Corrigendum: Flattening the COVID-19 curve: Emotions mediate the effects of a persuasive message on preventive action.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1047241.].

Flattening the COVID-19 curve: Emotions mediate the effects of a persuasive message on preventive action.

Introduction: Across four countries (Canada, USA, UK, and Italy), we explored the effects of persuasive messages on intended and actual preventive actions related to COVID-19, and the role of emotions as a potential mechanism for explaining these effects. Methods: One thousand seventy-eight participants first reported their level of concern and emotions about COVID-19 and then received a positive persuasive text, negative persuasive text, or no text. After reading, participants reported their emotions about the pandemic and their willingness to take preventive action. One week following, the same participants reported the frequency with which they engaged in preventive action and behaviors that increased the risk of contracting COVID-19. Results: Results revealed that the positive persuasive text significantly increased individuals' willingness to and actual engagement in preventive action and reduced risky behaviors 1 week following the intervention compared to the control condition. Moreover, significant differences were found between the positive persuasive text condition and negative persuasive text condition whereby individuals who read the positive text were more willing and actually engaged in more preventive action compared to those who read the negative text. No differences were found, however, at the 1-week follow-up for social distancing and isolation behaviors. Results also revealed that specific discrete emotions mediated relations between the effects of the texts and preventive action (both willing and actual). Discussion: This research highlights the power of educational interventions to prompt behavioral change and has implications for pandemic-related interventions, government policy on health promotion messages, and future research.

The 'Fauci Effect': Reducing COVID-19 misconceptions and vaccine hesitancy using an authentic multimodal intervention.

Social media environments enable users to proliferate misinformation surrounding COVID-19. Expert sources, such as Dr. Anthony Fauci have leveraged social media to present corrective multimedia messages. However, little is known about the efficacy of these messages in revising common misconceptions about COVID-19 and influencing behavior. In this study, we examined the efficacy of a multimodal intervention using authentic social media messages that directly addressed common COVID-19 misconceptions. Going further, we identified individual differences that influenced the effectiveness of the intervention, as well as whether those factors predicted individuals' willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. The results showed that the intervention was successful in increasing knowledge when compared to a baseline control. Those who were older and reported less vaccine hesitancy showed greater learning from the intervention. Factors that significantly predicted intention to vaccinate included receiving the intervention, vaccine confidence, vaccine hesitancy, prior flu vaccination history, age, and fear of COVID-19. These findings indicate that multimodal messages can be effectively leveraged in social media to both fight misinformation and increase intention to be vaccinated - however, these interventions may not be as effective for all individuals.