Of Pandemics and Zombies: The Influence of Prior Concepts on COVID-19 Pandemic-Related Behaviors

Marsh, Jessecae K.; Ungson, Nick D'Angelo; Packer, Dominic J.

doi:10.3390/ijerph18105207

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 74 publications

(83 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Although this would eliminate some nuance from participants’ responses, this may make it easier for participants to respond and decrease the levels of attrition observed in this study. Further research must also be conducted to see how illness behavior interacts with specific pandemic-related behavior [ 25 ], especially as the pandemic continues to weigh on the world.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental Models of Illness during the Early Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Harris

Wood

Anggoro

2022

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The COVID-19 pandemic and its profound global effects may be changing the way we think about illness. In summer 2020, 120 American adults were asked to diagnose symptoms of COVID-19, a cold, and cancer, and to answer questions related to the diagnosis, treatment, prevention, time-course, and transmission of each disease. Results showed that participants were more likely to correctly diagnose COVID-19 (91% accuracy) compared to a cold (58% accuracy) or cancer (52% accuracy). We also found that 7% of participants misdiagnosed cold symptoms as COVID-19, and, interestingly, over twice as many participants (16%) misdiagnosed symptoms of cancer as COVID-19. Our findings suggest a distinct mental model for COVID-19 compared to other illnesses. Further, the prevalence of COVID-19 in everyday discourse—especially early in the pandemic—may lead to biased responding, similar to errors in medical diagnosis that result from physicians’ expertise. We also discuss how the focus of public-health messaging on prevention of COVID-19 might contribute to participants’ mental models.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental Models of Illness during the Early Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Harris

Wood

Anggoro

2022

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For example, rhetoric that described COVID-19 as similar to the flu may have instilled a belief that it is a less serious disease, which in turn may have suggested to people that there exist reasonable treatments for the symptoms. In recent work(Marsh et al, 2021a) we have found that comparing COVID-19 to the flu does reduce willingness to engage in our measured mitigation individual actions. More generally, understanding the relationship between ability to treat symptoms and seriousness in this direction would suggest that when public health officials downplay the seriousness of an emerging disease, they suggest to people experts' ability to treat its symptoms.…”

mentioning

confidence: 82%

“…The reported measures were part of a larger longitudinal study investigating people’s perceptions of their communities’ response to COVID-19 (for analyses using other variables or discussing other parts of the project see Marsh et al, 2021a; Packer et al, 2021). We collected data at four time points: Time 1 (early April): April 6, 2020; Time 2 (late April): April 21, 2020–April 23, 2020; Time 3 (June): June 5, 2020–June 8, 2020; and Time 4 (October): October 1, 2020–October 4, 2020 1…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bring out your experts: The relationship between perceived expert causal understanding and pandemic behaviors.

Marsh¹,

Ungson²,

Packer³

2021

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the complex modern world, people's understanding of how things work is often outsourced to other people. We explore how people's perceptions of expert causal understanding of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic predicted their pandemic-related behaviors. As part of a larger longitudinal study, we collected data at four time points that measured participants' perceptions of experts' causal understanding of COVID-19, along with those participants' self-reported pandemic-related health behaviors. We found that perceiving experts to understand the causal mechanism of transmission was predictive of engaging in more social distancing, advice following, hand washing, and mask wearing. Believing experts could intervene and treat the symptoms or underlying cause of COVID-19 was negatively associated with these same behaviors, but to a lesser degree. These results held above and beyond political ideology and were overall similar for people who perceived themselves to be at high or low risk for COVID-19. This research provides new insights into how people's behaviors are guided by perceptions of others' understanding and highlights important implications for expert health-risk communication. Public Significance StatementThis study finds that the health behaviors people engage in related to the COVID-19 pandemic were guided by their perceptions of what experts understand about the disease. People who believe that experts understand how COVID-19 is transmitted engaged in more pandemic-slowing behaviors. These findings suggest ways public health officials can talk about disease with the general public to encourage protective behaviors.

show abstract

“…Measures were part of a larger study on US residents' experiences during COVID‐19; for analyses of other variables see Marsh et al. (2021a, 2021b). We collected data at five time points: T1: 4/6/2020; T2: 4/21/20; T3: 6/5/20; T4: 10/1/20; and T5: 3/25/21.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We compared effects for community identities to effects for the identity that participants self-nominated as most important to them at the start of the pandemic. Measures were part of a larger study on US residents' experiences during COVID-19; for analyses of other variables see Marsh et al (2021aMarsh et al ( , 2021b. We collected data at five time points: T1: 4/6/2020; T2: 4/21/20; T3: 6/5/20; T4: 10/1/20; and T5: 3/25/21.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Won't you be my neighbor? Local community identification predicted decreased stress over the first year of the COVID‐19 pandemic

Ungson

Bucher

Marsh

et al. 2023

Social & Personality Psych

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Social identities are an important resource, especially during times of crisis. They provide shared meaning, as well as access to social and instrumental support. The COVID‐19 pandemic, although global in nature, was experienced very locally; many people stopped traveling and were often confined to their homes and neighborhoods. We reasoned this would make American residents' local community identities especially important. We collected data at five time points between April 2020 and March 2021 and measured American adults' social identification with their local community, identification with a self‐nominated important group, and stress. We found that stress decreased over the first few months of the pandemic, then leveled out. Importantly, this decrease was more pronounced among people who strongly identified with their local communities. Furthermore, community identities were stronger predictors of stress decreases than social groups that respondents themselves nominated as highly important to them (e.g., family, friends). These results held controlling for age, gender, political conservatism, and other variables. This research provides important insights into the importance of social identities, and specifically local communities, during times of crisis.

show abstract

Of Pandemics and Zombies: The Influence of Prior Concepts on COVID-19 Pandemic-Related Behaviors

Cited by 4 publications

References 74 publications

Mental Models of Illness during the Early Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Mental Models of Illness during the Early Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Bring out your experts: The relationship between perceived expert causal understanding and pandemic behaviors.

Won't you be my neighbor? Local community identification predicted decreased stress over the first year of the COVID‐19 pandemic

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About