Guilt and social pressure means some of us aren't fessing up to breaking COVID-19 protocols

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-04-22 14:45

Australia; New Zealand; International

Have you shaken someone's hand instead of bumping elbows? Would you admit it? It seems guilt and social pressure stop people from admitting they are breaking COVID-19 protocols, but “face-saving” strategies give a clearer picture of how many of us are breaking the rules, according to International research. The study across 12 countries, including Australia and NZ, found that more people admitted to breaking 'COVID rules' when questions were asked in a more 'guilt-free' way.

Media release

From:

Attachments

Note: Not all attachments are visible to the general public. Research URLs will go live after the embargo ends.

Research PLOS, Web page Please link to the article in online versions of your report

Journal/
conference: PLOS ONE

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of Edinburgh, UK

Funder: J.-F. Daoust acknowledges the financial support from SSPS Open Access (University of Edinburgh). M. Foucault and S. Brouard acknowledge the financial support from ANR – REPEAT grant (Special COVID-19), CNRS, Fondation de l’innovation politique, as well as regions Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Occitanie. Richard Nadeau andE´ ric Be´langer acknowledge the financial support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC/CRSH). M. Becher gratefully acknowledges IAST funding from the ANR under the Investments for the Future ("Investissements d’Avenir’") program, grant ANR- 17-EURE-0010. D. Stegmueller acknowledges funding from Duke University and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF- 2017S1A3A2066657).

Media Contact/s

Contact details are only visible to registered journalists.