What makes us more susceptible to false memories in the era of COVID-19? A focus on vaccines and Green Pass.

INTRODUCTION: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic was accompanied by an overabundance of fake news increasing the risk of developing false memories (FMs). Previous studies have shown that the relationship between fake news and FMs could be mediated by some individual variables, including attitudinal biases. We explored the role of these variables in true memories (TMs) and FMs formation, with special emphasis on vaccine- and Green Pass (GP)-related topics. METHOD: We set up a large online survey exploring several constructs including media usage, attitude toward vaccines and GP, perceived (PK) and objective knowledge (OK) about COVID-19-related information, fear of the disease, depression and anxiety symptoms, coping mechanisms, and reasoning skills. Then, we asked participants whether they remembered certain news (true or fake), providing confidence ratings. RESULTS: Data from 289 respondents (198 females) from the general population were analyzed. Participants with positive attitude reported a greater fear that their loved ones contracted the COVID-19, a more frequent use of traditional media, and a higher PK when compared with respondents with negative attitude. On the whole sample, participants reported higher confidence levels when required to judge their memory of true than fake news; however, participants with positive attitude reported a higher confidence for both true and fake news. The relationship between attitude and TM confidence was mediated by the PK, whereas the relationship between attitude and FM confidence was probably affected by OK. CONCLUSION: Attitude can modulate individual behaviors in the context of health issues. The PK and OK may interact with attitude in the memory formation.

Violence Risk Assessment and Risk Management: Case-Study of Filicide in an Italian Woman.

BACKGROUND: At an international level, the risk assessment and management process of violent offenders follows a standard method that implies well-defined theoretical models and the use of scientifically validated tools. In Italy, this process is still highly discretionary. The aim of this study is to highlight the advantages deriving from the use of risk assessment tools within the framework of a single case study; Methods: Recidivism risk and social dangerousness of an Italian woman perpetrator of filicide were assessed through the administration of the Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (LS/CMI) instrument supported by Historical Clinical Risk-20 Version 3 (HCR-20 V3); Results: The administration of LS/CMI showed that, in this single case, the subcomponents represent a criminogenic risk/need factor are: Family/Marital, Companions, Alcohol and Drug Problem and Leisure; while constituting strengths: employment and the absence of a Pro-criminal Orientation and an Antisocial Pattern; Conclusions: Data collected through LS/CMI indicated life areas of a single case, which should be emphasised not only to assess the risk of re-offending and social dangerousness but also for a social rehabilitation programme more suited to the subject. This study demonstrates that the LS/CMI assessment tool is suitable for the Italian context.

Objective Knowledge Mediates the Relationship between the Use of Social Media and COVID-19-Related False Memories.

The exposure to relevant social and/or historical events can increase the generation of false memories (FMs). The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a calamity challenging health, political, and journalistic bodies, with media generating confusion that has facilitated the spread of fake news. In this respect, our study aims at investigating the relationships between memories (true memories, TMs vs. FMs) for COVID-19-related news and different individual variables (i.e., use of traditional and social media, COVID-19 perceived and objective knowledge, fear of the disease, depression and anxiety symptoms, reasoning skills, and coping mechanisms). One hundred and seventy-one university students (131 females) were surveyed. Overall, our results suggested that depression and anxiety symptoms, reasoning skills, and coping mechanisms did not affect the formation of FMs. Conversely, the fear of loved ones contracting the infection was found to be negatively associated with FMs. This finding might be due to an empathy/prosociality-based positive bias boosting memory abilities, also explained by the young age of participants. Furthermore, objective knowledge (i) predicted an increase in TMs and decrease in FMs and (ii) significantly mediated the relationships between the use of social media and development of both TMs and FMs. In particular, higher levels of objective knowledge strengthened the formation of TMs and decreased the development of FMs following use of social media. These results may lead to reconsidering the idea of social media as the main source of fake news. This claim is further supported by either the lack of substantial differences between the use of traditional and social media among participants reporting FMs or the positive association between use of social media and levels of objective knowledge. The knowledge about the topic rather than the type of source would make a difference in the process of memory formation.