Have you ever gone to work even though you were feeling slightly under the weather? This research study is examining the biological and psychological processes that can change when people are fighting off an illness and how these processes may affect the way you interact with people around you.

More specifically, this research study is examining how the activation of people’s immune systems affects their social cognition – how they think about other people around them. When people are getting sick (for example, with a cold) their immune system starts reacting to the virus before they even consciously know they are sick. This immune system reaction can be measured by increases in general inflammation in people’s bodies. Recent research has shown that when general inflammation increases, these increases lead people to react differently to various social elements and to process social information a little differently than usual.

One important context where this is meaningful to examine is workplace decisions. People are often reluctant to take a sick day at work if they aren’t feeling too terrible and often times people in managerial roles may not be able to take a day off if there is not another manager who can cover for them. So, people may be making hiring and promotion decisions, for example, when their brains are not processing social information in the same way because of the increased inflammation.

This study uses an experimental design to examine how increases in inflammation may affect people’s social cognition in contexts like business decision-making.

Anyone who is interested in participating and meets the following criteria should complete the Interest form linked here. We will then call you to ask your a few more screening questions.

• Adults who are between the ages of 18 and 40
• Who want to (or are okay with) getting the 2023-2024 seasonal flu vaccine
  • Who have NOT already gotten the 2023-2024 seasonal flu vaccine
  • Who have never had an allergic reaction to a previous seasonal flu vaccine or other vaccines in the past
    
• Who do not have any health conditions that impair their immune system (e.g., asthma, lupus, arthritis, etc.)
• Are not taking medications that affect immune system activity (e.g., blood pressure medication, thyroid medication, SSRIs, etc.)
• Who do not smoke, vape, or use tobacco products
• Who do not take aspirin, ibuprofen, or acetaminophen (Tylenol) daily
• Who have time in their schedules to go to the UAMS North clinic for a flu shot and to participate in the psychological assessment session

We take many steps to make sure that your data are as anonymous and as secure as possible. Your name will only appear on our contact log, scheduling at the clinic, and the informed consent form you sign at the beginning of the study. The contact log will be password-protected, will only be accessed by research staff, and will be permanently deleted immediately following the conclusion of the study. The virtual informed consent forms will be stored electronically and will never be linked to your Study ID. No medical information from your visit to the clinic will be given to the research team.

All of your data for the study will be given a randomly-generated research ID number – your saliva samples will only have this number and not your name, your questionnaire responses will only have this number and not your name, etc. There will not be a way to link your name to your ID number after the study.

Your answers to questions will never be reported individually, we are only interested in group means (so how did the group who got the flu vaccine differ from the group who got the placebo).

Yes! The research is following all CDC and University of Arkansas guidelines and the specific steps our lab will take to protect our participants and ourselves has been formally approved.