Social identification and risk dynamics : how perceptions of (inter)personal and collective risk impact the adoption of COVID-19 preventative behaviors
Abstract
Public adoption of preventative behaviors to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 is crucial to managing the pandemic, and so it is vital to determine what factors influence the uptake of those behaviors. Previous studies have identified COVID-19 risk perceptions as a key factor, but this work has typically been limited both in assuming that risk means risk to the personal self, and in being reliant on self-reported data. Drawing on the social identity approach, we conducted two online studies in which we investigated the effects of two different types of risk on preventative measure taking: risk to the personal self and risk to the collective self (i.e., members of a group with which one identifies). Both studies involved behavioral measures using innovative interactive tasks. In Study 1 (n = 199; data collected 27 May 2021), we investigated the effects of (inter)personal and collective risk on physical distancing. In Study 2 (n = 553; data collected 20 September 2021), we investigated the effects of (inter)personal and collective risk on the speed at which tests are booked as COVID-19 symptoms develop. In both studies, we find that perceptions of collective risk, but not perceptions of (inter)personal risk, influence the extent to which preventative measures are adopted. We discuss the implications both conceptually (as they relate to both the conceptualization of risk and social identity processes) and also practically (in terms of the implications for public health communications).
Citation
Atkinson , M , Neville , F G , Ntontis , E & Reicher , S D 2023 , ' Social identification and risk dynamics : how perceptions of (inter)personal and collective risk impact the adoption of COVID-19 preventative behaviors ' , Risk Analysis , vol. Early View . https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.14155
Publication
Risk Analysis
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1539-6924Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Risk Analysis published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Risk Analysis. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
Description
This work was supported by the UK Research and Innovation/Economic and Social Research Council (grant reference number ES/V005383/1).Collections
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