COVID-19 Pandemic, Risk, and Blame Attributions: A Scoping Review

Sharma, Manoj Kumar; Amudhan, Senthil; Achar, Meghna; Vishwakarma, Akash

doi:10.1177/02537176221091675

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 30 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Specifically, 69% of participants indicated that the person who tested positive first gave COVID-19 to the person who tested positive second (p < .001 in a binomial test against 50%, g = . 19). The secondary belief measures mirrored this result.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our work is also important and relevant to marketing practitioners in the healthcare and public health domains as well as to policy makers. We know from prior research that attribution errors—such as First-To-Test bias—lead people to stigmatize others, which is an important factor for policy makers to consider as they implement measures intended to limit the spread of diseases [ 19 ]. Also, testing for infectious diseases is key to limiting their spread.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The first-to-test bias: Impact of testing order on assigning responsibility for contagion

Givi,

Fitzgerald

2024

PLoS ONE

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When a contagious disease spreads, people wonder about who to blame for transmission. Herein, we document a novel bias, the “First-To-Test” bias, that emerges when individuals assign responsibility for contagion within a dyad. People tend to believe that the member of the dyad who tested positive first is more likely to have given the disease to the other member, even when all other relevant factors are held constant. That is, while using testing order as a basis for assigning responsibility for a dyad’s contraction of a contagious disease may be rational in cases where all other relevant factors are not held constant, we show that individuals are more likely to allocate responsibility to whoever tested positive first even when these relevant factors are held constant. This overgeneralization bias emerges regardless of whether the evaluator is an outside observer or the member of the dyad who tested positive first. While we explore this bias with COVID-19 and strep throat, it has implications for other contagious diseases such as sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and illnesses often spread among school children (e.g., influenza, whooping cough). We conclude by discussing its implications for patients and organizations.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%