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Knowledge, Risk Perceptions, and Xenophobic Attitudes: Evidence from Italy During the Ebola Outbreak
Risk Analysis
Abstract
The purposes of the current study were twofold: (1) to investigate affective and cognitive responses and social-contextual factors related to Ebola and their intercorrelations in a developed country without widespread Ebola transmission; and (2) to examine the relationships among risk perception of Ebola, levels of knowledge about Ebola, and (blatant and subtle) prejudice toward African immigrants. Between January 2015 and March 2015, an anonymous cross-sectional survey was conducted among a convenience sample of 486 Italian adults. Results showed that most participants were not particularly concerned about Ebola and did not feel at risk of acquiring the virus. Cognitive dimensions of risk perception of Ebola (i.e., perceived severity of illness, perceived personal impact, perceived coping efficacy, and likelihood of infection), affective response (or worry) to Ebola, and social-contextual factors (i.e., perceived preparedness of institutions, family members' and friends' levels of worry) were interrelated. Prejudice toward African immigrants was positively related to risk perception of Ebola and negatively related to levels of knowledge about Ebola even when controlling for sociodemographic variables including political preference.
... (OK) to indicate the presumed superiority of expert knowledge, and thus its validity as a standard against which to measure the quality of lay knowledge. Later I will briefly cover the strengths and weaknesses of this perspective, but for now the existence of OK will be presumed, which is rarely correlated with subjective knowledge (e.g., Baird, 1986;Costa-Font et al., 2008;Prati & Pietrantoni, 2016;cf. Dunning, 2011). ...
... General facts about the universe (e.g., whether the sun circles the earth or vice versa; e.g., Miller, 1998) General orientations or dispositions towards science and technology and its social impacts (Allum et al., 2004): e.g., its risks and benefits, its trustworthiness, resulting speed of societal change, whether it merits more government funding Small but usually positive association across multiple datasets and domains (Allum et al., 2004) Specific facts about a phenomenon, technology, or entity Views on particular scientific issues or specific technological applications (Allum et al., 2004) Small but usually positive association across multiple datasets and domains; domain-specific knowledge had much stronger association with domain-specific attitudes than did general textbook knowledge (Allum et al., 2004) Risk perceptions "if . . . measured in a reliable and valid manner, the correlation between knowledge and perceived risks is strong across varied domains" (Siegrist & Árvai, 2020(Siegrist & Árvai, , p. 2194 OK of formal risk estimates and proposed standards unrelated to informal risk estimates (Baird, 1986) OK of heavy metal soil contamination uncorrelated with risk perception (Grasmück & Scholz, 2005) Reading a booklet which increased OK about cell phones raised concerns about cell phones, but decreased concerns about base stations, over two weeks (Cousin & Siegrist, 2010) Ebola OK correlated negatively with Ebola risk perception and prejudice toward African immigrants (Prati & Pietrantoni, 2016) OK about chemicals in second-hand e-cigarette vapors, despite controls, raised risk perceptions (Tan et al., 2016) "Chemophobia" associated with OK of basic toxicology and (Saleh et al. 2019;cf. Kraus et al., 1992, andMacGregor et al., 1999) Zika OK correlated with perceived risk in a second sample, but less than did conspiracy beliefs in both samples (Piltch-Loeb et al., 2019) Risk acceptability OK of formal risk estimates and proposed standards unrelated to risk tolerance (Baird, 1986) OK of irradiated food has small positive effect on acceptance (Bord & O'Connor, 1990). ...
... Lack of explanation need not imply current content is inappropriate. Of risk analysis examples cited above and in Table 1, only one study did not specify the exact items used (Prati & Pietrantoni, 2016 just described theirs as covering "Ebola, its transmission routes, and treatment"). Others are at least plausible: e.g., with a dependent variable of e-cigarette second-hand vapor (SHV) risk perception, it seems reasonable to ask about whether SHV contains only water vapor, tar, or formaldehyde (Tan et al., 2016), although one might ask why other risk-related topics (e.g., perceived dose-response relationships) were omitted (e.g., Kraus et al., 1992;MacGregor et al., 1999;Saleh et al., 2019). ...
Attempts to measure objective knowledge (OK) of publics about hazards have been motivated by such questions as what do people know about the topic and why; whether and how such knowledge affects attitudes and behaviors regarding hazards; and whether a public information campaign changes knowledge or behaviors. These choices vary widely both within risk analysis and in related fields (e.g., science literacy; health literacy). The aim of this Perspective is to suggest that OK can be measured effectively if with several challenges, but that does not happen consistently, and even the best examples could be improved with several steps. After a brief review of variability in the literature in terms of how OK is defined and what outcomes it might be associated with, I review several challenges faced by OK measurement: knowledge sources, content salience, content timing, scale discrimination ability and dimensionality, and response options and scoring. Although the full suite of challenges is of concern, I focus particularly on novel hazards for which the scientific basis for much definition of “objective” knowledge is shifting rapidly, illustrated by the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. I conclude with several recommendations for addressing these challenges so that OK can be better measured, and thus theorists and risk communication practitioners can both better grasp when and how OK makes a difference in attitudes and behavior relevant to hazards.
... 5550 references were identified from the scientific databases search and 148 articles were assessed for full-text assessment, including nine papers obtained by screening the reference lists of articles from the database search. Sixteen studies were considered eligible for inclusion ( Fig. 1 ) Zheng et al., 2005 ;Rzymski and Nowicki, 2020 ;Kam, 2019 ;Stuermer et al., 2017 ;Earnshaw et al., 2019 ;Kim et al., 2016 ;Prati and Pietrantoni, 2016 ;Goodwin and Sun, 2014 ;Eicher et al., 2014 ). ...
... Eight studies were conducted in Europe ( Bil et al., 2019 ;Krings et al., 2012 ;Gilles et al., 2013 ;Joffe et al., 2011 ;Rzymski and Nowicki, 2020 ;Stuermer et al., 2017 ;Prati and Pietrantoni, 2016 ;Eicher et al., 2014 ), five at the United States of America (US) ( Huang et al., 2011 ;Des Jarlais et al., 2006 ;Kam, 2019 ;Earnshaw et al., 2019 ;Kim et al., 2016 ), two in Asia ( Zheng et al., 2005 ;Goodwin and Sun, 2014 ), and one in multiple countries ( He et al., 2020 ). ...
... More than 30% of the studies referred to an Influenza A outbreak, namely swine and avian ( Krings et al., 2012 ;Gilles et al., 2013 ;Huang et al., 2011 ;Goodwin and Sun, 2014 ;Eicher et al., 2014 ), with the remaining being associated to COVID-19 ( He et al., 2020 ;Rzymski and Nowicki, 2020 ), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) ( Bil et al., 2019 ), Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) ( Stuermer et al., 2017 ;Earnshaw et al., 2019 ;Kim et al., 2016 ;Prati and Pietrantoni, 2016 ), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) ( Des Jarlais et al., 2006 ;Zheng et al., 2005 ), Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection (MRSA) ( Joffe et al., 2011 ), and Zika Virus (ZIKV) ( Kam, 2019 ). ...
Background: Globally, xenophobia towards out-groups is frequently increased in times of economic and political instability, such as in infectious disease outbreaks. This systematic review aims to: (1) assess the xenophobic attitudes and behaviours towards migrants during disease outbreaks; and (2) identify adverse health outcomes linked to xenophobia. Methods: We searched nine scientific databases to identify studies measuring xenophobic tendencies towards international migrants during disease outbreaks and evaluated the resulting adverse health effects. Results: Eighteen articles were included in the review. The findings were grouped into: 1) xenophobia-related outcomes, including social exclusion, out-group avoidance, support for exclusionary health policies, othering, and germ aversion; and 2) mental health problems, such as anxiety and fear. Depending on the disease outbreak, different migrant populations were negatively affected, particularly Asians, Africans, and Latino people. Factors as perceived vulnerability to disease, disgust sensitivity, medical mistrust individualism, collectivism, disease salience, social representation of disease and beliefs in different origins of disease were associated with xenophobia. Conclusions: Overall, migrants can be a vulnerable population frequently blamed for spreading the disease, promoting irrational fear, worry and stigma in various forms, and leading to health inequities worldwide. It is urgent that societies adopt effective support strategies to combat xenophobia and structural forms of discrimination against migrants.
... While the CCRPM evaluates risk perceptions of climate change (Gilbert & Lachlan, 2023;Linden, 2015), the model's main tenets have also shown to predict changes in risk perceptions and behavior due to a variety of environmental hazards (Bradley et al., 2020;Han et al., 2022;Ngo, Poortvliet, and Feindt 2020;Eck, Mulder, and Linden 2020). In addition, some scholars adapted this model and assessed risk attitudes in areas like global health and pandemics (Dryhurst et al., 2020;Prati & Pietrantoni, 2016). Our work further develops this strand of studies by building on the main clusters of explanations as proposed by Linden (2015)-experiential, cognitive and social, to explore health-related risk perceptions in the face of hazards such as pollutions, toxic spills and environmental contaminations. ...
... Research on environmental hazards used the availability or affect heuristics and show that people who remember hazard events like floods or tornadoes (due to experience them directly or indirectly) display higher risk perceptions (Brody et al., 2008;Dvir, Vedlitz, & Mostafavi, 2022a, 2022bKeller et al., 2006;Tanner & Árvai, 2018;Zhao et al., 2019). Evidence for those effects has been documented for other hazards like domestic fires, earthquakes and pandemic influenza (Knuth et al., 2014;Prati & Pietrantoni, 2016). Studies of climate change-related natural hazards found a key role for past experience in increasing risk perceptions following extreme weather conditions (Akerlof et al., 2013;Capstick & Pidgeon, 2014;Egan & Mullin, 2012). ...
This study explores risk attitudes towards environmental hazards by adapting the Comprehensive Conceptual Risk Perception Model (CCRPM) and applying it in the context of health-related implications of these hazards. We argue that personal experience and a deeper understanding of environmental hazards increase risk perceptions, while a strong social context reduces health concerns. Utilizing data from a national survey ( N = 1207), our findings reveal higher health-related risk perceptions among individuals with pre-existing health conditions. Additionally, those with greater knowledge of environmental threats exhibit heightened concern about health complications. Conversely, individuals in communities with robust social ties report lower risk attitudes. An in-depth analysis further indicates that residents of high-risk communities, characterized by higher levels of air pollution, have increased risk perceptions compared to those in less polluted areas. These findings reinforce the dimensions described in the CCRPM and highlight the significance of structural conditions in shaping individuals' risk perceptions.
... According to the attribution theory, people who are attributed to responsibility are considered distrustful [21]. Moreover, evidence showed that negative emotions provoked by contagious diseases led people to be distrustful of out-group members [43][44][45]. Because strangers and acquaintances were regarded as socially distant others or out-group members during the pandemic, the negative emotions tended to decrease one's trust in them, thereby enlarging the family members-strangers trust gap and the family members-acquaintances trust gap. ...
... By comparing the indirect effect of digital media use on 2 trust gaps via negative emotions, we found that negative emotions tended to enlarge the family members-strangers trust gap to a larger extent than the family members-acquaintances trust gap. These findings not only echo that strong aversive emotions result in individuals' distrust in strangers or loosely connected ones [43][44][45] but also indicate that people tend to attribute more responsibility to socially distant others, thereby leading to more distrust in strangers than in acquaintances. In recent years, strangers have been increasingly distanced as untrustworthy others, which suggests a decrease in social trust [66,71]. ...
Background
Retrospecting the trust gaps and their dynamics during the pandemic is crucial for understanding the root causes of postpandemic challenges and offers valuable insights into preparing for future public health emergencies. The COVID-19 pandemic eroded people’s trust in strangers and acquaintances, while their trust in family members remained relatively stable. This resulted in 2 trust gaps, namely, the family members–strangers trust gap and the family members–acquaintances trust gap. Widening trust gaps impede social integration and undermine the effective management of public health crises. However, little is known about how digital media use shaped trust gaps during a pandemic.
Objective
This study aims to investigate the relationships between digital media use, negative emotions, the family members–strangers trust gap, and the family members–acquaintances trust gap during the COVID-19 pandemic in China. We test the mediating role of negative emotions between digital media use and 2 trust gaps and compare the indirect effect of digital media use on 2 trust gaps through negative emotions.
Methods
A cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted in China between January 31, 2020, and February 9, 2020. A total of 1568 adults participated in the survey. Questions related to digital media use, negative emotions, trust in family members, trust in acquaintances, and trust in strangers during the pandemic were asked. Regression analyses were performed to test the associations between the examined variables. We used a 95% bootstrap CI approach to estimate the mediation effects.
Results
Digital media use was positively associated with negative emotions (B=0.17, SE 0.03; P<.001), which in turn were positively associated with the family members–strangers trust gap (B=0.15, SE 0.03; P<.001). Likewise, digital media use was positively associated with negative emotions (B=0.17, SE 0.03; P<.001), while negative emotions were positively associated with the family members–acquaintances trust gap (B=0.08, SE 0.03; P=.01). Moreover, the indirect effect of digital media use on the family members–strangers trust gap (B=0.03, SE 0.01; 95% CI 0.01-0.04) was stronger than that on the family members–acquaintances trust gap (B=0.01, SE 0.01; 95% CI 0.003-0.027).
Conclusions
The results demonstrate that negative emotions resulting from the frequent use of digital media are a key factor that accounts for the widening trust gaps. Considering the increasing reliance on digital media, the findings indicate that the appropriate use of digital media can prevent the overamplification of negative emotions and curb the enlargement of trust gaps. This may help restore social trust and prepare for future public health crises in the postpandemic era.
... Because most of the campaigns are open and direct and because the congregation is consistently loyal to its clergy, the church plays a very important role in this situation. They are burdened with the twofold obligation of not only gaining souls for Christ but also imparting accurate knowledge necessary for development (Prati and Pietrantoni, 2016), which includes raising awareness of the necessity for individuals to exercise caution when it comes to COVID-19 viral infection. ...
... Church campaigns are utilised as a source of information during this epidemic since churches are important to everyone, particularly Christians. The primary function of the church in this era, or at any time, is to spread knowledge and win souls to Christ (Prati and Pietrantoni, 2016), but it has since progressed to include initiatives that aim to raise awareness of social issues. The religion has a strong effect over how we see the world since it is so adaptable and may have a significant impact on the populace. ...
This study examined the effectiveness of mass media campaigns on adherence to COVID-19 protocols among Pentecostal churches in Benin City. The objectives of this study were to determine the extent to which Pentecostal churches in Benin City are aware of COVID-19 campaign protocols for churches; find out the degree of adherence of Pentecostal churches to COVID-19 campaign protocols and find out the perception of Pentecostal churches on COVID-19 campaign protocols for churches in Nigeria. The Source Credibility Theory was the theoretical framework. Survey served as research design while questionnaire was the research instrument. According to the study's findings, mass media campaigns led Pentecostal churches in Benin City to implement a number of protocols that led to a high degree of knowledge on COVID-19 preventative measures. However, the media campaigns were not effective enough to make Pentecostal churches practice COVID-19 protocols objectively. It is therefore recommended among other things that appropriate sensitisation should be carried out before implementing protocols that may affect Christians' devotion to God. It was also recommended that clergy and high-profiled members in Pentecostal churches should always adhere to COVID-19 protocols. This is because, as models, when they adhere to the protocols, other members will imitate their steps.
... We adopt a social representations approach, which allows us to address the processes through which a suddenly occurring social change, such as the COVID-19 outbreak, is symbolised in common sense (Eicher & Bangerter, 2015). & Seay, 2015;Johnson et al., 2004;Prati & Pietrantoni, 2016;Thompson & Kumar, 2011). In the cases of Ebola, SARS, and H1N1, studies of SRs in the Western press and among people have evidenced a pattern of assigning the origin and the threat of the diseases (as well as the blame) to distant victims in far-flung countries and their cultural practices or social conditions (Mondragon et al., 2016;Wagner-Egger et al., 2011;Washer, 2010). ...
... It includes health consequences and origins, which, differently from other pandemics, were not used as main anchoring themes that explain the process of othering. The 'othering' process characteristic to previous representations of specific EIDs such as HIV/AIDS (Joffé, 1999), Ebola (Mondragon et al., 2016;Prati & Pietrantoni, 2016), or SARS (Washer, 2010) was less conspicuous in the case of SARS-CoV-2 virus. Links to China were fairly present in terms of assigning the origins of the virus, but this idea does not seem to be at the forefront of social representations. ...
This study examined the social representations of SARS-CoV-2 virus in Italy. We used the technique of free word association involving 1572 adults living in Italy. An open coding procedure and content analysis lead to the identification of 13 key topics representing the categorisation of concepts that emerged from the elicited words. The most common categories were spread of the virus, negative feelings, life during quarantine, and health consequences of the virus. Multidimensional scaling of co-occurrences of categories revealed these categories were grouped into four thematic areas. In addition, we found that the frequency of the categories of words was associated with gender, age, well-being, and mental health symptoms. By revealing complex and differentiated social representations, results from the present study provide a comprehensive insight on Italian people's perception of COVID-19 outbreak in the Spring of 2020. This early study of social representations forms a useful basis for later studies, in order to understand how collective understandings and framings of risk have evolved across the duration of the pandemic.
... This can be related to the lack of trust in the government's preparedness and ability to respond to the pandemic. This is consistent with other studies in Sierra Leone about the government's incompetence to prevent the Ebola pandemic (Prati and Pietrantoni, 2016;Yamanis et al., 2016). ...
The coronavirus has been rapidly spreading across different parts of the globe. The
pandemic will have a severe impact unless coordinated preventive measures are
undertaken. This paper examines the COVID-19 intervention and the challenges for
implementation in Mekelle, Tigray, northern Ethiopia. Telephone interviews, personal
observation and document reviews were used as data collection techniques. Results showed that the majority of the population in Mekelle are aware of the pandemic. Most people practiced handwashing with soap and water. But there is limited physical distancing in religious institutions, market places, and coffee houses where many people convene. With this, staying at home remains a challenge among the majority. Still, there is a belief that the pandemic is a “punishment from God”, while others believe that it is an illness of the old and does not affect the young. Generally, applying the recommended COVID-19 prevention measures, including the physical distancing, seem unattainable as the majority continue to overlook government advice. As related studies such as the fight against the Ebola outbreak in West African countries showed, this emanates from the lack of trust in media messages. In Tigray, religious leaders and community elders have a significant influence on their respective community members. Messages from these individuals remain trusted and can easily reach the majority due to social networks. This highlights that besides enforcing strict and prolonged measures from the government, reliable two-way communication can help achieve the desired behavior changes towards complying with the COVID-19 prevention measures among the different segments of the population in Mekelle.
... En la percepción del riesgo asociada con las enfermedades infecciosas emergentes, los estudios durante brotes anteriores como la influenza H1N1 en 2009 (Fischhoff et al., 2017;Rudisill, 2013;Prati et al., 2011), el brote de Ébola (Prati y Pietrantoni, 2016; Yang y Chu 2018) y el SARS (Leppin & Aro, 2009), no son concluyentes sobre qué variables están involucradas en la percepción del riesgo. Por ejemplo, se ha demostrado (Prati & Pietrantoni, 2016) que la falta de conocimiento, así como la información falsa, los rumores, los mitos y la preocupación por una enfermedad altamente transmisible, pueden provocar consecuencias sociales negativas asociadas con la enfermedad, es decir, que, ante el desconocimiento de la enfermedad, aparecen el prejuicio y el estigma (Santibáñez et al., 2015). La COVID-19 ha representado una amenaza no solo para la salud física, también para la salud mental, debido principalmente a la información difundida sobre el mecanismo de transmisión por aerosolización (Fielding, 2020), aunado al hecho de que incluso personas que no presentan síntomas pueden portar la enfermedad y contagiar a otros (OMS, 2020), estas características de la propagación del virus incrementan la percepción de riesgo y provocar estados crónicos de estrés. ...
Resumen Durante la pandemia de COVID-19, los trabajadores han tenido que realizar sus actividades en diferentes modalidades como el teletrabajo, presencial o presencial frente a clientes, a pesar del riesgo de contagio asociado a sus actividades. El objetivo del estudio consistió en identificar si variables como percepción del riesgo, el estrés percibido, el malestar emocional y la calidad del sueño son predictores de la resiliencia, y si ésta, es un mediador de la satisfacción laboral. Participaron 705 trabajadores mexicanos seleccionados por muestreo no probabilístico e intencional, la información se recolectó a través de escalas válidas y confiables usando un formulario de Google. Los resultados del modelo estructural corroboran la influencia de las variables independientes sobre la satisfacción laboral, el modelo presenta unos índices de bondad de ajuste adecuados x2/df=2.64, RMSEA=0.048, CFI=0.910, TLI=0.902, SRMR=0.074; por lo tanto, la variable resiliencia es un mediador entre la percepción del riesgo, el nivel de estrés, la calidad del sueño y la satisfacción laboral. Podemos concluir que la resiliencia es un factor determinante para que los trabajadores estén REVISTA DE PSICOLOGÍA DE LA UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA DEL ESTADO DE MÉXICO VOLUMEN 13, NÚMERO 39 fasc. 2 julio-diciembre 2024 / ISSN: 2007-7149
... Perceived realistic threats include threats to the material or physical well-being of the ingroup members or the ingroup as a whole (e.g., war, competition for scarce resources, economic and political power, and health). For instance, a perceived threat to the health of ingroup members, such as the Ebola Outbreak, is associated with an increase in negative attitudes toward outgroup members (Prati & Pietrantoni, 2016). Symbolic threats are threats posed by the outgroup to morals, values, standards, beliefs, and attitudes held by the ingroup. ...
There is a large body of literature on the effect of negative attitudes toward outgroup members on target individuals and groups. However, less attention was devoted to their effects on those who hold these attitudes. The current study hypothesized that there would be a bidirectional relationship between subjective well-being and attitudes toward outgroup members. In Study 1, data from the Integrated Values Surveys, the Ecology-Culture Dataset, and the World Happiness Report 2022 were used. In Study 2, a random intercept cross-lagged panel model was implemented using longitudinal data over a six-year period from the GESIS Panel (n = 6783 people living in Ger-many). Results of Study 1 demonstrated a significant negative relationship between subjective well-being and negative attitudes toward outgroup members both at the country level (118 countries) and at the individual level (663,965 participants in 120 countries around the world). In Study 2, a random intercept cross-lagged panel model revealed significant within-person reciprocal relations between life satisfaction and negative attitudes toward refugees. This study provides evidence for a bidirectional relationship between subjective well-being and negative attitudes toward outgroup members.
... Consistent with this finding, people in Hong Kong who perceived higher severity and susceptibility of getting infected by H1N1 were more likely to feel emotionally worried, disturbed or depressed than others (Lau et al., 2010a, b). Analogously, public risk perception of the Ebola outbreak was positively related to negative emotional responses such as fear, anger, anxiety, disgust, and sadness (Prati & Pietrantoni, 2016;Yang & Chu, 2018). Based on these studies from previous pandemics, it is reasonable to infer that pregnant woman with higher risk perception of COVID-19 may have more fear and anxiety in the ongoing pandemic. ...
Background
Prenatal depression is associated with adverse health outcomes for both mothers and their children. The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has presented new risks and challenges for expectant mothers. The aims of the study were to investigate the underlying mechanism between COVID-19 risk perception of Chinese pregnant women and their prenatal depressive symptoms and potential protective factors such as family sense of coherence (FSOC).
Method
A total of 181 Chinese pregnant women (Mage = 31.40 years, SD = 3.67, ranged from 23 to 43) participated in an online survey from April 22 to May 16, 2020. Risk perception and negative emotions (fear and anxiety) related with COVID-19, FSOC, and prenatal depressive symptoms were assessed.
Results
The experience of maternal COVID-19 related negative emotion fully mediated the positive relationship between COVID-19 risk perception and prenatal depressive symptoms of pregnant women (β = 0.12, 95% CI [0.06, 0.19]). When confronting COVID-19 related fear and anxiety, expectant mothers from higher coherent families experienced a significantly lower level of prenatal depressive symptoms.
Conclusions
Contextual negative emotional experience was demonstrated to explain how risk perception impacts depressive symptoms during severe public health crisis for pregnant women. FSOC may be a psychological resource protecting pregnant women from experiencing adverse psychological outcomes during COVID-19 pandemic.
... Conversely, events likelihood of infection. Hence, we anticipate that individuals' emotional responses to COVID-19 will impact their perceived level of risk (Prati & Pietrantoni, 2016). Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals, motivated by concerns for personal safety and fear of societal disruption, undergo heightened negative emotions. ...
With the global prevalence of Omicron diseases, health prevention behaviors have gained paramount importance. This paper focuses on a relatively closed environment, such as schools or communities, and develops a theoretical model grounded in social learning theory and social influence theory. The study categorizes preventive health behavior into active preventive health behavior (APHB) and passive preventive health behavior (PPHB). Employing structural equation modeling, we conducted a survey with 632 respondents to scrutinize the influential mechanisms of preventive health behavior in relatively closed environments. Our findings indicate that peer effect influence significantly impacts both types of preventive health behavior. Notably, risk perception distinctly influences PPHB but lacks significant influence on APHB. Moreover, the geographical distance’s effect on risk perception is found to be insignificant. These results carry substantial implications for enhancing the adoption of preventive health behavior in relatively closed environments.
... However, research shows that not all members of out-groups receive residents' hospitality at a destination regardless of cost-benefit analysis (Josiassen et al., 2022). This is especially the case during health emergencies such as the Ebola outbreak where perceived Ebola risk triggered prejudicial treatment of African immigrants (Prati & Pietrantoni, 2016) and the initial post-COVID-19 world where Chinese tourists were targeted (Armutlu et al., 2021). Beyond health emergencies, tourist negative stereotypes (i.e., perceived negative beliefs about a tourist group) instigate mistreatment of members of a tourist group . ...
Mindfulness is a critical instrument in sustainable tourism development. However, existing literature on mindfulness’ role in hospitality and tourism sustainability has mostly focused on tourists’ perspective. In this study, we shift perspective to gain insight into how and when residents’ mindfulness relates to their attitudes and behaviors in host-tourist relation. Integrating mindfulness and motivated information processing theories, we develop and test a theoretical model examining the effect of mindfulness on resident hospitality and tourist negative stereotypes via resident self-transcendence (i.e., residents’ attunement with tourists). Residents’ ability to take tourists’ perspective is proposed to enhance the effect of mindfulness on their sense of attunement with tourists, further augmenting the positive and negative indirect effect of mindfulness on resident hospitality and tourist negative stereotypes, respectively. In a 2-week interval time-lagged study with 429 US residents, we found robust evidence supporting our model. Implications of our findings for host-tourist relationship management are thoroughly discussed.
... In addition to the compound risks and vulnerabilities, prior research indicates other factors that can influence individual and household perceptions of recovery and resilience. Risk perceptions can be important in affecting individuals' selfperceptions of resilience, particularly in the context of pandemics (Dryhurst et al. 2020;Fischhoff et al. 2018;Leppin and Aro 2009;Prati and Pietrantoni 2016;Prati, Pietrantoni, and Zani 2011;Rudisill 2013;Yang and Chu 2018). Leaders and experts can also play a critical role in the sense-making process by presenting clear information on policy choices and legitimizing policy during crises (Boin and Lodge 2016;Christensen 2021;Heinzel and Liese 2021;Rosenthal and 'T Hart 1991;Stern 1991). ...
This study focuses on understanding perceptions of recovery and resilience by employing the theoretical lens of subjective resilience, adaptive, and coping capacities to understand individual cognition of risks and perceptions of recovery from the pandemic for those living in hurricane-prone areas. We explore several factors affecting perceptions of resilience and recovery, such as capacities to adapt and cope, risk perceptions, communication sources, levels of physical and social vulnerabilities, the ability to prepare for hurricanes during the pandemic, perceptions of government policies, social capital, and partisanship. To analyze these factors, we use individual-level data that were collected using a survey population drawn from both random (via telephone landlines) and nonrandom (via the internet) sampling in Florida. We find that expectations of recovery were positively associated with several factors, including risk perceptions with higher levels of concern about the pandemic, higher self-reported levels of stress, lack of preparation for a hurricane making landfall during the pandemic, less social connectedness, and political party affiliation. The results help inform pandemic preparedness and management.
... At the same time, in countries where the mortality rate from the disease was higher while there were no restrictions to dissemination of information about the disease, the decline was more severe. G. Prati and L. Pietrantoni revealed a link between a high-risk perception of the Ebola epidemic and the xenophobic attitudes (Prati and Pietrantoni 2016). And P. Baehr (Baehr 2005) in his study of the SARS outbreak in Hong Kong in 2003 described the formation of "communities of fate", groups of people who realised the need of solidarity for saving their lives. ...
The paper focuses on cultural changes in Russia during the coronavirus crisis. The analysis of data from the representative Russian national and Moscow regional surveys conducted in autumn 2018 and in summer 2020 revealed the following changes as the level of trust remained unchanged: a reduced planning horizon, a higher uncertainty avoidance, decreased values of autonomy and stimulation, and an increased value of security. The cultural changes identified are manifested both on average in the representative samples and for individual age groups. The cultural changes are more pronounced in the all-Russian sample than in the Moscow regional sample. In the context of different age groups, the greatest cultural changes are identified among people aged 18‑35, which may produce long-term effects of the coronavirus crisis on Russia’s economic development. Empirical analysis of data from the international surveys WVS, EVS, and ESS has shown that the cultural changes identified in Russia are only partially manifested in other countries, which determines the importance of studying country-specific cultural changes caused by external shocks. Promising areas of research include analysing changes in institutional equilibria provoked by external shocks and corresponding cultural shifts, as well as designing interim institutions that would help smooth the adverse effects caused by the coronavirus crisis.
... Economically, the recession resulting from lockdown measures induced groups to compete for the government's financial aid. Therefore, group threat theory predicts that more outgroup members will lead to stronger opposition to outgroups (Quillian, 1995(Quillian, , 1996Semyonov et al., 2006;Taylor, 1998), particularly if resources are scarce (i.e., during crises) (Prati and Pietrantoni, 2016). However, others have argued that outgroup size is an imprecise threat indicator and does not increase negative attitudes (DeWaard, 2015;Hjerm, 2007;Schlueter and Davidov, 2013;Semyonov et al., 2004;Sides and Citrin, 2007). ...
This study analyzes how a novel psychological factor-collective narcissism-affects giving behavior to national and international charities during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that collective narcissists tended to keep more resources for themselves or national charities while giving less to international charities. In line with the group threat theory, this tendency is more pronounced in countries with a high share of foreign population. Our findings suggest that the shared experience of the global COVID-19 public health crisis did not blur the boundaries between ingroups and outgroups for collective narcissists. These results imply that mitigating outgroup hostility associated with collective narcissism is critical to strengthening cross-national solidarity during unprecedented crises. However, more contact with foreign nationals might not reduce the negative impact of collective narcissism.
... Interaction and communication between groups may vary in the axis of different situations such as epidemic, pandemic, LGBTQ+ phobia (Collier et al., 2012;Hou, 2020;Prati & Pietrantoni, 2016). Especially in times of crisis, prejudices against various groups in society may increase, and these prejudices may evolve into discrimination and hate speech. ...
Purpose: This study evaluated the possible effects of empathy-focused group work on the participants, which is designed by bringing together cisgender heterosexual and LGBTQ+ people. Method: The study group of the research consists of 28 people (14 people in each of the experimental and control groups) who receive social service from a municipality in Istanbul, Turkey. The empathy-focused group work lasted 8 weeks, and pretest and posttest measurements were performed using the Affective and Cognitive Measure of Empathy (ACME) Scale and the Social Dominance Orientation Scale. Results: The result of this study showed that the participants were able to experience positive contact experiences in group work with heterogeneous groups, and an increase in the emotional and cognitive empathy levels of the participants and a decrease in their social dominance orientation. Conclusions: Implications for future research and professional practice are discussed.
... According to the relationship between RP and PBs, some studies have investigated this relationship. Applying RP and individual response to a model regarding influenza H1N1 in Italy (Prati et al., 2011); perceived risk of Ebola and levels of knowledge and prejudice concerning African immigrants (Prati & Pietrantoni, 2016); perceived risk of MERS and value, perception, and resource (Kim, & Kim, 2018); RP, anxiety, and behavior change afterward (Rubin et al., 2009) Some studies have tried to simulate the behavior of society during an epidemic by using SD modeling (Busby & Onggo, 2013;Burns & Slovic, 2013;Rosoff et al., 2012). Busby and Onggo (2013) developed an SD model to explain RP and communication. ...
The new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) has become a complex issue around the world. As the disease advancing and death rates are continuously increasing, governments are trying to control the situation by implementing different response policies. In order to implement appropriate policies, we need to consider the behavior of the people. Risk perception (RP) is a critical component in many health behavior change theories studies. People's RP can shape their behavior. This research presents a system dynamics (SD) model of the COVID‐19 outbreak considering RP. The proposed model considers effective factors on RP, including different media types, awareness, and public acceptable death rate. In addition, the simplifying assumption of permanent immunity due to infection has been eliminated, and reinfection is considered; thus, different waves of the pandemic have been simulated. Using the presented model, the trend of advancing and death rates due to the COVID‐19 pandemic in Iran can be predicted. Some policies are proposed for pandemic management. Policies are categorized as the capacity of hospitals, preventive behaviors, and accepted death rate. The results show that the proposed policies are effective. In this case, reducing the accepted death rate was the most effective policy to manage the pandemics. About 20% reduction in the accepted death rate causes about 23% reduction in cumulative death and delays at epidemic peak. The mean daily error in predicting the death rate is less than 10%.
... behavior. According to studies, the more these elements are present in a particular setting, the more likely they are to encourage healthy behavior (Prati & Pietrantoni, 2016). Despite the fact that research are attempting to build on public health behavior from these three dimensions, there is yet to be an agreement on the theories' impacts in various contexts. ...
This study examines the perception of COVID-19 media campaigns among Edo State residents. The researcher employed the descriptive survey design and questionnaire served as research instrument. The population of the study was 683, 266, (six hundred and eighty three thousand, two hundred and sixty six). The study adopted the Cochran sample size determination formula. The sample size was therefore 384 but sequel to its retrieval to 382 copies of the questionnaire was retrieved while four copies were lost. Based on research findings, it was discovered, that mass media campaigns on COVID-19 created more awareness of the virus among Edo state residents. It was also concluded that the degree of exposure and perception of awareness of media campaigns of COVID-19 among residents was high. The reason for this was due to high media campaigns on COVID-19 in Edo state which gave the people much exposure as well as information about the virus. It was other things to ensure avoidance of contracting the virus in Edo state, and her environs. Edo state residents should not be carefree about COVID-19 as media campaigns have shown that the virus is real and existed in Edo state whether the believe it or not.
... As expected, members of the public holding university degrees and higher educational levels scored high knowledge scores, which echoes our colleagues' results [30]. Additionally, public participants who had personal and family worries about contracting the disease had significantly high knowledge scores, which is again an expected intuitive healthy behavior since worry dictates the perception of risk, which translates into preventive practice, stemming from reading and acquiring targeted knowledge [31]. ...
Background: Monkeypox disease (MPOX) recently re-emerged in May 2022, causing international outbreaks in multiple non-endemic countries. This study demonstrates a novel comparison between the knowledge and perceptions of Saudi healthcare workers (HCWs) and the general public regarding MPOX. Methods: An online survey, conducted from 27 May to 5 June 2022, assessing participants’ MPOX and monkeypox virus (MPV) knowledge in terms of transmission, vaccination, isolation precautions, and their attitudes toward seeking more information. Results: A total of 1546 members of the public and 1130 HCWs completed the survey. Briefly, 61.3% of the public and 74.2% of HCWs showed interest in seeking more information about MPOX. Both groups had average overall mean MPOX knowledge scores. Members of the public holding university degrees and those showing high levels of worry regarding MPOX had significantly higher knowledge scores. However, HCWs showed a poor vaccination knowledge score, while only 57% recognized that MPOX can present similarly to COVID-19 in the early stages. Female HCWs and those with high self-rated MPOX awareness had significantly high knowledge scores. HCWs in secondary and tertiary centers had significantly higher knowledge scores. Conclusion: Both groups showed a decent attitude in terms of seeking more MPOX knowledge, which correlated positively with their worry about and awareness of the disease. These observations are mostly as a consequence of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which encouraged the public and HCW to acquire more information about any novel emerging disease. Policymakers should make the most of this attitude in their awareness campaigns to prevent the spread of the disease and encourage vaccination in cases where it is needed. The knowledge gaps among HCWs were most evident in terms of clinical presentation and vaccinations; this problem needs addressing if we are to avoid further emerging MPOX cases.
... Previous literature suggests stress response is one of the most common mental health outcomes of pandemics (e.g., severe acute respiratory syndrome [SARS] and Ebola) (4)(5)(6). At the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, a cross-sectional study in China indicated that approximately one-quarter of the sample experienced acute stress reactions (7). ...
Introduction
COVID-19 related stress might vary with the pandemic changes, as well as other associated factors. This study aimed to compare the stress level during the first wave of the pandemic outbreak and 1 year later in China, and to explore the differential roles of social support and perceptions of this disease in affecting pandemic-related stress over time.
Methods
COVID-19 related stress, social support, and perceptions of the pandemic (perceived threat, perceived protection, and perceived controllability) were measured using the Impact of Event Scale-Revised for COVID-19, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and the Self-Compiled Scale of COVID-19 Related Perception, respectively. Using an online survey, two independent samples were collected during the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak (Time 1: March 2020, N = 430) and 1 year later (Time 2: April 2021, N = 512).
Results
Levels of COVID-19 related stress and social support were lower at Time 2. Furthermore, at both Time 1 and Time 2, more social support was associated with less stress. Perceived protection and controllability of COVID-19 also mediated the relationship between social support and COVID-19 at both time points. However, the perceived threat of COVID-19 only served as a mediator at Time 1.
Conclusion
These results indicate that Chinese people might experience lower COVID-19 related stress as the pandemic progresses. The perceived threat of COVID-19 played a more critical role in stress experienced at Time 1. These findings not only underscore the importance of social support under the context of Chinese society, but also have implications for developing specific interventions targeting different perceptions of COVID-19 to reduce pandemic-related stress during the different waves of this pandemic.
... Except for its potential positive effect on anti-COVID-19 behavior, fear of can simultaneously have a disruptive effect on intergroup relations (Bavel et al., 2020). A societal threat in general (Feldman & Stenner, 1997;Jackson et al., 2019) and fear of a disease, in particular, could worsen intergroup relations (e.g., in line with pathogen-prevalence hypothesis; Faulkner et al., 2004;Kim et al., 2016;Prati & Pietrantoni, 2016;Schaller & Neuberg, 2012). Multiple theoretical accounts predict that fear of COVID-19 could facilitate prejudice. ...
During a pandemic, it is vital to identify factors that motivate individuals to behave in ways that limit virus transmission (i.e., anti‐COVID‐19 behaviour). Fear has been suggested to motivate health‐oriented behaviour, yet fear of the virus (i.e., fear of COVID‐19) could have unintended consequences, such as an increase in anti‐immigrant prejudice. In a three‐wave longitudinal study (NT1 = 4275) in five European countries from April to October 2020, we investigated how social norms, the impact of the pandemic on individuals, and intergroup contact affected fear of COVID‐19 and—or in turn—anti‐COVID‐19 behaviour and prejudice towards immigrants. A latent change score model——distinguishing between intra‐ and inter‐individual changes in outcomes——indicated that fear of COVID‐19 influenced neither anti‐COVID‐19 behaviour nor prejudice. Anti‐COVID‐19 behaviour was increased by anti‐COVID‐19 norms (i.e., belief that others perform anti‐COVID‐19 behaviours), while prejudice was influenced by positive and negative direct and mass‐mediated intergroup contact.
... This is partly because in medical crises, one's health is constantly put under threat, and this sense of incoherence often drives people to blame outgroups for the transmission of the disease (Cohn, 2012). Research on the recent epidemics suggests that risk perception of diseases was linked with increased discrimination against migrants, from the SARS epidemic (Eichelberger, 2007), Ebola (Prati & Pietrantoni, 2016), to COVID-19 (Kaur-Gill, 2020;Tsai et al., 2020). ...
This study investigates how domestic migrant workers were framed in Vietnamese news media during the country’s fourth wave of COVID-19. Although the experience of domestic migrant workers in urban settings has been a relevant issue of studies among domestic and international academia, few papers have looked at migrant workers from the perspective of communication and media study. In an attempt to fill this knowledge gap, 239 news articles about migrant workers taken from three major Vietnamese online newspapers from April 27 to December 31, 2021, were content analyzed to understand how migrant workers were portrayed in the news media. Five generic news frames, (i) Economic consequences, (ii) Conflict, (iii) Human interest, (iv) Morality, and (v) Attribution of responsibility, were used for coding. It is found that migrant workers were multidimensionally depicted in the media as both pitiful, vulnerable, and helpless victims of the pandemic and objects of blame for new outbreaks, but the “victim” portrayal was more prevalent. Such findings align with previous studies on the framing of outgroups, i.e., immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees, especially during medical crises.
... Similar prejudicial phenomena, in the context of disease outbreaks, have been noted for centuries: during the Black Death in the 14th century, Jews and minorities were scapegoated and massacred. The 2014 Ebola outbreak led to a rise in anti-African racism and xenophobia in Europe (Prati & Pietrantoni, 2016). The human tendency to derogate the ''other'' during disease outbreaks appears to be ancient, yet little is understood about the situational causes of this phenomenon. ...
Xenophobia and anti-immigrant attacks rose during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet this may not be solely due to the disease threat. According to theories of frustration and scapegoating, situational obstructions and deprivation can motivate prejudice against outgroups. Using a global natural quasi-experimental design, this study tests whether the restrictiveness of national lockdowns can explain higher individual-level perceptions of immigrant threat. Data of 45,894 participants from 23 countries were analyzed. Both lockdown duration and lockdown severity were positively associated with individuals’ perceived threat of immigrants. The lockdown effects were independent of objective and subjective measures of disease threat, and there was no evidence that disease threat drives people’s prejudice toward immigrants. Subgroup analysis suggested the lockdown effects were reliable in Europe and the Americas, but not in Asia. These findings suggest a need to mitigate frustration and scapegoating when implementing lockdowns, and to distinguish the influence of societal restrictions from disease threat.
... While Wong and Sam (2010) postulated that possessing more information regarding H1N1 was associated with greater stigma in Malaysia, Des Jarlais et al. (2006) suggested that higher levels of knowledge regarding SARS were associated with a decreased likelihood of stigmatization among individuals from the United States. Similarly, Prati and Pietrantoni (2016) suggested that knowledge regarding Ebola might share an inverse relationship with discrimination. Ebola-related stigma appeared to be associated with perceptions about the risks of infection and its modes of transmission (Adongo et al., 2016). ...
Background:
The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected the mental health of people globally. Despite substantial research on the short-term psychological impact of COVID-19, its long-term consequences on mental health remain relatively unexplored.
Aims:
We aimed to examine mental health literature on prior outbreaks to provide recommendations for developing effective strategies to mitigate the short- and long-term psychological impact of the current pandemic.
Methods:
We conducted a narrative review of 41 studies to analyze the adverse impact of the following epidemics and pandemics on the mental health of individuals, groups, and communities: Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, Influenza A/H1N1, and Ebola Virus Disease.
Results:
We noted that these past epidemics and pandemics escalated stress, distress, anxiety, fear, and stigma that persisted in countries and communities. We also identified the role of misinformation in propagating discrimination and prejudice towards certain groups.
Conclusions:
We discuss how the mental health outcomes of previous pandemics differed from the COVID-19 outbreak. We believe that strategies that reduce misinformation, educational initiatives, and mental health programs when introduced at the individual and community level have the potential to effectively diminish the negative psychological impact of COVID-19.
Prisma:
This study followed the PRISMA guidance and was not registered in PROSPERO. This is a narrative review that used qualitative thematic analysis. Publishing a protocol on a protocol repository for such reviews is not the standard of practice.
... The spread of pandemic diseases not only poses a severe threat for the health and wellbeing of individuals and families; it threatens the social fabric of society as well. Throughout human history, xenophobia has often followed the outbreak of disease (e.g., Parmet, 2007;Prati and Pietrantoni, 2016;Clissold et al., 2020;Huo, 2020). So, too, has homophobia-and not only in the case of AIDS (Smith, 1998;Snowden, 2019). ...
Theory and research in social, evolutionary, and political psychology indicates that subjective feelings of threat and exposure to objectively threatening circumstances—including pandemic diseases—may contribute to increased affinities for political conservatism, right-wing authoritarianism, and prejudice against out-group members. We investigated these possibilities in the context of Italy, which was the first Western country to be severely affected by the spread of COVID-19. Early on in the pandemic, from March 3–8, 2020, we surveyed 757 Italian adults ranging in age from 18 to 78 years. Results revealed that antipathy toward immigrants and sexual minorities was predicted by (male) sex, COVID-19 anxiety, RWA, and political distrust. Furthermore, COVID-19 anxiety magnified the effect of RWA on disliking of immigrants and sexual minorities (but not obese or disabled people). Contrary to prediction, political trust failed to attenuate the effects of COVID-19 anxiety or RWA on out-group antipathy. Implications for the theories of right-wing authoritarianism and political ideology as motivated social cognition, as well as the state of contemporary Italian politics are discussed.
... As early as the 14th century, Jewish citizens were blamed for the spread of the bubonic plague (Markel, 1999). More recently, the Ebola virus was linked to increases in anti-African racism in Europe (Prati & Pietrantoni, 2016). In the comparatively brief history of the US, there are also numerous such examples: Irish Catholic immigrants have been blamed for cholera, Jewish immigrants have been scapegoated for tuberculosis, and Italian immigrants have been blamed for polio (Cohn, 2012;Gover et al., 2020;McKiven, 2007). ...
While the World Health Organization advised against referring to COVID-19 using racial overtones, as the COVID-19 pandemic spread, many disparagingly called it the “Wuhan virus,” the “Chinese virus,” and other terms. In this context, the FBI warned police agencies about an expected increase in anti-Asian hate crimes during the early months of the pandemic. But, while some researchers and media outlets discussed these potential increases at length, very few studies have been able to directly assess the nature of anti-Asian hate and bias victimization during the pandemic. Following this, the current study directly examines variation in anti-Asian bias and victimization in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, this research presents results from two studies using a survey of 3,163 non-Asian and 575 Asian American and Pacific Islander respondents, respectively. The first study examines the prevalence of anti-Asian xenophobia among the non-Asian sample and assesses differences in these prejudicial attitudes across respondent characteristics, while the second study examines variation in experiences with bias during the pandemic among the Asian sample. The results illustrate the ubiquity of anti-Asian sentiment, suggesting that those who indicate greater fear of the pandemic report more prejudicial attitudes, as well as important racial differences in these patterns. The results also demonstrate the extent to which the pandemic has impacted individual experiences with anti-Asian bias victimization, such that more than one-third of Asian respondents report bias victimization during the pandemic, and more than half of Asian respondents report that they know someone who has been victimized. These patterns have important implications for addressing COVID-19-related hate crime moving forward.
... Far less is known about the extent to which the public perceives health risks associated with public health emergencies and infectious disease outbreaks such as COVID-19 [38]. In this area, studies have primarily come from multiple global pandemics such as the SARS and avian influenza epidemics [39], the H1N1 swine flu [40][41][42][43], and the Ebola outbreak [44,45]. Most of this literature, however, relies on nationally representative and cross-sectional data, which provides challenges in analyzing minority populations such as foreign-born groups, and racial and ethnic minorities. ...
Previous research demonstrates that pandemics, including COVID-19, have disproportionate effects on communities of color, further exacerbating existing healthcare inequities. While increasing evidence points to the greater threat posed by COVID-19 to Latinx communities, less remains known about how identification as Latinx and migration status influence their perception of risk and harm. In this article, we use cross-sectional data from a large national probability sample to demonstrate a large positive association between ethnic identity and migration status and perceptions of harm from COVID-19 in the US. We find that individuals identifying as Hispanic/Latinx and first-generation immigrants report significantly greater risks of becoming infected by COVID-19 in the next three months, and dying from the virus if they do contract it. Further, subgroup analysis reveals that health risks are especially felt by individuals of Mexican descent, who represent the largest share of US Latinxs. Collectively, our results provide evidence about how the pandemic places increased stress on people from Latinx and immigrant communities relative to White non-Hispanic individuals in the US.
... However, also publications on past pandemics, may serve as a certain theoretical background. Some researches on risk perception comes from previous pandemics: swine flu pandemic in 2009 [for instance Prati et al., 2011, Rudisill, 2013, the Ebola Outbreak [Prati & Pietrantoni, 2016, Fischhoff et al., 2018, Yang & Chu, 2018]. ...
Motives: The pandemic situation created unique opportunity to undertake research in the context of the changed living conditions of the population. Aim: The main purpose is to assess broadly understood safety perceptions at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland. The key research tool used was a survey questionnaire (270 respondents), complemented by observations in Poznań (Poland) and photographic documentation. Hometown was chosen due to imposed restrictions on movement. Results: The COVID-19 pandemic significantly changed people's life in many aspects and therefore affected perceived safety. Level of fear of the pandemic was varied and so was keeping up to date with information about the pandemic outcomes.
... Overall, Italy reported only two cases of Ebola-making its prevalence much less intense than the current outbreak of COVID-19 in the US. Nonetheless, Italian citizens who believed Ebola infection was likely also expressed greater prejudice toward African immigrants (Prati & Pietrantoni, 2016). Such studies examining how actual disease outbreaks relate to outgroup prejudice are relatively rare, but their general conclusions are supported by laboratory-based studies. ...
Anecdotal reports suggested an uptick in anti-Asian prejudice corresponding with the initial outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Examining responses from White U.S. citizens ( N = 589) during the first months of the pandemic, this study tested: (a) whether actual intensity (official number of cases or deaths reported) or perceived intensity (participants’ estimates of the same) of the COVID-19 outbreak predicted indicators of racial outgroup prejudice, particularly those associated with cross-group interaction, (b) whether outgroup prejudice was oriented toward Asian people specifically, or toward racial outgroups more broadly (e.g., toward both Asian people and Black people), and (c) whether contact with racial outgroups moderated relations between COVID-19 intensity and racial prejudice. Results showed that perceived COVID-19 intensity was associated with prejudice indicators representing the desire for social distance from Asian people, as well as from Black people, yet it was unrelated to reports of negative affect toward either racial outgroup. These patterns support the idea that prejudice during periods of disease outbreak might functionally serve to reduce willingness for interaction with, and likelihood of infection from, racial outgroups. Contact moderated the relation between official reports of COVID-19 intensity and support for anti-China travel policies, such that greater contact with Asian people was associated with less support for exclusionary, anti-China travel policies when actual COVID-19 intensity was high. Overall, these results suggest that intensity of disease threat can exacerbate racial outgroup prejudice and reduce willingness for cross-group interaction, but that intergroup contact may sometimes provide a prejudice-attenuating effect.
... As of March 2020, approximately 75% of the world population, says Gallup International Association [5]. Indeed, according to a host of public opinion polls, the percentage of those willing to sacrifice some of their human rights to stave off the spread of coronavirus varies from 32% in Japan to 95% in overall in the aftermath of pandemics [28], violent crimes, political or economic crises [29], terrorist attacks [30], natural disasters [31], or climate change [32]. Overall, individuals tend to preserve collective security at the expense of freedom, autonomy, and rights, when there are high perceived risks to society. ...
This confirmatory research investigates the influence of risk framing of COVID-19 on support for restrictive government policy based on two web survey experiments in Russia. Using 2x2 factorial design, we estimated two main effects–factors of risk severity (low vs. high) and object at risk (individual losses vs. losses to others). First, focusing on higher risks had a positive effect on support for the government’s restrictive policy. Second, focusing on the losses for others did not produce stronger support for the restrictive policy compared to focusing on personal losses. However, we found a positive moderation effect of such prosocial values as universalism and benevolence. We found that those with prosocial values had a stronger positive effect in the “losses for others” condition and were more willing to support government restrictive policy when others were included. The effects found in our experimental study reveal both positive and negative aspects in risk communication during the pandemic, which may have a great and long-term impact on trust, attitudes, and behavior.
... A total of 112,556 articles were identified, of which 225 studies with full text were assessed for eligibility. We excluded 151 articles without stigma prevalence, 20 articles identifying stigma as continuous variables [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54], two articles not meeting quality assessment [55,56], and two articles with data from social media platforms [57,58]. Ultimately, 50 eligible studies were included in this meta-analysis. ...
Infectious diseases, including COVID-19, are crucial public health issues and may lead to considerable fear among the general public and stigmatization of, and discrimination against, specific populations. This meta-analysis aimed to estimate the pooled prevalence of stigma in infectious disease epidemics. We systematically searched PubMed, PsycINFO, Embase, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Cochrane databases since inception to June 08, 2021, and reported the prevalence of stigma towards people with infectious diseases including SARS, H1N1, MERS, Zika, Ebola, and COVID-19. A total of 50 eligible articles were included that contributed 51 estimates of prevalence in 92722 participants. The overall pooled prevalence of stigma across all populations was 34% [95% CI: 28−40%], including enacted stigma (36% [95% CI: 28−44%]) and perceived stigma (31% [95% CI: 22−40%]). The prevalence of stigma in patients, community population, and health care workers, was 38% [95% CI: 12− 65%], 36% [95% CI: 28−45%], and 30% [95% CI: 20−40%], respectively. The prevalence of stigma in participants from low- and middle-income countries was 37% [95% CI: 29−45%], which is higher than that from high-income countries (27% [95% CI: 18−36%]) though this difference was not statistically significant. A similar trend of prevalence of stigma was also observed in individuals with lower education (47% [95% CI: 23−71%]) compared to higher education level (33% [95% CI: 23−4%]). These findings indicate that stigma is a significant public health concern, and effective and comprehensive interventions are needed to counteract the damaging effects of the infodemics during infectious disease epidemics, including COVID-19, and reduce infectious disease-related stigma.
... Based on previous research (Prati & Pietrantoni, 2016;Prati et al., 2011), cognitive and affective dimensions of risk perception were assessed using one item concerning the perceived likelihood of infection (i.e., "Do you think you are at risk of being infected with the COVID-19 virus?"), two items (α = .56) concerning the perceived severity (e.g., "How serious do you think is the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy?"), and two items (α = .86) ...
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic may have a different impact on men and women. Aim: This study aimed to investigate gender differences in risk perception, attitudes toward quarantine measures, and adoption of precautionary behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: We employed a cross-sectional web-based survey design. The sample included 1,569 people living in Italy. The survey was conducted during the national lockdown in April 2020 when the Italian government extended the quarantine measures to the whole country. Results: Results showed that women reported higher scores on perceived severity, worry, precautionary behaviors, and attitudes toward quarantine restrictions. Gender differences in the perceived likelihood of infection with SARS-CoV-2 were not significant. Using mediation analysis, we found that the relationship between gender and precautionary behaviors was explained by attitudes toward quarantine restrictions, perceived severity, and worry. Limitations: The use of a cross-sectional design precludes causal inference. Conclusion: Our results point to the need to develop and implement interventions that address (1) the higher levels of risk perception of the COVID-19 outbreak among women and (2) the lower scores on risk perception, attitudes toward quarantine restrictions, and adoption of precautionary behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic among men.
The coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak has severely impacted the global economy, particularly the tourism industry. Lockdowns and epidemic prevention measures imposed in many countries have restricted the range and methods of travel. However, since many people still need to travel, they may change their initial plans through substitution. This study examined the travel substitution behaviors of Taiwanese citizens during the pandemic based on the theory of planned behavior. By including an additional perceived risk variable, we expanded the theory of planned behavior model to analyze the association between the perceived risk level and changes in travel behaviors during the pandemic and the possible travel substitutes adopted by visitors for dining, accommodation, transportation, sightseeing, shopping, and entertainment. We used a mixed-method approach, conducting in-depth qualitative interviews to examine the interviewees' potential travel substitution behaviors during the pandemic and then developing and administering a pre-test questionnaire based on the interview results. Then, we used convenience sampling to administer 580 online questionnaires to financially capable Taiwanese citizens aged ≥18 years. This study successfully developed an extended TPB model to examine the travel intentions of Taiwanese citizens during the pandemic. The results indicate that visitors have more intentions to travel when they have substitutes in the post-pandemic era. Moreover, the explanatory power of perceived behavioral control on travel-related behavioral intentions was stronger than attitudes and subjective norms. Our results are expected to provide a reference for tourism operators to suitably adjust their business models during an uncertain time.
Global health authorities are trying to identify factors that influence people’s behavioural patterns to engage in preventive measures against COVID-19. The study examines the predictors of precautionary behaviours following the socio-emotional-cognitive risk perception model and presents a descriptive picture of people’s risk perception and precautionary behaviours during the COVID-19 lockdown in India. Around 203 participants in the age group of 18–67 years living in different covid active zones of India completed the online survey. Indian participants reported high engagement in various precautionary behaviours, with a high level of awareness and risk perception towards the diseases. Participants also expressed moderate to high level of worry towards the pandemic, with a moderate level of trust in the government’s ability to fight the pandemic. Further, a significant positive relationship was observed between risk severity, perceived personal risk impact, and anxiety towards the pandemic, and between awareness and engagement in precautionary behaviours. Additionally, only cognitive factors of risk perception (e.g., perceived psychological invulnerability and awareness about diseases) were found to be significant predictors for engagement in precautionary behaviours. Therefore, the present study emphasises how health agencies should create risk messages that increase people’s estimation of personal risk and knowledge towards the virus.
The COVID-19 pandemic severely impacts the air transport industry. However, the availability of vaccines and achieving community immunity may change one's travel anxiety and the intention to travel after the pandemic. This study employs covariance-based structural equation modelling to investigate the relationships between the willingness to be vaccinated, perceived risk to travel via air transport, health risk propensity, prevention focus, pandemic travel anxiety, xenophobia, and post-pandemic intention to travel. We collected 442 responses in Hong Kong. It is thought-provoking that the effect of vaccines is not as significant as intuitively thought, which could be due to virus variants, data security, and the availability of a unified vaccination passport. People perceiving a higher risk to travel via air transport would reduce the post-pandemic intention to travel. Focusing on the post-pandemic age and the role of vaccination, this study provides insights on the key predictors for aviation recovery in Hong Kong from the psychological and behavioural aspects of travellers.
A conceptual mediation model was developed to explore the resident-tourist nexus, particularly the interplay between xenophobia and the perceived safety of travel and tourism activity in influencing residents’ hospitality towards inbound Chinese tourists post-China’s ‘zero-COVID-19’ policy. Data from a cross-sectional deductive study were generated from n = 499 residents. Underpinned by the Stimuli-Organism-Response model, the results of the mediation model reveal the negative indirect effects of resident xenophobic attitudes on residents’ hospitality. Primarily via the intervening effect of perceived safety. Residents’ phobic attitude also directly influences how safe residents perceive travel and tourism activity in their locale to be and how hospitable residents would be towards inbound tourists from a selectively ‘ostracised’ source market such as China. The findings highlight the importance of the resident-tourist nexus as an antecedent to the overall post-crisis tourist experience and sustainable tourism recovery. The resident-tourist interaction emerges as a critical post-crisis discourse and the in-situ empirical findings of this study offer tourism marketing practitioners and policy-makers critical insights into resident-responsive behaviour towards foreign tourists.
This book titled: Insights to Behavioural Change Communication gives an
insight in to the various aspects of behavioural change communication. The book is a
compilation of contributions from different scholars in the field of communication and
media studies. It is in thirty (30) chapters.
This article investigates the changes in South Koreans’ acceptance towards multiculturalism and acceptance towards North Korean defectors during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea and potential factors affecting the changes. Individual-level survey data conducted in 2018–2020 were used to compare pre- and post-COVID-19 period. The results demonstrate that the regions with severe local outbreaks during the early COVID-19 pandemic experienced increased hostile attitudes towards multiculturalism and increased discriminatory preference. On the other hand, the pandemic did not affect attitudes towards North Korean defectors. The change may be associated with fear of infection as interaction effects between vulnerability and affected regions after the pandemic were statistically significant. This finding suggests that efforts to disassociate infectious diseases and foreign migrants can mitigate increased hostility towards multiculturalism and foreigners.
Propaganda frequently leverages themes of dirtiness and disease to foster negative attitudes toward marginalized social groups. Although history suggests that this tactic is highly successful, empirical evidence is required to evaluate propaganda's potential efficacy. Inspired by previous evidence that children rapidly form attitudes about social groups, we conducted an exploratory investigation into whether 5- to 9-year-olds' (N = 48) judgments of novel foreign groups could be swayed by visually depicting one of these groups as disgusting in poster-sized illustrations. Across a wide battery of tasks, there was no clear indication that children readily internalize messages from propaganda in evaluating members of novel social groups. This finding held regardless of the type of disgustingness that was depicted in the propaganda, and generalized across the age range we investigated. Overall, our results are encouraging in a practical sense, suggesting that children are not easily swayed by negative misrepresentations of immigrants in propaganda.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an unprecedented increase in the level of political blame attributed to China for the health crisis and other associated xenophobic discourses. Although previous research has revealed the effects of perceived outgroup threats on popular support for policies that control outgroups, threats posed by foreign countries have received little empirical attention. This study advances previous research by focusing on the independent effects of the perceived China threat to public support for restrictive immigration control during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a sample drawn from the 2020 American National Election Studies, the results showed that the perceived China threat substantially heightened public support for restrictive immigration control. More importantly, demand for restrictive immigration control intensified when individuals had stronger perceptions of threats and conspiracy beliefs about the virus leak from a Chinese lab. Taken together, our findings demonstrate the roles of politically constructed threats and conspiracy beliefs during the COVID-19 pandemic, revealing new mechanisms of popular attitudes toward social control.
Unfortunately, there is a long history linking pandemics to Anti-Asian prejudice and xenophobia; these negative outcomes have been particularly pronounced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some scholars have suggested that these relationships are driven by fear, wherein individuals respond to disease threat by “othering” that threat. Other research has implicated the role of the state, including the political rhetoric of former President Trump, in exacerbating bias by enabling a divisive political environment. Yet, very few existing studies have been able to assess the nature of these impacts or examine the mechanisms behind observed increases in xenophobia. To that end, this research presents results from a survey administered in May 2020 to respondents residing in the U.S., which assessed COVID-19-related attitudes and behaviors, as well as anti-Asian prejudicial attitudes. Using these data, we assessed the direct and interactive relationship between perceptions of risk (i.e., fear), exposure to COVID-19 information, support for Trump, and anti-Asian prejudice. Results reveal that fear—and support for Trump—are associated with increased anti-Asian prejudice, but that exposure to more information about COVID-19 is associated with decreased prejudice; we also note complex interactions between each of these factors.
Since August 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected more than 29 million workers in Indonesia. Therefore, worker protection and job creation must be an important priority to emerge more resilient and productive after the COVID-19 crisis. Threat assessment and risk perception are core features of protective-motivation theory and understanding workers' perceptions of COVID-19 risk is expected to help navigate and manage the impact of this pandemic on workers. This study assesses workers' risk perceptions of COVID-19 using a national sample of size N=1,900 of workers in Indonesia. The level of employee risk perception of COVID-19 is relatively high in all workplaces and the workplace also influences the level of risk perception. From all respondents, it is known that the respondent's knowledge about COVID-19, the respondent's behavior towards COVID-19 and the social environmental conditions at the respondent's workplace are all significant predictors of the perceived risk of COVID-19. Age group and type of workplace were found to be significant determinants of perceived risk, compared to the sex and employment status of the examined workers. In all workplaces, respondents stated that the risk of spreading COVID-19 was at a moderate level and the work area was considered an area that had a higher risk of spreading COVID-19 compared to smoking areas and the canteen or pantry.
The upsurge of the COVID-19 pandemic posed unusual circumstances to the tourism and hospitality industry. The extremely transmittable novel coronavirus endures to ruin the industry and raises serious apprehensions about the tourism and hospitality sector's current and future survival. Owing to the internal and external determinants, the tourism and hospitality sector has been highly affected relative to the other major sector worldwide. Similarly, the COVID-19 pandemic was perhaps the most distressing financial and social crisis in modern times, leading to the suspension of all economic activities globally. In the current situation of the global tourism crisis, where the entire tourism sector is seriously affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the approach of travelers to the decision-making process and the conduct of national and foreign visits have been also the significant concern for the people associated with the tourism and hospitality industry. Therefore, the present chapter seeks to understand the psychology of tourists and also the determinants responsible for the decision-making process of tourists in the light of evolutionary psychology during the COVID-19 era.
Вспышка коронавируса - глобальное событие, которое вышло за пределы национальных границ и охватило весь мир. Изучение социальных представлений о пандемии позволяет выявить проблемы, которые структурируют опыт людей в конкретном социальном контексте. Для выявления социальных представлений о коронавирусе проведено исследование на территории Свердловской области. Опрос респондентов проходил в период с 11 марта по 11 мая 2020 г. Сбор данных охватил два этапа: 1) когда в России в целом был подтвержден 31 случай заражения COVID-19, на территории Свердловской области таких случаев еще не было зафиксировано; 2) число заболевших в Свердловской области составляло 1952 чел., в стране - 221 344 чел. Для сбора эмпирического материала использовались методы свободных словесных ассоциаций и семантического дифференциала (В.Ф. Петренко), методика оценки психической активации Л.А. Курганского и Т.А. Немчина, анкетный опрос. Выявлено, что значимость проблемы коронавируса в разные периоды времени для респондентов различна. Ядро представления является устойчивым, согласованным и отражает результат информационного воздействия СМИ - «смерть», «паника», остается стабильным вне зависимости от времени и вовлеченности в пандемию респондентов. Потенциальная зона изменений выступает «приручением» знаний о коронавирусе, операционализацией содержания представления о коронавирусе на язык изменений в своей обыденной жизни - пандемия коронавируса понимается как «эпидемия гриппа», а введение необходимости самоизоляции - как «каникулы», возможность побыть «дома». Определение непосредственной аффективной реакции респондентов на слово-стимул «коронавирус» показало наличие эмоциональной напряженности и преобладание негативных переживаний респондентов при предъявлении данного стимула. Проведенное исследование показало, что в условиях пандемии, выступая основным источником информации и средством коммуникации, СМИ задают направление формирования представлений.
The present study is focused on the phenomenon of cognitive polyphasia in the context of representations of mentally ill people by different groups of society. The authors put at the forefront the problem of finding the conditions for the actualization of cognitive polyphasia. The study was aimed at identifying manifestations of cognitive polyphasia in the structure of social representations (SRs) of the mentally ill in the groups of Orthodox respondents and non-believers. The sample consisted of Orthodox Christians: N = 114 (49 males and 65 females) and non-believers: N = 113 (76 males and 37 females) in the age ranges 18-23, 40-45 and 60-65 years, permanently residing in Moscow. The survey of the respondents at the main stage of the research was carried out using: (1) the authors questionnaire developed on the basis of the results of the search stage and including 29 statements; (2) a scale of self-assessed degree of religiosity; (3) a modified D. Feldes Psychological Distance Scale; (4) a modified sentence completion method; (5) the Bubbles technique and (6) a question pool for obtaining socio-demographic information. The results showed that the emotional component of SRs of the mentally ill changed their modality depending on the survey methods used. When the respondents evaluated the statements of the questionnaire, the core of SRs in both groups contained elements that were extremely sympathetic towards the mentally ill, and the statements revealing negative emotions (the possibility of contracting a mental illness or the need to isolate these people from society) were on the periphery of their representations. At the same time, the data of the projective methods showed that the negative representation background (as compared to the positive one) in relation to mentally ill people significantly predominated among both believers and non-believers. The negative representation of the mentally ill is most pronounced in the group of non-believers and reaches the highest rates in the group of 60-65-year-old respondents. We regard such ambivalence as a manifestation of cognitive polyphasia and, in particular, its variety, i.e., selective prevalence.
While much attention has been focused on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hate crime victimization among the Asian population, there is reason to expect that other racial/ethnic minorities may also be at risk of bias-motivated victimization. The current research examines the prevalence of discrimination, hate crime victimization, and fear of victimization among Black and Hispanic individuals during the pandemic. The results, obtained from a survey administered in May 2020 to roughly 1,400 non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic respondents, indicate substantial bias victimization among both groups during the pandemic. Additionally, results reveal important associations between victimization and pandemic-related circumstances.
Gruplar arasındaki ayrımcı tutum ve davranışların neden ve sonuçları, sosyal psikologların uzun yıllardır üzerinde durduğu araştırma konularının başında gelir. Sosyal psikoloji alanında geliştirilen kuramsal yaklaşımlar ve yürütülen çalışmalar ile önyargının doğası incelenmekte, ayrımcı tutumların neden arttığı ve nasıl azaltılabileceği sorularına yanıt aranmaktadır. Alan yazın incelendiğinde ekonomik kriz, doğal afet ve pandemi gibi toplumsal stres ve belirsizlik dönemlerinin, dezavantajlı grupları hedef alan ayrımcı tutumların arttığı dönemlerden olduğu göze çarpar. Günümüzde bireylerin günlük yaşam pratiklerini önemli ölçüde şekillendiren COVID-19 salgınının, gruplar arasındaki ilişkileri de etkilediği görülmektedir. COVID-19 pandemisi ile birlikte -tıpkı önceki pandemi dönemlerinde olduğu gibi- gruplar arasındaki önyargılı tutum ve davranışların yükselişe geçtiği, Asya kökenli kişiler ve yaşlılar gibi çeşitli grupların önyargıların hedefi haline geldiği ortaya çıkmıştır. Mevcut çalışmanın başat amaçları, COVID-19 pandemisi sürecinde önyargıların neden arttığını sosyal psikolojik bir bakış açısından irdelemek ve önyargıların zayıflatılması konusunda neler yapılabileceğine ilişkin çeşitli öneriler sunmaktır. Bu çalışmada öncelikle önyargının tanımı ve doğasına ilişkin açıklamalara yer verilmiş, ardından pandemi ve önyargı arasındaki ilişki irdelenmiştir. Bu amaç doğrultusunda, COVID-19 pandemisinde dezavantajlı grupları hedef alan ayrımcı tutum ve davranışların nasıl bir örüntü sergilediği ortaya konmuştur. Küresel kriz dönemlerinde gruplar arasındaki ayrımcılığın neden arttığı Dehşet Yönetimi Kuramı, Bütünleşik Tehdit Kuramı ve Sosyal Kimlik Kuramı gibi önemli sosyal psikoloji kuramları açısından irdelenmiş ve bahsi geçen bu yaklaşımların pandemi sürecinde yoğunlaşan önyargıların zayıflatılması adına ne gibi çözüm önerileri sunabileceği tartışılmıştır. Bu kapsamda, salgın sürecinde artan tehdit, belirsizlik ve korkunun azaltılması adına gruplar arasında gerçekleşen temas deneyimlerinin arttırılması, farklı grupları ortak bir üst grup kimliği altında birleştirici politikalar izlenmesi, toplumun pandemi süreci ile ilgili doğru bilgiye erişiminin sağlanması, medya ve lider söylemlerinde barışçıl bir dil kullanılması gibi öneriler sıralanmıştır. İşbu çalışmanın, çatışma yerine işbirliğine ihtiyaç duyulan salgın döneminde uygulanabilir çözüm yolları sunarak gruplar arasındaki uyumun arttırılmasına fayda sağlayacağı ve ilgili alanyazına önemli katkılar sunacağı düşünülmektedir.
Each identity is a particular story, developed through perceptions, feelings, thoughts and symbolic interactions. The study examines the predictor variables to the latent and manifest prejudice, and relationship between identity development and prejudice. The research involves 187 Italian college students. They completed: Ego Identity Process Questionnaire, Latent Subtle and Blatant Prejudice Scale. As hypothesized, there is a different identity development due to the age variable, and a variant level of prejudge related to the gender; the results show, confirming the hypothesis, the presence of a correlation between ideological domains such as religion and politics and the level of manifest prejudice.
Since the beginning of the recent Ebola outbreak, a sense of fear has developed among the public due to the novelty of our exposure to the virus and the ill-equipped nature of our health care systems. Media sensationalism, coupled with improper knowledge of Ebola, may have contributed to mass hysteria. Most support to tackle Ebola has been direct monetary aid. However, others are working on innovative methods to control the epidemic, including the development of rapid detection methods, experimental treatments, and a viable vaccine. Rapid screening and vaccine ideas are promising, but it is unlikely that they will be ready in the coming months. This raises the question of what other tools and technological innovation can be developed to effectively stem the spread of the outbreak. Although we hope the continued outpouring of aid and health care workers to West Africa will greatly reduce the impact of Ebola, communication, screenings, treatment, and vaccine are of central importance to stop this outbreak. (
Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness
. 2015;0:1-3)
Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreaks have occurred during the past 5 decades, but none has affected European countries like the 2014 epidemic in West Africa. We used an online questionnaire to investigate risk perceptions in Germany during this epidemic peak. Our questionnaire covered risk perceptions, knowledge about transmission routes, media use, reactions to the outbreak, attitudes toward measures to prevent the spread of EVD and vaccination against EVD, and willingness to volunteer for aid missions. Of 974 participants, 29% indicated that they worried about EVD, 4% correctly stated virus transmission routes, and 75% incorrectly rated airborne transmission and transmission by asymptomatic patients as possible. Many indicated that if a patient were flown to Germany for treatment in a nearby hospital, they would adapt preventive behavior. Although most participants were not worried about EVD at the current stage of the epidemic, misperceptions regarding transmission were common and could trigger inappropriate behavior changes.
Upon return from Hajj 2014, 150 Australian pilgrims were interviewed about their understanding of the Ebola epidemic. Most (89%, 134/150) knew of the epidemic before travelling and 60% (80/134) of those knew Ebola transmits through body fluids. Pilgrimswho received pre-travel health advice were more conscious of Ebola (69% vs 31%, p = 0.01) and adhered better to hand hygiene after touching an ill person (68% vs 31%, p < 0.01). Mass media was the main information source (78%). © 2015, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). All rights reserved.
Upon return from Hajj 2014, 150 Australian pilgrims were interviewed about their understanding of the Ebola epidemic. Most (89%, 134/150) knew of the epidemic before travelling and 60% (80/134) of those knew Ebola transmits through body fluids. Pilgrims who received pre-travel health advice were more conscious of Ebola (69% vs 31%, p = 0.01) and adhered better to hand hygiene after touching an ill person (68% vs 31%, p < 0.01). Mass media was the main information source (78%).
To understand the barriers and enablers for UK healthcare workers who are considering going to work in the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa, but have not yet volunteered.
After focus group discussions, and a pilot questionnaire, an anonymous survey was conducted using SurveyMonkey to determine whether people had considered going to West Africa, what factors might make them more or less likely to volunteer, and whether any of these were modifiable factors.
The survey was publicised among doctors, nurses, laboratory staff and allied health professionals. 3109 people answered the survey, of whom 472 (15%) were considering going to work in the epidemic but had not yet volunteered. 1791 (57.6%) had not considered going, 704 (22.6%) had considered going but decided not to, 53 (1.7%) had volunteered to go and 14 (0.45%) had already been and worked in the epidemic.
For those considering going to West Africa, the most important factor preventing them from volunteering was a lack of information to help them decide; fear of getting Ebola and partners' concerns came next. Uncertainty about their potential role, current work commitments and inability to get agreement from their employer were also important barriers, whereas clarity over training would be an important enabler. In contrast, for those who were not considering going, or who had decided against going, family considerations and partner concerns were the most important factors.
More UK healthcare workers would volunteer to help tackle Ebola in West Africa if there was better information available, including clarity about roles, cover arrangements, and training. This could be achieved with a well-publicised high quality portal of reliable information.
In October 2014, during heightened news coverage about cases of Ebola in the USA, anecdotal observations suggested that many Americans were anxious about Ebola. Given the negligible risk of infection, their anxiety was arguably driven by perceived rather than actual risk. Exaggeration or reassurance from the media can inflame or subdue people's perceived risk of Ebola infection.1 Fear can also be acquired by observation of other people's experiences, as expressed on social media.2 Thus, social media amplified fear about the imported Ebola case.
We are not ready for a global pandemic of Ebola virus. The current West African epidemic should serve as a dire warning of things to come.
For those of us who lived through the early days of the U.S. AIDS epidemic, the current national panic over Ebola brings back some very bad memories. The toxic mix of scientific ignorance and paranoia on display in the reaction to the return of health care workers from the front lines of the fight against Ebola in West Africa, the amplification of these reactions by politicians and the media, and the fear-driven suspicion and shunning of whole classes of people are all reminiscent of the response to the emergence of AIDS in the 1980s. The first decade of the AIDS . . .
Ebola virus disease (hereafter Ebola) has a high fatality rate, and currently lacks a treatment or vaccine which have proven safety and efficacy, and thus many people are fearful of infection. In West Africa, as of Aug 13, 2,127 patients across four countries have been infected with the Ebola virus over the past ninth months. Among these patients, approximately 1 in 2 has subsequently died from the disease. In response, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to be an Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) . However, Ebola is only transmitted from patients that already exhibit the symptoms of the disease, and infection only occurs upon direct contact with the blood or body fluids of an Ebola patient. Consequently, transmission of the outbreak can be contained through careful monitoring for fever symptoms among persons who have visited, or come into contact with, persons from the site of the outbreak. Thus, patients suspected of exhibiting symptoms characteristic of Ebola should be quarantined. To date, South Korea is not equipped with the special containment clinical units and biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) facilities required to deal with fatal virus like the Ebola. Therefore, it is necessary for South Korea to make strategies to the outbreak by using present facilities as quickly as possible. It is also imperative that the government establish suitable communication with its citizens to prevent the spread of uninformed fear and anxiety regarding the Ebola outbreak.
In this study, we analyzed dimensionality for Pettigrew and Meertens' Blatant and Subtle Prejudice Scale (1995). More specifically, we sought to verify two hypotheses: first, that the scale is one-dimensional, and second, that the difference in the items featured in the two subscales (blatant and subtle) is exclu-sively due to their different locations on the scale of the latent variable. Expressing the latter hypothesis in the language of the Item Response Theory measurement approach we expected items from the bla-tant subscale to be more difficult (they require a greater level of prejudice to be positively answered by persons) than those of the subtle subscale. To this end, we used two databases (N 1 = 323; N 2 = 268), which we analyzed through confirmatory factor analysis and the partial credit model. Results con-firmed our hypotheses, and highlighted the usefulness of the Item Response Theory models in analyz-ing prejudice scales.
This paper develops, measures, and tests two types of intergroup prejudice—blatant and subtle. Blatant prejudice is the traditional, often studied form; it is hot, close and direct. Subtle prejudice is the modern form; it is cool, distant and indirect. Using data from seven independent national samples from western Europe, we constructed 10-item scales in four languages to measure each of these varieties of prejudice. We report the properties, structure and correlates of both scales across the seven samples, and make initial checks on their validity. The cross-nationally consistent results support the value of the blatant-subtle distinction as two varieties of prejudice. While they share many correlates, their distinctive differences suggest better specification of these correlates of prejudice. And the blatant-subtle distinction also aids in more precise specification of the effects of prejudice on attitudes toward immigrants. The paper closes with a normative interpretation of Subtle Prejudice.
The outbreak of the pandemic influenza H1N1 2009 (swine flu) between March and April 2009 challenged the health services around the world. Indeed, misconceptions and worries have led the public to refuse to comply with precautionary measures. Moreover, there have been limited efforts to develop models incorporating cognitive, social-contextual, and affective factors as predictors of compliance with recommended behaviors. The aim of this study was to apply a social-cognitive model of risk perception and individual response to pandemic influenza H1N1 in a representative sample of Italian population. A sample of 1,010 Italians of at least 18 years of age took part in a telephone survey. The survey included measures of perceived preparedness of institutions, family members and friends' levels of worry, exposure to media campaigns (social-contextual factors), perceived coping efficacy, likelihood of infection, perceived seriousness, personal impact, and severity of illness (cognitive evaluations), affective response and compliance with recommended behaviors. Results demonstrated that affective response fully mediated the relationship between cognitive evaluations and social-contextual factors (with the exception of exposure to media campaigns) and compliance with recommended behaviors. Perceived coping efficacy and preparedness of institutions were not related to compliance with recommended behaviors.
Investigated whether (1) subtle prejudice against outgroups can be measured reliably and separately from the more traditional form of blatant prejudice; (2) subtle prejudice will relate closely to blatant prejudice but distinct from political conservatism; and (3) subtle prejudice is an outgrowth of the establishment of norms that proscribe blatant expressions of prejudice and discrimination. Data were derived from 3,806 respondents drawn from 7 national probability samples of 4 Western European nations (France, Netherlands, Great Britain, and West Germany). Completion of the authors' Subtle Prejudice Scale shows subtle prejudice can be reliably measured from blatant prejudice. Conservatism relates either equally or more positively with blatant prejudice. High scorers on prejudice scales preferred harsh policies of immigrant exclusion, while Ss with subtle prejudic preferred ostensibly nondiscriminatory methods of exclusion.
The volume of research on terrorism has increased since the events of September 11, 2001. However, efforts to develop a contextualized model incorporating cognitive, social-contextual, and affective factors as predictors of individual responses to this threat have been limited. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate a series of hypotheses drawn from such a model that was generated from a series of interviews with members of the Canadian public. Data of a national survey on perceived chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives (CBRNE) terrorism threat and preparedness were analyzed. Results demonstrated that worry and behavioral responses to terrorism, such as individual preparedness, information seeking, and avoidance behaviors, were each a function of cognitive and social-contextual factors. As an affective response, worry about terrorism independently contributed to the prediction of behavioral responses above and beyond cognitive and social-contextual factors, and partially mediated the relationships of some of these factors with behavioral responses. Perceived coping efficacy emerged as the cognitive factor associated with the most favorable response to terrorism. Hence, findings highlight the importance of fostering a sense of coping efficacy to the effectiveness of strategies aimed at improving individual preparedness for terrorism.
To assess whether perceptions of the swine flu outbreak predicted changes in behaviour among members of the public in England, Scotland, and Wales.
Cross sectional telephone survey using random digit dialling.
Interviews by telephone between 8 and 12 May.
997 adults aged 18 or more who had heard of swine flu and spoke English.
Recommended change in behaviour (increases in handwashing and surface cleaning or plans made with a "flu friend") and avoidance behaviours (engaged in one or more of six behaviours such as avoiding large crowds or public transport).
37.8% of participants (n=377) reported performing any recommended behaviour change "over the past four days . . . because of swine flu." 4.9% (n=49) had carried out any avoidance behaviour. Controlling for personal details and anxiety, recommended changes were associated with perceptions that swine flu is severe, that the risk of catching it is high risk, that the outbreak will continue for a long time, that the authorities can be trusted, that good information has been provided, that people can control their risk of catching swine flu, and that specific behaviours are effective in reducing the risk. Being uncertain about the outbreak and believing that the outbreak had been exaggerated were associated with a lower likelihood of change. The strongest predictor of behaviour change was ethnicity, with participants from ethnic minority groups being more likely to make recommended changes (odds ratio 3.2, 95% confidence interval 2.0 to 5.3) and carry out avoidance behaviours (4.1, 2.0 to 8.4).
The results support efforts to inform the public about specific actions that can reduce the risks from swine flu and to communicate about the government's plans and resources. Tackling the perception that the outbreak has been "over-hyped" may be difficult but worthwhile. Additional research is required into differing reactions to the outbreak among ethnic groups.
Othering is a process that identifies those that are thought to be different from oneself or the mainstream, and it can reinforce and reproduce positions of domination and subordination. Although there are theoretical and conceptual treatments of othering in the literature, researchers lack sufficient examples of othering practices that influence the interactions between patients and health care providers. The purpose of this study was to explore the interactions between health care providers and South Asian immigrant women to describe othering practices and their effects. Ethnographic methods were used involving in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The analysis entailed identifying uses of othering and exploring the dynamics through which this process took place. Women shared stories of how discriminatory treatment was experienced. The interviews with health care professionals provided examples of how views of South Asian women shaped the way health care services were provided. Three forms of othering were found in informants' descriptions of their problematic health care encounters: essentializing explanations, culturalist explanations, and racializing explanations. Women's stories illustrated ways of coping and managing othering experiences. The analysis also revealed how individual interactions are influenced by the social and institutional contexts that create conditions for othering practices. To foster safe and effective health care interactions, those in power must continue to unmask othering practices and transform health care environments to support truly equitable health care.
What explains the cross-national variation in the radical right’s electoral success over the last several decades? Challenging existing structural and institutional accounts, this book analyzes the dynamics of party building and explores the attitudes, skills and experiences of radical right activists in eleven different countries. Based on extensive field research and an original data set of radical right candidates for office, David Art links the quality of radical right activists to broader patterns of success and failure. He demonstrates how a combination of historical legacies and incentive structures produced activists who helped party building in some cases and doomed it in others. In an age of rising electoral volatility and the fading of traditional political cleavages, Inside the Radical Right makes a strong case for the importance of party leaders and activists as masters of their own fate.
A wide variety of health promotion strategies are employed which are designed to educate members of the public with the ultimate goal of gradual general cultural change and individual behaviour change. The object is a closer alignment of individual and population health-related behaviours with 'ideal' notions of what a healthy citizen might be. These campaigns are not taken up in any straightforward way, but people negotiate the messages in complex and sometimes contradictory ways. Drawing on data generated in focus groups, this article explores this complexity by addressing the themes of resistance, denial and othering. This article also identifies an unintended consequence that may arise from processes of othering that may serve to reinforce stigmatisation and inequality rather than mitigating it.
The unexpected developments surrounding the Ebola virus in the United States provide yet another warning that we need to establish communication preparedness. This study examines what the Israeli public knew about Ebola after the initial stages of the outbreak in a country to which Ebola has not spread and assesses the association between knowledge versus worries and concerns about contracting Ebola.
Online survey using Google Docs (Google, Mountain View, CA) of Israeli health care professionals and the general public (N = 327).
The Israeli public has knowledge about Ebola (mean ± SD, 4.18 ± 0.83), despite the fact that the disease has not spread to Israel. No statistically significant difference was found between health care workers versus nonhealth care workers in the knowledge score. Additionally, no statistically significant association was found between knowledge and worry levels. The survey indicated that Israelis expect information about Ebola from the health ministry, including topics of uncertainty. More than half of the participants thought the information provided by the health ministry on Ebola and Ebola prevention was insufficient (50.5% and 56.4%, respectively), and almost half (45.2% and 41.1%, respectively) were unsure if the information was sufficient.
The greatest challenges that the organizations face is not only to convey knowledge, but also to find ways to convey comprehensive information that reflects uncertainty and empowers the public to make fact-based decisions about health.
Copyright © 2015 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Television viewers construct many different meanings from the programs they watch. Here, we investigated whether ethnic prejudice is differentially influenced by the genre of television programs in their portrayal of ethnic minorities. We also wanted to determine whether a higher educational level reduces ethnic prejudice and television use. A self-reported questionnaire was administered to 401 Italian adults. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the relationships between ethnic prejudice and television program contents and educational level. Viewing Reality and Variety Shows was positively related to ethnic prejudice, News and Public Affairs was negatively related, and Films and TV series had no apparent influence on prejudice. Educational level was negatively related to both ethnic prejudice and watching Reality and Variety Shows, and positively related to viewing News and Public Affairs and Films and TV series programs.
On 30 September 2014 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the diagnosis of Ebola virus disease in a man who had arrived in Dallas from Liberia, without symptoms, four days earlier. Two nurses who took care of him at a Dallas community hospital became infected with the virus shortly afterwards. Although the man died, both nurses recovered. And at the end of October, a physician who recently returned from Guinea had Ebola diagnosed in New York City. These four cases of Ebola in the US have led to overreaction and unjustified fear among politicians, the media, and the public that is driven by misinformation, lack of scientific evidence, and demagoguery.
The disease caused by the Ebola virus is terrifying. The virus is highly contagious through direct contact with bodily fluids and has a high case fatality rate. The current epidemic in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea has had devastating personal, social, medical, and economic consequences: as of 5 November there have been 13 042 confirmed, possible, or suspected cases and 4818 deaths.1 Because of the fear of contagion, children orphaned by Ebola are often shunned from their communities, and because of the risk of infection, patients often die in isolation without the comfort of their loved ones. The disease has been particularly severe among healthcare workers; 546 have been infected, including the two nurses in the US, …
This contribution aims, first, to determine whether support for the far right is based on perceptions of cultural or economic threats posed by immigrants in 11 European countries. Second, it seeks to reanalyze the question of whether class is an important explanation for support for the far right using new measures of class and, related to this, to determine the extent to which class interacts with perceived threat to explain support for far-right parties. The study reveals that perceived cultural ethnic threats are a stronger predictor of far-right preferences than are perceived economic ethnic threats. This cultural versus economic distinction is also depicted in social class differences in far-right preference. These are particularly evident between sociocultural specialists and technocrats, as anticipated by the new social class scheme. Sociocultural specialists particularly perceive fewer cultural ethnic threats compared to technocrats and consequently have a smaller likelihood to prefer the far right. On the contextual level, the authors find that higher levels of GDP in a country result in greater far-right preference, whereas higher levels of GDP do result in lower levels of ethnic threats. The effect of proportion of Muslims on far-right preference is nonsignificant. The study shows that the choice of countries in cross-national research can heavily influence the results.
Research on the voters of the extreme right in Western Europe has become a minor industry, but relatively little attention has been paid to the twin question of why support for these parties is often unstable, and why the extreme right is so weak in many countries. Moreover, the findings from different studies often contradict each other. This article aims at providing a more comprehensive and satisfactory answer to this research problem by employing a broader database and a more adequate modeling strategy. The main finding is that while immigration and unemployment rates are important, their interaction with other political factors is much more complex than suggested by previous research. Moreover, persistent country effects prevail even if a whole host of individual and contextual variables is controlled for.
From evolutionary psychological reasoning, we derived the hypothesis that chronic and contextually aroused feelings of vulnerability to disease motivate negative reactions to foreign peoples. The hypothesis was tested and supported across four correlational studies: chronic disease worries predicted implicit cognitions associating foreign outgroups with danger, and also predicted less positive attitudes toward foreign (but not familiar) immigrant groups. The hypothesis also received support in two experiments in which the salience of contagious disease was manipulated: participants under high disease-salience conditions expressed less positive attitudes toward foreign (but not familiar) immigrants and were more likely to endorse policies that would favor the immigration of familiar rather than foreign peoples. These results reveal a previously under-explored influence on xenophobic attitudes, and suggest interesting linkages between evolved disease-avoidance mechanisms and contemporary social cognition. Copyright © 2004 SAGE Publications London Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi.
This is a study of 100 citizens of Fabriano, Italy, who experienced an earthquake. Results of a structured interview provide information on their emotional and behavioural reactions during and immediately after the earthquake as well as descriptions of the context. Respondents identify their coping responses during the earthquake as taking flight, freezing, taking shelter, failing to realize what was happening, reaching and protecting significant others, seeking information from the social environment, and recovering personal belongings. Moreover, in the aftermath of the earthquake, the most common responses were: evacuation, returning to houses, reuniting with family members, undertaking activities, observing the scene, recovering personal belongings, meeting in groups, and continuing activities. Respondents describe their emotional reactions as fear, helplessness, worry, and terror. Prosocial behaviour was frequent and looting did not occur. Emotional and cognitive reactions were influenced by environmental and social factors.
The term "panic" is widely used in everyday speech as well as in the literature of different professional areas and scientific disciplines. This article confines itself primarily to discussing how sociologists, historically and currently, view the phenomena. The justification for such a focus is that the concept has long been used in the discipline especially in the sociological subspeciality of collective behavior, and much of the relevant empirical work has been done by sociologists studying behavior in natural and technological disasters. Early approaches to panic were vague in defining the phenomena. However, most formulations view panic as either extreme and groundless fear, or flight behavior. Both phenomena are supposedly widespread in crisis situations. Present day discussions about panic also revolve around whether or not the behavior is irrational, and whether it is highly contagious or not. Three major empirical studies that have heavily influenced present day sociological views about panic are presented. Two of the studies particularly challenge widespread ideas in the literature about the phenomena, showing for example that panic flight is very rare, and has few of the characteristics typically attributed to the behavior, even in situations where it might be expected. There are two questions that will loom even larger in the future. One is why despite the research evidence, the idea of "panic" captures the popular imagination and continues to be evoked by scholars of human behavior. A second basic question is whether there is still any scientific justification for the continuing use of the concept in any technical sense in the collective behavior area.
This article provides a brief introduction to social psychological theory and research concerning AIDS-related stigma. After defining stigma and distinguishing it from the related constructs of prejudice and discrimination, the article briefly describes the contours of contemporary AIDS stigma in the United States, using findings from the author's own empirical research to illustrate key patterns. Instrumental stigma is distinguished from symbolic stigma. Various strategies for reducing AIDS stigma are considered.
This paper is a report on an exercise designed to reveal the extent of belief in the common myths about disasters held by members of four groups of students from the University of Massachusetts and three groups of trainee emergency workers from Italy.
A questionnaire was administered in which students and trainees were asked to agree or disagree with 19 statements about disasters. These statements were based on common misconceptions about disasters and are at least statements untenable in statistical terms, if not downright wrong. In each case, a Likert scale was used to assess the strength of the students' and trainees' agreement or disagreement with the statements.
The results suggest that some of the misconceptions (for example, that panic and looting are widespread reactions to disaster) were strongly held, whereas others (for instance, that disasters cannot be managed) were less well-rooted. Despite years of refutation by experts, all groups firmly believed that dead bodies constitute a health hazard if they are not disposed of quickly. Attitudes to the proposition that technology offers a solution to the disaster problem were equivocal.
Though the results of the study by no means were homogeneous, students and emergency workers, on either side of the Atlantic, bring many of the same misconceptions that the mass media continually propagates. These beliefs represent a serious challenge for the instructor who wants to ensure that disasters and emergencies are not misconstrued.
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Poll: Americans want Congress to vote on military force before midterms, say an Ebola outbreak is likely and kids should be required to get vaccinations
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Forme sottili e manifeste di pregiudizio verso gli immigrati. Giornale italiano di psicologia
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Annual Risk Analysis 2015. Warsaw, Poland: European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European
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Ebola and the social media
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Americans' confidence in government to handle Ebola drops
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