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Affective empathy predicts self-isolation behaviour acceptance during coronavirus risk exposure
Serena Petrocchi1,2, Sheila Bernardi3, Roberto Malacrida3
1Institute of Communication and Health, Università della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland. serena.petrocchi@usi.ch.
Scientific Reports
|May 13, 2021
Summary
Altruistic motivation, specifically affective empathy for vulnerable individuals, significantly predicts adherence to COVID-19 lockdown measures. Public health messaging should emphasize empathy over fear to encourage self-isolation.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Public Health
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated widespread self-isolation to mitigate health risks.
- Sustaining self-isolation required public authorities to encourage protective behaviors, facing challenges due to stress.
- While egoistic motivations are known, altruistic drivers for self-isolation, particularly prosocial motivation, were underestimated during the pandemic.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of prosocial motivation, specifically affective empathy, in predicting acceptance of lockdown measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- To examine the interaction between health risk exposure, affective empathy, psychological distress, and acceptance of lockdown measures.
- To understand the influence of social covariates on self-isolation behavior.
Main Methods:
- Conducted two retrospective studies involving a general population sample and a sample of COVID-19 positive patients.
- Assessed health risk exposure, affective empathy, psychological distress, and acceptance of lockdown measures.
- Analyzed data to identify predictors of lockdown measure acceptance, controlling for social covariates.
Main Results:
- Affective empathy for the most vulnerable populations was identified as a significant predictor of accepting lockdown measures.
- Health risk exposure also correlated with the acceptance of lockdown measures.
- Psychological distress and social covariates did not show a significant impact on the acceptance of lockdown measures.
Conclusions:
- Findings highlight the crucial role of affective empathy in promoting adherence to public health guidelines like self-isolation.
- Results suggest that public health communication strategies should leverage altruistic appeals, focusing on empathy for vulnerable groups, rather than fear-based messaging.
- Emphasizing prosocial motivations can be more effective in sustaining protective behaviors during health crises.
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