RAPID: Who is (Not) Complying with the Social Distancing Directive and Why?

在当前的新冠肺炎大流行中，将病毒传播降至最低的一种方法是关注人们的行为--社交距离。自疫情开始以来，政府领导人和卫生专家要求公民遵守社交疏远指令。尽管这一信息一再出现，尽管许多人认真对待这一信息，但也有许多人违反了新的规范。这引发了重要的问题：谁在遵守，谁在不遵守，为什么？理解人们为什么选择不实践社交距离，对于设计有效的公共服务活动至关重要。这项研究调查了谁遵守了这一规定，应该解决哪些具体的信念，以及哪些因素使公开竞选活动可信。该项目寻求确定导致更多遵守以实现更大利益的因素，并将为未来的公共服务活动提供信息。一系列研究考察了社交疏远行为是如何随着信仰系统的变化而变化的。开发了一种社交距离的创新测量方法--与典型的调查相比，这种测量本质上更具行为性。要审查的关键信念源于关于指令的概念框架，因为该指令涉及三个基本组成部分。一个是来源--有人要求人们改变他们的行为。第二个是周围的上下文--请求是对某些挑战的响应。第三个部分是目标--请求所针对的人。与这三个组成部分相关的信念系统预计会影响人们遵守请求的可能性。因此，一个完整的信仰网络预计将影响人们的反应方式和原因。一些人的信仰系统会导致他们对请求持好感，从而促进适当的社交疏远行为。其他人会得出更负面的结论，随后拒绝认真对待指令。一旦对大流行的担忧减轻，研究参与者将被重新联系，并被要求再次对社交疏远行为情景做出反应，并表明他们在此期间是否经历过病毒症状。这些后续数据将阐明个人的社交疏远行为与他们随后感染的可能性之间的关系。这项研究旨在为有关社会合规过程的理论提供信息，并将为未来发展公共服务活动提供更坚实的基础。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

In the current COVID-19 pandemic, one approach to minimizing the spread of the virus focuses on people’s behavior – social distancing. Since the start of the pandemic, government leaders and health experts have requested citizens to follow social distancing directives. Despite this repeated message and despite the fact that many people are taking the message seriously, many others are violating the new norms. That raises important questions: who is and who is not complying, and why? Understanding why people choose not to practice social distancing is crucial for designing effective public service campaigns. This research investigates who complies, what specific beliefs should be addressed, and what factors make public campaigns believable. The project seeks to identify the factors that lead to greater compliance for the greater good, and will inform future public service campaigns. A series of studies examines how social distancing behaviors vary as a function of belief systems. An innovative measure of social distancing is developed – one that is more behavioral in nature than the typical survey. The critical beliefs that are to be examined stem from a conceptual framework regarding a directive as involving three essential components. One is the source -- someone is requesting people to change their behavior. A second is the surrounding context -- the request is in response to some challenge. The third component is the target -- the persons to whom the request is addressed. Belief systems relevant to each of these three components are expected to influence the likelihood that people will comply with the request. As a result, an entire network of beliefs is expected to influence how people respond and why. Some individuals’ belief systems will lead them to view the request favorably, thus promoting appropriate social distancing behaviors. Others will reach more negative conclusions and subsequently refuse to take directives seriously. Once the concerns about the pandemic have lessened, study participants will be re-contacted and asked to again respond to social distancing behavioral scenarios and to indicate if they had experienced virus symptoms in the interim. Those follow-up data will shed light on the relationship between individuals’ social distancing behaviors and their subsequent likelihood of infection. The research aims to inform theory regarding social compliance processes, and will provide a stronger foundation for developing future public service campaigns.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.