Psychological Reactance and Beliefs in Conspiracy Theories During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Overview of the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM)

Abstract

Compliance with health protocols plays an important role in minimizing the spread of Covid-19. However, Indonesia is still facing a robust challenge including non-compliance to persuasive recommendations or messages (psychological reactance) and belief in conspiracy theories. Issues related to conspiracy theories and theories had obscured the message for the people to keep their behavior safe from the virus. The Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) is a theory that explains how people would obey the messages they received, particularly health messages. Perception of threats and efficacy contribute significantly to the effectiveness of the message people received. In this article, we discussed four psychological conditions that possess the chance to affect society's threats and efficacy to comply with health protocols. These conditions were viewed from social, clinical, and industrial-organizational psychology perspectives. Four solutions to cope with non-compliance tendencies were also proposed. We suggest that these solutions should be applied to strengthen the tendency for people to obey health protocols.

Conspiracy Beliefs and Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Among Acehnese People

“…Similar findings were observed in a study by Freeman et al where 50% of adult participants in the UK expressed support for Covid-19 conspiracy-related beliefs [6]. The prevalence of Covid-19 conspiracy beliefs was also evident in various major cities in Indonesia, such as Surabaya (21%), Jakarta (18%), and Bogor (16.5%) [7].…”

Engaging with Conspiracy Believers

“…Indeed, pushing too strongly against people's beliefs can lead to psychological reactance, which is the perception that one's freedom to make choices or express one's beliefs are threatened (Steindl et al 2015). For instance, during the COVID-19 pandemic it was suggested that psychological reactance increased conspiracy belief and played a role in people's non-compliance with virus-mitigating behaviours (see Adiewna et al, 2020). We stress that these recommendations are intended to be applied to interactions in which persuasion and competitive debate are discouraged, and instead empathic understanding and accepting disagreements are preferred.…”

Unveiling the effects of consumers' psychological distance on their reactance and related behavioral outcomes: Do lockdown restrictions matter?

“…Psychological reactance plays an important role in compliance with the persuasive messaging regarding COVID-19 restrictions (Adiwena et al, 2020 ). With the announcement of the implementation of COVID-19 precautionary measures, people start developing emotions of anger which leads to psychological reactance and affects the intention of compliance (Krpan and Dolan, 2021 ).…”