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The Antimicrobials: Behaviour and Cognition Network is a global community of interdisciplinary researchers with a joint vision of tackling antimicrobial resistance through behavioural science approaches. Our endeavours centre around comprehending the cognitive and behavioural mechanisms of human overreliance on antibiotics, as well as identifying and testing theoretically grounded strategies for improving antibiotic decisions and related behaviour. Our ambition is to develop evidence-based, behavioural recommendations for national and international guidelines and policies around antibiotic use. See our webpage: https://www.a-bc.network/

Objectives. To reduce overprescribing, health campaigns urge physicians to provide people with information regarding appropriate antibiotic use and encourage the public to trust their physicians’ prescribing decisions. We test i) whether providing individuals with information about the viral aetiology of an illness and the ineffectiveness of antibiotics will reduce inappropriate antibiotic expectations, ii) whether individuals with greater trust in their physician will have lower expectations, and iii) whether individuals with greater trust in their physician will benefit more from the complete information provision and have lower expectations. Design. Experiment 1 features a between-subjects design (information provision: baseline vs. complete information) with a general measure of participants trust in their physician. Experiment 2 features a 2 (physician trustworthiness: low vs. high) × 2 (information provision: baseline vs. complete information) between-subjects design. Methods. In Experiment 1, participants (n = 366) reported their trust in their physician, read a vignette describing a hypothetical consultation with a physician for a viral cold then expressed their expectations for antibiotics. In Experiment 2, participants (n = 380) read a vignette of a consultation with a physician for a viral ear infection then expressed their expectations for antibiotics. Results. In both experiments, the provision of complete information significantly reduced inappropriate expectations for antibiotics. Greater trust in physicians was associated with higher antibiotic expectations in Experiment1, but lower expectations in Experiment 2. In both experiments trust in physicians appeared to facilitate the effect of information provision, but this effect was weak and inconsistent. Conclusion. Providing information about viral aetiology and the ineffectiveness and side effects of antibiotics reduces inappropriate antibiotic expectations. Further research into the effect of trust in physicians as a moderator of the effect information provision is required, particularly given the recent increase in trust-based antibiotic campaigns.

To tackle antibiotic resistance, an unfolding global public health threat, we need to better understand why people expect antibiotics for self-limiting infections because this drives unnecessary use of antibiotics. Here, we leveraged a utility-based signal detection theory approach to explain how people form these expectations by considering their diagnostic uncertainty (e.g., “Is this a bacterial infection?”) and the expected utility they associate with their decisions (e.g., “What are the costs of taking antibiotics?”). To test the explanation, we devised two types of interventions—focusing on reducing diagnostic uncertainty and increasing the saliency of costs of overuse (to self and others)—to lessen inappropriate expectations of antibiotics. In two pre-registered experiments (N = 1,773; the general adult population in the UK), both types of interventions decreased expectations and intentions to request antibiotics compared with a baseline group. We discuss how the theory can inform public health campaigns and stimulate further research.

This project was funded by the VA (award VA C-19-20-205 to Drs Fagerlin and Scherer for recruitment of Veterans) and Dr. Fagerlin’s Jon M. Huntsman Presidential Endowed Chair (for recruitment of non-Veterans). The design for the project was a longitudinal survey study of Veterans and non-Veterans (~1:1 ratio for the first survey) conducted using Qualtrics between December 2020 and March 2021. This page includes the surveys and the project outputs (e.g., manuscripts and reports). For any further enquiries please contact Drs. Angela Fagerlin [angie.fagerlin@hsc.utah.edu] and Laura Scherer [LAURA.SCHERER@CUANSCHUTZ.EDU].

Database of Articles Retracted from Psychology Journals: 1998 - 2017. This article presents a dataset of 160 articles that were retracted from prominent scholarly journals in psychology and formed the empirical basis of a paper in Research Policy titled “Using Retracted Journal Articles to Understand Research Misconduct in Psychology.” The database was collected following a search for words with the stem root “retract*” in articles listed in the PsycINFO and SCImago databases of journals in psychology.

Background/study context: Recent studies have shown that young adults better remember factual information they are curious about. It is not entirely clear, however, whether this effect is retained during aging. Here, the authors investigated curiosity-driven memory benefits in young and elderly individuals.\ud \ud Methods: In two experiments, young (age range 18–26) and older (age range 65–89) adults read trivia questions and rated their curiosity to find out the answer. They also attended to task-irrelevant faces presented between the trivia question and the answer. The authors then administered a surprise memory test to assess recall accuracy for trivia answers and recognition memory performance for the incidentally learned faces.\ud \ud Results: In both young and elderly adults, recall performance was higher for answers to questions that elicited high levels of curiosity. In Experiment 1, the authors also found that faces presented in temporal proximity to curiosity-eliciting trivia questions were better recognized, indicating that the beneficial effects of curiosity extended to the encoding of task-irrelevant material.\ud \ud Conclusions: These findings show that elderly individuals benefit from the memory-enhancing effects of curiosity. This may lead to the implementation of learning strategies that target and stimulate curiosity in aging

The COVID-19 pandemic has had detrimental impacts on hospitality businesses. Drawing on protection motivation theory (PMT), this study investigated what determined customer hesitation to patronize restaurants and hotels and whether such hesitation underwent changes in the duration of the pandemic. The research model was tested using three sets of survey data collected in December 2020 (n = 826), February 2021 (n = 832) and April 2021 (n = 808). The study found that expected COVID-19 safety precautions, COVID-19 risk avoidance, and demographic factors predicted customers’ hesitation to visit restaurant/hotel. The analysis also showed significant shifts in how expectations about safety precautions, risk avoidance, and demographics affected customers’ visit hesitation over time. These findings provide critical insights to restaurant and hotel managers and destination marketers. To ensure that customers feel safe and confident in visiting hotels and restaurants, managers should implement the recommended safety measures and clearly communicate the implementation of these measures to customers Refereed/Peer-reviewed