To scale up our intervention, we created an Immunity Estimator website (in English + Spanish). We replicated our findings in a new, nationally-rep sample of people who used the website. Although no longer actively maintained, the website offered immunity estimates and vaccination guidance for years!

But are there any lasting effects? Yes! 2 months later, changes to risk perception stuck. Participants who got info about waning immunity were substantially more likely to report getting a vaccine dose post-intervention, relative to a national benchmark (>7% vs. 1%).

Politically liberal participants showed greater changes to perceived risk in response to the intervention, but there were still significant effects for conservatives. However, the intervention did not change perceived risk for individuals who had never received any COVID-19 vaccine doses.

At baseline, people were poor judges of their own immunity. Our Immunity Estimator intervention effectively recalibrated perceived risk of infection & severe disease. Non-personalized information about waning immunity (Alt-Flyer) helped somewhat, but the CDC Flyer did not change perceived risk.

So, we targeted beliefs about immunity. Our Immunity Estimator intervention gave personalized feedback about estimated protection against COVID-19, based on personal vaccine/infection history. We tested this against a CDC vaccine flyer and a modified flyer that added info about waning immunity.

Select a region and click "View Full Scorecard" to get a shareable, downloadable fact sheet about how NIH and NSF funding cuts would impact your area. Share with your representatives! Here's my new home, Houston.

Lorena Nunes: Lab Manager. Lorena (she/her) earned a B.S. in Psychological Sciences and MS in Neuroscience at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Her interests focus on health psychology and effects of stress on biopsychosocial health. She also works in the SWEL Lab at Rice w/ @erinstanden.bsky.social.

Summer (Tiange) Lu: PhD student. Summer (she/her) earned her B.S. in Neurobiology from UC Irvine, where she did research w/ @eitans.bsky.social. She is interested in the neural mechanisms of memory transformation, especially how sleep, emotion, & prior knowledge influence consolidation and updating.

Rachael Veldman: PhD student. Rachael (she/her) earned her B.A. in Psychology from the University of St. Thomas and previously worked as a research assistant and lab manager in Dr. Bryan Denny’s T-SCAN Lab at Rice. She is interested in behavior change interventions, especially for climate change.

#CNS2026 Join our workshop TODAY and bring a free “Brain Box” lunch from the foyer! In the face of threats to science funding + higher ed, we share exciting science advocacy and communication efforts. We hope it will be actionable and energizing despite the challenges we face. @cnsmtg.bsky.social

#CNS2026 I’m presenting at board C17 in the poster session today (w/ ice cream social!) from 5-7 PM! Come chat about how the affective framing of info shapes decision making and memory, and harnessing these insights to support engagement with news about climate change + health. @cnsmtg.bsky.social

Attending #SNE2025? Come learn about how we applied insights from cognitive psych/neuro to inform policy-relevant decision making to address the current science funding crisis! I’ll be presenting a poster this afternoon from 2:45-4 PM, board #48 in the Skyline Foyer! @socforneuroecon.bsky.social

Had a wonderful time ✨ exploring ✨ new ideas and meeting cool people at the Curiosity, Info Seeking, and Exploration symposium #CISE2025! Thanks to all the organizers and Brown for hosting! Hope to be back next time.

In new analyses, we explored intervention effects on action intentions across levels of political ideology and belief in climate change (not excluding non-believers). Leading interventions were still effective for very conservative participants, and there were no significant backfire effects.

In this @pnas.org Letter, we respond to a comment on our paper about behavioral interventions to motivate action on climate change. In new analyses exploring individual differences, we find that our leading interventions were effective across the political spectrum. 🧵⤵️ www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10....

As this preprint is picking up some steam again, here's a note that the link is temporarily not working because of a PsyArXiv issue. You can instead directly access the preprint PDF here: www.sinclairlab-rice.com/publications...

Here’s my local area, Philly. You can share direct links to specific fact sheets, and also download fact sheets as PNG files to save and share. scienceimpacts.org/report?state...

We scaled these insights by creating a public website, where people can learn about how cuts to science funding will impact their local area. Data from website users offers converging evidence of effectiveness in terms of changing approval and motivating sharing. 7/8 scienceimpacts.org

The interventions decreased approval of the funding cuts across the political spectrum, though we also see strong main effects of political ideology. 6/8

The interventions led to some striking changes in approval of the funding cuts! Among people who were initially unsure what to think of the funding cuts, nearly half disapproved post-intervention. Among people who initially approved of the cuts, 26% disapproved post-intervention. 5/8

The interventions also motivated action to oppose the cuts: Participants reported greater intentions to contact their congressional representatives, talk to others, and share information online. Interventions w/ active engagement (quizzes, dynamic maps) were more effective at motivating action. 4/8

Overall, relative to a Control condition, the interventions decreased approval of NIH funding cuts, increased self-reported knowledge, and led to more negative perceived local impact. 3/8

In this letter in @pnas.org, we respond to a comment on our recent paper. Although multiple factors shape whether we act on our intentions, intentions are valuable precursors of behavior that can guide the iterative development of behavior change interventions. www.pnas.org/doi/epub/10....

Attending #ICA25? I’m presenting twice! Today (Sat) 10:30-11:45: imagination interventions motivate pro-environmental behaviors Mon 12-1:15: affective framing of news headlines influences engagement, donations, and memory @falklab.bsky.social @asc.upenn.edu @penncssm.bsky.social @appc.upenn.edu

We appreciate your engagement with our work. As stated in the paper, we certainly agree that actual behavior is the end goal, and that intentions are imperfect predictors of behavior. In ongoing work, we are testing leading interventions with measures of actual behavior over time. 1/2

📣 It's official: I'm super excited to share that I'll be joining Rice University as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences! Lab will launch in Summer 2026— I'll be recruiting over the next year, so please spread the word! Short thread ⤵️

Interventions that related climate change to yourself and close others were most effective for motivating people to share news headlines and petitions about climate change. 6/9

Future thinking interventions motivated action—like imagining yourself in a preventable negative future scenario, or writing a letter to a young person about the world they will inherit. Interventions that emphasized environmental, personal, or social impact increased perceived impact. 5/9

We randomly assigned 7,624 participants to an intervention or the Control group, then tested everyone on 3 key outcomes: intentions to engage in actions that can help mitigate climate change, the perceived impact of these actions, and intentions to share news and petitions about climate change. 4/9

To address these barriers, we developed 17 intervention strategies that targeted one or more psychological mechanisms: future thinking, self- and social-relevance, and response efficacy. Some interventions hit multiple themes! 3/9