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Warmth and competence perceptions of key protagonists are associated with containment measures during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from 35 countries.

ABSTRACT: It is crucial to understand why people comply with measures to contain viruses and their effects during pandemics. We provide evidence from 35 countries (N_total = 12,553) from 6 continents during the COVID-19 pandemic (between 2021 and 2022) obtained via cross-sectional surveys that the social perception of key protagonists on two basic dimensions-warmth and competence-plays a crucial role in shaping pandemic-related behaviors. Firstly, when asked in an open question format, heads of state, physicians, and protest movements were universally identified as key protagonists across countries. Secondly, multiple-group confirmatory factor analyses revealed that warmth and competence perceptions of these and other protagonists differed significantly within and between countries. Thirdly, internal meta-analyses showed that warmth and competence perceptions of heads of state, physicians, and protest movements were associated with support and opposition intentions, containment and prevention behaviors, as well as vaccination uptake. Our results have important implications for designing effective interventions to motivate desirable health outcomes and coping with future health crises and other global challenges.

SUBMITTER: Friehs MT

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9732048 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Warmth and competence perceptions of key protagonists are associated with containment measures during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from 35 countries.

Friehs Maria-Therese MT Kotzur Patrick F PF Kraus Christine C Schemmerling Moritz M Herzig Jessica A JA Stanciu Adrian A Dilly Sebastian S Hellert Lisa L Hübner Doreen D Rückwardt Anja A Ulizcay Veruschka V Christ Oliver O Brambilla Marco M De Keersmaecker Jonas J Durante Federica F Gale Jessica J Grigoryev Dmitry D Igou Eric R ER Javakhishvili Nino N Kienmoser Doris D Nicolas Gandalf G Oldmeadow Julian J Rohmer Odile O Sætrevik Bjørn B Barbedor Julien J Bastias Franco F Bjørkheim Sebastian B SB Bolatov Aidos A Duran Nazire N Findor Andrej A Götz Friedrich F Graf Sylvie S Hakobjanyan Anna A Halkias Georgios G Hancheva Camellia C Hřebíčková Martina M Hruška Matej M Husnu Shenel S Kadirov Kamoliddin K Khachatryan Narine N Macedo Francisco G FG Makashvili Ana A Martínez-Muñoz Maylin M Mercadante Eric E Mesesan Schmitz Luiza L Michael Andreas A Mullabaeva Nozima N Neto Félix F Neto Joana J Ozturk Merve M Paschenko Svitlana S Pietraszkiewicz Agnieszka A Psaltis Charis C Qiu Yuting Y Rupar Mirjana M Samekin Adil A Schmid Katharina K Sczesny Sabine S Sun Yiwen Y Svedholm-Häkkinen Annika M AM Szymkow Aleksandra A Teye-Kwadjo Enoch E Torres Claudio V CV Vieira Luc L Yahiiaiev Illia I Yzerbyt Vincent V

Scientific reports 20221208 1

It is crucial to understand why people comply with measures to contain viruses and their effects during pandemics. We provide evidence from 35 countries (N<sub>total</sub> = 12,553) from 6 continents during the COVID-19 pandemic (between 2021 and 2022) obtained via cross-sectional surveys that the social perception of key protagonists on two basic dimensions-warmth and competence-plays a crucial role in shaping pandemic-related behaviors. Firstly, when asked in an open question format, heads of ...[more]

PMID: 36481750

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Project description:Accounts of empathy distinguish between cognitive (attribution of mental states to a social target) and emotional (sharing of emotions with a social target) empathy. To date, however, little is known about whether and how (interactions between) person perceptions, situational characteristics, and the observer-target relationship affect these constructs. The current study hence investigated (a) how the perceived warmth and competence of different social targets relate to both types of empathy, (b) whether there are differences in empathic responding to positive vs. negative scenarios, and (c) the impact of identification with the social targets. Eighty-nine participants rated cognitive and emotional empathy regarding four stereotypical target characters (student, elderly person, businessperson, alcoholic person) facing diverse positive and negative events. They also rated how warm and competent these characters appeared to them and how strongly they identified with the social targets. Results for cognitive and emotional empathy were partly overlapping, but demonstrated several significant differences, thereby demonstrating the need to investigate the two concepts separately. Notably, stereotypes of warmth predicted both cognitive and emotional empathic responses more strongly in desirable than in undesirable scenarios, which may relate to greater freedom of response to positive (rather than negative) social outcomes permitted by society. Our data show that scenario valence mattered even more for cognitive (than for emotional) empathy because it additionally moderated the effects of perceived competence and social identification. Finally, both cognitive and emotional empathy increased as a positive function of social identification, and social identification moderated effects exerted by perceived warmth and competence (yet differently for the two types of empathy investigated). Together, these findings speak to empathic responses arising from a complex interplay between perceptions (i.e., warmth and competence), scenario valence, and social identification.

Dataset Information

Warmth and competence perceptions of key protagonists are associated with containment measures during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from 35 countries.

Publications

Warmth and competence perceptions of key protagonists are associated with containment measures during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from 35 countries.

Similar Datasets

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