Podcast (topic – Psychology of Decisions): Big Questions from Small Minds (hosts, Tim Norton and Phil Wolf). Listen or download it here (episode copyrighted, not for distribution).
Prof Kleitman was interviewed as an expert about COVID-19-related psychological issues, including its impact on cognitive function, mask-wearing behaviours, and media consumption preferences by leading national outlets: SMH1; SMH2, Channel 7, and TheGuardian
COVID-19, concentration and social media: how our attention spans have changed (smh.com.au) (SMH)This article covered a new phenomenon of the “pandemic brain”/ “brain fog” and pandemic fatigue. Interviewed as an expert to comment on the reasons, which I attributed to chronic pandemic stress: “Prolonged stress is known in the literature to affect our executive function; working memory and attention are core executive functions,” says Kleitman, whose research areas include cognition. “I hear people complain a lot about having accidents on the street, just walking”.
Will masks stop the latest wave of COVID? Here’s everything you need to know (Channel 7)This news story covered mask-wearing effects. I was interviewed as an expert on mask-wearing habit: “Kleitman told 7NEWS.com.au that public motivation for mask wearing needed to be based on an honest desire for protection because motivations rooted in simply following the rules was not enough to ensure masks were worn properly.” More information is available on the link provided.
Our research regarding the complex psychology of compliance with public health orders to control COVID-19 identified a psychological profile of people who flouted the rules in Australia, US, Canada and UK. As soon as the paper was published (PLOS ONE 16(7): https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255268), it captured the attention of media in Australia and internationally (e.g., Guardian, Cosmos Magazine, PsyPost, newsGP, and ABC) with more than 100 mainstream media stories covering the research results, being a top Google story in the UK, and reaching 35.7K upvotes on the reddit science post covering this study (https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/ov460e/those_who_flout_covid_recommendations_are_less/ ). It struck a nerve and, at times, provoked anger amid dangerous protests during the current lockdown. Importantly, by promoting greater appreciation of the complexity of behaviour during COVID-19, this research provided a vital platform to inform future studies in vaccine preference/hesitancy/refusal and targeted behaviour change interventions during pandemics.
Prof Sabina Kleitman’s research on resilience during COVID-19 was featured in Defence Science Communication Magazine “Connections” (Issue 267, April 2021).
Prof Sabina Kleitman was invited to deliver a talk titled “Thriving, adapting and surviving during COVID-19 in Australia (and abroad) at Limmud Oz + NZ 2021, which will take place on 12-14 June in Sydney (https://www.limmudoz.org.au/program). Limmud Oz is a unique educational experience celebrating Jewish learning and creativity with international and local speakers. Participants choose from a range of engaging sessions on topics including Jewish history, politics, thought, culture, and the arts. This festival attracts more than a thousand participants annually.
