Acceptance and Adherence to COVID-19 Preventive Measures are Shaped Predominantly by Conspiracy Beliefs, Mistrust in Science and Fear - A Comparison of More than 20 Psychological Variables

What if some people just do not like science? How personality traits relate to attitudes toward science and technology

As societal discussion on the public opinion of science and technology ignites over and over again, understanding where such opinions are rooted is increasingly relevant. A handful of prior studies have suggested personality traits as a root of science and technology attitudes. However, these report mixed findings, and employ small student or convenience samples. This leaves considerable uncertainty regarding personality traits' relation to attitudes toward science and technology. If in fact stable psychological predispositions play a role, this has considerable implications for science policy and science communication. This article investigates the relationship between the big five personality traits and science attitudes in Germany and the Netherlands. Findings indicate that personality traits are related to science attitudes but only very weakly so, among them openness to experience and negative emotionality are most notably related to science attitudes, whereas extraversion, in contrast to prior studies, shows no relation to science and technology attitudes.

Prevention regulatory focus, desired cultural tightness, civic moral disengagement, and emotional reactions to normative daily transgressions: a serial mediation model among adults in Italy

Why do people have positive or indifferent reactions to norm violations? The present research hypothesized that individuals who focus on the avoidance of negative outcomes, for example punishments for rule violations, (i.e., a prevention focus) are hypothesized to also have a desire for rigid and clear norms (i.e., desired cultural tightness) as well as punishments for norm violations. Such norms and punishments narrow accepted behavior and, if clearly communicated, can limit rule violations. Consequently, individuals who desire higher levels of cultural tightness should be less likely to justify poor citizenship behavior (i.e., civic moral disengagement) as this behavior is antithetical to desired cultural tightness. Finally, such individuals should also be more likely to react negatively to norm violations. Data for the present study was conducted in Italy. A total of 1,181 participants were included in the analysis; participation requirements were that they be adults who were residents of Italy. Participants completed self-report measures of the prevention focus, desired cultural tightness, civic moral disengagement, and reactions to general norm violations (e.g., exceeding the speed limit, vandalism). The hypothesized serial mediation model was supported. This model can help explain why individuals can fail to react to "everyday" norm violations, as well societal-level violations (e.g., failing to respect hygienic standards during the COVID pandemic). It also calls on the need to develop mass communication approaches that can influence individuals' prevention focus on a large scale, as this can have downstream effects of reactions to such violations.

Covid-19 skepticism and public health norms during refugee assistance: does skepticism always lead to poor safety protocol adherence?

BACKGROUND

Skepticism about COVID-19's existence or severity has spread as fast as the disease itself, and in some populations has been shown to undermine protective public health behaviors that can mitigate infection. For populations that are especially vulnerable to COVID spread and severity, such as refugees, COVID skepticism is particularly problematic.

METHODS

We examine data collected from observations of humanitarian services provided to refugees in Lebanon, Türkiye, and Jordan to determine if skepticism is related to adherence to specific health-protective protocols (masking, social distancing, and hand sanitizing), and whether the effects of COVID skepticism are mediated by particular populations of refugees or the country in which those refugees receive assistance.

RESULTS

We found that community skepticism (the frequency of COVID skepticism expressed by others within a service location) is associated with lower adherence to certain protocols and not others. We also found that with certain protocols, the country in which refugees receive services mediates the relationship between community skepticism and protocol adherence, but for other protocols the relationship between skepticism and adherence is independent of either country in which refugees reside or the refugee population being served.

CONCLUSIONS

The existence of skepticism about COVID-19 does not always lead to an unwillingness to take protective measures to avoid infection. The mechanisms underlying the relationship between skepticism and adherence to health-protective protocols vary based on the type of protocol in question. In order to increase protocol adherence, the specific variables predicting adherence to different protocols need to be assessed in order to increase adherence and improve public health during humanitarian services.

How Do Adherence to COVID-19 Mitigation Measures and Its Predictors Change between 2020 and 2021? An Explorative Investigation in Eight European Union and Non-European Union Countries

INTRODUCTION

Adherence to COVID-19 mitigation measures is an important vehicle that has contributed to the fight against the pandemic. The present study investigated potential changes of the level of adherence and its predictors between 2020 and 2021 in eight countries.

METHODS

Adherence to COVID-19 measures and its potential predictors (perception of usefulness of the measures, rating of the governmental COVID-19 communication, mental health variables, COVID-19 burden) were compared between representative population samples from European Union countries (France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Sweden) and non-European Union countries (Russia, UK, USA) assessed in 2020 (N = 7,658) and 2021 (N = 8,244).

RESULTS

In the overall sample, multiple analyses of variance revealed significantly higher levels of adherence to the measures, their perception as useful, positive mental health, and feelings of being well supported and well informed by governments in 2020 than in 2021. In contrast, feelings of being left alone and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress were significantly higher in 2021 than in 2020. In France, Poland, Spain, and the UK, the adherence level was significantly higher in 2020 than in 2021. In European Union countries, ratings of governmental communication were less positive, and levels of mental health were lower in 2021 than in 2020. In non-European countries, an opposite result pattern was found.

CONCLUSION

The current results indicate a decrease in adherence to the mitigation measures and factors that could foster it. Potential ways how governments and authorities could enhance the population's trust in COVID-19 mitigation measures are discussed.

I belong, therefore I am: The role of economic culture in compliance with COVID-19 preventive measures

Cultural orientations in relation to individualism and collectivism produced by subsistence strategies can lead to a wide array of consequences for perception, cognition, and emotion. We predict that, as a result of different economic patterns, farmers with greater collectivism would show more compliance with COVID-19 precautionary behavior than herders with greater individualism. By adopting a "just minimal difference" approach, we compared Chinese farming and herding communities that share a national identity, ethnicity, and residential area but vary in their degree of individualism-collectivism. Consistent with our hypothesis, Study 1 found that farmers reported higher compliance with prevention initiatives than herders in self-report survey. Study 2 provided a behavioral choice confirmation of the observed relationship. The present research provides the empirical evidence that economic activities can have divergent effects on mitigation strategies in the COVID-19 fight, and these results have meaningful implications for socioecological psychology theory and for pandemic prevention and control.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Linking paranormal and conspiracy beliefs to illusory pattern perception through signal detection theory

Previous research indicates that irrational beliefs (Paranormal beliefs & conspiracy theory endorsement) are associated with the perception of patterns in noise, but the previous findings do not conclusively describe this relationship. This study aims to disentangle the underlying parameters of this association by applying a signal detection theory approach, thus allowing to distinguish illusory pattern perception (false alarms) from perceptual sensitivity and response tendencies-while also taking base rate information into account. Results from a large sample (N = 723) indicate that paranormal beliefs relate to a more liberal response bias and a lower perceptual sensitivity, and that this relationship is driven by illusory pattern perception. Such a clear pattern could not be observed for conspiracy beliefs, for which the increase in false alarm rates was moderated by the base rate. The associations between irrational beliefs and illusory pattern perception were however less substantial compared to other sources of variance. Implications are discussed.

Immune Literacy: a Call to Action for a System-Level Change

Immune literacy-the ability to hear, learn, read, write, explain, and discuss immunological content with varied audiences-has become critically important in recent years. Yet, with its complex terminology and discipline-specific concepts, educating individuals about the immune system and its role in health and disease may seem daunting. Here, we reflect on how to demystify the discipline and increase its accessibility for a broader audience. To address this, a working group of immunology educators from diverse institutions associated with the research coordination network, ImmunoReach, convened virtually. As a result of these discussions, we request a call to action for a system-level change and present a set of practical recommendations that novice and experienced educators from diverse institutions, professional societies, and policymakers may adopt to foster immune literacy in their classrooms and communities.

Conspiracy beliefs and COVID-19 guideline adherence in adolescent psychiatric outpatients: the predictive role of adverse childhood experiences

BACKGROUND

Conspiracy beliefs have become widespread throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous studies have shown that endorsing conspiracy beliefs leads to lower protective guideline adherence (i.e., wearing face masks), posing a threat to public health measures. The current study expands this research across the lifespan, i.e., in a sample of adolescents with mental health problems. Here, we investigated the association between conspiracy beliefs and guideline adherence while also exploring the predictors of conspiracy beliefs.

METHODS

N = 93 adolescent psychiatric outpatients (57% female, mean age: 15.8) were assessed using anonymous paper-pencil questionnaires. Endorsement of generic and COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs was assessed, in addition to items measuring adherence to protective guidelines and mental health (stress, depressive symptoms, emotional/behavioral problems, and adverse childhood experiences). Multiple regressions and supervised machine learning (conditional random forests) were used for analyses.

RESULTS

Fourteen percent of our sample fully endorsed at least one COVID-19 conspiracy theory, while protective guidelines adherence was relatively high (M = 4.92, on a scale from 1 to 7). The endorsement of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs-but not of generic conspiracy beliefs-was associated with lower guideline adherence (β = - 0.32, 95% CI - 0.53 to - 0.11, p < .001). Conditional random forests suggested that adverse childhood experiences and peer and conduct problems were relevant predictors of both conspiracy belief categories.

CONCLUSION

While a significant proportion of our sample of adolescents in psychiatric treatment endorsed conspiracy beliefs, the majority did not. Furthermore, and to some degree, contrary to public perception, we found that adolescents show relatively good adherence to public health measures-even while experiencing a high degree of mental distress. The predictive value of adverse childhood experiences and peer/conduct problems for conspiracy beliefs might be explained by compensatory mechanisms to ensure the safety, structure, and inclusion that conspiracies provide.

Illusory perception of visual patterns in pure noise is associated with COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs

Just as perceptual heuristics can lead to visual illusions, cognitive heuristics can lead to biased judgements, such as "illusory pattern perception" (i.e., seeing patterns in unrelated events). Here we further investigated the common underlying mechanism behind irrational beliefs and illusory pattern perception in visual images. For trials in which no object was present in the noise, we found that the tendency to report seeing an object was positively correlated with the endorsement of both COVID-19 specific conspiracy theories and paranormal beliefs. The present results suggest that the cognitive bias to see meaningful connections in noise can have an impact on socio-political cognition as well as on perceptual decision making.

A cross-sectional study of the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on camped refugees in Ghana

Vulnerable populations such as camped refugees are often exposed to spread of infectious diseases because of their living conditions, limited resources available to them and exclusion from social services. This study examined the psychological state of camped refugees in Ghana during the COVID-19 pandemic and how their background characteristics predict the severity of the pandemic's psychological impact. It covered 763 refugees aged 15 years and above resident in two (Krisan = 316 and Ampain = 447) camps. Nine COVID-19 Anxiety Scale indicators were used to examine the psychological state of camped refugees. A composite indicator was derived to examine the overall psychological impact. Logistic regression was used to examine the factors that were associated with severe psychological impact. The multivariate analysis revealed that sex of the respondent, marital status and age of head of household were the only socio-demographic factors associated with having a severe psychological impact of the pandemic. There was very strong evidence that respondents who had moderate (OR = 1.74, 95% CI = 1.12, 2.7) and high (OR = 1.66, 95% CI = 1.05, 2.63) knowledge of the disease had increased odds of severe psychological impact. Also, those with moderate (OR = 2.97, 95% CI = 1.78, 4.97) and high (OR = 12.98, 95% CI = 7.86, 21.42) adherence had increased odds of severe psychological impact. None of the pre-existing health conditions and challenges were not significantly associated with severe psychological impact. The limited number of significant socio-demographic covariates suggests that severe psychological impact of the pandemic was a problem in the general population, and thus interventions should target the general population of camped refugees. Also, health education should not only focus on enhancing knowledge and promoting preventive measures but also on managing psychological distress.

[The ambivalent role of spirituality in explaining conspiracy belief and protest intentions in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic]

In the course of the COVID-19-pandemic, groups that present themselves as anchors in problem solving and provide supposed solutions for dealing with insecurities are becoming increasingly visible. There seems to be a tendency for conspiracy belief and esoteric attitudes, which are increasingly being expressed in the protests against measures to contain the pandemic. This raises the question of the role of religious affiliations and spiritual worldviews within such groups. In the present study, spirituality is differentiated and measured independently of religion in order to shed light on these questions. The results show two forms of spirituality that differ in the dimensions of worldviews and ethics, values and meaning of life. Both forms can be found in religious as well as non-religious groups. Analyses show different effects of these forms of spirituality on the openness towards alternative and esoteric explanations of the world as well as a skepticism towards science. Additionally, all spiritual elements also contribute to clarifying the belief in conspiracy stories, the support of COVID-related demonstrations and the willingness to participate in these demonstrations. Active spirituality acts as a protective factor and passive spirituality as a reinforcing (risk) factor for these phenomena. Overall, this multi-dimensional measurement of spiritual worldviews can explain attitudes relevant to conspiracy belief and protests, and in this way can break down the previous ambivalent effects of spirituality as a resilience vs. risk factor for such attitudes.

Normal lark, deviant owl: The relationship between chronotype and compliance with COVID-19 mitigation measures

Current evidence suggests that preventive measures, such as social distancing and wearing face masks, are critical to contain the spread of COVID-19. The recent burgeoning literature has empirically examined how a wide range of facet-level personality and individual-differences variables are associated with people's adherence to COVID-19 regulations. However, there lacks direct evidence regarding the role of chronotype in compliance with pandemic safety measures. According to the eveningness epidemiological liability hypothesis, people of later chronotype are more likely to breach COVID-19 restrictions. Despite this hypothesis shedding considerable light on the potential role of chronotype in the abidance of the virus-mitigating measures, it has not been rigorously tested using empirical data. To fill this gap, the present research investigated the link between morningness-eveningness and compliance with COVID-19 containment policies in Chinese samples. Two studies using multiple populations (students and community adults) and diverse measures of adherence to public health guidelines (self-report and actual behavior) consistently show that individuals who orient towards morningness display a higher level of compliance with COVID-19 prevention than people who orient towards eveningness. Overall, these findings present the first empirical confirmation of the eveningness epidemiological liability hypothesis, highlighting the role of chronotype in adherence to COVID-19 prevention guidelines.

Taking the chance!-Interindividual differences in rule-breaking

While some individuals tend to follow norms, others, in the face of tempting but forbidden options, tend to commit rule-breaking when this action is beneficial for themselves. Previous studies have neglected such interindividual differences in rule-breaking. The present study fills this gap by investigating cognitive characteristics of individuals who commit spontaneous deliberative rule-breaking (rule-breakers) versus rule-followers. We developed a computerised task, in which 133 participants were incentivised to sometimes violate set rules which would-if followed-lead to a loss. While 52% of participants tended to break rules to obtain a benefit, 48% tended to follow rules even if this behaviour led to loss. Although rule-breakers experienced significantly more cognitive conflict (measured via response times and mouse movement trajectories) than rule-followers, they also obtained higher payoffs. In rule-breakers, cognitive conflict was more pronounced when violating the rules than when following them, and mainly during action planning. This conflict increased with frequent, recurrent, and early rule-breaking. Our results were in line with the Decision-Implementation-Mandatory switch-Inhibition model and thus extend the application of this model to the interindividual differences in rule-breaking. Furthermore, personality traits such as extroversion, disagreeableness, risk propensity, high impulsiveness seem to play a role in the appreciation of behaviours and cognitive characteristics of rule-followers and rule-breakers. This study opens the path towards the understanding of the cognitive characteristics of the interindividual differences in responses towards rules, and especially in spontaneous deliberative rule-breaking.

Predictors of Health-Protective and Helping Behaviors during the Covid-19 Pandemic: The Role of Social Support and Resilience

The COVID -19 pandemic dramatically affected people's lives. In this study, we explored the role of social and personal factors underlying individuals' adaptive responses during the critical onset period of the outbreak. In particular, we tested two models on the mediating role of health-protective behaviors in the relationship between social support, resilience, and helping behavior. A sample of 1085 participants from Portugal and Brazil took part in an online survey during the first wave of the pandemic. First, through an Exploratory Factor Analysis of the health-protective behaviors to prevent contagion by the coronavirus, we identified two distinct dimensions, one aggregating active protective behaviors and the other as avoidant behaviors. Secondly, we found that resilience and active protective behavior sequentially mediated the relationship between social support and willingness to help. In addition, a multigroup analysis showed that this mediational process was similar in both countries. Given the wide range of social and individual factors that may predict prosocial behaviors, we highlight the role of social support on the intention to help through resilience and active protective behaviors.

Social Network Analysis of COVID-19 Sentiments: 10 Metropolitan Cities in Italy

The pandemic spread rapidly across Italy, putting the region’s health system on the brink of collapse, and generating concern regarding the government’s capacity to respond to the needs of patients considering isolation measures. This study developed a sentiment analysis using millions of Twitter data during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in 10 metropolitan cities in Italy’s (1) north: Milan, Venice, Turin, Bologna; (2) central: Florence, Rome; (3) south: Naples, Bari; and (4) islands: Palermo, Cagliari. Questions addressed are as follows: (1) How did tweet-related sentiments change over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, and (2) How did sentiments change when lagged with policy shifts and/or specific events? Findings show an assortment of differences and connections across Twitter sentiments (fear, anger, and joy) based on policy measures and geographies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results can be used by policy makers to quantify the satisfactory level of positive/negative acceptance of decision makers and identify important topics related to COVID-19 policy measures, which can be useful for imposing geographically varying lockdowns and protective measures using historical data.