Prevention focus is a self-regulatory orientation that serves the need for security, and promotion focus is a self-regulatory orientation that serves the need for growth. From mid-March to early April 2020, did people judge prevention focus to be more useful than promotion focus for responding to COVID-19? Our study tested and showed support for this hypothesis with 401 American and Canadian participants, who we sampled in 100-person waves on the first 4 Thursdays of the pandemic. For this study, we developed a new measure of the judged usefulness of promotion and prevention focus. Additionally, results showed that the judged usefulness of promotion and prevention focus related positively to support of the psychological needs for autonomy and relatedness, respectively, in responding to COVID-19. Exploratory analyses showed that day-today differences in autonomy, competence, and relatedness support and in promotion and prevention focus tended to be small, which is notable given the largescale changes to social distancing, employment, and media coverage of the virus during this time. Our research could be useful for crafting persuasive advocacy and narrative communications that encourage social distancing to protect others about whom people care most.

Prevention focus is a self-regulatory orientation that serves the need for security, and promotion focus is a self-regulatory orientation serves the need for growth. From mid-March to early April 2020, did people judge prevention focus to be more useful than promotion focus for responding to COVID-19? Our study tested this hypothesis with 401 American and Canadian participants, who we sampled in 100-person waves in the first four Thursdays of the pandemic. For this study, we developed a new measure of the judged usefulness of promotion and prevention focus. Results supported this hypothesis. Additionally, results showed that the judged usefulness of promotion and prevention focus related positively to support of the psychological needs for autonomy and relatedness, respectively, in responding to COVID-19. Day-to-day differences in autonomy, competence, and relatedness support and in promotion and prevention focus suggest that people were remarkably resilient in the early weeks of the pandemic. Our research could be useful for crafting persuasive advocacy and narrative communications that encourage social distancing to protect others about whom people care most.

Numerous major holidays celebrate socially gathering in person. However, in major holidays that happened during the pandemic, desires to nurture relationships and maintain holiday traditions often conflicted with physical distancing and other measures to protect against COVID-19. The current research sought to understand wellbeing during American Thanksgiving in 2020, which happened 8months into the COVID-19 pandemic, after months of physical distancing and stay-at-home orders. American Thanksgiving is a major holiday not limited to any religion. We asked 404 American adults how they spent Thanksgiving Day and to report on their experiences of that day. Predictors of wellbeing that we drew from self-determination theory were satisfaction of the fundamental needs for social connection (relatedness), for doing what one really wants (autonomy), and feeling effective (competence). The predictors of wellbeing that we drew from regulatory focus theory were a focus on growth (promotion), and a focus on security (prevention). We found that feeling socially connected and focusing on growth related most strongly to wellbeing. Additionally, participants who saw even one other person face-to-face reported significantly higher relatedness satisfaction, promotion focus, and wellbeing than those who did not. Our research could help construct persuasive messages that encourage nurturing close relationships at major holidays while remaining safe against the virus.

Numerous major holidays celebrate socially gathering in person. However, in major holidays that happened during the pandemic, desires to nurture relationships and maintain holiday traditions often conflicted with physical distancing and other measures to protect against COVID-19. The current research sought to understand well-being during American Thanksgiving in 2020, which happened eight months into the COVID-19 pandemic, after months of physical distancing and stay-at-home orders. American Thanksgiving is a major holiday not limited to any religion. We asked 404 American adults how they spent Thanksgiving Day and to report on their experiences of that day. Predictors of well-being that we drew from self-determination theory were satisfaction of the fundamental needs for social connection (relatedness), for doing what one really wants (autonomy), and for feeling effective (competence). The predictors of well-being that we drew from regulatory focus theory were a focus on growth (promotion), and a focus on security (prevention). We found that feeling socially connected and focusing on growth related most strongly to well-being. Additionally, participants who saw even one other person face-to-face reported significantly higher relatedness satisfaction, promotion focus, and well-being than those who did not. Our research could help construct persuasive messages that encourage nurturing close relationships at major holidays while remaining safe against the virus.

Entrainment of fish in irrigation canals is a source of mortality for sport and native fishes and can affect populations and species diversity. To reduce entrainment of wild trout, an electric barrier was installed on the South Canal, an irrigation ditch on the Gunnison River in western Colorado, USA. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the barrier by marking fish upstream of it and estimating fish populations in the canal downstream before and after the barrier was operational. Three groups of fish were tagged and released upstream of the barrier: fish from the canal, wild fish from the Gunnison River, and hatchery‐reared Rainbow Trout. Boat electrofishing was completed in the canal reach below the barrier, and population estimates were made with the Huggins Closed Capture Model. The estimated Brown Trout population of the canal declined following the installation of the barrier, but Rainbow Trout remained stable because of the entrainment of small fish and their growth and survival in the canal. A total of 288 tagged fish less than 300 mm and 4 fish greater than 300 mm were recovered below the barrier, representing 1.3% of all tagged fish. The electric barrier appears to successfully exclude a portion of adult‐sized trout from the irrigation canal, but smaller adult and sub‐adult trout can pass the barrier. The entrainment, growth, and survival of smaller fish maintain a reduced but stable population of fish in the canal, but fewer entrained mature fish is likely a benefit to the populations of the Gunnison River.