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What motivates people to violate the indications and rules that should serve to contain the current Covid-19 pandemic? Not age. A study reported by Scientific American
What motivates people to violate the indications and rules that should serve to contain the current Covid-19 pandemic? A very interesting study, reported by Scientific American, tries to give some answers by analyzing interviews with more than 60,000 people living in 30 different countries, in a study that involved dozens of scientists. (continued in insert IV)
The first variable that seems to control this aversion response to non-pharmacological containment measures appears to be a fear that for many is greater than that of the virus: that of heavy economic losses or an uncertain economic future. Around the world, according to the study, people are more motivated by their wallet than their health; Which, the authors of this particular analysis conclude, seems to indicate that in order to improve compliance with health protection measures, it is probably necessary to refer to the economic damage that the spread of the virus or non-compliance with regulations entails. Obviously, this is not an easy task, because the economic damage of a pandemic is less visible precisely when the measures are respected; but it is an interesting communication objective to reflect on.
The study authors also confirmed a fairly widespread hypothesis, namely that political orientation it is capable of predicting compliance with containment measures. It is not surprising, for example, that in the United States, conservatives further downplay the risks of the virus and, consequently, are more opposed to the use of face masks (seen as a revealing symbol of fear of the virus), in line with the narrative and the image championed by former President Trump. Leadership, as expected, has strong ancestry in that country and for that group of people; But also in other countries the situation does not seem very different, and in countries that are now going through the second or third wave there are people protesting against the restrictions on their behavior and movements. Therefore, the political polarization of the Covid-19 problem was predictable to predict behavior and compliance with the rules.
Another important result of the study is the demonstration that, at least in the large sample considered, age is not a predictor of rule breaking. This point is particularly useful for dismantling the rhetoric that in many countries, particularly in Europe, has tried to blame the social gatherings and the bad behavior of young people as responsible for unleashing the second wave, to the point of identifying the schools themselves as dangerous for an Innate tendency of young people not to comply with security measures. The data from this latest study is also in line with the data indicating that more or less reckless gatherings of young people are a minority of the occasions when new outbreaks have been generated (although there have obviously been examples). Furthermore, as the data obtained from the study just presented underlines, young people are the ones who currently perceive and report a much greater impact, also from the economic point of view, both from the pandemic and from the containment measures; Consequently, it would be advisable that, instead of generating communication of aid measures directed indiscriminately to the entire population, people “speak differently” to different age groups, combining different provisioning tools for different age groups .
Another point that confirms what one might think about compliance with containment measures, but which is interesting because it has been verified in such a large and heterogeneous sample, is the correlation between trust in the government (pre-existing to the pandemic) and the willingness to follow directions. in your house. However, the degree to which one is willing to follow the indications of Covid-19, according to the data collected, depends on how much people feel that they are helping others, even financially, to overcome the problem and, conversely, of the will Breaking the rules depends on how the people affected (unequally by others) by the crisis and powerless in their respective societies feel. To this result of the study, I would say that we can add the pre-existing fact that people who feel on the fringes of society – right or left – elaborate justifications for their “deviant” behavior in the face of what is suggested to them, justifications that in general they are useful to mitigate possible negative judgments in your own eyes and those of others; To put it simply, these people act like rebels because they find in it a gratification that is capable of overcoming their state (perceived or real) of “social inferiority”.
The extent to which “rebel heroism” can be transformed into “solidarity heroism” is therefore essential for compliance with the containment rules.
What is true of non-drug containment rules, I would like to add, is and will be even truer in convincing people to get vaccinated; And if there is no correct communication before the vaccinations begin, I think we will see one of the greatest failures in the history of modern medicine, given the undeniable successes achieved so far thanks to clinical research.
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