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Risk perception, illusory superiority and personal responsibility during COVID-19 : an experimental study of attitudes to staying home
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van Baal, Simon, Walasek, Lukasz, Karanfilovska, Daniela, Cheng, Allen C. and Hohwy, Jakob (2022) Risk perception, illusory superiority and personal responsibility during COVID-19 : an experimental study of attitudes to staying home. British Journal of Psychology, 113 (3). pp. 608-629. doi:10.1111/bjop.12554 ISSN 0007-1269.
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12554
Abstract
Little is known about how different government communication strategies may systematically affect people's attitudes to staying home or going out during the COVID-19 pandemic, nor how people perceive and process the risk of viral transmission in different scenarios. In this study, we report results from two experiments that examine the degree to which people's attitudes regarding the permissibility of leaving one's home are (1) sensitive to different levels of risk of viral transmission in specific scenarios, (2) sensitive to communication framings that are either imperative or that emphasize personal responsibility, or (3) creating 'loopholes' for themselves, enabling a more permissive approach to their own compliance. We find that the level of risk influences attitudes to going out, and that participants report less permissive attitudes to going out when prompted with messages framed in imperative terms, rather than messages emphasizing personal responsibility; for self-loopholes, we find no evidence that participants' attitudes towards going out in specific scenarios are more permissive for themselves than for others. However, participants report they are more rigorous in staying home than others, which may cause moral licensing. Additionally, we find that age is negatively associated with permissive attitudes, and that male participants are more permissive to going out. Thus, during phases where it is important to promote staying home for all scenarios, including those perceived to be low-risk, imperative communication may be best suited to increase compliance. [Abstract copyright: © 2022 The British Psychological Society.]
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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Subjects: | R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine | ||||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Psychology | ||||||||
SWORD Depositor: | Library Publications Router | ||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | COVID-19 (Disease), Risk perception, Risk -- Sociological aspects, Public health, Risk-taking (Psychology), COVID-19 (Disease) -- Sociological aspects, Social distancing (Public health) | ||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | British Journal of Psychology | ||||||||
Publisher: | The British Psychological Society | ||||||||
ISSN: | 0007-1269 | ||||||||
Official Date: | August 2022 | ||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 113 | ||||||||
Number: | 3 | ||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 608-629 | ||||||||
DOI: | 10.1111/bjop.12554 | ||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
Reuse Statement (publisher, data, author rights): | "This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: van Baal, S. T., Walasek, L., Karanfilovska, D., Cheng, A. C., & Hohwy, J. (2021). Risk perception, illusory superiority and personal responsibility during COVID-19: An experimental study of self-isolation attitudes. British Journal of Psychology, 00, 1– 22., which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12554. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited" | ||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | ||||||||
Copyright Holders: | © 2022 The British Psychological Society | ||||||||
Description: | Free access |
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Date of first compliant deposit: | 21 February 2022 | ||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 13 January 2023 | ||||||||
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: |
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