Dutiful Citizens: Predictors of COVID-19 Policy Complaint Behavior in India (preprint)

With the aggravation of COVID-19 pandemic, there is increasing reliance on mitigation strategies such as compliance of COVID-19 behaviors (masking, social distancing, sanitizing, and so on). Political ideology reflects the way people conduct themselves in the social world, affecting their decisions and actions, including those pertaining to health care. Thus, maximizing COVID compliant behaviors mandates an understanding of its sociopolitical context. Study 1 aims to investigate the role of political ideology and collective narcissism in predicting COVID-19 policy support, physical hygiene, and social distancing in India. While political ideology was not associated with COVID-19 compliant behaviors, collective narcissism was found to significantly predict policy support and physical hygiene. However, considering the multi-party system in India, most people (apart from political elites) are not politically sophisticated enough to self-locate on an ideology scale. Thus, study 2 aimed to understand whether district-level partisanship affects mobility during COVID-19 in India. Results indicate that during the first wave of COVID-19 (May-October, 2020), there was a greater change in the amount of time spent at the places of residence in districts based on the partisanship. Further, during the second wave (April-June, 2021), partisanship predicted a higher change in mobility to groceries and pharmacies.

They caused the pandemic! Conspiratorial blame, political beliefs, trust, and health behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic (preprint)

Numerous conspiracy theories have been circulating related to COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. In three studies, we assessed the relationship between ideology, partisanship, and conspiracy beliefs about COVID-19. Study 1 assessed the mediating role of conspiratorial blame on the relationship between political ideology and risk perception among US Americans and Indians. We found that conspiracy beliefs mediated this link only among US Americans. We also assessed the mediating role of conspiracy beliefs and trust in media on the relationship between partisanship and preventative health behaviors (Study 2a), including vaccination status (Study 2b) in India. Trust in traditional and non-traditional media and conspiracy theories both mediated the relationships between partisanship and necessary health behaviors (e.g., wearing a mask), but not non-necessary health behaviors (e.g., home remedies). It can be argued that temporal and contextual information need to be explored in cross-cultural examinations. Implications are discussed.

Too WEIRD, Too Fast? Preprints about COVID-19 in psychology (preprint)

That behavioral sciences are overrepresented by some countries, in terms of samples and authors, is a well-documented finding. Considering the immediate policy implications, the present study aimed to scope whether this is true in the context of understanding the effects of the coronavirus as well. We assessed relevant preprints with “coronavirus” or “COVID-19” as keywords published on PsyArxiv between March-April, 2020, as well as between May-December, 2020 in terms of samples, participants, and authors. We found that some countries, such as the US, were overrepresented in both waves; papers based on authors from such countries, and employing samples from such countries were also more likely to be published in journals with higher impact factors, and were also more likely to be cited more. Implications, especially regarding a reductionist bifurcation of research as “WEIRD” or “non-WEIRD,” are discussed.

How risky is it to not wear a mask? Moral emotions increase preventative health behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic in India (preprint)

Given the high transmission rates of the COVID-19 virus, policies aim at the maximal adoption of preventative health behaviours (PHBs) such as mask-wearing and maintaining physical distance. Moral emotions, risk perception, and message frames have previously been shown to foster favourable PHBs during various pandemics. To investigate the factors associated with PHBs during the COVID-19 pandemic, the present study explored the predictive role of moral emotions and message frames on PHBs (reduced physical contact and COVID-19 related policy support), controlling for risk perception regarding wearing a mask. Thus, a 2 (target of the message: self vs others) x 2 (valence: negative vs positive) between-groups experiment was conducted amongst Indians. Negative moral emotions predicted both (reduced) physical contact and policy support, and positive moral emotions predicted policy support. Exposure to differently framed health messages did not predict PHBs. The present study contributes to the field of health communication by highlighting the need for culture-specific practices such as focusing on the affective aspects of such communication. The results are increasingly relevant owing to the continuance of the COVID-19 crisis in India, and suggest that eliciting moral emotions throughCOVID-19 communication may significantly improve compliance with PHBs.

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic (preprint)

Changing collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N = 49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated self-reported factors that associated with people reported adopting public health behaviours (e.g., spatial distancing and stricter hygiene) and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during the early stage of the pandemic (April-May 2020). Respondents who reported identifying more strongly with their nation consistently reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies. Results were similar for representative and non-representative national samples. Study 2 (N = 42 countries) conceptually replicated the central finding using aggregate indices of national identity (obtained using the World Values Survey) and a measure of actual behaviour change during the pandemic (obtained from Google mobility reports). Higher levels of national identification prior to the pandemic predicted lower mobility during the early stage of the pandemic (r = -.40). We discuss the potential implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing COVID-19 and future pandemics.

Too WEIRD, Too Fast: Preprints about COVID-19 in the Psychological Sciences (preprint)

That American and European participants are overrepresented in psychological studies has been previously established. In addition, researchers also often tend to be similarly homogenous. This continues to be alarming, especially given that this research is being used to inform policies across the world. In the face of a global pandemic where behavioral scientists propose solutions, we ask who is conducting research and on what samples. Forty papers on COVID-19 published in PsyArxiV were analyzed; the nationalities of the authors and the samples they recruited were assessed. Findings suggest that an overwhelming majority of the samples recruited were from the US and the authors were based in US and German institutions. Next, men constituted a large proportion of primary and sole authors. The implications of these findings are discussed.