Following the crowd in times of crisis: Descriptive norms predict physical distancing, stockpiling, and prosocial behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic

Rudert, Selma Carolin; Janke, Stefan

doi:10.1177/13684302211023562

Cited by 30 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 52 publications

(75 reference statements)

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“…the regulations aimed at avoiding the spread of Covid-19, but also by descriptive norms (e.g. [27]). Therefore, we added a measure of the descriptive norm by asking participants to what extent their friends and acquaintances followed social distancing measures on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always).…”

Section: Methods and Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Fatigue during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence of social distancing adherence from a panel study of young adults in Switzerland

Franzén

Wöhner

2021

PLoS ONE

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In this paper we analyze panel data (N = 400) to investigate the change in attitudes towards the Covid-19 measures and the change in compliance behavior between the first and second lockdowns in a sample of young adults from the University of Bern, Switzerland. We find considerable fatigue. While respondents expressed high acceptance of and compliance with the Covid-19 measures during the first lockdown, both acceptance and compliance behavior decreased substantially during the second lockdown. Moreover, we show via a structural equation model that respondents’ compliance behavior is largely driven by the perception of how others behave and by the acceptance of the Covid-19 measures. All other effects scrutinized e.g., individual and social risk perception, trust in politics, and pro-social orientations affect compliance behavior via the acceptance of Covid-19 measures. We also conduct two tests of causality of the estimated relation between attitudes towards the measures and social distancing behavior. The first test incorporates the effect of compliance behavior reported during the first lockdown on attitudes during the second lockdown. The second test involves estimating a first difference panel regression model of attitudes on compliance behavior. The results of both tests suggest that the effect of Covid-19 attitudes on social distancing behavior can be interpreted causally.

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Section: Methods and Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Fatigue during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence of social distancing adherence from a panel study of young adults in Switzerland

Franzén

Wöhner

2021

PLoS ONE

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“…The third theme reveals the tendency to help from a distance (like calling organizations to arrange support) because of a fear of physical proximity to patients. Previous studies identify several activities like sharing, helping, comforting, cooperating, donating blood, donating money to the COVID-19 fund, volunteering and complementing, neighborhood help (e.g., carrying out tasks for older people), taking part in digital public action (e.g., by offering online courses or support), and sewing mask to be prosocial ( Rudert & Janke, 2021 ). The effort of calling and informing organizations about the COVID-19–infected individuals may be included in the list of prosocial activities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reflection of Types of Prosocial Behavior During COVID-19 in Collectivistic Asian Countries—India and Indonesia

2022

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COVID-19 is an infectious disease that has widened the gap between victims and non-victims in society. Understanding how individuals support and assist COVID-19 sufferers in a pandemic crisis is critical. Thus, this study aims to qualitatively evaluate the prosocial intention and types of prosocial behavior toward COVID-19 victims by low socioeconomic individuals from India and Indonesia’s collectivistic societies. We conducted semi-structured and in-depth interviews during the lockdown from March to May 2020, via phone and in-person, using a purposive selection of respondents (total n = 50). The data were analyzed using the qualitative synthesis method. Five themes were discovered: 1) too scared to help, 2) love to help but scared: moral dilemma, 3) informing authority who knows how to handle, 4) caring, sharing, and supporting, but with a distance, and 5) helping at one’s personal health risk. This study highlights that prosocial intentions range from minor acts of kindness to self-harm and out-of-bounds acts of kindness for COVID-19 victims.

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“…Nevertheless, these changes may vary in strength for different groups within the population (e.g. Rudert et al, 2021). We thus investigate three demographic factors that could be associated with decreased social contact and shifts in mode of communication: age, living conditions and working environment.…”

Section: Research Objective 1: Risk Factors For Reduced Social Contac...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research questions and the study design were preregistered on https://aspredicted.org/c3fa4.pdf . The present contribution focusses on results and measures described in research question 2 in the pre‐registration, 1 see Rudert and Janke ( 2021 ) for results and measures described in research question 1. Data from the study (relatedness and donation behaviour) were further used within another unrelated publication (Klein & Rudert, 2021 ).…”

Section: Summary Research Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Call me maybe: Risk factors of impaired social contact during the COVID‐19 pandemic and associations with well‐being

Rudert

Janke

2022

British J Social Psychol

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The COVID-19 pandemic caused major societal changes worldwide, with the most notable being lockdowns and restrictions on social contact. We conducted a longitudinal study (total n = 1907) in Germany with two time points to (1) identify demographic risk factors of impaired social contact during the pandemic, as well as investigate potential consequences of (2) impaired social contact and (3) different modes of communication on individuals' well-being during the first lockdown in spring 2020. Results indicate that particularly individuals living alone and being unable to work reported a lower frequency of (face-to-face) contact in comparison with participants living with others or working. Impaired social contact was indirectly associated with a negative development in well-being (life satisfaction, anxiety and depression) over time, and this relation was mediated via relatedness. Moreover, the frequency of face-to-face and phone communication during lockdown was positively associated with relatedness and well-being; however, digital communication was not. The findings stress the importance of maintaining social contact in times of social distancing and of fostering reconnection between individuals once the pandemic is over.

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Following the crowd in times of crisis: Descriptive norms predict physical distancing, stockpiling, and prosocial behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic

Cited by 30 publications

References 52 publications

Fatigue during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence of social distancing adherence from a panel study of young adults in Switzerland

Fatigue during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence of social distancing adherence from a panel study of young adults in Switzerland

Reflection of Types of Prosocial Behavior During COVID-19 in Collectivistic Asian Countries—India and Indonesia

Call me maybe: Risk factors of impaired social contact during the COVID‐19 pandemic and associations with well‐being

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