Dr. Russel Fazio, OSU Professor of Psychology
Title: Who is (Not) Complying with the Social Distancing Directive and Why?
Abstract: Research involving over 2000 online participants tested a general framework regarding compliance with a directive in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research featured not only a self-report measure of social distancing but also behavioral measures -- simulations that presented participants with graphical depictions mirroring multiple real-world scenarios and asked them to position themselves in relation to others in the scene. The conceptual framework highlights three essential components of a directive: (1) the source, some entity is advocating for a behavioral change; (2) the surrounding context, the directive is in response to some challenge; and (3) the target, the persons to whom the directive is addressed. Belief systems relevant to each of these three components were found to relate to compliance with the social distancing directive.
