Perceived COVID-19 risk is attenuated by ingroup trust: evidence from three empirical studies
Abstract Background The social identity model of risk taking proposes that people take more risks with ingroup members because they trust them more. While this can be beneficial in some circumstances, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic it has the potential to undermine an effective public healt...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2021-05-01
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| Series: | BMC Public Health |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10925-3 |
| _version_ | 1818864213190246400 |
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| author | Tegan Cruwys Mark Stevens Jessica L. Donaldson Diana Cárdenas Michael J. Platow Katherine J. Reynolds Polly Fong |
| author_facet | Tegan Cruwys Mark Stevens Jessica L. Donaldson Diana Cárdenas Michael J. Platow Katherine J. Reynolds Polly Fong |
| author_sort | Tegan Cruwys |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background The social identity model of risk taking proposes that people take more risks with ingroup members because they trust them more. While this can be beneficial in some circumstances, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic it has the potential to undermine an effective public health response if people underestimate the risk of contagion posed by ingroup members, or overestimate the risk of vaccines or treatments developed by outgroup members. Methods Three studies (two prospective surveys, one experiment) with community-based adults tested the potential for the social identity model of risk taking to explain risk perception and risk taking in the context of COVID-19. Results Study 1 was a two-wave study with a pre-COVID baseline, and found that people who identified more strongly as a member of their neighborhood pre-COVID tended to trust their neighbors more, and perceive interacting with them during COVID-19 lockdown to be less risky. Study 2 (N = 2033) replicated these findings in a two-wave nationally representative Australian sample. Study 3 (N = 216) was a pre-registered experiment which found that people indicated greater willingness to take a vaccine, and perceived it to be less risky, when it was developed by an ingroup compared to an outgroup source. We interpret this as evidence that the tendency to trust ingroup members more could be harnessed to enhance the COVID-19 response. Conclusions Across all three studies, ingroup members were trusted more and were perceived to pose less health risk. These findings are discussed with a focus on how group processes can be more effectively incorporated into public health policy, both for the current pandemic and for future contagious disease threats. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T10:28:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-38c23b47bb1540a3a9e62a74a7b12847 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1471-2458 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T10:28:05Z |
| publishDate | 2021-05-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-38c23b47bb1540a3a9e62a74a7b128472022-12-21T20:25:49ZengBMCBMC Public Health1471-24582021-05-0121111110.1186/s12889-021-10925-3Perceived COVID-19 risk is attenuated by ingroup trust: evidence from three empirical studiesTegan Cruwys0Mark Stevens1Jessica L. Donaldson2Diana Cárdenas3Michael J. Platow4Katherine J. Reynolds5Polly Fong6Research School of Psychology, The Australian National UniversityResearch School of Psychology, The Australian National UniversityResearch School of Psychology, The Australian National UniversityResearch School of Psychology, The Australian National UniversityResearch School of Psychology, The Australian National UniversityResearch School of Psychology, The Australian National UniversityResearch School of Psychology, The Australian National UniversityAbstract Background The social identity model of risk taking proposes that people take more risks with ingroup members because they trust them more. While this can be beneficial in some circumstances, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic it has the potential to undermine an effective public health response if people underestimate the risk of contagion posed by ingroup members, or overestimate the risk of vaccines or treatments developed by outgroup members. Methods Three studies (two prospective surveys, one experiment) with community-based adults tested the potential for the social identity model of risk taking to explain risk perception and risk taking in the context of COVID-19. Results Study 1 was a two-wave study with a pre-COVID baseline, and found that people who identified more strongly as a member of their neighborhood pre-COVID tended to trust their neighbors more, and perceive interacting with them during COVID-19 lockdown to be less risky. Study 2 (N = 2033) replicated these findings in a two-wave nationally representative Australian sample. Study 3 (N = 216) was a pre-registered experiment which found that people indicated greater willingness to take a vaccine, and perceived it to be less risky, when it was developed by an ingroup compared to an outgroup source. We interpret this as evidence that the tendency to trust ingroup members more could be harnessed to enhance the COVID-19 response. Conclusions Across all three studies, ingroup members were trusted more and were perceived to pose less health risk. These findings are discussed with a focus on how group processes can be more effectively incorporated into public health policy, both for the current pandemic and for future contagious disease threats.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10925-3Social identityGroup processesTrustHealth behaviorRisk perception |
| spellingShingle | Tegan Cruwys Mark Stevens Jessica L. Donaldson Diana Cárdenas Michael J. Platow Katherine J. Reynolds Polly Fong Perceived COVID-19 risk is attenuated by ingroup trust: evidence from three empirical studies BMC Public Health Social identity Group processes Trust Health behavior Risk perception |
| title | Perceived COVID-19 risk is attenuated by ingroup trust: evidence from three empirical studies |
| title_full | Perceived COVID-19 risk is attenuated by ingroup trust: evidence from three empirical studies |
| title_fullStr | Perceived COVID-19 risk is attenuated by ingroup trust: evidence from three empirical studies |
| title_full_unstemmed | Perceived COVID-19 risk is attenuated by ingroup trust: evidence from three empirical studies |
| title_short | Perceived COVID-19 risk is attenuated by ingroup trust: evidence from three empirical studies |
| title_sort | perceived covid 19 risk is attenuated by ingroup trust evidence from three empirical studies |
| topic | Social identity Group processes Trust Health behavior Risk perception |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10925-3 |
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