Too WEIRD, Too Fast: Preprints about COVID-19 in the Psychological Sciences

Puthillam, Arathy

doi:10.31234/osf.io/5w7du

Cited by 6 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Third, because of the limited availability of high-quality personality data, our study has been limited to two Western, developed countries. In light of recent evidence pointing to the vast overreliance on Western data in psychological COVID-19 related research (33), it is crucial to acknowledge the limited cultural generalizability of our findings. As such, future research should extend the current work to other world regions, such as Africa and South America, which are currently badly affected by the pandemic and could become its next epicenters.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Regional personality differences predict variation in COVID-19 infections and social distancing behavior

Peters¹,

Matz²

2020

Preprint

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Social behaviors play a key role in the spread of COVID-19. Consequently, regional variation in personality traits that capture individual differences in these social behaviors may offer new insight into regional variation in COVID-19 cases. Here we combine self-reported personality data (N ≈ 3.5 million people), official COVID-19 prevalence rates, and behavioral observations (N ≈ 29 million people) to show that regional personality differences in the US and Germany predict the regional onset and growth of COVID-19 cases above and beyond a highly conservative set of socio-demographic, socio-economic, and pandemic-related control variables. Openness and Extraversion were consistently related to earlier COVID-19 onsets and steeper growth rates. The opposite pattern was found for Neuroticism. We also shed light on regional responses to the outbreak, showing that regional personality (i) is associated with objective indicators of regional social distancing, and (ii) predicts self-reported social distancing beyond the effects of individual-level personality.

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Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Regional personality differences predict variation in COVID-19 infections and social distancing behavior

Peters¹,

Matz²

2020

Preprint

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“…Broadly speaking, social and behavioral scientists viewed the pandemic as a critical target for experts to invest their time 30 and research 31 . However, some criticisms of the sudden interest from social and behavioral scientists emerged directly related to academics who had not previously worked on pandemics making recommendations 32,33 , drawing claims of opportunism, of focusing too much on evidence from WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) populations, of overstating the validity of existing evidence, and insufficiently emphasizing heterogeneity of effects found for some interventions [34][35][36][37] . As such, it is important to evaluate the quality of the claims to inform theorizing about behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as potential relevance of these claims for future pandemics and public health emergencies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating expectations from social and behavioral science about COVID-19 and lessons for the next pandemic

Ruggeri¹,

Stock²,

Haslam³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Social and behavioral science research proliferated during the COVID-19 pandemic, reflecting the substantial increase in influence of behavioral science in public health and public policy more broadly. This review presents a comprehensive assessment of 742 scientific articles on human behavior during COVID-19. Two independent teams evaluated 19 substantive policy recommendations (“claims”) on potentially critical aspects of behaviors during the pandemic drawn from the most widely cited behavioral science papers on COVID-19. Teams were made up of original authors and an independent team, all of whom were blinded to other team member reviews throughout. Both teams found evidence in support of 16 of the claims; for two claims, teams found only null evidence; and for no claims did the teams find evidence of effects in the opposite direction. One claim had no evidence available to assess. Seemingly due to the risks of the pandemic, most studies were limited to surveys, highlighting a need for more investment in field research and behavioral validation studies. The strongest findings indicate interventions that combat misinformation and polarization, and to utilize effective forms of messaging that engage trusted leaders and emphasize positive social norms.

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“…While the primary aim of the study was to offer an international perspective, wherever relevant, we have explored country level differences. We kept the following criteria in mind while administering country-level data collection: feasibility, global population distribution, and attaining a greater inclusion of countries which are usually less represented in psychological sciences (Veillard 2017;Puthillam 2020).…”

Section: Participantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biowarfare conspiracy, faith in government, and compliance with safety guidelines during COVID-19: an international study

et al. 2021

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In light of the coronavirus pandemic, an international study (N = 1066) was conducted to explore the new bioterrorism conspiracy, faith in government, and compliance with public health guidelines related to COVID-19. Hierarchical regressions showed that while general belief in conspiracies decreased faith in government during COVID-19, it increased belief in bioterrorism regarding the coronavirus. Critical thinking was associated with decreased endorsement of biowarfare conspiracy. Higher levels of belief in bioterrorism, faith in government, and perceived risk positively facilitated compliance behavior in public internationally. Interestingly, while people reported 'worrying about others' as their motivation to follow guidelines, 'worrying about self' was most strongly associated with compliance. The implications of these findings are discussed in the light of enhancing compliance with public health guidelines and effective ways of conveying them to an increasingly polarized society.

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Too WEIRD, Too Fast: Preprints about COVID-19 in the Psychological Sciences

Cited by 6 publications

References 9 publications

Regional personality differences predict variation in COVID-19 infections and social distancing behavior

Regional personality differences predict variation in COVID-19 infections and social distancing behavior

Evaluating expectations from social and behavioral science about COVID-19 and lessons for the next pandemic

Biowarfare conspiracy, faith in government, and compliance with safety guidelines during COVID-19: an international study

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