Cooperation in the Time of COVID

Humans evolved to be hyper-cooperative, particularly when among people who are well known to them, when relationships involve reciprocal helping opportunities, and when the costs to the helper are substantially less than the benefits to the recipient. Because humans' cooperative nature evolved over many millennia when they lived exclusively in small groups, factors that cause cooperation to break down tend to be those associated with life in large, impersonal, modern societies: when people are not identifiable, when interactions are one-off, when self-interest is not tied to the interests of others, and when people are concerned that others might free ride. From this perspective, it becomes clear that policies for managing pandemics will be most effective when they highlight superordinate goals and connect people or institutions to one another over multiple identifiable interactions. When forging such connections is not possible, policies should mimic critical components of ancestral conditions by providing reputational markers for cooperators and reducing the systemic damage caused by free riding. In this article, we review policies implemented during the pandemic, highlighting spontaneous community efforts that leveraged these aspects of people's evolved psychology, and consider implications for future decision makers.

Public discourse and debate about vaccines in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic: a qualitative content analysis of Twitter

Objectives

Characterize the public debate and discourse about vaccines during the covid-19 vaccination programmes.

Methods

We performed a manual content analysis of a sample of English-written Twitter posts that included the word vaccine and its derivatives. We categorized 7 variables pertaining to the content of the posts, and classified the type of user that published the post and the number of retweets. Then, the patterns of association between these variables were further explored.

Results

Among the tweets with negative tone towards vaccines, 33% display negationist discourses, 29% protest or defiance discourses, 13% discuss the pandemic management measures and yet another 13% of these tweets display a scientific discourse. Research results, vaccination data and practical information are more associated to positive tone towards vaccines, while news relate to neutral tone. The users that received more retweets were media accounts and journalists, followed by government accounts and scientific organizations related to the government. Tweets displaying preventive messages received more retweets in average. The discourses most associated with objective information are the preventive, institutional, medical-scientific, and those about the different measures to manage the pandemic. On the other hand, the most subjective tweets are those with negationist, antinegationist and protest discourses.

Conclusions

Although there is a non-negligible proportion of tweets that are directly opposed to vaccines, also an important part of vaccine-negative content takes the form of protest discourses, criticisms towards government actions as well as towards the measures to tackle the pandemic. Therefore, negative discourses during the pandemic included serious vaccine hesitancy cases. Moreover, they were not only fuelled by distrust in science, but also and very importantly they were connected to dissatisfaction towards the public management of the pandemic.

Analysing Twitter's Role in Combating the Magnetic Vaccine Conspiracy Theory Using Social Network Analysis

BACKGROUND

The popularity of the magnetic vaccine conspiracy theory, and others of a similar nature, creates challenges to promoting vaccines and disseminating accurate health information.

OBJECTIVE

Health conspiracy theories are gaining in popularity. The study's objective was to evaluate the Twitter social media network related to the magnetic vaccination conspiracy theory and to apply social capital theory to analyse the unique social structures of influential users. As a strategy for online public health surveillance, we employ social network analysis to identify the important opinion leaders sharing the conspiracy, the key websites, and the narratives.

METHODS

A total of 18,706 tweets were retrieved and analysed using social network analysis. Data were retrieved from June 01 to June 13 (2021) using the keyword 'vaccine magnetic'. Tweets were retrieved via a dedicated Twitter Application Programming Interface (API). More specifically, the Academic Track API was used, and the data were analysed using NodeXL Pro and Gephi.

RESULTS

There were a total of 22,762 connections between Twitter users within the dataset. The study found that the most influential user within the network consisted of a news account that was reporting on the conspiracy. There were also several other users that became influential such as an epidemiologist, a health economist, and a retired sports athlete who exerted their social capital within the network.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study finds that influential users were effective broadcasters against the conspiracy, and their reach extended beyond their own network of Twitter followers. We emphasise the need for trust in contact with influential users concerning health information, particularly in the context of widespread social uncertainty resulting from the pandemic, when public sentiment on social media may be unpredictable. The study highlights the potential of influential users to disrupt information flows of conspiracy theories due to their unique social capital.

CLINICALTRIAL

Monkeypox: New epidemic or fake news? Study of psychological and social factors associated with fake news attitudes of monkeypox in Italy

Objective

Starting from May 2022, a growing number of monkeypox cases have been identified in several countries in Europe and the United States. To date, information on social reaction to the news circulating about monkeypox is limited. Assessing psychological and social elements related to the tendency to misinterpret monkeypox information is urgent and useful in setting up tailored education and prevention programs for specific populations. The present study aims to explore the association of selected psychological and social variables to monkeypox attitudes as fake news.

Methods

Three hundred and thirty-three participants (212 women, 110 men, and 11 other genders) from the general Italian population completed nine self-report measures.

Results

Results showed that people that were more likely to believe that monkeypox was a hoax were: older, heterosexual, politically conservative, and more religious. Moreoverm they were more likely to show more negative attitudes toward gay men, higher levels of sexual moralism, less knowledge and fear about monkeypox, no previous infections of COVID-19, lower number of COVID-19 vaccine doses, and being closer to no-vax theories. On the psychological side, participants that were more likely to believe that the monkeypox was a hoax were associated with lower levels of epistemic trust and order traits, with higher levels of epistemic mistrust, close-mindedness, and ability to process emotions. A full mediation model which explores the relationships between the main variables related to fake news attitudes toward monkeypox was tested, reporting good fit indices.

Conclusion

Results from the current study could be helpful to improve the effectiveness of health communication, design targeted education, and support people to engage in healthier behaviors.

Ecosystem Services: A Social and Semantic Network Analysis of Public Opinion on Twitter

Social media data reveal patterns of knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours of users on a range of topics. This study analysed 4398 tweets gathered between 17 January 2022 and 3 February 2022 related to ecosystem services, using the keyword and hashtag "ecosystem services". The Microsoft Excel plugin, NodeXL was used for social and semantic network analysis. The results reveal a loosely dense network in which information is conveyed slowly, with homogeneous, medium-sized subgroups typical of the community cluster structure. Citizens, NGOs, and governmental administrations emerged as the main gatekeepers of information in the network. Various semantic themes emerged such as the protection of natural capital for the sustainable production of ecosystem services; nature-based solutions to protect human structures and wellbeing against natural hazards; socio-ecological systems as the interaction between human beings and the environment; focus on specific services such as the storage of atmospheric CO₂ and the provision of food. In conclusion, the perception of social users of the role of ecosystem services can help policymakers and forest managers to outline and implement efficient forest management strategies and plans.

A scoping review of COVID-19 online mis/disinformation in Black communities

Background

Mis/disinformation has reached an epidemic level with the COVID-19 virus and can be largely attributed to the growing digitalization of information and its rapid transmission via social media. Approximately 96% of Canadians and 80% of Americans report encountering COVID-19 dis/misinformation on at least one social media site/app. COVID-19 dis/misinformation promotes scepticism and a lack of confidence in COVID-19 interventions. Black people have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of negative impacts on their livelihoods and are also more likely to be hesitant to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Dis/misinformation contributes to high rates of COVID-19 infection and low uptake of COVID-19 vaccination. Hence, the purpose of this scoping review was to map out the nature and extent of current research on COVID-19 disinformation among Blacks in Africa and the African diaspora.

Methods

We searched and reviewed articles from major databases such as MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL. Our search strategy involved the following concepts: 1) COVID-19, including variants; 2) misinformation, conspiracy theories, and fake news, and modes of misinformation transmission such as social media; and 3) Blacks or people of African descent, or the African diaspora. We retrieved 600 articles that were independently screened by two researchers. We included studies focusing on 1) Black people living inside or outside Africa; and 2) COVID-19 online dis/misinformation among this population. A total of 19 studies fit our inclusion criteria. We used a thematic analysis to analyse qualitative data.

Results

Our findings indicate Black people are accessing and often sharing online disinformation and misinformation primarily through social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. Dis/misinformation concerns the origin of COVID-19, transmission, prevention, and treatment of COVID-19, assertions of race immunity to the virus, distrust in government and health organizations, and intervention research and programming.

Conclusions

There is a global paucity of literature addressing COVID-19 online dis/misinformation among Black people. Dis/misinformation can fuel vaccine hesitancy and threaten the goal of herd immunity. Knowledge of the impact and implications of COVID-19 online dis/misinformation is necessary to inform public health interventions in Black communities.