Emergency situations require individuals to make important changes in their behavior. In the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, official recommendations to avoid the spread of the virus include costly behaviors such as self-quarantining or drastically diminishing social contacts. Compliance (or lack thereof) with these recommendations is a controversial and divisive topic, and lay hypotheses abound regarding what underlies this divide. This paper investigates which cognitive, moral, and emotional traits separate people who comply with official recommendations from those who don't. In (...) four studies (three pre-registered) on both U.S. and French samples, we found that individuals' self-reported compliance with official recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic was partly driven by individual differences in moral values, disgust sensitivity, and psychological reactance. We discuss the limitations of our studies and suggest possible applications in the context of health communication. (shrink)

Behavioral intervention techniques leveraging reactive responses have gained popularity as tools for promoting ethical behavior. Choice architects, for example, design and present default opt-out options to nudge individuals into accepting preselected choices deemed beneficial to both the decision-maker and society. Such interventions can also employ mild financial incentives or affective triggers including joy, fear, empathy, social pressure, and reputational rewards. We argue, however, that ethical competence is achieved via reflection, and that heavy reliance on reactive behavioral interventions can undermine the (...) development of ethical competence over the long term. Specifically, drawbacks may occur through motivational displacement, dependency, moral crowding out, loss of personal autonomy, and reactance. We introduce complementary cognitive boosting techniques designed to stimulate reflective cognition, as a more promising long-term strategy for instilling ethical behavior. One such approach is the Moral Self-Awareness (MSA) motivational construct, which incrementally leads agents to increasing levels of ethical reflection. We explain why ethical boosting approaches present more edifying and durable alternatives to reactive behavioral interventions and offer suggestions for social and organizational policy. (shrink)

Note: In general, in order to receive the electromagnetic wave in the space, the dimensions of the antenna must be in the order of the wavelength of the input to its surface. Due to the very small dimensions of nano sensors, nano antennas need to have a very high working frequency to be usable. -/- The use of graphene helps to solve this problem to a great extent. The speed of propagation of waves in CNTs and GNRs can be 100 (...) times lower than its speed in vacuum, and this is related to the physical structure, temperature and energy. Based on this, the resonance frequency of graphene-based nano-antennas can be two orders of magnitude lower than nano-antennas based on nano-carbon materials. It has been mathematically and theoretically proven that a quasi-metallic carbon nanotube can emit terahertz radiation when a time-varying voltage is applied to its sides. One of the most important parameters of any nano antenna is the current distribution on it. This characteristic determines the radiation pattern, radiation resistance and reactance and many important characteristics of the antenna. Despite the possibilities of making nanotubes with a length of several centimeters, it is possible to make electrical conductors with a length-to-width ratio of the order of 10^7. has it. At first glance, nanotube antennas give us the impression that they are similar to Dipole antennas designed in small dimensions. (shrink)

In general, in order to receive the electromagnetic wave in the space, the dimensions of the antenna must be in the order of the wavelength of the input to its surface. Due to the very small dimensions of nano sensors, nano antennas need to have a very high working frequency to be usable. The use of graphene helps to solve this problem to a great extent. The speed of propagation of waves in CNTs and GNRs can be 100 times lower (...) than its speed in vacuum, and this is related to the physical structure, temperature and energy. Based on this, the resonance frequency of graphene-based nano-antennas can be two orders of magnitude lower than nano-antennas based on nano-carbon materials. It has been mathematically and theoretically proven that a quasi-metallic carbon nanotube can emit terahertz radiation when a time-varying voltage is applied to its sides. One of the most important parameters of any nano antenna is the current distribution on it. This characteristic determines the radiation pattern, radiation resistance and reactance and many important characteristics of the antenna. Despite the possibilities of making nanotubes with a length of several centimeters, it is possible to make electrical conductors with a length-to-width ratio of the order of 10^7. has it. At first glance, nanotube antennas give us the impression that they are similar to Dipole antennas designed in small dimensions. (shrink)

The main goal of this study is to develop a conceptual framework meant (a) to present the essential traits of persuasion, (b) to explain resistance to persuasion (mainly when the persuader tries to shape, reinforce, or change an attitudinal response), and (c) to provide a feasible strategy to overcome the coping behaviors associated with resistance to persuasion. Defined as the communication process in which “someone makes other people believe or decide to do something, especially by giving them reasons why they (...) should do it, or asking them many times to do it”, persuasion ensures a noncoercive social control by shaping, reinforcing, or changing target audience’s cognitions, feelings, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. Persuasion involves volitional behaviors (that are inextricably intertwined with spontaneous, impulsive, mindless, or compulsive behaviors) and a significant cognitive load. Even if persuasion does not elicit negative feelings like various shortcuts to compliance (coercion, bribery, deception, manipulation of the dominant instincts, etc.), it generates ipso facto resistance to persuasion. Public relations specialists and other communication professionals can reduce or cope with resistance to persuasion by creating a low-pressure persuasion context, using evidential reasons, and following evidential rules. (shrink)