. Ultimately, any policy will affect one or both of people's main welfare concerns: life expectancy, and life experience.
Previous research into the factors affecting Risk-taking have observed that individuals' tole... more Previous research into the factors affecting Risk-taking have observed that individuals' tolerance of risk follows a weekly cycle. Using the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), Sanders and Jenkins (2016) tested risk-taking behaviour and reported that risk tolerance decreased from Monday to Thursday before returning to a higher level on Friday. Their findings revealed that the seven-day weekly cycle has real-world consequences for human decision-making. This study aims to examine the role of the psychological factors that are relevant to Risk-taking - specifically God Salience, Salience of Social Support and Future Time Perspective- in explaining the systematic fluctuations in risk tolerance over the weekly cycle that have been observed in prior literature. Reference: Sanders, J. G., & Jenkins, R. (2016). Weekly fluctuations in risk tolerance and voting behaviour. PloS one, 11(7). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159017
At the start of 2021, the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) set out to assess the... more At the start of 2021, the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) set out to assess the implementability, scalability, and uses of open-access community-wide Covid-19 testing of asymptomatic individuals in addition to symptomatic individuals. This approach was piloted in collaboration with regional preventative healthcare services (GGD Flevoland and GGD regio Utrecht) and two local councils (Dronten and Bunschoten), respectively. As part of these pilots, we evaluated the effect of behavioural interventions on self-isolation compliance in two trials, one fully and one partially randomised controlled. Participants in all conditions have access to regular care. We evaluate the effectiveness of additional care offered to participants with their consent. Residents that do not wish to participate in research receive care in accordance with national guidelines. In Dronten, we examined whether referral to (passive) vs. personal guidance in (active) developing a coping plan (aimed ...
Motivation The outbreak of Covid-19, and the imposed lockdown measures, expose large parts of the... more Motivation The outbreak of Covid-19, and the imposed lockdown measures, expose large parts of the global population to uncertainty in many domains: financial stability, housing, health, social and ethical dimensions. To aid the development of policies around such decisions, we need to understand fundamental aspects of decision-making, such as the willingness to take risks (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979). Understanding risk tolerance has previously shown to be crucial for predicting and changing behaviour across domains, including health and safety, finance and ethical behaviours (Lejuez et al., 2002). As new decisions appear before us, generalizable findings thus rely on understanding such fundamental aspects under the current Covid-19-related circumstances. One limitation to our understanding of risk-tolerance today is that it relies on the external validity and predictive ability of the risk-taking measures currently available. Under the current circumstances one concern is that pre-Co...
The outbreak of Covid-19, and the imposed lockdown measures, expose large parts of the global pop... more The outbreak of Covid-19, and the imposed lockdown measures, expose large parts of the global population to uncertainty in many domains: financial stability, housing, health, social and ethical dimensions. To aid the development of policies around such decisions, we need to understand fundamental aspects of decision-making, such as the willingness to take risks (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979). Understanding risk tolerance has previously shown to be crucial for predicting and changing behaviour across domains, including health and safety, finance and ethical behaviours (Lejuez et al., 2002). As new decisions appear before us, generalizable findings thus rely on understanding such fundamental aspects under the current Covid-19-related circumstances. We are using these extraordinary circumstances to test for effects of everyday time perception of population-level risk taking. Previous research by Sanders & Jenkins (2016) showed risk tolerance fluctuations over the days of the week in a labo...
Here we replicate the intervention designed for Guildford County with Greensboro County, with min... more Here we replicate the intervention designed for Guildford County with Greensboro County, with minor alterations: the same intervention is administered with the addition of a commitment contract through a link offered in the challenge emails, and a choice of challenge (A or B) offered once weekly. Measurement of wellbeing is also reduced to bi-weekly. This lengthens the intervention duration, but halves the amount of correspondence received by the participant.
A promising approach to increase well-being is through positive psychology interventions (PPIs)—t... more A promising approach to increase well-being is through positive psychology interventions (PPIs)—that is, treatment methods or intentional activities that aim to cultivate positive feelings, behaviors, or cognitions. For instance, PPI strategies as diverse as writing gratitude letters, practicing optimistic thinking, replaying positive experiences, and socializing have been shown to increase WB in nonclinical samples (Sin & Lyubomirsky, 2009; Bolier et al., 2013). From an initial pilot study with Guilford county, we find that sending people daily happiness prompts through email reduces their self-reported stress/anxiety and (with trending significance) increases their experiences of life satisfaction and happiness. As a result, we are proposing to replicate and extend this finding.
In recent years behavioural science has quickly become embedded in national level governance. As ... more In recent years behavioural science has quickly become embedded in national level governance. As the contributions of behavioural science to the UK's COVID-19 response policies in early 2020 became apparent, a debate emerged in the British media about its involvement. This served as a unique opportunity to capture public discourse and representation of behavioural science in a fast-track, high-stake context. We aimed at identifying elements which foster and detract from trust and credibility in emergent scientific contributions to policy making. With this in mind, in Study 1 we use corpus linguistics and network analysis to map the narrative around the key behavioural science actors and concepts which were discussed in the 647 news articles extracted from the 15 most read British newspapers over the 12-week period surrounding the first hard UK lockdown of 2020. We report and discuss (1) the salience of key concepts and actors as the debate unfolded, (2) quantified changes in the...
Previous research has shown that deliberate disguise deteriorates human and automatic face recogn... more Previous research has shown that deliberate disguise deteriorates human and automatic face recognition, with consequences for person identification in criminal situations. Common forms of deliberate disguise (e.g. balaclavas or hoodies) are easy to detect. When such disguises are used, viewer can distinguish between an unmasked individual – whose identity they knowingly can observe from facial appearance – and a masked individual – whose identity they knowingly cannot. Hyper-realistic silicone masks change this. Their recent use in criminal settings suggests that they effectively disguise identity and are difficult to detect. In this thesis, I first show that viewers are strikingly poor at distinguishing hyper-realistic masks from real faces under live and photographic test conditions, and are worse in other-race conditions. I also show large individual differences in discriminating realistic masks from real faces (5%-100% accuracy), and use an image analysis to isolate information ...
This document outlines the need for the NHS to improve its offer as an employer to look after the... more This document outlines the need for the NHS to improve its offer as an employer to look after the health and wellbeing of its staff. In doing so we will highlight the reasons for taking action, drawing on the emerging evidence within the NHS Healthy Workforce Programme, whilst also providing specific clarification and support to help introduce the measures in the Health and Wellbeing CQUIN.
Unnecessary antibiotic prescribing contributes to Antimicrobial Resistance posing a major public ... more Unnecessary antibiotic prescribing contributes to Antimicrobial Resistance posing a major public health risk. Estimates suggest as many as half of antibiotics prescribed for respiratory infections may be unnecessary. We conducted a three-armed unblinded cluster randomized controlled trial (ISRCTN trial registry 83322985). Interventions were a commitment poster (CP) advocating safe antibiotic prescribing or a CP plus an antimicrobial stewardship message (AM) on telephone appointment booking lines, tested against a usual care control group. The primary outcome measure was antibiotic item dispensing rates per 1000 population adjusted for practice demographics. The outcome measures for post-hoc analysis were dispensing rates of antibiotics usually prescribed for upper respiratory tract infections and broad spectrum antibiotics. In total, 196 practice units were randomized to usual care (n = 60), CP (n = 66), and CP&AM (n = 70). There was no effect on the overall dispensing rates for eit...
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2017
Trying to focus on a piece of text and keep unrelated thoughts at bay can be a surprisingly futil... more Trying to focus on a piece of text and keep unrelated thoughts at bay can be a surprisingly futile experience. The current study explored the effects of different instructions on participants’ capacity to control their mind-wandering and maximize reading comprehension, while reading. Participants were instructed to (a) enhance focus on what was read (external) or (b) enhance meta-awareness of mind-wandering (internal). To understand when these strategies were important, we induced a state of self-focus in half of our participants at the beginning of the experiment. Results replicated the negative association between mind-wandering and comprehension and demonstrated that both internal and external instructions impacted on the efficiency of reading following a period of induced self-focus. Techniques that foster meta-awareness improved task focus but did so at the detriment of reading comprehension, while promoting a deeper engagement while reading improved comprehension with no chang...
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands, the National Institute of Public Health ... more In response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands, the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) established a longitudinal collaborative cohort study to examine adherence to COVID-19 behaviours, its psychosocial determinants, participant well-being, trust in the Dutch government, with additional attention for COVID-19 test and vaccination uptake. The cohort profile gives a comprehensive description of the cohort’s recruitment and its mixed-method design.
Children under the age of 5, will likely all be offered vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 soon. Pare... more Children under the age of 5, will likely all be offered vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 soon. Parental concerns over vaccination of children are long standing and could impede the success of a vaccination campaign. In the UK, a trusted source to inform vaccination choices is the NHS website. Here we used a randomized controlled experiment of framing effects in NHS information content for COVID-19 and flu with 550 mothers under the age of 5. We compared both vaccination offers following two commonly used frames in vaccination informational campaigns: alerting to the risks of no vaccination for the child itself vs. those in their community. We find that vaccination intention was twice as high when risks to the child are emphasized, relative to risks to the community. Exploratory analyses suggest that these effects may differ between white and non-white mothers. Whilst communication directed at adult vaccination against COVID-19 generally focuses on risks of infecting others, communicat...
Hyper-realistic silicone masks provide a viable route to identity fraud. Over the last decade, mo... more Hyper-realistic silicone masks provide a viable route to identity fraud. Over the last decade, more than 40 known criminal acts have been committed by perpetrators using this type of disguise. With the increasing availability and bespoke sophistication of these masks, research must now focus on ways to enhance their detection. In this study, we investigate whether super-recognisers (SRs), people who excel at identity recognition, are more likely to detect this type of fraud, in comparison to typical-recogniser controls. Across three tasks, we examined mask detection rates in the absence of a pre-task prompt (covert task), and again after making participants aware of their use in criminal settings (explicit task). Finally, participants were asked to indicate which aspects of the masks could support their detection (regions of interest task). The findings show an SR advantage for the detection of hyper-realistic masks across the covert and explicit mask detection tasks. In addition, t...
Security and crime prevention often rely on facial appearance to connect individuals to behaviour... more Security and crime prevention often rely on facial appearance to connect individuals to behaviours. Hyper-realistic face masks can potentially frustrate this connection by allowing the wearer to look like someone else. In this chapter, we review the evidence that hyper-realistic masks are truly realistic, in the sense that they are accepted as real faces. We begin by outlining relevant experimental studies of face identification and disguise. We then tabulate all criminal cases known to involve hyper-realistic face masks (41 cases between 2009 and 2019). Experimental tests suggest that failures to detect such masks can be attributed to the realism of the masks, without invoking inattention or incompetence on the part of observers. We end with eight proposals for improving mask detection, encompassing training, personnel selection, and machine vision. If the misuse of hyper-realistic masks becomes widespread, our inability to detect them will compromise face recognition infrastructure.
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Papers by Jet Sanders