The threat of Ebola gripping our nation has incited a crisis that has far-reaching implications for public health and policy. This poses an important and timely opportunity to simultaneously (a) advance scientific knowledge concerning how self-control works in consequential, high-stakes contexts, and (b) translate existing research in this area to enhance public health and policy surrounding Ebola and future crises involving similar threats. The proposed research will capitalize on these opportunities by using methods from neuroscience and social psychology to examine whether a well-studied, simple linguistic shift that promotes self-control can be harnessed to reduce anxiety and enhance short- and long-term Ebola-related decision-making and behavior. This project was submitted in response to NSF 15-006 Dear Colleague Letter on the Ebola Virus.
Previous work by the PI (Ethan Kross, University of Michigan) and colleagues has shown that using one's own name to refer to the self during introspection (i.e., "Why is Ethan feeling this way?"), rather than the first person pronoun "I" (i.e., "Why am I feeling this way?"), powerfully enhances people's ability to control their thoughts, feelings, and behavior under stress, facilitates emotionally intelligent decision-making, and does so effortlessly. These shifts in language facilitate self-control by providing the psychological distance needed to calmly navigate stressful thoughts and events. Building on this work, the proposed research will manipulate whether people reflect on their thoughts and feelings about Ebola using 1st or 3rd person perspectives, and examine whether these shifts in language reduce Ebola-related anxiety and irrational decision-making and behavior.
