Correcting Misperceptions about Support for Social Distancing to Combat COVID-19.

Area of Science:

• Behavioral Economics
• Public Health
• Social Psychology

Background:

• Understanding factors influencing public adherence to social distancing is crucial for managing infectious disease outbreaks.
• Misperceptions of community support can impact individual behavior and the effectiveness of public health interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether correcting individuals' underestimates of community support for social distancing influences their behavior.
• To examine the theoretical mechanisms (free-riding, perceived infectiousness, norm adherence) through which this information affects social distancing.

Main Methods:

• Randomized controlled trial assigning participants to a treatment group that corrected misperceptions of social distancing support.
• Measurement of social distancing behavior using self-reports and third-party reports.
• Analysis of heterogeneous treatment effects based on community COVID-19 case prevalence.

Main Results:

• The intervention's average effect on social distancing was near zero, contrary to expert predictions.
• Treatment effects were heterogeneous: social distancing decreased in low-prevalence areas (free-riding effect) and increased in high-prevalence areas (perceived infectiousness effect).

Conclusions:

• Correcting misperceptions about social distancing norms has complex and context-dependent effects.
• Public health messaging effectiveness hinges on disease prevalence, influencing the balance between perceived benefits and free-riding incentives.