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It's all connected: Collectivism, climate change, and COVID-19
Kimin Eom1, Jennifer C Cole2, Stephan Dickert3
1Research School of Management, The Australian National University, Australia; School of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University, Singapore.
Acta Psychologica
|June 28, 2025
Summary
Collectivism, a cultural value, is linked to perceiving interconnectedness between societal challenges like climate change and pandemics. However, this perception extends to invalid connections, not just scientifically valid ones.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Cultural Psychology
- Environmental Psychology
Background:
- Societal challenges such as climate change and pandemics are increasingly recognized as interconnected.
- Cultural values may influence how individuals perceive these complex interrelationships.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between collectivism and the perception of interconnectedness between societal challenges.
- To determine if collectivism predicts perceiving scientifically valid or general interconnectedness.
Main Methods:
- Utilized two large-scale studies with international (N=12,955) and U.S. (N=1006) samples.
- Assessed cultural values, specifically collectivism, and perceptions of interconnectedness between phenomena.
Main Results:
- Higher collectivism correlated with a stronger perception of interconnectedness between climate change and pandemics.
- Collectivistic individuals also perceived stronger links between scientifically invalid phenomena (e.g., constellations and viruses).
Conclusions:
- Collectivism is associated with a general tendency to perceive interrelations, not exclusively valid ones.
- This tendency presents both opportunities and challenges for addressing complex global issues.
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