Identifying with all humanity predicts cooperative health behaviors and helpful responding during COVID-19

Abstract

In the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, public health experts have produced guidelines to limit the spread of the coronavirus, but individuals do not always comply with experts’ recommendations. Here, we tested whether a specific psychological belief—identification with all humanity—predicts cooperation with public health guidelines as well as helpful behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. We hypothesized that peoples’ endorsement of this belief—their relative perception of a connection and moral commitment to other humans—would predict their tendencies to adopt World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines and to help others. To assess this, we conducted a global online study (N = 2537 participants) of four WHO-recommended health behaviors and four pandemic-related moral dilemmas that we constructed to be relevant to helping others at a potential cost to oneself. We used generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) that included 10 predictor variables (demographic, contextual, and psychological) for each of five outcome measures (a WHO cooperative health behavior score, plus responses to each of our four moral, helping dilemmas). Identification with all humanity was the most consistent and consequential predictor of individuals’ cooperative health behavior and helpful responding. Analyses showed that the identification with all humanity significantly predicted each of the five outcomes while controlling for the other variables (Prange < 10−22 to < 0.009). The mean effect size of the identification with all humanity predictor on these outcomes was more than twice as large as the effect sizes of other predictors. Identification with all humanity is a psychological construct that, through targeted interventions, may help scientists and policymakers to better understand and promote cooperative health behavior and help-oriented concern for others during the current pandemic as well as in future humanitarian crises.

COVID-19: Why Do People Refuse Vaccination? The Role of Social Identities and Conspiracy Beliefs: Evidence from Nationwide Samples of Polish Adults

“…The purpose of Study 2 was twofold: we aimed to replicate the effects observed in Study 1 and to extend this model to include potential effects of identification with all humanity (IWAH). As previously mentioned, IWAH served as a significant predictor of health behaviors [23,24]. It was also related to a sense of individual security [50] and positive intergroup relations [31,34,50].…”

“…We investigated whether those who score high (vs. low) on national narcissism would be more (vs. less) prone to endorse COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy theories and, in turn, express less (vs. more) willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19. We also controlled for a secure national identification (i.e., national identity free from national narcissism; Studies 1 and 2) and identification with all humanity (Study 2) to check whether the effects of national narcissism on vaccine hesitancy would be present after accounting for these variables previously found to predict health behaviors in the context of COVID-19 [23,24]. In such a way, we offer the first empirical insight into associations between different forms of social identities, COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy beliefs, and the (un)willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19.…”

Preparing for Future Adversities: Lessons From the COVID-19 Pandemic in Australia for Promoting Relational Resilience in Families

“…Despite the global scale of the COVID-19 crisis, the limited generalisation of family support globally, may also be a product of pandemic-related restrictions placed on travel and connections overseas. Moreover, as we have primarily found source specific associations over time, provision of support to those in other countries may be better predicted by more specific pre-pandemic factors such as family or friends living outside Australia, engagement in overseas travel or aid, or the extent to which people feel connected with global humanity ( 31 ).…”

“…In this way, social support sustains a cycle of "goodwill, " representing an ongoing resource and source of security and well-being (5,24). The global COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most striking contemporary examples of the importance of social support at the global level, with the fate of those most vulnerable across the world resting on collective social action and cooperation (30)(31)(32)(33).…”

Selfless or Selfish? The impact of message framing and egoistic motivation on narcissists’ compliance with preventive health behaviors during COVID-19

“…Previous research has identified several individual differences associated with willingness to comply with health recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, identification with all humanity, which represents the degree of compassion and connectedness with others, was positively related to compliance with health guidelines ( Barragan et al., 2021 ). In addition, a recent study including nearly 50,000 individuals from 67 countries found positive associations between national identification and participation in infection prevention behaviors such as improving physical hygiene ( Van Bavel et al., in press ).…”