Welcome back!

This week, we are working on understanding how and why adolescents make decisions, especially concerning the diverse personal and social perspectives influencing them. Adolescents are at a stage in life when they are exploring and forming their own beliefs, and social inputs from peers and parents can be powerful influences.  This means their decision making is changing in a way unlike any other life stage. What’s particularly exciting is that this project builds on prior research regarding the main takeaways (gist) instead of focusing solely on specifics (verbatim). Gist representation focuses on the bottom-line of any topic, which heavily relies on what a person knows and values.  Developing a better understanding of the factors influence adolescent decision making can ultimately help tailor interventions to improve community and public health outcomes.

Stay tuned for further updates as we progress!

Hello everybody!

This week, my focus has been on investigating how people’s attitudes toward the flu and flu vaccine relate to their intentions and behaviors about vaccination. Given the seriousness of the flu and other contagious illnesses, understanding how individuals perceive it can help promote public health policies that develop effective strategies to reduce the spread of illnesses within communities and beyond.

This assignment was particularly exciting because I was able to use various tools to analyze these relationships. By exploring people’s attitudes and behaviors towards the flu vaccine, we can identify misconceptions that might hinder vaccination rates. These insights can also help us identify common themes that may apply to adolescents. In addition, this information may be useful in developing strategies to improve science literacy.

Moreover, this project contributes to our understanding of key drivers of medical decision-making, including flu vaccination, which is one of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Through this endeavor, we not only build upon existing knowledge but also gain valuable insights into the factors influencing individuals’ choices regarding flu vaccination.

Stay tuned for more updates as I continue to delve deeper into this fascinating community project!

This week, I have been working on understanding the connection between factors that impact health and medical decision making and belief in conspiracy theories. To do so, I have been using theory-driven approach that helps inform our understanding of such relationships. This kind of work is important because it provides a framework that allows us to understand the mechanisms underlying how such beliefs form and influence behavior.  Understanding how and why a behavior occurs allows us to design and implement community-based interventions to address the behavior.

Over this past week, I have been gaining more confidence and experience with conducting research and interpreting the results.  I have learned that prioritizing clarity in presenting information is key for all audiences.  I’m excited to extend what I have learned about to the community more broadly, with the ultimate goal of understanding how to reduce susceptibility to misinformation down the line.  Stay tuned for more updates!

Hi everyone, welcome back to my blog! This week, I’ve been focusing on understanding the relationship between political ideology (how liberal or conservative people are) and some of their beliefs about a range of different conspiracy theories. One of the interesting things about this project is untangling how multiple different forces can influence a person’s beliefs, and how these forces relate to each other. This is important for gaining an accurate understanding of where such beliefs come from, which can then be used to inform interventions and policy.  In addition, this approach is more realistic because decisions in the real world are not one-dimensional. Many different factors contribute to an outcome, so it’s important to consider them in combination to fully understand our research. Feel free to stop by for my next blog!

Hi everyone! I’m so excited to start posting blogs here. My research project is an extension of one I have partaken in since my sophomore year at Cornell. We have worked on understanding how many factors, such as belief in conspiracy theories, impact decision making. Now, we will try to do the same with a different population – adolescents!

This is important especially with regards to health and medicine. After all, our decisions to get a vaccine or to wear a mask during a pandemic will have a ripple effect on our wellbeing and that of others. Our work will delve into the intricacies that lead to a person’s decisions. What factors are involved? What is significant? This is what we aim to understand! I look forward to working on this project because of its importance among young populations. It is important to avoid misinformation and improve science literacy. Hopefully we can tackle this issue and start the road to improvement in this area early on!