Together we can slow the spread of COVID‐19: The interactive effects of priming collectivism and mortality salience on virus‐related health behaviour intentions

Courtney, Emily P.; Felig, Roxanne N.; Goldenberg, Jamie L.

Behaviours recommended for reducing transmission of COVID‐19 – social distancing, wearing masks, and now, vaccination – are aimed at not only reducing one’s own risk, but risk to others. We posited that a collectivist mindset, versus individualistic, would facilitate intentions to engage in behaviours aimed at curtailing the spread of the virus when the awareness of mortality is activated. This hypothesis was informed by the terror management health model and tested in two studies. In each study, collective ‘we’ (vs. the individual ‘I’) was primed, in conjunction with mortality salience compared to a control condition. The results were generally consistent, with Study 1 showing that when collectivism, but not individualism, was primed, individuals responded to a COVID‐19‐based mortality reminder with a significant increase in health intentions, including social distancing and mask wearing. In Study 2, when mortality was salient, priming individualism led to reduced vaccination intention compared to collectivism. We discuss limitations to the research and conclude with the recommendation that COVID‐19‐based communications highlight the dangers of the virus in conjunction with a focus on the collective ‘we’ to best encourage optimal virus mitigation behaviour.