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Ma MZ, Chen SX, Wang X. Collective pronouns, collective health actions: Predicting pandemic precautionary measures through online first-person plural pronoun usage across U.S. states. Soc Sci Med 2024; 357:117167. [PMID: 39116701 DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2023] [Revised: 07/27/2024] [Accepted: 07/29/2024] [Indexed: 08/10/2024]
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the role of group identification in shaping collective health behaviors. Using the novel Pronoun-Influenced Collective Health Model - an integrated framework combining elements from health and social psychology theories - we investigated the relationship between online first-person plural pronoun usage and adherence to COVID-19 preventive measures across the United States. Analyzing weekly Google Trends data on English (Study 1) and Spanish (Study 2) first-person pronoun searches, alongside data on adherence to pandemic precautionary measures from early 2020 to late 2022, we found significant positive associations between relative first-person plural pronoun search volumes and adherence to social distancing, stay-at-home orders, vaccination rates, and proactive disease prevention information seeking. These associations remained robust after adjusting for potential confounding factors. A mini meta-analysis (Study 3) confirmed the consistency of our findings, revealing no significant moderation effects by language context or ecological-socio-cultural factors, suggesting broad generalizability. The implications of this research highlight the potential for tracking online collective language as a valuable indicator of and proxy for societal-level health engagement during crises. This novel digital linguistics approach, synergistically combining applied health and social psychology with big data from digital platforms such as Google, offers powerful tools for monitoring collective health actions across linguistic and cultural boundaries during large-scale health crises.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mac Zewei Ma
- Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong; Mental Health Research Centre (MHRC), The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong.
| | - Sylvia Xiaohua Chen
- Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong; Mental Health Research Centre (MHRC), The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
| | - Xijing Wang
- Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
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2
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van Leeuwen F, Jaeger B, Sleegers WW, Petersen MB. Do Experimental Manipulations of Pathogen Avoidance Motivations Influence Conformity? PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN 2024; 50:1051-1065. [PMID: 36945750 PMCID: PMC11143762 DOI: 10.1177/01461672231160655] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2022] [Accepted: 02/08/2023] [Indexed: 03/23/2023]
Abstract
By conforming to ingroup norms, individuals coordinate with other group members, preserve cohesion, and avoid costs of exclusion. Previous experiments have shown that increased concerns about infectious disease increase conformity. However, coordination with other group members has multiple benefits, most of which exist independent of pathogenic infection. Hence, a strong causal effect of pathogen avoidance motivations on conformity seems unlikely. Results from five experiments (N = 1,931) showed only limited support for the hypothesis that experimentally increasing pathogen avoidance motivations influences conformity. Overall, our findings are not consistent with the notion that the human mind contains a fast-acting psychological mechanism that regulates conformity as a function of short-term pathogen avoidance motivations.
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Lemay EP, Kruglanski AW, Molinario E, Agostini M, Bélanger JJ, Gützkow B, Kreienkamp J, Margit Reitsema A, R vanDellen M, Collaboration P, Leander NP. The role of values in coping with health and economic threats of COVID-19. THE JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2023; 163:755-772. [PMID: 34951330 DOI: 10.1080/00224545.2021.1979454] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2021] [Accepted: 09/03/2021] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
The current research examined the role of values in guiding people's responses to COVID-19. Results from an international study involving 115 countries (N = 61,490) suggest that health and economic threats of COVID-19 evoke different values, with implications for controlling and coping with the pandemic. Specifically, health threats predicted prioritization of communal values related to caring for others and belonging, whereas economic threats predicted prioritization of agentic values focused on competition and achievement. Concurrently and over time, prioritizing communal values over agentic values was associated with enactment of prevention behaviors that reduce virus transmission, motivations to help others suffering from the pandemic, and positive attitudes toward outgroup members. These results, which were generally consistent across individual and national levels of analysis, suggest that COVID-19 threats may indirectly shape important responses to the pandemic through their influence on people's prioritization of communion and agency. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
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Ma MZ, Chen SX. Beyond the surface: accounting for confounders in understanding the link between collectivism and COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. BMC Public Health 2023; 23:1513. [PMID: 37559008 PMCID: PMC10413761 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-023-16384-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2023] [Accepted: 07/25/2023] [Indexed: 08/11/2023] Open
Abstract
According to the parasite-stress theory, collectivism serves as a trait of ingroup assortative sociality, providing defense against infectious diseases. This study investigated the association between cultural collectivism and COVID-19 severity at the state (Study 1: N = 51), county (Study 2: N = 3,133), and daily (Study 3: N = 52,806) levels from the beginning of 2020 to the end of 2022. State-level collectivism was assessed using two distinct measures: the U.S. collectivism index, focusing on social interconnectedness and interdependence, and the subjective-culture individualism-collectivism index (reversed), capturing attitudes and beliefs related to religion, abortion, and same-sex marriage. By employing random-intercept multilevel models, the results demonstrated significant and negative effects of state-level collectivism, as measured by the U.S collectivism index, on COVID-19 cases per million, COVID-19 deaths per million, and composite COVID-19 severity index, after controlling for confounding factors, such as socioeconomic development, ecological threats, disease protective behaviors, cultural norms, and political influences. A mini meta-analysis (Study 4: N = 9) confirmed the significance of these effects across studies. These findings supported the proactive role of collectivism in defending against the novel coronavirus in the United States, aligning with the parasite-stress theory of sociality. However, the subjective-culture individualism-collectivism index (reversed) did not exhibit a significant relationship with COVID-19 severity when confounding factors were considered. The high correlation between the subjective-culture individualism-collectivism index (reversed) and the controlled variables suggested shared variance that could diminish its impact on COVID-19 outcomes. Accordingly, the present findings underscore the significance of accounting for confounding factors when examining the association between collectivism and COVID-19 severity at population level. By considering relevant confounding factors, researchers could gain a comprehensive understanding of the complex interplay between cultural collectivism and its influence on COVID-19 severity. Overall, this research contributes to our understanding of how cultural collectivism shapes the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, emphasizing the importance of adjusting for confounding effects in population level studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mac Zewei Ma
- Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
| | - Sylvia Xiaohua Chen
- Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
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Wormley AS, Kwon JY, Barlev M, Varnum MEW. How much cultural variation around the globe is explained by ecology? Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20230485. [PMID: 37282534 PMCID: PMC10244975 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.0485] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2023] [Accepted: 05/15/2023] [Indexed: 06/08/2023] Open
Abstract
How much cultural variation is explained by the physical and social ecologies people inhabit? Here, we provide an answer using nine ecological variables and 66 cultural variables (including personality traits, values and norms) drawn from the EcoCultural Dataset. We generate a range of estimates by using different statistical metrics (e.g. current levels, average levels across time, unpredictability across time) of each of the ecological variables. Our results suggest that, on average, ecology explains a substantial amount of human cultural variation above and beyond spatial and cultural autocorrelation. The amount of variation explained depended on the metrics used, with current levels and average levels of ecological conditions explaining the greatest amounts of variance in human culture on average (16% and 20%, respectively).
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jung Yul Kwon
- Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - Michael Barlev
- Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
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Brown M, Brown SM. Functional Heuristics of Disease Transmission from Physical Deformities in Food Preferences. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2023; 9:1-7. [PMID: 37362225 PMCID: PMC10244852 DOI: 10.1007/s40806-023-00367-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2023] [Revised: 05/01/2023] [Accepted: 05/02/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023]
Abstract
Ostensibly serving to restrict contact with disease vectors, humans exhibit aversion toward cues heuristically inferred as pathogenic. This restriction could lead perceivers to downregulate their interest in food consumption, even if such cues may not connote actual disease threats. This proclivity to avoid disease led us to consider how heuristic disease cues inform interest in foods. Participants evaluated a hypothetical food preparer that varied in the presence of heuristic cues to disease transmission (i.e., physical deformities versus healthy control). Individuals with low levels of perceived infectability were more discerning of the social target as a function of disease cues, whereas heightened levels of this trait fostered an overall aversion to targets regardless of health status. Results provide continued evidence for how pathogen avoidance motives compete with other somatic motives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mitch Brown
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701 USA
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Mo L, Liu Y, Li A, Liu T, Zhu T. The impact of pandemic mental cognition on cultural values: an empirical study based on social media. BMC Public Health 2023; 23:1069. [PMID: 37277848 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-023-16006-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2022] [Accepted: 05/27/2023] [Indexed: 06/07/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND COVID-19 has triggered a global public health crisis, and had an impact on economies, societies, and politics around the world. Based on the pathogen prevalence hypothesis suggested that residents of areas with higher infection rates are more likely to be collectivists as compared with those of areas with lower infection rates. Many researchers had studied the direct link between infectious diseases and individualism/collectivism (infectious diseases→ cultural values), but no one has focused on the specific psychological factors between them: (infectious diseases→ cognition of the pandemic→ cultural values). To test and develop the pathogen prevalence hypothesis, we introduced pandemic mental cognition and conducted an empirical study on social media (Chinese Sina Weibo), hoping to explore the psychological reasons behind in cultural value changes in the context of a pandemic. METHODS We downloaded all posts from active Sina Weibo users in Dalian during the pandemic period (January 2020 to May 2022) and used dictionary-based approaches to calculate frequency of words from two domains (pandemic mental cognition and collectivism/individualism), respectively. Then we used the multiple log-linear regression analysis method to establish the relationship between pandemic mental cognition and collectivism/individualism. RESULTS Among three dimensions of pandemic mental cognition, only the sense of uncertainty had a significant positive relationship with collectivism, and also had a marginal significant positive relationship with individualism. There was a significant positive correlation between the first-order lag term AR(1) and individualism, which means the individualism tendency was mainly affected by its previous level. CONCLUSIONS The study found that more collectivist regions are associated with a higher pathogen burden, and recognized the sense of uncertainty as its underlying cause. Results of this study validated and further developed the pathogen stress hypothesis in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liuling Mo
- Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Yun Liu
- Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
- Dalian Vocational &Technical College, Dalian, 116035, China
| | - Ang Li
- Department of Psychology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, China
| | - Tianli Liu
- Institute of Population Research, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Tingshao Zhu
- Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
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Zakrzewska MZ, Challma S, Lindholm T, Cancino-Montecinos S, Olofsson JK, Liuzza MT. Body odour disgust sensitivity is associated with xenophobia: evidence from nine countries across five continents. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2023; 10:221407. [PMID: 37063982 PMCID: PMC10090875 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.221407] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2022] [Accepted: 03/22/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
Body odour disgust sensitivity (BODS) reflects a behavioural disposition to avoid pathogens, and it may also involve social attitudes. Among participants in the USA, high levels of BODS were associated with stronger xenophobia towards a fictitious refugee group. To test the generalizability of this finding, we analysed data from nine countries across five continents (N = 6836). Using structural equation modelling, we found support for our pre-registered hypotheses: higher BODS levels were associated with more xenophobic attitudes; this relationship was partially explained by perceived dissimilarities of the refugees' norms regarding hygiene and food preparation, and general attitudes toward immigration. Our results support a theoretical notion of how pathogen avoidance is associated with social attitudes: 'traditional norms' often involve behaviours that limit inter-group contact, social mobility and situations that might lead to pathogen exposure. Our results also indicate that the positive relationship between BODS and xenophobia is robust across cultures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marta Z. Zakrzewska
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, 17 177 Solna, Sweden
| | - Sandra Challma
- Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, 114 19 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Torun Lindholm
- Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, 114 19 Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | - Jonas K. Olofsson
- Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, 114 19 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Marco Tullio Liuzza
- Department of Surgical and Medical Sciences, ‘Magna Graecia’ University of Catanzaro, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy
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Clifford S, Erisen C, Wendell D, Cantú F. Disgust sensitivity and support for immigration across five nations. Politics Life Sci 2023; 42:65-80. [PMID: 37140224 DOI: 10.1017/pls.2022.6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
Immigration has become a focal debate in politics across the world. Recent research suggests that anti-immigration attitudes may have deep psychological roots in implicit disease avoidance motivations. A key implication of this theory is that individual differences in disease avoidance should be related to opposition to immigration across a wide variety of cultural and political contexts. However, existing evidence on the topic has come almost entirely from the United States and Canada. In this article, we test the disease avoidance hypothesis using nationally representative samples from Norway, Sweden, Turkey, and Mexico, as well as two diverse samples from the United States. We find consistent and robust evidence that disgust sensitivity is associated with anti-immigration attitudes and that the relationship is similar in magnitude to education. Overall, our findings support the disease avoidance hypothesis and provide new insights into the nature of anti-immigration attitudes.
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10
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Lewicka M, Hay JL, Waters EA, Schofield E, Orom H, Kiviniemi MT. Worldview Orientations and Personal and Social Risk Perceptions for COVID-19 in a U.S. Population-Based Sample. JOURNAL OF PREVENTION (2022) 2023; 44:53-68. [PMID: 36394703 PMCID: PMC9670042 DOI: 10.1007/s10935-022-00715-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Adoption of COVID-19 preventive behaviors involves considering personal risk and the risk to others. Consequently, many COVID-19 prevention measures are intended to protect both the individual engaging in the behavior and others in the population. Yet, the preponderance of research is focused on perceptions of an individual's personal risk, making risk perception for others a critical area for investigation. Two worldview orientations describing values regarding how society should be organized, hierarchy-beliefs prioritizing social hierarchy, and individualism-beliefs prioritizing personal autonomy, have been linked to a range of risk perceptions. This study objective is to examine the association of worldview orientations with COVID-19 risk perceptions for oneself and others in a United States context. Using a national sample of 410 U.S. adults, we examined the associations between worldview orientations and six facets of risk (absolute risk, risk certainty, comparative risk, risk severity, fear, feelings of risk) using demographics-adjusted multivariable regression models. We conducted separate analyses for each of the following referents: (1) personal risk, (2) risk for the average person within the United States, and (3) risk to people within specific social groups (e.g., family, co-workers). Results indicate that stronger hierarchical and individualistic orientations were associated with lower COVID-19 risk perceptions for all three referents. The results were particularly consistent for fear and feelings of risk. Individualism was related to higher risk perception certainty for personal risk and the risk to people within specific social groups. Hierarchy was related to lower perceived severity for all referents. Findings suggest that U.S. public health messaging sensitive to worldview orientations may be needed to optimize acceptance of recommendations for protective behaviors, including vaccination. The relationship of worldview orientations to health risk perceptions may help guide messaging for future infectious outbreaks where risk perceptions are t drivers of protective behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Malwina Lewicka
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY USA
| | - Jennifer L. Hay
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY USA
| | - Erika A. Waters
- School of Medicine, Division of Public Health Sciences, Department of Surgery, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO USA
| | - Elizabeth Schofield
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY USA
| | - Heather Orom
- Department of Community Health and Health Behavior, The University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY USA
| | - Marc T. Kiviniemi
- Department of Health, Behavior and Society, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY USA
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11
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Lu JG, Benet-Martínez V, Wang LC. A Socioecological-Genetic Framework of Culture and Personality: Their Roots, Trends, and Interplay. Annu Rev Psychol 2023; 74:363-390. [PMID: 36100248 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-psych-032420-032631] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Culture and personality are two central topics in psychology. Individuals are culturally influenced influencers of culture, yet the research linking culture and personality has been limited and fragmentary. We integrate the literatures on culture and personality with recent advances in socioecology and genetics to formulate the Socioecological-Genetic Framework of Culture and Personality. Our framework not only delineates the mutual constitution of culture and personality but also sheds light on (a) the roots of culture and personality, (b) how socioecological changes partly explain temporal trends in culture and personality, and (c) how genes and culture/socioecology interact to influence personality (i.e., nature × nurture interactions). By spotlighting the roles of socioecology and genetics, our integrative framework advances the understanding of culture and personality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jackson G Lu
- MIT Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; ,
| | - Verónica Benet-Martínez
- Department of Political and Social Sciences, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain; .,Catalonian Institution for Advanced Research and Studies (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Laura Changlan Wang
- MIT Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; ,
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Liu R, Zheng X, Wang Z, Zhou M, Weng J, Li YM, Chen X. COVID-19 symptoms and compliance: The mediating role of fundamental social motives. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1093875. [PMID: 37020914 PMCID: PMC10067610 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1093875] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2022] [Accepted: 02/28/2023] [Indexed: 04/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Understanding the compliance of infected individuals and the psychological process underlying compliance during pandemics is important for preventing and controlling the spread of pathogens. Our study investigated whether fundamental social motives mediate the relationship between having infectious disease and compliance. Methods An online survey was conducted in March 2020, during the severe phase of the COVID-19 outbreak in China to collect data from 15,758 participants. The survey comprised self-report questionnaires with items pertaining to current symptoms (COVID-19 symptoms, other symptoms or no symptoms), the Fundamental Social Motive Inventory, and measures of compliance. Correlation analysis, linear regression analysis, and structural equation model were used for data analysis. Results The participants with COVID-19 symptoms had lower levels of compliance than those without symptoms, and their lower compliance was caused by a decrease in disease avoidance (indirect effect = -0.058, 95% CI = [-0.061, -0.056]) and familial motives (indirect effect = -0.113, 95% CI = [-0.116, -0.062]). Whereas exclusion concern (indirect effect = 0.014, 95% CI = [0.011, 0.017]) suppressed the effects of COVID-19 symptoms on compliance, the effect disappeared in the multiple mediation model, while those of disease avoidance and familial motives remained. Conclusion Our findings emphasize the critical role of disease avoidance and familial motives in promoting compliance with public health norms during pandemics and suggest that enhancing these motives may serve as an effective intervention strategy to mitigate noncompliance among potentially infected individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruoting Liu
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xueying Zheng
- Department of Endocrinology, The First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China Anhui Provincial Hospital, Hefei, Anhui Province, China
- Department of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui Province, China
| | - Ziyu Wang
- Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, United States
| | - Mingjie Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China
- Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China
| | - Jianping Weng
- Department of Endocrinology, The First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China Anhui Provincial Hospital, Hefei, Anhui Province, China
- Department of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui Province, China
| | - Yan-mei Li
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- *Correspondence: Yan-mei Li,
| | - Xuefeng Chen
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China
- Xuefeng Chen,
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13
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Donner MR, Azaad S, Warren GA, Laham SM. Specificity Versus Generality: A Meta-Analytic Review Of The Association Between Trait Disgust Sensitivity And Moral Judgment. EMOTION REVIEW 2022. [DOI: 10.1177/17540739221114643] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Disgust seems to play an important role in moral judgment. However, it is unclear whether the role of disgust in moral judgment is limited to certain kinds of moral domains (versus many) and/or certain types of disgust (versus many). To clarify these questions, we conducted a multilevel meta-analysis ( k = 512; N = 72,443) on relations between trait disgust sensitivity and moral judgment (disgust-immorality association). Main analyses revealed a significant overall mean disgust-immorality association ( r = .23). Additionally, moderator analyses revealed significant specificity in disgust type and moral domain (grounded in Moral Foundations Theory): effects were stronger for (a) sexual disgust compared to pathogen disgust, (b) sanctity moral judgments compared to other domains of moral judgments, and (c) sexual-sanctity associations compared to other disgust type-moral domain pairings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael R. Donner
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia
| | - Shaheed Azaad
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Austria
| | - Garth A. Warren
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia
| | - Simon M. Laham
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia
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14
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Zingora T, Birtel MD, Graf S, Hrebickova M, Lacko D, Rupar M, Tocik J, Voca S. Change in anti‐COVID‐19 behaviour and anti‐immigrant prejudice during the COVID‐19 pandemic: Longitudinal evidence from five European countries. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.2928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Tibor Zingora
- Institute of Psychology Czech Academy of Sciences, Czechia Brno Czech Republic
| | - Michèle D. Birtel
- Institute for Lifecourse Development University of Greenwich London UK
| | - Sylvie Graf
- Institute of Psychology Czech Academy of Sciences, Czechia Brno Czech Republic
- Institute of Psychology University of Bern Bern Switzerland
| | - Martina Hrebickova
- Institute of Psychology Czech Academy of Sciences, Czechia Brno Czech Republic
| | - David Lacko
- Institute of Psychology Czech Academy of Sciences, Czechia Brno Czech Republic
| | - Mirjana Rupar
- Institute of Psychology Czech Academy of Sciences, Czechia Brno Czech Republic
- Institute of Psychology Jagiellonian University Krakow Poland
| | - Jaroslav Tocik
- Institute of Psychology Czech Academy of Sciences, Czechia Brno Czech Republic
| | - Shpend Voca
- Faculty of Psychology AAB College Prishtina Kosovo
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15
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Chung JB, Kim BJ, Kim ES. Mask-wearing behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic in Korea: The role of individualism in a collectivistic country. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DISASTER RISK REDUCTION : IJDRR 2022; 82:103355. [PMID: 36249123 PMCID: PMC9551116 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.103355] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2022] [Revised: 09/03/2022] [Accepted: 10/05/2022] [Indexed: 05/16/2023]
Abstract
The behavior of the general public is crucial for an effective COVID-19 response. The Republic of Korea has shown better performance in this regard than many other countries worldwide. Based on the theories of individualism and collectivism, this study analyzes how Korean culture and political preferences influence the mask-wearing behavior of people in Korea. We conducted two online surveys after the first wave and in the middle of the third wave of the pandemic in Korea. The results showed only small partisan differences in the level of mask-wearing behavior in Korea. Additionally, regression analysis results demonstrate that, when demographic variables are controlled, concerns of spreading infection and horizontal individualistic tendencies of younger respondents have a significant positive relation to mask-wearing behavior. Meanwhile, horizontal collectivism had a significant positive relationship with older respondents' mask-wearing behavior, as expected in the collectivistic culture of the Korean people. As a result, horizontal individualism has similar characteristics with horizontal collectivism in Koreans and both have a positive relation to their mask-wearing behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ji-Bum Chung
- School of Urban and Environmental Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), UNIST-gil 50, Ulsan, 689-798, Republic of Korea
| | - Byeong Je Kim
- School of Urban and Environmental Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), UNIST-gil 50, Ulsan, 689-798, Republic of Korea
| | - Eun-Sung Kim
- Department of Sociology, Kyung Hee University, 26 Kyungheedae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, 02447, South Korea
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16
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Dong D, Feng Y, Qiao Z. Understanding cultural factors in mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: when collectivism meets a tight culture. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022; 42:1-11. [PMID: 36196378 PMCID: PMC9523182 DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-03780-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The long-standing pathogen prevalence hypothesis suggests that collectivism can protect from epidemics and pandemics in terms of psychological well-being. However, studies exploring the protective mechanism induced when collectivism meets cultural tightness (the strength of social norms and tolerance for deviant behavior) are few. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the protective effect of collectivism in detail considering loose and tight cultural contexts. The sample comprised 2001 Chinese participants (M age = 18.41 ± 2.388 years; 50.2% female). Moderated regression analyses indicated that more perceived risk of COVID-19 predicted severe mental health responses (i.e., depression and anxiety), collectivism moderated this positive relationship but individualism did not. Notably, the protective effect of collectivism is especially evident in tight cultures but ineffective in loose cultures. This study emphasized that the protective effects of collectivism on mental health during a pandemic should be considered within the framework of cultural tightness. This study's findings may advance knowledge about the relationship between cultural type and mental health during epidemics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan Dong
- Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, No.19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Haidian District, Beijing, 100875 China
| | - Yi Feng
- Mental Health Center, Central University of Finance and Economics, No.39 South College Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100081 China
| | - Zhihong Qiao
- Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, No.19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Haidian District, Beijing, 100875 China
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17
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Cover your mouth! Disease avoidance predicts the stigmatization of yawning. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2022.111695] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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18
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Feng Y, Warmenhoven H, Wilson A, Jin Y, Chen R, Wang Y, Hamer K. The Identification With All Humanity (IWAH) scale: its psychometric properties and associations with help-seeking during COVID-19. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022; 42:1-13. [PMID: 36043217 PMCID: PMC9406260 DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-03607-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/03/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
The Identification With All Humanity (IWAH) scale was designed to measure the extent to which an individual identifies oneself with all human beings. The current research aimed to conduct the validation of IWAH in a Chinese population and its convergent validity, as well as test the implications of IWAH in associations with help-seeking behaviour during COVID-19. A serial of three studies was conducted from September 1st 2020 to the end of October 2020. The series of studies included Study 1- Exploring the dimensions of the IWAH scale with a sample of 2,881 participants, Study 2- Confirmatory Factor Analysis for the Chinese IWAH dimensions with a separate sample of 6,667 participants, and Study 3- Role of the IWAH in the COVID-19 pandemic with a sample of 9,046 participants. Study 1 found the Chinese version of the IWAH scale to be a two-dimensional construct, with factor 1 - Bond with Humanity and factor 2 - Human Kinship. Study 2 confirmed the two-factor construct as found in Study 1. It also showed positive relations between IWAH and moral judgement, collectivism, nature connectedness, and negative relations with callousness, and having anxiety and depressive symptoms. Study 3 found that IWAH was negatively related to fear of COVID-19 and positively related to the likeliness of help-seeking. This is the first research to test the factorial structure of the IWAH scale in a Chinese population, with the adaptation showing good psychometric properties. The implication of IWAH on fear of COVID-19 and help-seeking provided further understanding of the possible practical value of IWAH during times of global stressful life events. Furthermore, study 3 is the first to explore how IWAH relates to anxiety, depression, and callousness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi Feng
- Mental Health Center, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, China
- Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Helmut Warmenhoven
- Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University United International College, Zhuhai, China
| | - Amanda Wilson
- Division of Psychology, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK
| | - Yu Jin
- College of Education for the Future, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai, China
| | - Runsen Chen
- Vanke School of Public Health, Tsinghua University, 100084 Beijing, China
- Institute for Healthy China, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Yuanyuan Wang
- Division of Psychology, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China
- School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Katarzyna Hamer
- Institute of Psychology of Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
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19
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Wang C, Tang N, Zhen D, Wang XR, Zhang J, Cheong Y, Zhu Q. Need for cognitive closure and trust towards government predicting pandemic behavior and mental health: comparing United States and China. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022; 42:1-14. [PMID: 35813568 PMCID: PMC9255507 DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-03327-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2020] [Revised: 01/30/2022] [Accepted: 06/09/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Residents of the United States and China have responded very differently to the implementation of COVID-19 preventive measures. This study introduces the uncertainty reduction theory and the need for cognitive closure (NFC) framework into the context of a public health crisis and compares models across the United States and China. Specifically, we collected survey data to examine how NFC, trust in government, and attitudes toward preventive measures predicted pandemic compliance behaviors, depressive symptoms, and life satisfaction among 745 college students (399 from China and 346 from the United States). Chinese participants trusted their government more, believed COVID preventive measures to be more beneficial, and reported more pandemic compliance and fewer depressive symptoms than U.S. PARTICIPANTS Trust in government and attitudes towards preventive measures mediated the relationships between NFC and pandemic compliance behaviors among Chinese participants but not U.S. PARTICIPANTS NFC predicted better mental health outcomes among participants in China compared to U.S. PARTICIPANTS Trust in government mediated NFC and mental health outcomes among Chinese participants. Trust in government predicted better mental health (fewer depressive symptoms and more life satisfaction) in both the United States and China. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings for promoting mental health and pandemic compliance behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cixin Wang
- Department of Counseling, Higher Education, & Special Education, University of Maryland, College Park, USA
| | - Ningyu Tang
- Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
- Management School, Hainan University, Haikou, China
| | - Danlei Zhen
- Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | | | - Jingshu Zhang
- Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yeram Cheong
- Asian American Studies Program, University of Maryland, College Park, USA
| | - Qianyu Zhu
- Department of Counseling, Higher Education, & Special Education, University of Maryland, College Park, USA
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20
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Haas BW, Abney DH, Eriksson K, Potter J, Gosling SD. Person-Culture Personality Fit: Dispositional Traits and Cultural Context Explain Country-Level Personality Profile Conformity. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PERSONALITY SCIENCE 2022. [DOI: 10.1177/19485506221100954] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
In general, people are influenced by the standards set forth by groups of others; however, the levels of such conformity vary between people and across cultures. Here, we investigated factors related to country-level personality profile conformity (i.e., person-culture personality fit) across ∼5.9 million participants, residing in 57 different countries. We examined how each of the Big Five personality traits and cultural tightness are associated with variation in person-culture personality fit. We found that scoring higher in Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness and residing in a tight cultural context explains increased personality profile conformity, while scoring higher in Openness and Neuroticism and residing in a loose cultural context explains lower personality profile conformity. Furthermore, we found that Openness and Extraversion interact with cultural context to predict levels of personality profile conformity. These findings reveal that both dispositional and cultural factors correspond to the tendency to conform to country-level norms.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Kimmo Eriksson
- Stockholm University, Sweden
- Mälardalen University, Västerås, Sweden
| | | | - Samuel D. Gosling
- University of Texas at Austin, USA
- University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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21
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Disgust sensitivity predicts sociosexuality across cultures. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2022.04.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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22
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van Leeuwen F, Inbar Y, Petersen MB, Aarøe L, Barclay P, Barlow FK, de Barra M, Becker DV, Borovoi L, Choi J, Consedine NS, Conway JR, Conway P, Adoric VC, Demirci E, Fernández AM, Ferreira DCS, Ishii K, Jakšić I, Ji T, Jonaityte I, Lewis DMG, Li NP, McIntyre JC, Mukherjee S, Park JH, Pawlowski B, Pizarro D, Prokop P, Prodromitis G, Rantala MJ, Reynolds LM, Sandin B, Sevi B, Srinivasan N, Tewari S, Yong JC, Žeželj I, Tybur JM. Disgust sensitivity relates to attitudes toward gay men and lesbian women across 31 nations. GROUP PROCESSES & INTERGROUP RELATIONS 2022. [DOI: 10.1177/13684302211067151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Previous work has reported a relation between pathogen-avoidance motivations and prejudice toward various social groups, including gay men and lesbian women. It is currently unknown whether this association is present across cultures, or specific to North America. Analyses of survey data from adult heterosexuals ( N = 11,200) from 31 countries showed a small relation between pathogen disgust sensitivity (an individual-difference measure of pathogen-avoidance motivations) and measures of antigay attitudes. Analyses also showed that pathogen disgust sensitivity relates not only to antipathy toward gay men and lesbians, but also to negativity toward other groups, in particular those associated with violations of traditional sexual norms (e.g., prostitutes). These results suggest that the association between pathogen-avoidance motivations and antigay attitudes is relatively stable across cultures and is a manifestation of a more general relation between pathogen-avoidance motivations and prejudice towards groups associated with sexual norm violations.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Leah Borovoi
- National Institute for Testing and Evaluation, Israel
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - David M. G. Lewis
- College of Science, Health, Engineering and Education, and Centre for Healthy Ageing, Health Futures Institute, Murdoch University, Australia
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Pavol Prokop
- Comenius University, Slovakia
- Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia
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23
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Chen J, Liu L. Family firms, national culture and corporate social performance: a meta-analysis. CROSS CULTURAL & STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT 2022. [DOI: 10.1108/ccsm-09-2020-0178] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
PurposeExtant literature is ambiguous on the corporate social performance (CSP) of family firm. This paper aims to synthesize existing evidence of the relationship between family firm and corporate responsibility performance, and to examine the moderating effects of national culture.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a meta-analysis of the relationship between family firm and CSP, as well as the role of national culture on shaping this relationship.FindingsThe findings show evidence of greater CSP among family firms compared to nonfamily firms. The family firm–CSP relationship was moderated by cultural values such as ingroup collectivism, humane orientation and future orientation, and the moderating effects depended on cultural tightness.Originality/valueThe results help reconcile inconclusive prior findings, and elucidates family firms' corporate social responsibility in different cultures.
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24
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O'Shea BA, Vitriol JA, Federico CM, Appleby J, Williams AL. Exposure and Aversion to Human Transmissible Diseases Predict Conservative Ideological and Partisan Preferences. POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY 2022; 43:65-88. [PMID: 34230726 PMCID: PMC8251465 DOI: 10.1111/pops.12741] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2020] [Revised: 12/22/2020] [Accepted: 02/26/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The objective prevalence of and subjective vulnerability to infectious diseases are associated with greater ingroup preference, conformity, and traditionalism. However, evidence directly testing the link between infectious diseases and political ideology and partisanship is lacking. Across four studies, including a large sample representative of the U.S. population (N > 12,000), we demonstrate that higher environmental levels of human transmissible diseases and avoidance of germs from human carriers predict conservative ideological and partisan preferences. During the COVID-19 pandemic (N = 848), we replicated this germ aversion finding and determined that these conservative preferences were primarily driven by avoidance of germs from outgroups (foreigners) rather than ingroups (locals). Moreover, socially conservative individuals expressed lower concerns of being susceptible to contracting infectious diseases during the pandemic and worried less about COVID-19. These effects were robust to individual-level and state-level controls. We discuss these findings in light of theory on parasite stress and the behavioral immune system and with regard to the political implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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25
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Palomo-Briones GA, Siller M, Grignard A. An agent-based model of the dual causality between individual and collective behaviors in an epidemic. Comput Biol Med 2022; 141:104995. [PMID: 34774336 PMCID: PMC8570178 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2021.104995] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2021] [Revised: 10/24/2021] [Accepted: 10/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
The evolution of an epidemic is strongly related to the behavior of individuals, and the consideration of cause and effect of social phenomena can extend epidemiological models and allow for better identification, prediction and control of the impacts of containment and mitigation measures. This work proposes an agent-based model to simulate the double causality that exists between individual behaviors, influenced by the cultural orientation of a population, and the evolution of an epidemic, focusing on recent studies on the COVID-19 pandemic. To do this, concepts from the social sciences are used, such as the theory of planned behavior, as well as Bayesian inference to abstract the decision-making processes involved in human behavior. A set of simulation experiments with different populations was developed to demonstrate the role that the cultural orientation of a population plays in the management of an epidemic. The results agree with the revised theory, showing that in populations that have a greater inclination towards collectivism, epidemiological indicators evolve in a better way than in those populations where the culture is individualistic. This work contributes to the field of computational epidemiology by providing a new way of including the social aspects of studied populations in agent-based models to help develop better interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Mario Siller
- Cinvestav Unidad Guadalajara, Av. Del Bosque, 1145, El Bajio, Zapopan, Jal, Mexico,Corresponding author
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26
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Lee M, Lindo J, Rilling JK. Exploring gene-culture coevolution in humans by inferring neuroendophenotypes: A case study of the oxytocin receptor gene and cultural tightness. GENES, BRAIN, AND BEHAVIOR 2022; 21:e12783. [PMID: 35044077 PMCID: PMC8917075 DOI: 10.1111/gbb.12783] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2021] [Revised: 10/25/2021] [Accepted: 11/15/2021] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
The gene-culture coevolution (GCC) framework has gained increasing prominence in the social and biological sciences. While most studies on human GCC concern the evolution of low-level physiological traits, attempts have also been made to apply GCC to complex human traits, including social behavior and cognition. One major methodological challenge in this endeavor is to reconstruct a specific biological pathway between the implicated genes and their distal phenotypes. Here, we introduce a novel approach that combines data on population genetics and expression quantitative trait loci to infer the specific intermediate phenotypes of genes in the brain. We suggest that such "neuroendophenotypes" will provide more detailed mechanistic insights into the GCC process. We present a case study where we explored a GCC dynamics between the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) and cultural tightness-looseness. By combining data from the 1000 Genomes project and the Gene-Tissue-Expression project (GTEx), we estimated and compared OXTR expression in 10 brain regions across five human superpopulations. We found that OXTR expression in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) was highly variable across populations, and this variation correlated with cultural tightness and socio-ecological threats worldwide. The mediation models also suggested possible GCC dynamics where the increased OXTR expression in the ACC mediates or emerges from the tight culture and higher socio-ecological threats. Formal selection scans further confirmed that OXTR alleles linked to enhanced receptor expression in the ACC underwent positive selection in East Asian countries with tighter social norms. We discuss the implications of our method in human GCC research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minwoo Lee
- Department of Anthropology, Emory UniversityAtlantaGeorgiaUSA
| | - John Lindo
- Department of Anthropology, Emory UniversityAtlantaGeorgiaUSA
| | - James K. Rilling
- Department of Anthropology, Emory UniversityAtlantaGeorgiaUSA,Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Emory UniversityAtlantaGeorgiaUSA,Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Emory UniversityAtlantaGeorgiaUSA,Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory UniversityAtlantaGeorgiaUSA,Center for Translational Social Neuroscience, Emory UniversityAtlantaGeorgiaUSA
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27
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Na J, Kim N, Suk HW, Choi E, Choi JA, Kim JH, Kim S, Choi I. Individualism-collectivism during the COVID-19 pandemic: A field study testing the pathogen stress hypothesis of individualism-collectivism in Korea. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2021; 183:111127. [PMID: 36569789 PMCID: PMC9757850 DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2021.111127] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2021] [Revised: 06/13/2021] [Accepted: 07/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
The pathogen stress hypothesis posits that pathogen-related threats influence regional and individual differences in collectivism since behavioral practices associated with collectivism limit the spread of infectious diseases. In support of the hypothesis, previous research demonstrates the association between individualism/collectivism and pathogen stress based on historical records or experimental manipulation. However, it is still unclear whether individuals would indeed value collectivism during the outbreak of infectious diseases. Thus, we investigated the concurrent effects of pathogen-related stress on the endorsement of individualism/collectivism by examining 9322 Koreans for 14 weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results revealed that the level of collectivism among respondents were higher after than before the COVID-19 outbreak. Moreover, the average level of collectivism on a given day showed a significant association with the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on the same day during the outbreak. Interestingly, individualism did not significantly change for the same period.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jinkyung Na
- Department of Psychology, Sogang University, Republic of Korea
| | - Namhee Kim
- Center for Happiness Studies, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea
| | - Hye Won Suk
- Department of Psychology, Sogang University, Republic of Korea
| | - Eunsoo Choi
- Department of Psychology, Korea University, Republic of Korea
| | - Jong An Choi
- Department of Psychology, Kangwon National University, Republic of Korea
| | - Joo Hyun Kim
- Center for Happiness Studies, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea
| | - Soolim Kim
- Department of Psychology, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea
| | - Incheol Choi
- Center for Happiness Studies, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea,Department of Psychology, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea,Corresponding author at: Center for Happiness Studies, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea
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28
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Helping While Social Distancing: Pathogen Avoidance Motives Influence People's Helping Intentions during the COVID-19 Pandemic. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2021; 18:ijerph182212113. [PMID: 34831871 PMCID: PMC8622284 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph182212113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2021] [Revised: 11/14/2021] [Accepted: 11/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
The behavioral immune system (BIS) theory suggests that pathogen avoidance motives relate to greater behavioral avoidance against social interactions that pose potential risks of pathogen transmission. Based on the BIS theory, pathogen avoidance motives would decrease people’s helping behavior towards others. However, would pathogen avoidance motives decrease all types of helping behavior towards others during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (i.e., COVID-19) pandemic indiscriminately? In the present study, we conducted a within-subjects design to compare people’s helping intentions toward voluntary work with and without social contact. Specifically, participants (N = 1562) completed an online survey at the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in China measuring pathogen disgust sensitivity, state anxiety, and intentions to perform volunteer work with and without social contact. Results revealed that pathogen disgust sensitivity negatively predicted intentions to perform voluntary work with social contact yet had no influence on intentions to perform socially distanced voluntary work. Moreover, the effect of pathogen disgust sensitivity on socially distanced volunteering preference was mediated by the state anxiety people experienced during the pandemic. The findings have implications for understanding people’s helping behavior during the pandemic.
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29
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Van de Vliert E, Conway LG. Does Perceived Governance Quality Improve Toward the North and South Poles for Eco-Cultural Reasons? JOURNAL OF CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1177/00220221211051025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Good government is vital to human society. But what proximal and distal factors influence this collective goodness perception? Here, we investigate how and why multi-component evaluations by many institutional observers of public governance vary along the north-south rather than east-west axis of the Earth. Across 190 countries, we show that governance quality improves from the equator toward the North and South Poles in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. By contrast, governance quality hardly varies from east to west. National wealth, surfacing as the main driver of good government, is spatially distributed along latitude and longitude in the same striking way. In broader detail, governance quality is psychologically accounted for by cultural, economic, and pathogenic explanations, all nested within a climate-based explanation. Taken in total, the results suggest a chain of increasingly distal explanations of the equator-to-pole improvements in perceived governance quality.
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30
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Schaller M, Murray DR, Hofer MK. The behavioural immune system and pandemic psychology: the evolved psychology of disease-avoidance and its implications for attitudes, behaviour, and public health during epidemic outbreaks. EUROPEAN REVIEW OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/10463283.2021.1988404] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Mark Schaller
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, V6T1Z4, Canada
| | - Damian R. Murray
- Department of Psychology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, 70188, United States
| | - Marlise K. Hofer
- Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, Victoria, V8W2Y2, Canada
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31
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Rosenfeld DL, Balcetis E, Bastian B, Berkman ET, Bosson JK, Brannon TN, Burrow AL, Cameron CD, Chen S, Cook JE, Crandall C, Davidai S, Dhont K, Eastwick PW, Gaither SE, Gangestad SW, Gilovich T, Gray K, Haines EL, Haselton MG, Haslam N, Hodson G, Hogg MA, Hornsey MJ, Huo YJ, Joel S, Kachanoff FJ, Kraft-Todd G, Leary MR, Ledgerwood A, Lee RT, Loughnan S, MacInnis CC, Mann T, Murray DR, Parkinson C, Pérez EO, Pyszczynski T, Ratner K, Rothgerber H, Rounds JD, Schaller M, Silver RC, Spellman BA, Strohminger N, Swim JK, Thoemmes F, Urganci B, Vandello JA, Volz S, Zayas V, Tomiyama AJ. Psychological Science in the Wake of COVID-19: Social, Methodological, and Metascientific Considerations. PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2021; 17:311-333. [PMID: 34597198 DOI: 10.1177/1745691621999374] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has extensively changed the state of psychological science from what research questions psychologists can ask to which methodologies psychologists can use to investigate them. In this article, we offer a perspective on how to optimize new research in the pandemic's wake. Because this pandemic is inherently a social phenomenon-an event that hinges on human-to-human contact-we focus on socially relevant subfields of psychology. We highlight specific psychological phenomena that have likely shifted as a result of the pandemic and discuss theoretical, methodological, and practical considerations of conducting research on these phenomena. After this discussion, we evaluate metascientific issues that have been amplified by the pandemic. We aim to demonstrate how theoretically grounded views on the COVID-19 pandemic can help make psychological science stronger-not weaker-in its wake.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Brock Bastian
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne
| | - Elliot T Berkman
- Department of Psychology, University of Oregon.,Center for Translational Neuroscience, University of Oregon
| | | | | | | | - C Daryl Cameron
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University.,Rock Ethics Institute, The Pennsylvania State University
| | - Serena Chen
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Kurt Gray
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
| | | | - Martie G Haselton
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles.,Department of Communication, University of California, Los Angeles.,Institute for Society and Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles
| | - Nick Haslam
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne
| | | | | | | | - Yuen J Huo
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles
| | | | - Frank J Kachanoff
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
| | | | - Mark R Leary
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University
| | | | - Randy T Lee
- Department of Psychology, Cornell University
| | - Steve Loughnan
- School of Philosophy, Psychology, and Language Sciences, The University of Edinburgh
| | | | - Traci Mann
- Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota
| | | | | | - Efrén O Pérez
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles.,Department of Political Science, University of California, Los Angeles
| | - Tom Pyszczynski
- Department of Psychology, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
| | | | | | | | - Mark Schaller
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia
| | - Roxane Cohen Silver
- Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine.,Department of Medicine, University of California, Irvine.,Program in Public Health, University of California, Irvine
| | | | - Nina Strohminger
- Department of Legal Studies and Business Ethics, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania.,Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania
| | - Janet K Swim
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University
| | - Felix Thoemmes
- Department of Human Development, Cornell University.,Department of Psychology, Cornell University
| | | | | | - Sarah Volz
- Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota
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32
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Bayeh R, Yampolsky MA, Ryder AG. The Social Lives of Infectious Diseases: Why Culture Matters to COVID-19. Front Psychol 2021; 12:648086. [PMID: 34630195 PMCID: PMC8495420 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.648086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2020] [Accepted: 08/05/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Over the course of the year 2020, the global scientific community dedicated considerable effort to understanding COVID-19. In this review, we discuss some of the findings accumulated between the onset of the pandemic and the end of 2020, and argue that although COVID-19 is clearly a biological disease tied to a specific virus, the culture-mind relation at the heart of cultural psychology is nonetheless essential to understanding the pandemic. Striking differences have been observed in terms of relative mortality, transmission rates, behavioral responses, official policies, compliance with authorities, and even the extent to which beliefs about COVID-19 have been politicized across different societies and groups. Moreover, many minority groups have very different experiences of the pandemic relative to dominant groups, notably through existing health inequities as well as discrimination and marginalization, which we believe calls for a better integration of political and socioeconomic factors into cultural psychology and into the narrative of health and illness in psychological science more broadly. Finally, individual differences in, for example, intolerance of uncertainty, optimism, conspiratorial thinking, or collectivist orientation are influenced by cultural context, with implications for behaviors that are relevant to the spread and impact of COVID-19, such as mask-wearing and social distancing. The interplay between cultural context and the experience and expression of mental disorders continues to be documented by cultural-clinical psychology; the current work extends this thinking to infectious disease, with special attention to diseases spread by social contact and fought at least in part through social interventions. We will discuss cultural influences on the transmission, course, and outcome of COVID-19 at three levels: (1) cross-society differences; (2) within-society communities and intergroup relations; and (3) individual differences shaped by cultural context. We conclude by considering potential theoretical implications of this perspective on infectious disease for cultural psychology and related disciplines, as well as practical implications of this perspective on science communication and public health interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebeca Bayeh
- Culture, Health, and Personality Lab and Centre for Clinical Research in Health, Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | | | - Andrew G. Ryder
- Culture, Health, and Personality Lab and Centre for Clinical Research in Health, Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Culture and Mental Health Research Unit and Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, QC, Canada
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33
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Brown M, Tracy RE, Young SG, Sacco DF. Crowd Salience Heightens Tolerance to Healthy Facial Features. ADAPTIVE HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND PHYSIOLOGY 2021; 7:432-446. [PMID: 34567952 PMCID: PMC8455113 DOI: 10.1007/s40750-021-00176-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2021] [Revised: 09/14/2021] [Accepted: 09/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Recent findings suggest crowd salience heightens pathogen-avoidant motives, serving to reduce individuals' infection risk through interpersonal contact. Such experiences may similarly facilitate the identification, and avoidance, of diseased conspecifics. The current experiment sought to replicate and extend previous crowding research. METHODS In this experiment, we primed participants at two universities with either a crowding or control experience before having them evaluate faces manipulated to appear healthy or diseased by indicating the degree to which they would want to interact with them. RESULTS Crowding-primed participants reported a more heightened preferences for healthy faces than control-primed participants. Additionally, crowd salience reduced aversion toward healthy faces but did not heighten aversion to diseased faces. CONCLUSION Results suggest crowding appears to heighten tolerance for health cues given the heightened proximal threat of infections through interpersonal contact within crowded environments. Conversely, this work extends previous findings by indicating this preference is not rooted in an aversion to cues of poor health. We frame findings from a threat management perspective in understanding how crowding fosters sensitivity toward pathogenic threats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mitch Brown
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701 USA
| | | | - Steven G. Young
- Graduate Center at CUNY, New York, NY USA
- CUNY Baruch College, New York, NY USA
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34
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Zmigrod L, Ebert T, Götz FM, Rentfrow PJ. The psychological and socio-political consequences of infectious diseases: Authoritarianism, governance, and nonzoonotic (human-to-human) infection transmission. JOURNAL OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.5964/jspp.7297] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
What are the socio-political consequences of infectious diseases? Humans have evolved to avoid disease and infection, resulting in a set of psychological mechanisms that promote disease-avoidance, referred to as the behavioral immune system (BIS). One manifestation of the BIS is the cautious avoidance of unfamiliar, foreign, or potentially contaminating stimuli. Specifically, when disease infection risk is salient or prevalent, authoritarian attitudes can emerge that seek to avoid and reject foreign outgroups while favoring homogenous, familiar ingroups. In the largest study conducted on the topic to date (N > 240,000), elevated regional levels of infectious pathogens were related to more authoritarian attitudes on three geographical levels: across U.S. metropolitan regions, U.S. states, and cross-culturally across 47 countries. The link between pathogen prevalence and authoritarian psychological dispositions predicted conservative voting behavior in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election and more authoritarian governance and state laws, in which one group of people imposes asymmetrical laws on others in a hierarchical structure. Furthermore, cross-cultural analysis illustrated that the relationship between infectious diseases and authoritarianism was pronounced for infectious diseases that can be acquired from other humans (nonzoonotic), and does not generalize to other infectious diseases that can only be acquired from non-human species (zoonotic diseases). At a time of heightened awareness of infectious diseases, the current findings are important reminders that public health and ecology can have ramifications for socio-political attitudes by shaping how citizens vote and are governed.
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35
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Kim HS, Eom K, Chuang R, Sherman DK. Psychology and the Threat of Contagion: Feeling Vulnerable to a Disease Moderates the Link Between Xenophobic Thoughts and Support for Ingroup-Protective Actions. PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN 2021; 48:1465-1482. [PMID: 34399655 DOI: 10.1177/01461672211037138] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
The widespread threat of contagious disease disrupts not only everyday life but also psychological experience. Building on findings regarding xenophobic responses to contagious diseases, this research investigates how perceived vulnerability to a disease moderates the psychological link between people's xenophobic thoughts and support for ingroup-protective actions. Three datasets collected during the time of Ebola (N = 867) and COVID-19 (Ns = 992 and 926) measured perceived disease risk, group-serving biases (i.e., xenophobic thoughts), and support for restrictive travel policies (i.e., ingroup-protective actions). Using correlational and quasi-experimental analyses, results indicated that for people who perceive greater disease risk, the association between group-serving bias and restrictive policy support is weakened. This weakened association occurred because people who felt more vulnerable to these diseases increased support for ingroup-protective actions more strongly than xenophobic thoughts. This research underscores the importance of understanding the impact of threats on psychological processes beyond the impact on psychological outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Kimin Eom
- Singapore Management University, Singapore
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36
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Imada H, Mifune N. Pathogen Threat and In-group Cooperation. Front Psychol 2021; 12:678188. [PMID: 34267707 PMCID: PMC8276105 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.678188] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2021] [Accepted: 06/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Disease-causing parasites and pathogens play a pivotal role in intergroup behavior. Previous studies have suggested that the selection pressure posed by pathogen threat has resulted in in-group assortative sociality, including xenophobia and in-group favoritism. While the current literature has collated numerous studies on the former, strikingly, there has not been much research on the relationship between pathogen threat and in-group cooperation. Drawing upon prior studies on the function of the behavioral immune system (BIS), we argued that the BIS might facilitate cooperation with in-group members as a reactive behavioral immune response to pathogen threat. More specifically, we held that individuals might utilize cooperative behavior to ensure that they can receive social support when they have contracted an infectious disease. We reviewed existing findings pertaining to the potential role of the BIS in in-group cooperation and discussed directions for future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hirotaka Imada
- School of Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom
| | - Nobuhiro Mifune
- School of Economics and Management, Kochi University of Technology, Kochi, Japan
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37
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Samore T, Fessler DMT, Sparks AM, Holbrook C. Of pathogens and party lines: Social conservatism positively associates with COVID-19 precautions among U.S. Democrats but not Republicans. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0253326. [PMID: 34185786 PMCID: PMC8241032 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0253326] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2021] [Accepted: 06/03/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Social liberals tend to be less pathogen-avoidant than social conservatives, a pattern consistent with a model wherein ideological differences stem from differences in threat reactivity. Here we investigate if and how individual responses to a shared threat reflect those patterns of ideological difference. In seeming contradiction to the general association between social conservatism and pathogen avoidance, the more socially conservative political party in the United States has more consistently downplayed the dangers of COVID-19 during the ongoing pandemic. This puzzle offers an opportunity to examine the contributions of multiple factors to disease avoidance. We investigated the relationship between social conservatism and COVID-19 precautionary behavior in light of the partisan landscape of the United States. We explored whether consumption of, and attitudes toward, different sources of information, as well as differential evaluation of various threats caused by the pandemic-such as direct health costs versus indirect harms to the economy and individual liberties-shape partisan differences in responses to the pandemic in ways that overwhelm the contributions of social conservatism. In two pre-registered studies, socially conservative attitudes correlate with self-reported COVID-19 prophylactic behaviors, but only among Democrats. Reflecting larger societal divisions, among Republicans and Independents, the absence of a positive relationship between social conservatism and COVID-19 precautions appears driven by lower trust in scientists, lower trust in liberal and moderate sources, lesser consumption of liberal news media, and greater economic conservatism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Theodore Samore
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
- UCLA Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
| | - Daniel M. T. Fessler
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
- UCLA Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
- UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
| | | | - Colin Holbrook
- Department of Cognitive and Information Sciences, University of California, Merced, California, United States of America
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38
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Ruck DJ, Bentley RA, Borycz J. Early warning of vulnerable counties in a pandemic using socio-economic variables. ECONOMICS AND HUMAN BIOLOGY 2021; 41:100988. [PMID: 33636583 PMCID: PMC8054145 DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2021.100988] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2020] [Revised: 01/11/2021] [Accepted: 01/29/2021] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
In the U.S. in early 2020, heterogenous and incomplete county-scale data on COVID-19 hindered effective interventions in the pandemic. While numbers of deaths can be used to estimate actual number of infections after a time lag, counties with low death counts early on have considerable uncertainty about true numbers of cases in the future. Here we show that supplementing county-scale mortality statistics with socioeconomic data helps estimate true numbers of COVID-19 infections in low-data counties, and hence provide an early warning of future concern. We fit a LASSO negative binomial regression to select a parsimonious set of five predictive variables from thirty-one county-level covariates. Of these, population density, public transportation use, voting patterns and % African-American population are most predictive of higher COVID-19 death rates. To test the model, we show that counties identified as under-estimating COVID-19 on an early date (April 17) have relatively higher deaths later (July 1) in the pandemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Damian J Ruck
- Anthropology Dept., University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA; Network Science Institute, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | | | - Joshua Borycz
- Sarah Shannon Stevenson Science and Engineering Library, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37203, USA
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39
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Han N, Ren X, Wu P, Liu X, Zhu T. Increase of Collectivistic Expression in China During the COVID-19 Outbreak: An Empirical Study on Online Social Networks. Front Psychol 2021; 12:632204. [PMID: 33959071 PMCID: PMC8093398 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.632204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2020] [Accepted: 03/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The pathogen-prevalence hypothesis postulates that collectivism would be strengthened in the long term in tandem with recurrent attacks of infectious diseases. However, it is unclear whether a one-time pathogen epidemic would elevate collectivism. The outbreak of COVID-19 and the widespread prevalence of online social networks have provided researchers an opportunity to explore this issue. This study sampled and analyzed the posts of 126,165 active users on Weibo, a leading Chinese online social network. It used independent-sample t-tests to examine whether COVID-19 had an impact on Chinese collectivistic value-related behaviors by comparing the usage frequency of personal pronouns, group-related words, and relationship-related words before and after the outbreak. Overall, most collectivist words exhibited a significant upward trend after the outbreak. In turn, this tendency pointed to a rising sense of collectivism (versus individualism). Hence, this study confirmed the pathogen-prevalence hypothesis in real settings, finding that an outbreak of an infectious disease such as COVID-19 could exert an impact on collectivism and may deliver a theoretical basis for psychological protection against the threat of COVID-19. However, further evaluation is required to ascertain whether this trend is universal or culture-specific.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nuo Han
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xiaopeng Ren
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Peijing Wu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xiaoqian Liu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Tingshao Zhu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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40
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Young SG, Brown M, Sacco DF. Using psychological science to support social distancing: Tradeoffs between affiliation and disease‐avoidance motivations. SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY COMPASS 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/spc3.12597] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Steven G. Young
- Baruch College City University of New York New York City New York USA
- The Graduate Center City University of New York New York City New York USA
| | - Mitch Brown
- University of Arkansas Fayetteville Arkansas USA
| | - Donald F. Sacco
- The University of Southern Mississippi Hattiesburg Mississippi USA
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41
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Henderson RK, Schnall S. Disease and Disapproval: COVID-19 Concern is Related to Greater Moral Condemnation. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2021; 19:14747049211021524. [PMID: 34112018 PMCID: PMC10358411 DOI: 10.1177/14747049211021524] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2020] [Revised: 04/17/2021] [Accepted: 05/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Prior research has indicated that disease threat and disgust are associated with harsher moral condemnation. We investigated the role of a specific, highly salient health concern, namely the spread of the coronavirus, and associated COVID-19 disease, on moral disapproval. We hypothesized that individuals who report greater subjective worry about COVID-19 would be more sensitive to moral transgressions. Across three studies (N = 913), conducted March-May 2020 as the pandemic started to unfold in the United States, we found that individuals who were worried about contracting the infectious disease made harsher moral judgments than those who were relatively less worried. This effect was not restricted to transgressions involving purity, but extended to transgressions involving harm, fairness, authority, and loyalty, and remained when controlling for political orientation. Furthermore, for Studies 1 and 2 the effect also was robust when taking into account the contamination subscale of the Disgust Scale-Revised. These findings add to the growing literature that concrete threats to health can play a role in abstract moral considerations, supporting the notion that judgments of wrongdoing are not based on rational thought alone.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Simone Schnall
- Department of Psychology, 2152University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
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42
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Boykin K, Brown M, Macchione AL, Drea KM, Sacco DF. Noncompliance with Masking as a Coalitional Signal to US Conservatives in a Pandemic. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2021; 7:232-238. [PMID: 33747752 PMCID: PMC7955948 DOI: 10.1007/s40806-021-00277-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2020] [Revised: 02/05/2021] [Accepted: 02/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Humans have evolved perceptual acuity toward environmental cues heuristically associated with communicable disease that elicits an aversion. One heuristic cue that humans utilize to infer contamination threat is ingroup-outgroup status, with prejudices arising toward outgroup members due to potential novel pathogen exposure. The current study sought to investigate how disease responses in the US population have been modulated by the COVID-19 pandemic, given its origins in China, an outgroup population. We predicted that participants expressing heightened perceived vulnerability to disease and greater levels of conservatism would report higher levels of aversion towards targets not wearing a mask, particularly among Asian targets, given the association of COVID-19 with Asian populations. Results indicate that conservative individuals were more comfortable with both Asian and White targets if they were not wearing a mask, particularly male targets. We contextualize these findings by identifying how mask-wearing during the pandemic could be more communicative of one’s coalitional affiliation rather than a protective health measure for more conservative persons.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaitlyn Boykin
- School of Psychology, The University of Southern Mississippi, 118 College Dr, MS 39406 Hattiesburg, USA
| | - Mitch Brown
- University of Arkansas, 1 University of Arkansas, AR 72701 Fayetteville, USA
| | - Alicia L Macchione
- School of Psychology, The University of Southern Mississippi, 118 College Dr, MS 39406 Hattiesburg, USA
| | - Kelsey M Drea
- School of Psychology, The University of Southern Mississippi, 118 College Dr, MS 39406 Hattiesburg, USA
| | - Donald F Sacco
- School of Psychology, The University of Southern Mississippi, 118 College Dr, MS 39406 Hattiesburg, USA
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43
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Eriksson K, Strimling P, Gelfand M, Wu J, Abernathy J, Akotia CS, Aldashev A, Andersson PA, Andrighetto G, Anum A, Arikan G, Aycan Z, Bagherian F, Barrera D, Basnight-Brown D, Batkeyev B, Belaus A, Berezina E, Björnstjerna M, Blumen S, Boski P, Bou Zeineddine F, Bovina I, Huyen BTT, Cardenas JC, Čekrlija Đ, Choi HS, Contreras-Ibáñez CC, Costa-Lopes R, de Barra M, de Zoysa P, Dorrough A, Dvoryanchikov N, Eller A, Engelmann JB, Euh H, Fang X, Fiedler S, Foster-Gimbel OA, Fülöp M, Gardarsdottir RB, Gill CMHD, Glöckner A, Graf S, Grigoryan A, Gritskov V, Growiec K, Halama P, Hartanto A, Hopthrow T, Hřebíčková M, Iliško D, Imada H, Kapoor H, Kawakami K, Khachatryan N, Kharchenko N, Khoury N, Kiyonari T, Kohút M, Linh LT, Leslie LM, Li Y, Li NP, Li Z, Liik K, Maitner AT, Manhique B, Manley H, Medhioub I, Mentser S, Mohammed L, Nejat P, Nipassa O, Nussinson R, Onyedire NG, Onyishi IE, Özden S, Panagiotopoulou P, Perez-Floriano LR, Persson MS, Pheko M, Pirttilä-Backman AM, Pogosyan M, Raver J, Reyna C, Rodrigues RB, Romanò S, Romero PP, Sakki I, San Martin A, Sherbaji S, Shimizu H, Simpson B, Szabo E, Takemura K, Tieffi H, Mendes Teixeira ML, Thanomkul N, Tiliouine H, Travaglino GA, Tsirbas Y, Wan R, Widodo S, Zein R, Zhang QP, Zirganou-Kazolea L, Van Lange PAM. Perceptions of the appropriate response to norm violation in 57 societies. Nat Commun 2021; 12:1481. [PMID: 33674587 PMCID: PMC7935962 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21602-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2020] [Accepted: 01/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Norm enforcement may be important for resolving conflicts and promoting cooperation. However, little is known about how preferred responses to norm violations vary across cultures and across domains. In a preregistered study of 57 countries (using convenience samples of 22,863 students and non-students), we measured perceptions of the appropriateness of various responses to a violation of a cooperative norm and to atypical social behaviors. Our findings highlight both cultural universals and cultural variation. We find a universal negative relation between appropriateness ratings of norm violations and appropriateness ratings of responses in the form of confrontation, social ostracism and gossip. Moreover, we find the country variation in the appropriateness of sanctions to be consistent across different norm violations but not across different sanctions. Specifically, in those countries where use of physical confrontation and social ostracism is rated as less appropriate, gossip is rated as more appropriate. Little is known about people’s preferred responses to norm violations across countries. Here, in a study of 57 countries, the authors highlight cultural similarities and differences in people’s perception of the appropriateness of norm violations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kimmo Eriksson
- Center for Cultural Evolution, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden. .,Mälardalen University, Västerås, Sweden.
| | | | - Michele Gelfand
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
| | - Junhui Wu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China
| | - Jered Abernathy
- Department of Sociology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
| | - Charity S Akotia
- Department of Psychology, University of Ghana, P.O. Box LG 84 Legon, Accra, Ghana
| | - Alisher Aldashev
- New School of Economics, Satbayev University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
| | - Per A Andersson
- Center for Cultural Evolution, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Behavioral Sciences and Learning, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Giulia Andrighetto
- Mälardalen University, Västerås, Sweden.,Institute for Futures Studies, Box 591, Stockholm, Sweden.,Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council of Italy, Rome, Italy
| | - Adote Anum
- Department of Psychology, University of Ghana, P.O. Box LG 84 Legon, Accra, Ghana
| | - Gizem Arikan
- Department of Political Science, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Zeynep Aycan
- Koç University, Rumelifeneri, Sarıyer Rumelifeneri Yolu, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Fatemeh Bagherian
- Department of Psychology and Education, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Davide Barrera
- University of Turin and Collegio Carlo Alberto, Turin, Italy
| | - Dana Basnight-Brown
- United States International University - Africa, Box 14634 00800, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Birzhan Batkeyev
- International School of Economics, Kazakh-British Technical University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
| | - Anabel Belaus
- Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas (IIPsi), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), CABA, República Argentina.,Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (UNC). Facultad de Psicología (UNC), Ciudad Universitaria, Bv. de la Reforma esquina, Enfermera Gordillo s/n, Córdoba, Argentina
| | - Elizaveta Berezina
- Sunway University, No. 5, Jalan Universiti, Bandar Sunway, Selangor, Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
| | | | - Sheyla Blumen
- Departamento de Psicología, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, San Miguel, Lima, Peru
| | - Paweł Boski
- SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Chodakowska, Poland
| | | | - Inna Bovina
- Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russia
| | - Bui Thi Thu Huyen
- Hanoi National University of Education, Cau Giay District, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | | | - Đorđe Čekrlija
- Faculty of philosophy, University of Banja Luka, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina
| | - Hoon-Seok Choi
- Department of Psychology, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Carlos C Contreras-Ibáñez
- Departamento de Sociología, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana - Unidad Iztapalapa, Ciudad de México, Mexico
| | - Rui Costa-Lopes
- Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Mícheál de Barra
- Center for Culture and Evolution, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UK
| | | | - Angela Dorrough
- Department of Psychology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | | | - Anja Eller
- Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Av. Universidad 3004, Ciudad Universitaria, Ciudad de México, Mexico
| | - Jan B Engelmann
- Center for Research in Experimental Economics and Political Decision Making (CREED), Amsterdam School of Economics, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 15867, Amsterdam, NJ, The Netherlands
| | - Hyun Euh
- Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA
| | - Xia Fang
- Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Susann Fiedler
- Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn, Germany
| | | | - Márta Fülöp
- Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre of Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.,Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Psychology and Education, Budapest, Hungary
| | | | - C M Hew D Gill
- Sunway University, No. 5, Jalan Universiti, Bandar Sunway, Selangor, Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
| | - Andreas Glöckner
- Department of Psychology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.,Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn, Germany
| | - Sylvie Graf
- Institute of Psychology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Ani Grigoryan
- Department of Personality Psychology, Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Armenia
| | | | - Katarzyna Growiec
- SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Chodakowska, Poland
| | - Peter Halama
- Center for Social and Psychological Sciences, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Andree Hartanto
- School of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Tim Hopthrow
- School of Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
| | - Martina Hřebíčková
- Institute of Psychology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic
| | | | - Hirotaka Imada
- School of Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
| | | | - Kerry Kawakami
- Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Narine Khachatryan
- Department of Personality Psychology, Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Armenia
| | | | | | - Toko Kiyonari
- Aoyama Gakuin University, Sagamihara-city, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Michal Kohút
- Faculty of Philosophy and Arts, University of Trnava, Trnava, Slovakia
| | - Lê Thuỳ Linh
- National Economics University, Hai Ba Trung, Dong Tam District, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Lisa M Leslie
- New York University, Stern School of Business, New York, NY, 10012, USA
| | - Yang Li
- Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan.,Melbourne School of Psychological Science, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia
| | - Norman P Li
- School of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Zhuo Li
- Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
| | - Kadi Liik
- School of Natural Sciences and Health, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia
| | - Angela T Maitner
- Department of International Studies, American University of Sharjah, PO Box 26666, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
| | - Bernardo Manhique
- Eduardo Mondlane University, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Department of Sociology, Maputo, Mozambique
| | - Harry Manley
- Faculty of Psychology, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Imed Medhioub
- Department of Finance and Investment, Al Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), P.O. Box 5701, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
| | | | - Linda Mohammed
- Institute of Criminology and Public Safety, Valsayn Campus, Graver Road, Valsayn, University of Trinidad and Tobago, Arima, Trinidad and Tobago
| | - Pegah Nejat
- Department of Psychology and Education, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Orlando Nipassa
- Eduardo Mondlane University, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Department of Sociology, Maputo, Mozambique
| | - Ravit Nussinson
- The Open University of Israel, Raanana, Israel.,University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Nneoma G Onyedire
- Department of Psychology, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Nsukka, Nigeria
| | - Ike E Onyishi
- Department of Psychology, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Nsukka, Nigeria
| | - Seniha Özden
- Koç University, Rumelifeneri, Sarıyer Rumelifeneri Yolu, Istanbul, Turkey
| | | | | | | | - Mpho Pheko
- Department of Psychology, University of Botswana, Private Bag UB 00705, Gaborone, Botswana
| | - Anna-Maija Pirttilä-Backman
- University of Helsinki, Faculty of Social Sciences, Social Psychology, PO Box 54 (Unioninkatu 37), Helsinki, Finland
| | - Marianna Pogosyan
- Politics, Psychology, Law and Economics (PPLE), University of Amsterdam, PO Box 15575, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Jana Raver
- Queen's University, Goodes Hall, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada
| | - Cecilia Reyna
- Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas (IIPsi), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), CABA, República Argentina
| | | | - Sara Romanò
- Department of Culture, Politics and Society, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Pedro P Romero
- Experimental and Computational Economics Lab (ECEL), School of Economics, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Diego de Robles y Pampite, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Inari Sakki
- University of Eastern Finland, Department of Social Sciences, P.O. Box 162770211, Kuopio, Finland
| | | | - Sara Sherbaji
- Department of International Studies, American University of Sharjah, PO Box 26666, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
| | | | - Brent Simpson
- Department of Sociology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
| | - Erna Szabo
- Department of International Management, Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria
| | - Kosuke Takemura
- Faculty of Economics, Shiga University, Hikone, Shiga, Japan
| | - Hassan Tieffi
- Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny Cocody-Abidjan, Centre Ivoirien d'Etude et de Recherche en Psychologie Appliquée (CIERPA), Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
| | | | - Napoj Thanomkul
- Faculty of Psychology, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Habib Tiliouine
- Labo-PECS, Faculty of Social Sciences, Université d'Oran 2, Oran, Algeria
| | - Giovanni A Travaglino
- School of Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.,School of Humanities and Social Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Longgang District, Shenzhen, P. R. China
| | - Yannis Tsirbas
- University of Athens, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Athens, Greece
| | - Richard Wan
- Department of International Management, Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria
| | - Sita Widodo
- Department of Personality and Social Psychology, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia
| | - Rizqy Zein
- Department of Personality and Social Psychology, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia
| | - Qing-Peng Zhang
- Guangzhou University, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou, P.R. China
| | - Lina Zirganou-Kazolea
- University of Athens, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Athens, Greece
| | - Paul A M Van Lange
- VU Amsterdam, Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Institute for Brain and Behavior Amsterdam (IBBA), Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Cross-Country Differences in Stay-at-Home Behaviors during Peaks in the COVID-19 Pandemic in China and the United States: The Roles of Health Beliefs and Behavioral Intention. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2021; 18:ijerph18042104. [PMID: 33670078 PMCID: PMC7927070 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18042104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2021] [Revised: 02/16/2021] [Accepted: 02/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) rapidly escalated to a global pandemic. To control the rate of transmission, governments advocated that the public practice social distancing, which included staying at home. However, compliance with stay-at-home orders has varied between countries such as China and the United States, and little is known about the mechanisms underlying the national differences. Based on the health belief model, the theory of reasoned action, and the technology acceptance model, health beliefs and behavioral intention are suggested as possible explanations. A total of 498 Chinese and 292 American college students were recruited to complete an online survey. The structural equation modeling results showed that health beliefs (i.e., perceived susceptibility, severity, and barriers) and behavioral intention played multiple mediating roles in the association between nationality and actual stay-at-home behaviors. Notably, the effect via perceived barriers → behavioral intention was stronger than the effects via perceived susceptibility and severity → behavioral intention. That is, American participants perceived high levels of susceptibility whereas Chinese participants perceived high levels of severity, especially few barriers, which further led to increased behavioral intention and more frequent stay-at-home behaviors. These findings not only facilitate a comprehensive understanding of cross-country differences in compliance with stay-at-home orders during peaks in the COVID-19 pandemic but also lend support for mitigation of the current global crisis and future disease prevention and health promotion efforts.
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Rosenfeld DL, Tomiyama AJ. Can a pandemic make people more socially conservative? Political ideology, gender roles, and the case of COVID-19. JOURNAL OF APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2021; 51:425-433. [PMID: 33821034 PMCID: PMC8014651 DOI: 10.1111/jasp.12745] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2020] [Accepted: 12/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The first months of 2020 rapidly threw people into a period of societal turmoil and pathogen threat with the COVID-19 pandemic. By promoting epistemic and existential motivational processes and activating people's behavioral immune systems, this pandemic may have changed social and political attitudes. The current research specifically asked the following question: As COVID-19 became pronounced in the United States during the pandemic's emergence, did people living there become more socially conservative? We present a repeated-measures study (N = 695) that assessed political ideology, gender role conformity, and gender stereotypes among U.S. adults before (January 25-26, 2020) versus during (March 19-April 2, 2020) the pandemic. During the pandemic, participants reported conforming more strongly to traditional gender roles and believing more strongly in traditional gender stereotypes than they did before the pandemic. Political ideology remained constant over time. These findings suggest that a pandemic may promote the preference for traditional gender roles.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - A Janet Tomiyama
- Department of Psychology University of California Los Angeles CA USA
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46
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Varnum MEW, Krems JA, Morris C, Wormley A, Grossmann I. Why are song lyrics becoming simpler? a time series analysis of lyrical complexity in six decades of American popular music. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0244576. [PMID: 33439881 PMCID: PMC7806124 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0244576] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2020] [Accepted: 12/11/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Song lyrics are rich in meaning. In recent years, the lyrical content of popular songs has been used as an index of culture's shifting norms, affect, and values. One particular, newly uncovered, trend is that lyrics of popular songs have become increasingly simple over time. Why might this be? Here, we test the idea that increasing lyrical simplicity is accompanied by a widening array of novel song choices. We do so by using six decades (1958-2016) of popular music in the United States (N = 14,661 songs), controlling for multiple well-studied ecological and cultural factors plausibly linked to shifts in lyrical simplicity (e.g., resource availability, pathogen prevalence, rising individualism). In years when more novel song choices were produced, the average lyrical simplicity of the songs entering U.S. billboard charts was greater. This cross-temporal relationship was robust when controlling for a range of cultural and ecological factors and employing multiverse analyses to control for potentially confounding influence of temporal autocorrelation. Finally, simpler songs entering the charts were more successful, reaching higher chart positions, especially in years when more novel songs were produced. The present results suggest that cultural transmission depends on the amount of novel choices in the information landscape.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael E. W. Varnum
- Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States of America
| | - Jaimie Arona Krems
- Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, United States of America
| | | | - Alexandra Wormley
- Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States of America
| | - Igor Grossmann
- Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
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Abstract
Pandemics are enormous threats to the world that impact all aspects of our lives, especially the global economy. The COVID-19 pandemic has emerged since December 2019 and has affected the global economy in many ways. As the world becomes more interconnected, the economic impacts of the pandemic become more serious. In addition to increased health expenditures and reduced labor force, the pandemic has hit the supply and demand chain massively and caused trouble for manufacturers who have to fire some of their employees or delay their economic activities to prevent more loss. With the closure of manufacturers and companies and reduced travel rates, usage of oil after the beginning of the pandemic has decreased significantly that was unprecedented in the last 30 years. The mining industry is a critical sector in several developing countries, and the COVID-19 pandemic has hit this industry too. Also, world stock markets declined as investors started to become concerned about the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The tourism industry and airlines have also experienced an enormous loss too. The GDP has reduced, and this pandemic will cost the world more than 2 trillion at the end of 2020.
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48
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Samore T, Fessler DMT, Sparks AM, Holbrook C. Of pathogens and party lines: Social conservatism positively associates with COVID-19 precautions among U.S. Democrats but not Republicans. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0253326. [PMID: 34185786 DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/9zsvb] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2021] [Accepted: 06/03/2021] [Indexed: 05/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Social liberals tend to be less pathogen-avoidant than social conservatives, a pattern consistent with a model wherein ideological differences stem from differences in threat reactivity. Here we investigate if and how individual responses to a shared threat reflect those patterns of ideological difference. In seeming contradiction to the general association between social conservatism and pathogen avoidance, the more socially conservative political party in the United States has more consistently downplayed the dangers of COVID-19 during the ongoing pandemic. This puzzle offers an opportunity to examine the contributions of multiple factors to disease avoidance. We investigated the relationship between social conservatism and COVID-19 precautionary behavior in light of the partisan landscape of the United States. We explored whether consumption of, and attitudes toward, different sources of information, as well as differential evaluation of various threats caused by the pandemic-such as direct health costs versus indirect harms to the economy and individual liberties-shape partisan differences in responses to the pandemic in ways that overwhelm the contributions of social conservatism. In two pre-registered studies, socially conservative attitudes correlate with self-reported COVID-19 prophylactic behaviors, but only among Democrats. Reflecting larger societal divisions, among Republicans and Independents, the absence of a positive relationship between social conservatism and COVID-19 precautions appears driven by lower trust in scientists, lower trust in liberal and moderate sources, lesser consumption of liberal news media, and greater economic conservatism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Theodore Samore
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
- UCLA Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
| | - Daniel M T Fessler
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
- UCLA Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
- UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
| | | | - Colin Holbrook
- Department of Cognitive and Information Sciences, University of California, Merced, California, United States of America
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49
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Pathogens and Intergroup Relations. How Evolutionary Approaches Can Inform Social Neuroscience. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s40806-020-00269-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
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50
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Huang F, Ding H, Liu Z, Wu P, Zhu M, Li A, Zhu T. How fear and collectivism influence public's preventive intention towards COVID-19 infection: a study based on big data from the social media. BMC Public Health 2020; 20:1707. [PMID: 33198699 PMCID: PMC7667474 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-020-09674-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2020] [Accepted: 10/12/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Despite worldwide calls for precautionary measures to combat COVID-19, the public's preventive intention still varies significantly among different regions. Exploring the influencing factors of the public's preventive intention is very important to curtail the spread of COVID-19. Previous studies have found that fear can effectively improve the public's preventive intention, but they ignore the impact of differences in cultural values. The present study examines the combined effect of fear and collectivism on the public's preventive intention towards COVID-19 through the analysis of social media big data. METHODS The Sina microblog posts of 108,914 active users from Chinese mainland 31 provinces were downloaded. The data was retrieved from January 11 to February 21, 2020. Afterwards, we conducted a province-level analysis of the contents of downloaded posts. Three lexicons were applied to automatically recognise the scores of fear, collectivism, and preventive intention of 31 provinces. After that, a multiple regression model was established to examine the combined effect of fear and collectivism on the public's preventive intention towards COVID-19. The simple slope test and the Johnson-Neyman technique were used to test the interaction of fear and collectivism on preventive intention. RESULTS The study reveals that: (a) both fear and collectivism can positively predict people's preventive intention and (b) there is an interaction of fear and collectivism on people's preventive intention, where fear and collectivism reduce each other's positive influence on people's preventive intention. CONCLUSION The promotion of fear on people's preventive intention may be limited and conditional, and values of collectivism can well compensate for the promotion of fear on preventive intention. These results provide scientific inspiration on how to enhance the public's preventive intention towards COVID-19 effectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Feng Huang
- Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Huimin Ding
- Graduate School, Xinyang Normal University, Xinyang, 464000, China
| | - Zeyu Liu
- Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Peijing Wu
- Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Meng Zhu
- Institute for Advanced Studies in Finance and Economics, Hubei University of Economics, Wuhan, 430205, China
| | - Ang Li
- Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
- Department of Psychology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100101, China.
| | - Tingshao Zhu
- Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
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