Measuring Realistic and Symbolic Threats of COVID-19 and Their Unique Impacts on Well-Being and Adherence to Public Health Behaviors

COVID-19 threatens lives, livelihoods, and civic institutions. Although restrictive public health behaviors such as social distancing help manage its impact, these behaviors can further sever our connections to people and institutions that affirm our identities. Three studies (N = 1,195) validated a brief 10-item COVID-19 Threat Scale that assesses (1) realistic threats to physical or financial safety and (2) symbolic threats to one’s sociocultural identity. Studies reveal that both realistic and symbolic threats predict higher distress and lower well-being and demonstrate convergent validity with other measures of threat sensitivity. Importantly, the two kinds of threats diverge in their relationship to restrictive public health behaviors: Realistic threat predicted greater self-reported adherence, whereas symbolic threat predicted less self-reported adherence to social disconnection behaviors. Symbolic threat also predicted using creative ways to affirm identity even in isolation. Our findings highlight how social psychological theory can be leveraged to understand and predict people’s behavior in pandemics

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic

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 associated with 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 COVID-19 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 = −0.40). We discuss the potential implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing COVID-19 and future pandemics.publishedVersio

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic.

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 associated with 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 COVID-19 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 = -0.40). We discuss the potential implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing COVID-19 and future pandemics

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic (vol 13, 517, 2022) : National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic (Nature Communications, (2022), 13, 1, (517), 10.1038/s41467-021-27668-9)

Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2022.In this article the author name ‘Agustin Ibanez’ was incorrectly written as ‘Augustin Ibanez’. The original article has been corrected.Peer reviewe

Author Correction: National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic

Correction to: Nature Communications https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27668-9, published online 26 January 2022

A collective approach to studying human motivation

ABSTRACTFor the most part, human motivation has been studied through a lens that has been focused primarily on the individual, and the immediate environmental context that might affect the individual. Applying an individually focused approach to studying human motivation is logical and appropriate: to explain and account for an individual's behaviour, the unit of analysis should include the individual. However, recent research and theorizing by Taylor (2002) and Oyserman (2007, 2009) proposes that social groups, and their associated collective (social) identities, influence individual group members' personal motivation and individual capacity to self-regulate their behaviour. Expanding on this research, we propose that in order to fully understand an individual's personal motivational state, we must also consider the collective factors that are characteristic of an individual's social group and that affect an individual's social group. In the present thesis we propose and formalize a collective approach to studying individual motivation. The research we present demonstrates how a collective approach to studying individual motivation may be applied in order to expand on current, influential, yet individually focused theories of motivation. In Manuscript 1, we present an hourly diary study that investigates the role that social groups have for providing individual group members with a template of clearly prescribed personal goals, and a clear understanding of the processes necessary for achieving these goals. With a group of first year university students living in residence, it was found that perceiving a shared sense of collective clarity concerning academic goals in the students' residence hall was related to the students' personal commitment to their academic goals. Importantly, this relationship was mediated by students' personal goal clarity and process clarity. This research demonstrates how a collective approach to studying individual motivation can expand on Goal Setting Theory (Locke & Lathame, 1990) and research stemming from the domain of industrial and organizational psychology. In Manuscript 2, we apply our collective approach to studying individual motivation in order to expand upon the influential framework of Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2000). With a large and culturally diverse sample, we demonstrate that individual group members' perception of their social group's collective autonomy in an intergroup context relates directly to their own personal autonomous need satisfaction. Furthermore, group members' perception of collective autonomy was indirectly related to their personal wellbeing, to having an internalized (autonomous) motivational style to follow their group's customs, and to their self reported engagement and participation in their group's culture. To conclude this thesis, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the present findings, and propose a general theoretical model that can be applied when adopting a collective approach to studying individual motivation.RÉSUMÉLa plupart du temps, le domaine de motivation humaine est étudié du point de vu de l'individu, en prenant en compte seulement le contexte immédiat qui l'influence. Certes, cette approche est approprié : pour expliquer le comportement d'un individu, l'individu devrait être l'unité d'analyse. Par contre, de la recherche récente faite part Taylor (2002) et Oyserman (2007, 2009) suggère que les groupes sociaux, et les identités collectives auxquelles ils sont associés, influence la motivation personnelle et la capacité de s'autoréguler des membres individuels. Pour continuer cette recherche, nous proposons que pour comprendre l'état d'une personne individuelle, nous devons aussi prendre compte des facteurs collectifs qui caractérisent le groupe social de l'individu et qui influence son groupe. Dans cette thèse, nous proposons et formulons une approche collective pour comprendre la motivation de l'individu. La recherche que nous présentons démontre comment une approche collective pour comprendre la motivation individuelle peut être appliquée pour élargir les théories de motivation qui sont courantes et influentes, mais qui sont concentré sur l'individu. Dans notre premier manuscrit, nous présentons une étude de journaux de bord horaires qui investigue le rôle que les groupes sociaux jouent pour fournir aux membres individuels un guide de buts individuels qui sont prescrits d'une façon claire, et une compréhension des processus nécessaires pour accomplir ces buts. Avec un groupe d'étudiants de première année habitant dans des résidences universitaires, nous avons trouvé que la perception d'un sens de clarté collective aux niveaux des buts académiques dans leur résidence était reliée à l'engagement de chaque individu dans leurs buts académiques. D'importance, cette relation était médiée par la clarté individuelle de buts académiques et du processus pour les atteindre. Cette recherche montre comment une approche collective pour étudier la motivation individuelle peut élargir la théorie de la façon optimale de fixer des buts (Locke & Lathame, 1990) et la recherche qui sort du domaine de psychologie industrielle et organisationnelle. Dans notre deuxième manuscrit, nous appliquons notre approche collective pour étudier la motivation individuelle, pour élargir le cadre de la théorie de détermination de sois (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2000). Avec un échantillon large et culturellement divers, nous montrons que la perception qu'ont les membres individuels d'un groupe de l'autonomie collective de leur group sociale dans un contexte intergroupe est relie directement à leur propre satisfaction de leur besoin d'autonomie individuelle. De plus, la perception d'autonomie collective des membres du groupe était indirectement reliée à leur bien-être personnel, à leur style de motivation internalisé (et autonome) pour suivre les coutumes de leur groupe, et à leur niveau reporté d'engagement et de participation dans la culture de leur groupe. Pour conclure cette thèse, nous expliquons les implications théoriques et pratiques de nos résultats présents et nous proposons un model théorique général qui peut être appliqué pour adopter une approche collective à l'étude de la motivation individuelle

Determining Our Destiny: Collective Autonomy Restriction and Collective Action

Data repository for Kachanoff, Kteily, Khullar, Park, Taylor, in press. This research examines the relation between collective autonomy restriction and collective action amongst advantaged and disadvantaged groups. If you have any questions or suggestions for how to make my script clearer or more accessible please contact me at : [email protected]