Are more behavioral measures perceived as less effective against COVID-19?

ABSTRACT

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage worldwide, the implementation of multiple behavioral measures has become increasingly relevant (e.g., mask wearing, social distancing, and adequate room ventilation). Several studies have indicated that perceived effectiveness is a critical determinant of individuals' compliance with these protective measures. This study defines perceived effectiveness as a subjective evaluation of one's probable reduction of chances of being infected with COVID-19. Implementing a combination of behavioral measures, rather than only 1, is more effective;therefore, individuals should evaluate the effectiveness of the combination as higher than that of a single behavior. However, the "less-is-better" effect predicts that people evaluate a set of measures as less effective than the most effective one, even though the latter is included in the set. Our 4 studies (total N = 1,401) examined whether the "less-is-better" effect occurred in participants' evaluation of the effectiveness of behavioral measures against COVID-19 infection. Participants scored the effectiveness of 8 preventive measures, followed by the combination of these measures. The results consistently showed that the effectiveness of multilayered behaviors was rated lower than that of the highest-evaluated individual behavior, showing the robustness of the "less-is-better" effect in evaluating the effectiveness of behaviors for infection prevention. However, in Study 4, a brief message about the effectiveness of multiple measures slightly reduced this effect. These findings have meaningful implications for public health risk communication about perception bias as well as ways to reduce bias against protection measures. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) Impact Statement Study findings consistently showed that individuals evaluated the effectiveness of a combination of multiple behavioral measures as lower than that of a single measure perceived as the most effective, even though that measure was included in the combined behaviors. This outcome suggests that people misunderstand the implementation of multilayered preventive behaviors as less effective, despite them reducing infection risk more than a single best behavior. This misunderstanding is a barrier to controlling the spread of infection. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)