| Popis: |
How do we unite against a common threat such as COVID-19? How can we harness the collective (“we”) instead of the individual (“I”), in curbing its spread? As the pandemic unfolds, some people might mitigate the negative situation by cooperating by default (Drury, Cocking & Reicher, 2009). However, others might be more inclined to act in a more individualistic way (e.g., panic buying) instead of more collectively (e.g., buying enough for themselves and preserving more for others). In the current pandemic, the general advice is that people need to (1) act not only to protect themselves, but also the most vulnerable and (2) do something counterintuitive: protect the more vulnerable by increasing the physical distance to them, when in fact decreasing social distance is a natural tendency in cooperation (Klein, 2020). How can we overcome the ‘individualistic’ impulse and adopt counter-intuitive behaviour? In three studies, we will test three methods that can improve the public’s response to the current pandemic, based on social identity theories and individual differences that tell us who is more and less likely to follow recommendations (e.g., trust, political ideology, conspiracy mentality, individualism, susceptibility to the virus). |
