Prosociality during COVID-19: Globally focussed solidarity brings greater benefits than nationally focussed solidarity

The importance of trust and altruistic social orientation for COVID-19 distress

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic, the biggest global health crisis in decades, has been a difficult experience for nations all over the world. In the present study we wanted to assess to what extent a positive attitude towards others, expressed in altruistic social orientation and a high level of trust, would be linked to lower levels of COVID-19 distress in infected and non-infected individuals.

PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE

A total 405 individuals (180 women, 44%), aged 18-60 (M = 38.91, SD = 11.02) participated in the study. Respondents were recruited by a research platform. The following questionnaires were completed: the Subjective Happiness Scale, Generalized Trust Scale, survey about COVID-19, social value orientations.

RESULTS

The analysis showed that in non-infected high trustors the relationship between altruistic social orientation and COVID-19 distress was significant - the more they were willing to benefit others, the less distress they felt. The reverse effect was observed for infected high trustors - the more altruistic social orientation they expressed, the higher the level of COVID-19 distress they declared.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings shed some light on the importance of a positive attitude towards others in assessing the emotional outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic. They also imply that people who have experienced the COVID-19 disease can suffer from distress differently than people who have not been affected.

Does threat trigger prosociality? The relation between basic individual values, threat appraisals, and prosocial helping intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic

Prosociality is often considered as quintessential in coping with the threats of health emergencies. As previous research has suggested, prosocial behaviors are shaped by both dispositional factors and situational cues about the helping situation. In the present research, we investigated whether "bonding" types of prosociality, helping directed towards close others within one's social network, and "bridging" types of prosociality, helping directed towards vulnerable people across group boundaries, are predicted by basic individual values and threat appraisals concerning COVID-19. During the pandemic, we conducted a cross-sectional study in the US and India (Ntotal = 954), using the Schwartz value inventory and a multifaceted measure of threat assessment to predict prosocial helping intentions. After controlling for other value and threat facets, self-transcendence values and threat for vulnerable groups uniquely predicted both bonding and bridging types of prosociality. Furthermore, threat for vulnerable groups partially mediated the effect of self-transcendence on prosocial helping intentions: People who endorsed self-transcendent values were particularly concerned by the effect of the pandemic on vulnerable groups, and thus willing to engage in prosocial behaviours to help those in need. Our findings support the idea that prosociality is stimulated by empathic concerns towards others in need and underline the importance for future research to consider the broad spectrum of threats appraised by people during health emergencies.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-023-04829-1.

Predictors of changing patterns of adherence to containment measures during the early stage of COVID-19 pandemic: an international longitudinal study

BACKGROUND

Identifying common factors that affect public adherence to COVID-19 containment measures can directly inform the development of official public health communication strategies. The present international longitudinal study aimed to examine whether prosociality, together with other theoretically derived motivating factors (self-efficacy, perceived susceptibility and severity of COVID-19, perceived social support) predict the change in adherence to COVID-19 containment strategies.

METHOD

In wave 1 of data collection, adults from eight geographical regions completed online surveys beginning in April 2020, and wave 2 began in June and ended in September 2020. Hypothesized predictors included prosociality, self-efficacy in following COVID-19 containment measures, perceived susceptibility to COVID-19, perceived severity of COVID-19 and perceived social support. Baseline covariates included age, sex, history of COVID-19 infection and geographical regions. Participants who reported adhering to specific containment measures, including physical distancing, avoidance of non-essential travel and hand hygiene, were classified as adherence. The dependent variable was the category of adherence, which was constructed based on changes in adherence across the survey period and included four categories: non-adherence, less adherence, greater adherence and sustained adherence (which was designated as the reference category).

RESULTS

In total, 2189 adult participants (82% female, 57.2% aged 31-59 years) from East Asia (217 [9.7%]), West Asia (246 [11.2%]), North and South America (131 [6.0%]), Northern Europe (600 [27.4%]), Western Europe (322 [14.7%]), Southern Europe (433 [19.8%]), Eastern Europe (148 [6.8%]) and other regions (96 [4.4%]) were analyzed. Adjusted multinomial logistic regression analyses showed that prosociality, self-efficacy, perceived susceptibility and severity of COVID-19 were significant factors affecting adherence. Participants with greater self-efficacy at wave 1 were less likely to become non-adherence at wave 2 by 26% (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.74; 95% CI, 0.71 to 0.77; P < .001), while those with greater prosociality at wave 1 were less likely to become less adherence at wave 2 by 23% (aOR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.75 to 0.79; P = .04).

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides evidence that in addition to emphasizing the potential severity of COVID-19 and the potential susceptibility to contact with the virus, fostering self-efficacy in following containment strategies and prosociality appears to be a viable public health education or communication strategy to combat COVID-19.

Prosociality and health: Identification with all humanity is a replicable predictor of prosocial motivation for health behaviors

The acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic may have passed, but the pandemic remains a major worldwide health concern that demands continued vigilance. Are there individual differences that predict the motivation to continue to wear masks and to create physical distance in public? Previous research conducted early in the pandemic had suggested that a particular social identity-identification with all humanity-is one underlying factor that contributes to people's cooperation with health behavior guidelines. This highlights that the pandemic is not only an issue to be tackled with the tools of immunology and epidemiology. It also requires the tools from psychology-to measure the representations people have about themselves and others and how these representations drive values and decisions related to health. Here we report work on U.S. respondents that examined whether individuals' level of identification with all humanity predicts their prosocial health behaviors aimed at mitigating the spread of COVID-19. In 3 convergent studies (total N = 1,580), we find that identification with all humanity predicted the prosocial motivation to wear masks and to engage in physical distancing when in public without a mask. The results were obtained while controlling for a host of covariates, including demographics, educational attainment, and Big Five personality dimensions. We find that some people have a marked drive to care for the health of strangers, which is significantly linked to their concern for all humanity rather than being restricted to their care for their community or country. Discussion focuses on this social identification with humanity and its enduring, replicable role in predicting the motivation to engage in prosocial health behaviors. We note key implications for theories in social and developmental psychology as well as for research that may lead to practical applications for lessening the human toll of the current and future pandemics.

Identification with humanity and health-related behaviors during COVID-19

This research takes a maximally inclusive social identity approach to COVID-19 and examines whether the “bond” and “concern” factors of identification with humanity: (1) explain additional variance in health-related behaviors—above and beyond relevant covariates; (2) are uniquely associated with health-related behaviors; and (3) were more strongly associated with health-related behaviors when COVID-19 cases were high. Results ( N = 324) suggest the bond and concern factors explained significantly more variance in social distancing, social influencing, overbuying, and marginally more variance in mask wearing. Bond with all humanity uniquely predicted more mask wearing, more social influencing, less social distancing, and more overbuying, and concern for all humanity uniquely predicted more social distancing and less overbuying. However, COVID-19 cases did not consistently moderate associations with health-related behaviors. Overall, identification with humanity has an important role in—and the bond and concern factors have distinct associations with—health-related behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Health Communication through Positive and Solidarity Messages Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Automated Content Analysis of Facebook Uses

The COVID-19 outbreak has caused significant stress in our lives, which potentially increases frustration, fear, and resentful emotions. Managing stress is complex, but helps to alleviate negative psychological effects. In order to understand how the public coped with stress during the COVID-19 pandemic, we used Macao as a case study and collected 104,827 COVID-19 related posts from Facebook through data mining, from 1 January to 31 December 2020. Divominer, a big-data analysis tool supported by computational algorithm, was employed to identify themes and facilitate machine coding and analysis. A total of 60,875 positive messages were identified, with 24,790 covering positive psychological themes, such as "anti-epidemic", "solidarity", "hope", "gratitude", "optimism", and "grit". Messages that mentioned "anti-epidemic", "solidarity", and "hope" were the most prevalent, while different crisis stages, key themes and media elements had various impacts on public involvement. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first-ever study in the Chinese context that uses social media to clarify the awareness of solidarity. Positive messages are needed to empower social media users to shoulder their shared responsibility to tackle the crisis. The findings provide insights into users' needs for improving their subjective well-being to mitigate the negative psychological impact of the pandemic.

Does Activating the Human Identity Improve Health-Related Behaviors During COVID-19?: A Social Identity Approach

Taking a social identity approach to health behaviors, this research examines whether experimentally "activating" the human identity is an effective public-health strategy to curb the spread of COVID-19. Three goals of the research include examining: (1) whether the human identity can be situationally activated using an experimental manipulation, (2) whether activating the human identity causally increases behavioral intentions to protect the self and others from COVID-19, and (3) whether activating the human identity causally increases behaviors that help protect vulnerable communities from COVID-19. Across two preregistered experiments (total N = 675), results suggest (1) the manipulation of identification with humanity had a significant but small effect on participants' psychological bond with all humanity (Cohen's ds = 0.21 - 0.27), but not their concern for all humanity. However, the manipulation had (2) no causal effect on health-related behavioral intentions or (3) helping behaviors that reduce the spread of COVID-19. Limitations, future directions, and direct benefits of the research are discussed.

COVID-19: Why Do People Refuse Vaccination? The Role of Social Identities and Conspiracy Beliefs: Evidence from Nationwide Samples of Polish Adults

In the present research, we focus on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, and empirically examine how different forms of social identity (defensive vs. secure national identity and identification with all humanity) and conspiracy beliefs are associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. In two cross-sectional nationwide surveys (Study 1, n = 432, and Study 2, n = 807), we found that willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19 was negatively linked to national narcissism, but positively related to a secure national identification, that is, national identification without the narcissistic component. In both studies, we also found that the relationship between narcissistic (vs. secure) national identity and unwillingness to vaccinate against COVID-19 was mediated by COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy beliefs. These effects were present even when we accounted for basic demographics (Studies 1 and 2) and identification with all humanity (Study 2), which had been found to be a significant predictor of health behaviors during COVID-19. In line with previous research, identification with all humanity was positively associated with the willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19. We discuss the implications for understanding the role of the way in which people identify with their national and supranational groups in antiscience attitudes and (mal)adaptive behaviors during COVID-19 pandemic.

Helping Others Helps Me: Prosocial Behavior and Satisfaction With Life During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Prosocial behavior (PsB) and its effects have been analyzed in times of crisis and natural disasters, although never before in the face of such exceptional circumstances as those created by the COVID-19 pandemic. This research analyzes the role of PsB on satisfaction with life (SWL) in Colombia, considering the negative emotional impact of events that began in February 2020. We conduct an exploratory analysis using a sample of Colombia's general population (N = 2,574; 53.2% women) with an average age of 44.66 years (SD = 15.36). Using the Classification Tree technique, we find that engaging in one or more PsBs (e.g., donating money or sharing food) enhances SWL and decreases the impact of negative emotions such as pessimism, indecisiveness, and irritability that have emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings are significant because they confirm the importance of life satisfaction as a personal resource for coping with complex situations and provide evidence of the benefits of PsB on one's wellbeing.

Bringing Us Closer Together: The Influence of National Identity and Political Orientation on COVID-19-Related Behavioral Intentions

A growing body of work has highlighted the importance of political beliefs and attitudes in predicting endorsement and engagement in prosocial behavior. Individuals with right-wing political orientation are less likely to behave prosocially than their left-wing counterparts due to high levels of Right-wing authoritarianism (RWA). Here, we aimed to extend prior work by testing how political values relate to COVID-19 discretionary behavioral intentions (i.e., prosocial and non-mandatory behaviors aimed at controlling the spread of the pandemic). Furthermore, we tested whether identification with the national group would influence the relationship between RWA and prosocial behavior. A cross-sectional study conducted on 350 Italian participants showed that right-wing political orientation had a negative effect on COVID-19 discretionary behavioral intentions via RWA. Furthermore, a moderated mediation model revealed that this effect was only significant for participants who are lowly identified with the national group. The results suggest that highlighting group belongingness might effectively motivate more conservative individuals to engage in prosocial behavior.

Social control and solidarity during the COVID ‐19 pandemic: The direct and indirect effects of causal attribution of insufficient compliance through perceived anomie

The COVID‐19 pandemic is a crisis which called for two crucial modes of social regulation: social control and social solidarity. In the present pre‐registered study, we examine how the perceived non‐compliance with health measures relates to attitudes towards these modes of social regulation, as well as to the role played by the perception of disintegrated and disregulated society (anomie). Using data from an online cross‐sectional survey conducted in Belgium in April 2020 (N = 717), results show that the causal attribution of the crisis to insufficient compliance was differentially associated with support for social control and social solidarity behaviours. Specifically, greater attribution to insufficient compliance was associated with a perceived breakdown in the social fabric (disintegration), which explained stronger support for social control and fewer solidarity‐based actions. Perceived disregulation, conversely, was associated with less support for social control and more support for social solidarity. Therefore, the perception of the pandemic and associated perceived anomie tend to polarize citizens' attitudes towards these two modes of social regulation. In this way, prosocial behaviours might be inhibited by communications that attribute the pandemic's causes to incivility. Other implications of our findings for the social psychological literature on communities' reactions to the pandemic are discussed. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

Personal willingness to receive a Covid-19 vaccine and its relationship with intergroup psychology: Evidence from the Philippines and Pakistan

High levels of vaccine hesitancy are an obstacle to the successful management of the Covid-19 pandemic. In this research, we identify psychological correlates of reluctance to personally receive a Covid-19 vaccine, with a focus on intergroup relations. Insights are based on two survey studies conducted in traditionally underresearched settings, the Philippines (N = 289) and Pakistan (N = 275). Results show that trust in vaccines, concerning both the vaccine's efficacy and the vaccine's safety, was associated with willingness to use the vaccine. Perceptions of trust were related to intergroup psychology, such that vaccine donations from political opponents rather than allies were trusted less. This meant that in the Philippines, there was a preference to use vaccines from the United States over those from China, although the pattern was less clear in Pakistan. Having said this, the highest levels of trust and willingness to use vaccines in both countries were for vaccines offered by the World Health Organization (WHO). Last but not least, a perception of global common fate of all humans in the face of the pandemic was positively associated with willingness to get vaccinated, even when controlling for concerns about the vaccine's efficacy and safety. Implications are discussed in relation to intergroup psychology and public health management.

Intergroup helping during the COVID-19 crisis: A moderated mediation with effects of ingroup identification, ingroup blame, and perceived global common fate

Strong identification with the national ingroup encourages acts of ingroup solidarity and helping of ingroup members, but it is less well understood how ingroup identification affects willingness to help outgroup members in need. This was tested in the context of the COVID-19 crisis, asking British nationals about their willingness to donate money to help those suffering from the coronavirus crisis in China. It was hypothesized that ingroup identification would have an indirect negative effect on willingness to help outgroup members, mediated by ingroup blame, i.e. preparedness to attribute blame for the worldwide problems caused by the coronavirus crisis to the British national ingroup. Identification was expected to be negatively associated with ingroup blame, and ingroup blame was expected to be positively associated with outgroup helping. Moreover, it was hypothesized that the link between ingroup blame and outgroup helping would be attenuated if perceived global common fate in terms of managing the pandemic was high. Support for these predictions was found in a survey of British participants (N = 210).