Brett Gelino ’16, a graduate of the psychology program at Eastern Connecticut State University, was recently featured in an American Psychological Association (APA) publication for his work on developing cognitive ways to help people better prepare for severe weather.

Gelino’s work on decision making about seeking shelter when tornado warnings are issued was featured in June 2024 issue of "Monitor on Psychology," the organization's magazine.

“The 'Monitor' goes out to about 67,000 monthly readers, so Brett’s work will be seen by a wide audience,” said James Diller, professor and department chair of psychological science.

Gelino noticed during his graduate studies at the University of Kansas that many Midwest residents have little sense of urgency when tornado alerts are sent well in advance of a storm’s arrival. He anticipates extreme weather becoming more common with climate change, necessitating a deeper understanding of how to prepare for these events.

Now a postdoctoral researcher at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Gelino studied delay discounting as a potential danger in extreme weather situations for residents of Tornado Alley. “We often care less about things we have to wait for, even if they’re objectively more valuable than an immediately available option,” he said.

On these grounds, Gelino found that if a tornado alert is sent well in advance of the storm’s arrival, people are less likely to prepare immediately than they would be if the alert were sent at a time closer to the storm’s arrival.

This delay discounting is even more common in residents who have been exposed to many weather alerts throughout the years. “We found that many residents of Tornado Alley showed signs of habituation to standard alert content,” he said. “In other words, the familiar weather alert language wasn’t evoking a meaningful extent of urgency.”

To help mitigate the danger of waiting too long to seek shelter, Gelino and his colleagues are working to establish a “precise model of decision-making” to help evoke a sense of urgency in recipients of tornado alerts.

Gelino hopes that this type of model can be used in decision-making beyond severe weather situations. “My hope is to extend the use of these decision-making models to other areas of community resilience,” he said.

“As we continue to validate this choice framework, next steps might involve diagnosing other community-level barriers to natural disaster and hazard readiness.”

Gelino credits his studies at Eastern for preparing him to do his current work. He worked as a research assistant for Diller. “During my time in his lab, we conducted a research study examining changes in delay discounting as a function of conditioned aversion,” he said.

“This and related projects offered me crucial baseline knowledge of research, both in the broad sense of empirical research and in choice models,” said Gelino. “That time was invaluable, and I continue to rely on those lessons during my work today.”