The Influence of Gain-Loss Framing and Its Interaction with Political Ideology on Social Distancing and Mask Wearing Compliance During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused millions of cases and over half a million deaths in the United States. While health experts urge citizens to adopt preventative measures such as social distancing and wearing a mask, these recommended behaviors are not always followed by the public. To find a way to promote preventative measures, the present study examined the role of gain-loss framing of COVID-19 related messages on social distancing and mask wearing compliance. Moreover, the study also tested potential moderating effects on framing with three individual characteristics: political ideology, subjective numeracy, and risk attitude. A sample of 375 U.S. adult residents were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk. Each participant read either a gain or loss-framed message related to practicing protective behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants also completed scales of preventative behaviors, risk attitude, subjective numeracy, political ideology, and other demographic variables. It was found that those who were more liberal, risk-averse and had greater subjective numeracy were more likely to wear a mask and/or follow social distancing. Furthermore, in the presence of demographic and psychological factors, the study found participants in the loss-framed condition than in the gain-framed condition were more likely to adopt both preventative measures, supporting the notion of loss aversion. Additionally, the framing effect was also moderated by political ideology on mask-wearing, with the effect being stronger in liberals than in conservatives. Collectively, the study implies message framing may be a useful means to promote preventative measures in the current pandemic.

Community Mitigation Strategies, Mobility, and COVID-19 Incidence Across Three Waves in the United States in 2020

“…35,36 Although not examined here, political disposition has played an important role in both implementation of COVID-19 mitigation measures [37][38][39] and their compliance. [40][41][42] This body of evidence has shown that conservatives and liberals respond differently to the COVID-19 pandemic such that conservatives are less likely to adopt recommended behavior changes. Some evidence indicates that these partisan differences may be a function of varying levels of reported knowledge of COVID-19, perceived accuracy of media reports on the pandemic, and perceived health risks associated with COVID-19.…”

“…Some evidence indicates that these partisan differences may be a function of varying levels of reported knowledge of COVID-19, perceived accuracy of media reports on the pandemic, and perceived health risks associated with COVID-19. 43 Effective approaches for reducing ideological effects on compliance are having tailored messaging, where residents are more likely to identify as conservative, 42 messaging expressed from government officials of the same political party, 44 and increasing trust in science. 45 Put together, interventions aiming to increase adherence to COVID-19 mitigation strategies should consider the effects of political ideology when developing effective communication campaigns.…”

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

“…One possibility is that the COVID-19 situation is menacing enough to elicit PHBs irrespective of how health behaviours are communicated. However, studies in the same context have shown otherwise (for example, Gantiva et al, 2021;Steffen & Cheng, 2021). This could indicate low mundane realism of the message frames employed in the present study.…”

Analyzing Russian Media Policy on Promoting Vaccination and Other COVID-19 Risk Mitigation Measures

“…For example, when investigating media influence during the pandemic, the authors focus their attention mainly on studies Q25 on framing as one of the main information mechanisms. The emphasis of scientific studies is placed on reviewing and identifying the most popular frames in the global media environment (1), determining the influence of framing in the context of promoting certain risk mitigation measures both in the United States (2) and Russian information spaces (3). It is also worth mentioning several studies examining in detail the rumors, myths and hypotheses associated with COVID-19 and their direct connection to the perceptions of the pandemic.…”