How Risky is it to Not Wear a Mask? Moral Emotions are Associated with Risk Perception and Public Health Behaviours During the Coronavirus Epidemic

Abstract

Given the high transmission rates of the COVID-19 virus, policies aim at the maximal adoption of preventative health behaviours (PHBs) such as mask-wearing and maintaining physical distance. Moral emotions, risk perception, and message frames have previously been shown to foster favourable PHBs during various pandemics. To investigate the factors associated with PHBs during the COVID-19 pandemic, the present study explored the predictive role of moral emotions and message frames on PHBs (reduced physical contact and COVID-19 related policy support), controlling for risk perception regarding wearing a mask. Thus, a 2 (target of the message: self vs others) x 2 (valence: negative vs positive) between-groups experiment was conducted amongst Indians. Negative moral emotions predicted both (reduced) physical contact and policy support, and positive moral emotions predicted policy support. Exposure to differently framed health messages did not predict PHBs. The present study contributes to the field of health communication by highlighting the need for culture-specific practices such as focusing on the affective aspects of such communication. The results are increasingly relevant owing to the continuance of the COVID-19 crisis in India, and suggest that eliciting moral emotions throughCOVID-19 communication may significantly improve compliance with PHBs.

Do you trust the rumors? Examining the determinants of health‐related misinformation in India

“…The cutoffs for absolute and incremental fit were the same as above. However, the Moral Emotions scale was disaggregated into two subscales based on valence (positive and negative moral emotions), in line with prior work of Ticku et al (2021). Table S6 shows the fit indices for all estimations and indicates that the two-factor models showed better absolute and incremental fit as compared to the one-factor models.…”

“…Based on Haidt's (2003) theory of moral emotions, a self‐developed tool was created wherein participants were asked to rate statements for each moral emotion related to the spread of conspiratorial information on an 11‐point Likert scale (0 = Not at all to 11 = Extremely ; adapted from Ticku et al, 2021). Moral emotions were measured through items such as “Contempt toward other people who spread health‐related conspiracies”, “Disgust toward other people who spread health‐related conspiracies”, and “Gratitude toward those who do not spread health‐related conspiracies”.…”

“…Linear hierarchical regression analyses were computed to understand the predictors of belief in health-related conspiracies while controlling for demographics (H1). Additionally, the following measures were disaggregated for interpretive accuracy in the regression analysis: political ideology scale (into three subscales of purity, obedience, and economic ideology; see also Puthillam et al, 2021), moral emotions measure (into two subscales of positive and negative moral emotions; see also Ticku et al, 2021), and trust in institutions measure (into two subscales of trust in social/scientific and trust in political institutions). Table 1 displays sample descriptives and the zero-order correlations for all variables, including demographics and the subcomponents of scales.…”

“…A recent study from India also highlighted that moral emotions, both positive and negative, were robust predictors of willingness to get vaccinated, thereby drawing attention to the pivotal role of moral emotions in preventive health behaviors (Tagat & Kapoor, 2023). Thus, emotions have contributed to faulty risk perception (Sjöberg, 2007) and decision‐making (Naqvi et al, 2006), especially in relation to preventive health behaviors in the context of the pandemic (Ticku et al, 2021).…”

“…Prior scholarship has suggested relationships between beliefs in health‐related conspiratorial information and conspiratorial thinking (Kroke & Ruthig, 2022), political ideology (van Prooijen et al, 2015), bullshit receptivity (Pennycook et al, 2015), moral emotions (Ticku et al, 2021), and trust in institutions (Kalichman et al, 2021). Specific to the Indian context, Tagat and Kapoor (2023) found that moral emotions like gratitude, role model effects, and trust in others were associated with COVID‐19 vaccine uptake – a topic that has been associated with various rumors and conspiracy theories in the Indian subcontinent (Islam et al, 2021).…”