Research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: A call to action for psychological science

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) that has caused the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic represents the greatest international biopsychosocial emergency the world has faced for a century, and psychological science has an integral role to offer in helping societies recover. The aim of this paper is to set out the shorter- and longer-term priorities for research in psychological science that will (a) frame the breadth and scope of potential contributions from across the discipline; (b) enable researchers to focus their resources on gaps in knowledge; and (c) help funders and policymakers make informed decisions about future research priorities in order to best meet the needs of societies as they emerge from the acute phase of the pandemic. The research priorities were informed by an expert panel convened by the British Psychological Society that reflects the breadth of the discipline; a wider advisory panel with international input; and a survey of 539 psychological scientists conducted early in May 2020. The most pressing need is to research the negative biopsychosocial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic to facilitate immediate and longer-term recovery, not only in relation to mental health, but also in relation to behaviour change and adherence, work, education, children and families, physical health and the brain, and social cohesion and connectedness. We call on psychological scientists to work collaboratively with other scientists and stakeholders, establish consortia, and develop innovative research methods while maintaining high-quality, open, and rigorous research standards.     

Substance use and mothers’ neural responses to infant cues

Substance use may influence mothers’ responsiveness to their infants and negatively impact the parent–infant relationship. Maternal substance use may co-opt neural circuitry involved in caregiving, thus reducing the salience of infant cues and diminishing the sense of reward experienced by caring for infants. Gaps in understanding exist with regard to the mechanisms by which substance use operates to influence mothers’ processing of infant cues and how this translates to caregiving. Therefore, we examined how substance use might relate to maternal neural responses to infant cues using event-related potentials (ERPs). Substance-using (n = 29) and nonsubstance-using (n = 29) mothers viewed photographs of infant faces and heard recordings of infant vocalizations while electroencephalography was recorded simultaneously. Three specific ERP components were used to examine initial processing of infant faces (N170) and cries (N100), and attentional allocation to infant faces and cries (P300). Substance-using mothers did not discriminate facial affect at early encoding stages (N170), were generally slower to orient to infant cries (N100), showed heightened responses to neutral faces (P300), and failed to adaptively differentiate between high-distress versus low-distress cries (P300). These differences may be important to caregiving behaviors associated with the formation of mother–child attachment. Implications are discussed, as are limitations and future directions.     

Abolishing the effect of reinforcement delay on human causal learning

Associative learning theory postulates two main determinants for human causal learning: contingency and contiguity. In line with such an account, participants in Shanks, Pearson, and Dickinson (1989) failed to discover causal relations involving delays of more than two seconds. More recent research has shown that the impact of contiguity and delay is mediated by prior knowledge about the timeframe of the causal relation in question. Buehner and May (2002, 2003) demonstrated that the detrimental effect of delay can be significantly reduced if reasoners are aware of potential delays. Here we demonstrate for the first time that the negative influence of delay can be abolished completely by a subtle change in the experimental instructions. Temporal contiguity is thus not essential for human causal learning.     

How do I feel about the behavior? The interplay of affective associations with behaviors and cognitive beliefs as influences on physical activity behavior.

Individuals have affective associations with health behaviors. In other domains such associations have been shown to influence behavior, but affective associations with health behaviors are not included in current health decision-making models. The authors examined whether affective associations with exercise predicted individuals' activity behavior and, if so, how they interfaced with other decision-making constructs to influence behavior. Adult participants (N = 433) reported their current physical activity behavior and affective associations with physical activity. Health belief model and theory of planned behavior constructs were also assessed. More positive affective associations with activity significantly predicted greater activity behavior. Moreover, the influence of the health belief model and theory of planned behavior constructs on activity behavior was mediated through affective associations. Affective associations were shown to play a central role in individuals' activity behavior, both as a mediator of the effects of cognitively based decision-making factors and as an independent predictor of activity behavior. The results suggest the need to include affective influences on behavior in formal models of health decision making and, potentially, to explore affectively based intervention routes to change behaviors.     

Changing Me,Changing Us: Relationship Quality and Collective Efficacy as Major Outcomes in Systemic Couple Therapy

We examine the sensitivity to change in the Evaluation of Social Systems (EVOS) scale, which assesses relationship quality and collective efficacy. In Study 1 we conducted a waitlist‐control, short‐term couple therapy RCT study (N = 43 couples) with five systemic therapy sessions treating communication and partnership problems; our intent was to provide high external validity. Construct validity of EVOS was assessed by comparison with additionally applied scales (Family Scales; Outcome Questionnaire, OQ‐45.2). In Study 2, N = 332 individuals completed an experiment with high internal validity in order to verify sensitivity to change in three different social contexts. Results from Study 1 revealed a significant increase in relationship quality in the treatment group directly after treatment, as compared to the control group. Sensitivity to change was slightly better for EVOS than for other measures. While this positive change could not be fully sustained between posttreatment and a 4‐week follow‐up, EVOS score did not fall below baseline and pretreatment levels, supporting moderate‐to‐large sensitivity to change. Study 2 supported high sensitivity to change in EVOS for couple relations, family relations, and work‐team relationships. Therefore, EVOS can be used as an outcome measure to monitor the process of systemic interventions focusing on relationship quality and collective efficacy. Due to its sensitivity to change, EVOS can provide evidence for treatment success with regard to relationship aspects.