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Pagliaro S, Sacchi S, Pacilli MG, Brambilla M, Lionetti F, Bettache K, Bianchi M, Biella M, Bonnot V, Boza M, Butera F, Ceylan-Batur S, Chong K, Chopova T, Crimston CR, Álvarez B, Cuadrado I, Ellemers N, Formanowicz M, Graupmann V, Gkinopoulos T, Kyung Jeong EH, Jasinskaja-Lahti I, Jetten J, Muhib Bin K, Mao Y, McCoy C, Mehnaz F, Minescu A, Sirlopú D, Simić A, Travaglino G, Uskul AK, Zanetti C, Zinn A, Zubieta E. Trust predicts COVID-19 prescribed and discretionary behavioral intentions in 23 countries. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0248334. [PMID: 33690672 PMCID: PMC7946319 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 89] [Impact Index Per Article: 29.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2021] [Accepted: 02/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The worldwide spread of a new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) since December 2019 has posed a severe threat to individuals' well-being. While the world at large is waiting that the released vaccines immunize most citizens, public health experts suggest that, in the meantime, it is only through behavior change that the spread of COVID-19 can be controlled. Importantly, the required behaviors are aimed not only at safeguarding one's own health. Instead, individuals are asked to adapt their behaviors to protect the community at large. This raises the question of which social concerns and moral principles make people willing to do so. We considered in 23 countries (N = 6948) individuals' willingness to engage in prescribed and discretionary behaviors, as well as country-level and individual-level factors that might drive such behavioral intentions. Results from multilevel multiple regressions, with country as the nesting variable, showed that publicized number of infections were not significantly related to individual intentions to comply with the prescribed measures and intentions to engage in discretionary prosocial behaviors. Instead, psychological differences in terms of trust in government, citizens, and in particular toward science predicted individuals' behavioral intentions across countries. The more people endorsed moral principles of fairness and care (vs. loyalty and authority), the more they were inclined to report trust in science, which, in turn, statistically predicted prescribed and discretionary behavioral intentions. Results have implications for the type of intervention and public communication strategies that should be most effective to induce the behavioral changes that are needed to control the COVID-19 outbreak.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefano Pagliaro
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Science, University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Simona Sacchi
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | | | - Marco Brambilla
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Francesca Lionetti
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Science, University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Karim Bettache
- Department of Psychology, Monash University, Clayton, Malaysia
| | - Mauro Bianchi
- Digital Human-Environment Interaction Lab, Universidade Lusòfona, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Marco Biella
- Department of Psychology, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Virginie Bonnot
- Department of Psychology, Université de Paris, Paris, France
| | - Mihaela Boza
- Department of Psychology and Education Sciences, University Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Iasi, Romania
| | - Fabrizio Butera
- Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Suzan Ceylan-Batur
- Department of Psychology, TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Ankara, Turkey
| | - Kristy Chong
- Department of Psychology, Monash University, Clayton, Malaysia
| | - Tatiana Chopova
- Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | | | - Belén Álvarez
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Isabel Cuadrado
- Department of Psychology, University of Almería, Almeria, Spain
| | - Naomi Ellemers
- Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Magdalena Formanowicz
- University Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh, Poland
- School of Psychology, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, Poland
| | - Verena Graupmann
- Department of Psychology, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
| | | | | | | | - Jolanda Jetten
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Kabir Muhib Bin
- Department of Psychology, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland
| | - Yanhui Mao
- Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China
| | - Christine McCoy
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Farah Mehnaz
- Department of Psychology, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland
| | - Anca Minescu
- Department of Psychology, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland
| | - David Sirlopú
- School of Humanities and Social Science, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
| | - Andrej Simić
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Giovanni Travaglino
- The Chinese University of Honk Kong, Honk Kong, China
- School of Psychology, University of Kent, Kent, United Kingdom
| | - Ayse K. Uskul
- School of Psychology, University of Kent, Kent, United Kingdom
| | - Cinzia Zanetti
- Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Anna Zinn
- Department of Psychology, University of Exeter, England, United Kingdom
| | - Elena Zubieta
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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