Objective: In May 2021, U.S. states began implementing "vaccination lotteries" encouraging COVID-19 vaccination. Drawing from Prospect Theory and math cognition research, we tested several monetary lottery structures and their framing to determine which would best motivate unvaccinated adults. Method: In two online experiments, U.S.…

Introduction: In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced many schools to close their doors and transition to remote learning, disrupting how autistic students received school-based services and support. While school structure changes were challenging for all students, autistic students were uniquely affected, considering their reliance on…

Background & Purpose: Primary prevention of COVID-19 has focused on encouraging compliance with specific behaviors that restrict contagion. This investigation sought to characterize engagement in these behaviors in U.S. adults early during the pandemic and to build explanatory models of the psychological processes that drive them. Methods: US…

Safety nets are typically invisible until tested, and the COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity to observe how undergraduates responded to the common challenge of campus closures. Using survey data from two public universities (N = 750), we investigated the factors associated with students' reports of moving to a parent's home as a result of…

Current models of COVID-19 transmission predict infection from reported or assumed interactions. Here we leverage high-resolution observations of interaction to simulate infectious processes. Ultra- Wide Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems were employed to track the real-time physical movements and directional orientation of children and…

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the role of the Early Language Comprehension Individualized Instruction (ELCII) program in supporting kindergarteners' learning of inference-making during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two different cohorts of pre- and in-pandemic students completed the ELCII program, which was designed to teach them how to make…

Given that risk beliefs predict engagement in behaviors to prevent disease, it is important to understand the factors associated with risk beliefs. In the present paper, we conducted path analyses to investigate the associations of belief systems (political orientation and cultural worldviews of individualism and hierarchy) with COVID-19 risk…

As a key part of the behavioral immune system, disgust is thought to have evolved to motivate the avoidance of pathogens. While evidence for such a role is accruing, naturalistic tests of this thesis are few and exactly how "risk" is implicated remains unclear. Two pre-registered studies tested whether objective "or" perceived…

Promoting student self-determination is recognized as the best practice in secondary transition planning. Few self-determination interventions have utilized technology to provide individualized learning opportunities. The Goal Setting Challenge (GSC) App was developed to provide a technology-based instructional approach to support developing…

The current study investigated the effectiveness of three distinct educational technologies--two game-based applications (From Here to There and DragonBox 12+) and two modes of online problem sets in ASSISTments (an Immediate Feedback condition and an Active Control condition with no immediate feedback) on Grade 7 students' algebraic knowledge.…

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought dramatic changes to the daily lives of U.S. adolescents, including isolation from friends and extended family, transition to remote learning, potential illness and death of loved ones, and economic distress. This study's purpose is to measure changes in adolescents' perceived stress and mood early in the…

Little is known about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on special education teachers. Of 468 surveyed across the United States, 38.4% met clinical criteria for generalized anxiety disorder, a rate 12.4 times greater than the U.S. population, and 37.6% for major depressive disorder, a rate 5.6 times greater than the population. Race/ethnicity,…

We used a cluster-randomized controlled trial to examine the impacts of a technology- and game-based social-emotional program, the "Adventures Aboard the S.S. GRIN" ("Adventures"), on students' social skills development. Eighty-eight third-grade classrooms (N = 1645 third-grade students) across four California public school…

COVID-19 has presented unprecedented challenges to schools, leaving principals to lead rapid organizational change with limited guidance or support. Drawing on interviews from a larger, national study of principals at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we analyzed the experiences of 20 principals in four large, urban school districts--Boston,…

Widespread access to digital and social media has drastically altered the nature of youth's interpersonal connections. In this context, the opportunities children and adolescents have to help people around them are rapidly evolving. In this article, we review emerging literature on how digital media influences youth's prosocial development in new…