This rapid, narrative review summarizes useful evidence from behavioral science for fighting the COVID-19 outbreak. We undertook an extensive, multi-disciplinary literature search covering five issues: handwashing, face touching, self-isolation, public-spirited behavior, and responses to crisis communication. The search identified more than 100 relevant papers. We find effective behavioral interventions to increase handwashing, but not to reduce face touching. Social supports and behavioral plans can reduce the negative psychological effects of isolation, potentially reducing the disincentive to isolate. Public-spirited behavior is more likely with frequent communication of what is “best for all”, strong group identity, and social disapproval of noncompliance. Effective crisis communication involves speed, honesty, credibility, empathy, and promoting useful individual actions. Risks are probably best communicated through numbers, with ranges to describe uncertainty – simply stating a maximum may bias public perception. The findings aim to be useful not only for government and public health authorities, but for organizations and communities.

Social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic will save lives. We tested communication strategies to promote social distancing via an online experiment (N = 500) commissioned by Ireland's Department of Health. A control group saw a current informational poster. Two treatment groups saw similar posters with messages that highlighted: (i) the risk of transmission to identifiable persons vulnerable to COVID-19; (ii) the exponential nature of transmission. We then measured judgements of behaviours previously identified by focus groups as "marginal" (meaning that people were not sure whether they were advisable, such meeting others outdoors, or visiting parents). We recorded intention to undertake behaviours and stated acceptability of behaviours. Our hypotheses, that both treatments would increase participants' caution about marginal behaviours, were preregistered (i.e. lodged with an international organisation for open science before data collection). Results confirmed the hypotheses. The findings suggest that the thought of infecting vulnerable people or large numbers of people can motivate social distancing. This has implications for communications strategies. The study also demonstrates an effective way to identify outcome variables for rapid behavioural research on the COVID-19 response.

The role of employer discrimination in labour market matching is often acknowledged but challenging to quantify. What part of the ‘ethnic penalty’ in the labour market is due to recruitment discrimination? This experiment, the first of its kind in Ireland, explicitly measured this by sending out nearly 500 equivalent CVs from Irish and minority candidates in response to advertised vacancies in the greater Dublin area. We find that candidates with Irish names are over twice as likely to be called to interview as are candidates with an African, Asian or German name. This discrimination rate is high by international standards, and does not vary between minority groups. We develop the discussion of the role of prejudice and stereotypes in discrimination in this article, arguing that our findings may be linked to the fact that Ireland is a ‘new immigration’ country, with no established minority groups and a cohesive national identity.

This report is unusual in the extent to which it relies on unpublished material, the documentation of governments and states agencies, and personal communications with experts and policy makers. Consequently, I owe debts of gratitude to a number of individuals that go beyond the normal acknowledgement of colleagues and fellow researchers who have read and commented on drafts. Ideas, tips and examples were mentioned and provided by many people who responded enthusiastically to the idea of pulling together an international account of how behavioural economics is informing policy. Warm thanks are extended to

Social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic will save lives. We tested communication strategies to promote social distancing via an online experiment (N = 500) commissioned by Ireland’s Department of Health. A control group saw a current informational poster. Two treatment groups saw similar posters with messages that highlighted: (i) the risk of transmission to identifiable persons vulnerable to COVID-19; (ii) the exponential nature of transmission. We then measured judgements of behaviours previously identified by focus groups as “marginal” (meaning that people were not sure whether they were advisable, such meeting others outdoors, or visiting parents). We recorded intention to undertake behaviours and stated acceptability of behaviours. Our hypotheses, that both treatments would increase participants’ caution about marginal behaviours, were preregistered (i.e. lodged with an international organisation for open science before data collection). Results confirmed the hypotheses. The findings suggest that the thought of infecting vulnerable people or large numbers of people can motivate social distancing. This has implications for communications strategies. The study also demonstrates an effective way to identify outcome variables for rapid behavioural research on the COVID-19 response.

Recall data from a representative sample of 3080 adults in Ireland is used to investigate transitions into and out of regular participation in sports and exercise -an important contributor to overall physical activity. The method produces a continuous picture of participation across the life-course, allowing key transition periods in the life-course to be identified and the determinants of transitions to be analysed with multivariate models. Late adolescence emerges as an important period, when many people drop out from team sports, especially females. Participation in adulthood mostly involves taking up individual sports and exercise activities. The likelihood of making this transition is strongly associated with socio-economic status. Transitions in activity during adulthood do not display significant sex differences, suggesting that the gender gap for involvement in sports and exercise has its roots in childhood. The method also allows age and cohort effects to be distinguished, revealing higher participation among more recent cohorts. The findings must be interpreted carefully, since they are reliant on the accuracy of personal recall. Yet they have implications for how physical activity policy applies over the life-course, suggesting possible returns to targeting lower socio-economic groups in early adulthood, to offering a broader range of activities to young females, and to researching and promoting those activities most likely to be of interest to current young adults as they age.-2 -The health benefits of physical activity are well established. Higher levels of activity are associated with reduced risks of coronary heart disease (Batty, 2002), stroke (Wendel-Vos, Schuit, Feskens, Boshuizen, Verschuren, Saris et al., 2004), diabetes (Jeon, Lokken, Hu & van Dam, 2007), various cancers (e.g. Tardon, Lee, DelgadoRodriguez, Dosemeci, Albanes, Hoover et al., 2005;Monninkhof, Elias, Vlems, van der Tweel, Schuit, Voskuil et al., 2007) and improved skeletal health (Branca, 1999).Evidence for these and other health benefits has been extensively reviewed in the United States by the Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee (2008), which concluded that there was very strong evidence linking physical activity to better health-related fitness, lower risk of developing disabling medical conditions and lower rates of various chronic diseases.Increasing physical activity is a medical recommendation and a public health policy objective (e.g. World Health Organization, 2002). Physical activity policies across the developed world look to participation in sports and exercise activities as an important part of leisure-time physical activity. Public health policy can therefore gain from improved understanding of why some people participate in sports and exercise and others do not. Determinants of participation in sports and exerciseRecognition of the link between physical activity and health has inspired a considerable research effort, part of which aims to understand the determinants of participation in sports ...

ObjectiveAccurate measurement of compliance with COVID-19 guidance is important for public health policy and communications. Responses to surveys, however, are susceptible to psychological biases, including framing effects and social desirability. Our aim was to measure the effects of these biases on estimates of compliance with public health guidance (eg, hand-washing, social distancing).DesignWe conducted two online experiments (n=1800) and varied whether questions were framed positively or negatively (eg, ‘I always wash my hands…’ vs ‘I don’t always wash my hands…’). We also varied the degree to which anonymity was assured, via a ‘list’ experiment.ResultsReported compliance, despite being generally high, was reduced by negatively framing questions and increasing anonymity using a list experiment technique. Effect sizes were large: compliance estimates diminished by up to 17% points and 10% points, respectively.ConclusionEstimates of compliance with COVID-19 guidance vary substantially with how the question is asked. Standard tracking surveys tend to pose questions in ways that lead to higher estimates than alternative approaches. Experimental tests of these surveys offer public health officials greater insight into the range of likely compliance estimates to better inform policy and communications.

2021). A lack of perceived benefits and a gap in knowledge distinguish the vaccine hesitant from vaccine accepting during the COVID-19 pandemic.