Scholars@Duke
Claudia Fernandes Nisa

Claudia Fernandes Nisa

Assistant Professor of Behavioral Science at Duke Kunshan University
DKU Faculty

Selected Publications

Gender inequality and cultural values in explaining gender differences in positive and negative emotions: A comparison of 24 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic

Journal Article Current Psychology · January 14, 2025 AbstractThe coronavirus pandemic posed a major challenge to mental health. Existing evidence shows that COVID-19 is related to poor emotional well-being, particularly among women. However, most work on the subjec ... Full text Cite

The Precarity of Progress: Implications of a Shifting Gendered Division of Labor for Relationships and Well-Being as a Function of Country-Level Gender Equality

Journal Article Sex Roles · May 1, 2024 The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic saw a shift toward a more traditional division of labor–one where women took greater responsibility for household tasks and childcare than men. We tested whether this regressive shift was more acutely perceived and experi ... Full text Cite

Conceptual replication and extension of health behavior theories' predictions in the context of COVID-19: Evidence across countries and over time

Journal Article Social and Personality Psychology Compass · February 1, 2024 Virus mitigation behavior has been and still is a powerful means to fight the COVID-19 pandemic irrespective of the availability of pharmaceutical means (e.g., vaccines). We drew on health behavior theories to predict health-protective (coping-specific) re ... Full text Cite

Pandemic boredom: Little evidence that lockdown-related boredom affects risky public health behaviors across 116 countries.

Journal Article Emotion (Washington, D.C.) · December 2023 Some public officials have expressed concern that policies mandating collective public health behaviors (e.g., national/regional "lockdown") may result in behavioral fatigue that ultimately renders such policies ineffective. Boredom, specifically, has been ... Full text Cite

The role of values in coping with health and economic threats of COVID-19

Journal Article The Journal of Social Psychology · November 2, 2023 Full text Cite

Identifying important individual- and country-level predictors of conspiracy theorizing: A machine learning analysis

Journal Article European Journal of Social Psychology · October 1, 2023 Psychological research on the predictors of conspiracy theorizing—explaining important social and political events or circumstances as secret plots by malevolent groups—has flourished in recent years. However, research has typically examined only a small n ... Full text Cite

The Evolution of Job Insecurity in Spatial Contexts in Europe During COVID-19 Pandemic

Journal Article International Regional Science Review · September 2023 Unemployment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is of the utmost importance for governing bodies worldwide. Its constant increase during the last months is subject of major concern for both citizens and policy makers, as individuals might experience ... Full text Cite

Impact of National Pandemic Lockdowns on Perceived Threat of Immigrants: A Natural Quasi-Experiment Across 23 Countries

Journal Article Social Psychological and Personality Science · September 2023 Xenophobia and anti-immigrant attacks rose during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet this may not be solely due to the disease threat. According to theories of frustration and scapegoating, situational obstructions and deprivation can motivate prejudice a ... Full text Cite

Intentions to be Vaccinated Against COVID-19: The Role of Prosociality and Conspiracy Beliefs across 20 Countries.

Journal Article Health communication · July 2023 Understanding the determinants of COVID-19 vaccine uptake is important to inform policy decisions and plan vaccination campaigns. The aims of this research were to: (1) explore the individual- and country-level determinants of intentions to be vaccinated a ... Full text Cite

Effectiveness of eHealth Smoking Cessation Interventions: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Journal Article Journal of medical Internet research · July 2023 BackgroundRapid advancements in eHealth and mobile health (mHealth) technologies have driven researchers to design and evaluate numerous technology-based interventions to promote smoking cessation. The evolving nature of cessation interventions em ... Full text Cite

When diversity leads to closed-mindedness: Cognitive factors explain the effects of perceived diversity

Journal Article Current Psychology · April 2023 AbstractThis paper makes a case for explaining diversity effects through cognitive factors as compared to demographic or other differences in backgrounds. We argue that studying perceived diversity in conjunction with diver ... Full text Cite

Trust in government regarding COVID-19 and its associations with preventive health behaviour and prosocial behaviour during the pandemic: a cross-sectional and longitudinal study.

Journal Article Psychological medicine · January 2023 BackgroundThe effective implementation of government policies and measures for controlling the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic requires compliance from the public. This study aimed to examine cross-sectional and longitudinal associati ... Full text Cite

COVID-19 may have increased global support for universal health coverage: multi-country observational study.

Journal Article Frontiers in public health · January 2023 IntroductionThe multiple risks generated by the COVID-19 pandemic intensified the debate about healthcare access and coverage. Whether the burden of disease caused by the coronavirus outbreak changed public opinion about healthcare provision remai ... Full text Cite

Ideological passion and violent activism: The moderating role of the significance quest

Journal Article British Journal of Psychology · November 2022 AbstractThis research examines how the relationship between passion for an ideology and violent activism is magnified by the personal (vs. collective) loss of significance. In Study 1 (N = 238), t ... Full text Cite

COVID-19 stressors and health behaviors: A multilevel longitudinal study across 86 countries.

Journal Article Preventive medicine reports · June 2022 Anxiety associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and home confinement has been associated with adverse health behaviors, such as unhealthy eating, smoking, and drinking. However, most studies have been limited by regional sampling, which precludes the examina ... Full text Cite

Assessing the effectiveness of food waste messaging

Journal Article Environmental Science & Policy · June 2022 Full text Cite

Using machine learning to identify important predictors of COVID-19 infection prevention behaviors during the early phase of the pandemic.

Journal Article Patterns (New York, N.Y.) · April 2022 Before vaccines for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) became available, a set of infection-prevention behaviors constituted the primary means to mitigate the virus spread. Our study aimed to identify important predictors of this set of behaviors. Whereas ... Full text Cite

'We are all in the same boat': How societal discontent affects intention to help during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Journal Article Journal of community & applied social psychology · March 2022 The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused a global health crisis. Consequently, many countries have adopted restrictive measures that caused a substantial change in society. Within this framework, it is reasonable to suppose that a sentim ... Full text Cite

Predictors of adherence to public health behaviors for fighting COVID-19 derived from longitudinal data.

Journal Article Scientific reports · March 2022 The present paper examines longitudinally how subjective perceptions about COVID-19, one's community, and the government predict adherence to public health measures to reduce the spread of the virus. Using an international survey (N = 3040), we test how in ... Full text Cite

Justice beliefs and cultural values predict support for COVID-19 vaccination and quarantine behavioral mandates: a multilevel cross-national study

Journal Article Translational Behavioral Medicine · February 16, 2022 AbstractUnderstanding how individual beliefs and societal values influence support for measures to prevent SARS-CoV-2 transmission is vital to developing and implementing effective prevention policies. Using ... Full text Cite

Concern with COVID-19 pandemic threat and attitudes towards immigrants: The mediating effect of the desire for tightness.

Journal Article Current research in ecological and social psychology · January 2022 Tightening social norms is thought to be adaptive for dealing with collective threat yet it may have negative consequences for increasing prejudice. The present research investigated the role of desire for cultural tightness, triggered by the COVID-19 pand ... Full text Cite

Crimes of passion: When romantic obsession leads to abusive relationships

Journal Article Journal of Personality · December 2021 AbstractObjectiveThis research examines the relationship between passion for a romantic partner and obsessive relational intrusion (ORI) which is defined as repeated and unwanted behaviors ... Full text Cite

Secure human attachment can promote support for climate change mitigation

Journal Article Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · September 14, 2021 SignificanceAttachment theory focuses on the primal form of emotional bonding between humans. Attachment is conceptualized as an innate behavioral system aimed at safeguarding against potential threats by assurin ... Full text Cite

Cooperation and Trust Across Societies During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Journal Article Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology · August 1, 2021 Cross-societal differences in cooperation and trust among strangers in the provision of public goods may be key to understanding how societies are managing the COVID-19 pandemic. We report a survey conducted across 41 societies between March and May 2020 ( ... Full text Cite

Lives versus Livelihoods? Perceived economic risk has a stronger association with support for COVID-19 preventive measures than perceived health risk.

Journal Article Scientific reports · May 2021 This paper examines whether compliance with COVID-19 mitigation measures is motivated by wanting to save lives or save the economy (or both), and which implications this carries to fight the pandemic. National representative samples were collected from 24 ... Full text Open Access Cite

Associations of risk perception of COVID-19 with emotion and mental health during the pandemic.

Journal Article Journal of affective disorders · April 2021 BackgroundAlthough there are increasing concerns on mental health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, no large-scale population-based studies have examined the associations of risk perception of COVID-19 with emotion and subsequent mental healt ... Full text Cite

Intergenerational conflicts of interest and prosocial behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic

Journal Article Personality and Individual Differences · March 1, 2021 The COVID-19 pandemic presents threats, such as severe disease and economic hardship, to people of different ages. These threats can also be experienced asymmetrically across age groups, which could lead to generational differences in behavioral responses ... Full text Cite

Admiration for Islamist groups encourages self-sacrifice through identity fusion

Journal Article Humanities and Social Sciences Communications · March 1, 2021 AbstractThe psychological mechanisms that lead terrorists to make costly sacrifices for their ideological convictions are of great theoretical and practical importance. We investigate two key components of this process: (1) ... Full text Cite

Politicization of COVID-19 health-protective behaviors in the United States: Longitudinal and cross-national evidence.

Journal Article PloS one · January 2021 During the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. conservative politicians and the media downplayed the risk of both contracting COVID-19 and the effectiveness of recommended health behaviors. Health behavior theories suggest perceived vulnerability ... Full text Cite

Passion for an activity: a new predictor of sleep quality

Journal Article Sleep · December 14, 2020 AbstractStudy ObjectivesThe present research examines the relationship between people’s frequent involvement in an activity they like and find important (i.e., a passion) and the quality o ... Full text Cite

Supporting political violence: The role of ideological passion and social network

Journal Article Group Processes & Intergroup Relations · December 2020 This research examines how social networks contribute to the process of radicalization, building on work showing that obsessive (vs. harmonious) passion for a cause is linked to greater support for political violence. Study 1 ( N = 331) shows that ... Full text Cite

On solid ground: Secure attachment promotes place attachment

Journal Article Journal of Environmental Psychology · August 2020 Full text Cite

The reactance decoy effect: How including an appeal before a target message increases persuasion.

Journal Article Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · August 2020 Full text Cite

The role of sensation seeking in political violence: An extension of the Significance Quest Theory.

Journal Article Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · April 2020 Full text Cite

How passionate individuals regulate their activity with other life domains: A goal‐systemic perspective

Journal Article Journal of Personality · December 2019 AbstractObjectivePeople that pursue a passionate activity obsessively (vs. harmoniously) tend to neglect (vs. integrate) other important life domains, yet research has been silent on the p ... Full text Cite

Meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials testing behavioural interventions to promote household action on climate change

Journal Article Nature Communications · October 4, 2019 AbstractNo consensus exists regarding which are the most effective mechanisms to promote household action on climate change. We present a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials comprising 3,092,678 observations, whic ... Full text Cite

Parts greater than their sum: randomized controlled trial testing partitioned incentives to increase cancer screening

Journal Article Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · August 2019 AbstractPromoting healthy behavior is a challenge for public health officials, especially in the context of asking patients to participate in preventive cancer screenings. Small financial incentives are sometimes used, but ... Full text Cite

Weapons of peace: Providing alternative means for social change reduces political violence

Journal Article Journal of Applied Social Psychology · October 2018 AbstractThe present research demonstrates how support for political violence can be reduced by providing peaceful alternatives to produce social change. In Study 1, participants watched a video documenting the activities of ... Full text Cite

Promoting Sustainable Hotel Guest Behavior: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Journal Article Cornell Hospitality Quarterly · November 2017 Unsustainable patterns of tourist behavior produce a massive environmental burden. Nevertheless, it is unknown which behavioral strategies can be implemented to foster resource-efficient behavior in customers of leisure and travel services. This a ... Full text Cite

The experience of the Portuguese National Institute of Health in the Joint Action CHRODIS

Journal Article European Journal of Public Health · November 1, 2017 Full text Cite

The Atlantic divide in coronary heart disease: Epidemiology and patient care in the US and Portugal

Journal Article Revista Portuguesa de Cardiologia (English Edition) · September 2017 Full text Cite

Vouchers versus Lotteries: What Works Best in Promoting Chlamydia Screening? A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

Journal Article Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy · March 2014 AbstractIn this cluster randomized trial (N = 1060), we tested the impact of financial incentives (£5 voucher vs. £200 lottery) framed as a gain or loss to promote Chlamydia screening in students aged 18–24 years, mimicking ... Full text Cite

Retirement Saving Choices: Review of the Literature and Policy Implications

Journal Article Journal of Population Ageing · June 2011 Full text Cite