February 24, 2021
Politicized pandemic shaped compliance with social distancing
by Emily Caldwell, The Ohio State University
Politicization of the COVID-19 pandemic had a powerful influence over adherence to social distancing guidelines in the United States and why people did, or did not, comply during the lockdown days, a new study has found.
The analysis boiled down to whom study participants trusted most: scientists or President Donald Trump.
"People who expressed a great deal of faith in President Trump, who thought he was doing an effective job of guiding us through the pandemic, were less likely to socially distance," said Russell Fazio, senior author of the study and a professor of psychology at The Ohio State University. "In contrast, the people who expressed a great deal of trust in scientists showed the exact opposite pattern: They were more likely to engage in social distancing.
"We were getting two-sided messages at the time from our government officials and public health scientists, so we had these two sources that were, in effect, working in opposition to one another. That pointed to the politicization of the pandemic."
The study is published today in PLOS ONE.
Fazio's lab studies how personal beliefs and attitudes influence behavior. When COVID-19's emergence in the United States led to lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, the national directive to socially distance became an enormous science experiment.
"On the basis of everything we've known for decades of social psychology, it seemed clear that people's pre-existing beliefs would affect their interpretations of the seriousness of the pandemic and the extent to which they would comply with these recommendations," Fazio said. "We thought we needed to directly assess that empirically, find out who was indeed complying or not complying, and get some idea about which beliefs mattered."
cont..
https://phys.org/news/2021-02-politicized-pandemic-compliance-social-distancing.html
https://archive.vn/fcOvV