A dual-angle exploration towards understanding lapses in COVID-19 social responsibility

Abstract

Breaking infection chains requires not just behaviours that allow individuals to stay healthy and uninfected (i.e. health protective behaviours) but also for those who are possibly infected to protect others from their harboured infection risk (i.e. socially responsible behaviours). However, socially responsible behaviours entail costs without clear, immediate benefits to the individual, such that public health-risking lapses occur from time to time. In this important yet understudied area, the current exploratory study sought to identify possible psychological factors that may affect people's likelihood of engaging in socially responsible behaviours. Assuming that self-perceived infection should provide an impetus to engage in socially responsible behaviours, we contend that lapses could occur in two scenarios: discounting of possible infection or prioritizing self-interest over collective good. Through a vignette portraying COVID-19 relevant symptoms presented to culturally diverse participants (Singapore and United States; N = 645), we found dispositional denialism (an ego defence mechanism) to exert a negative indirect effect on likelihood of engaging in socially responsible behaviours through its negative association with perceived infection status. Further, social value orientation and cultural orientation appeared to significantly moderate the positive association between perceived infection status and the likelihood of engaging in socially responsible behaviours, such that the positive association held only when individuals espouse both a prosocial value orientation and a collectivistic cultural orientation. Further analyses also point toward a possible attenuation of this positive association when individuals espouse a vertical cultural orientation. Future directions and implications for public health management are discussed.