502.
Why are conservatives less afraid of Covid-19?
There
have been several studies of the effect of personality on the experience of
Covid-19 and the measures taken against it.
There
is an intriguing phenomenon, shown by studies in the US (Hamilton and Safford
2020, Conway et al. 2020), that conservatives feel less threatened by Covid
than liberals, while in other cases of disease they feel more threatened. The
explanation was that this came from ideology, not experience such as perveived
medical and economic vulnerability (Conway et al. 2020). Conservatives were
against government intervention and aid to victims of economic decline, and
this resulted in more disregard or indifference concerning Covid. On the basis
of a survey of 1000 participants, Conway et al. found that 42 % of republicans
feared own or family exposure, 73% of democrats, and 64% of independents.
Hamilton and Safford 2020) found that 87% of people who voted for Clinton in
2016 had trust in science agencies during the pandemic, vs. 62% of those who
voted for Trump. Qian and Yahara (2020) also found that conservative ideology
has a negative effect on stress and anxiety, and a positive effect on feeling
that information was sufficient, and on confidence in doctors. Blagov (2020)
also found it.
For
the personality trait of extraversion, action orientation, Blagov (2020) found
aversiveness to social distancing. This finding accords well with what was
found in the other studies. Agreeableness and conscientiousness predicted
endorsement of social distancing and hygiene. Blagov also investigated the
effects of ‘dark personalities’.(psychopathy, meanness, disinhibition). Most
participants preferred a message appealing to compassion, but dark traits
predicted lower appeal. Dark traits predicted low endorsement of social distancing,
and the intent to knowingly expose others to risk.
Blagov
(2020) used the term ‘adaptive’ for personality traits that have positive
effects on mental health, and on beliefs and conduct that are conducive to the
perception of Covid risk and positive response to remedial behaviour and
corresponding public messages. Summing up, adaptive effects were consistently
found across studies of the traits of conscientiousness and agreeableness, and
maladaptive effects of neuroticism. Extraversion may yield aversion to health
policies and related messages, for their interference with freedom.
Openness/intelligence has mixed effects, as it does in studies of other
phenomena.
On
the basis of 1041 self-reports Murphy et al. (2020), investigating the effect
of Covid on generalised anxiety disorder and depression during the first week
of lockdown in Ireland, found the following effects of demographic factors: A
positive effect of low age, and female gender. They found higher levels of
anxiety among those older than 65 than those 18-34 years old. Concerning
demographic factors, Qian and Yahara (2020) found the following:
Age
had a negative effect on stress, anxiety, depression, prevention behaviour,
medical sufficiency, likelihood of infection, survival and concern about
family, and positive on epidemic consciousness, material sufficieny and
confidence in doctors. Males had a higher score than females on epidemic
consciousness, evaluation of others, medical sufficiency. confidence in doctors
and underestimation.of the risk. Females had a higher score on preventive
behaviour, health status, likelihood of infection and concern for family.
Concerning marital status, unmarried and divorced or widowed people had more
stress, anxiety and depression, and married people had a higher score on
epidemic consciousness, preventive behavior, material sufficiency, health
status, concern for family. and influence on life. Fairness was positive on
depression and negative on material and information sufficiency. High education
yielded more epidemic consciousness, evaluation of others, material
sufficiency, confidence in doctors and likelihood of survival. Everett et al.
(2020 found that. older and more religious people had stronger positive
intentions, and black people more than whites.
For
a summary of studies, it is convenient to use Blagov’s notion of adaptability,
with comparatively positive effects on mental health, perception of the
epidemic, taking precautions. There is considerable agreement between the
studies: Across studies, conscientiousness and agreeability were found to be
adaptive, and neuroticism maladaptive Extraversion can lead to disobedience or
disregard of rules, unless combind with conscientiousness or agreeableness.
Openness/intelligence has mixed effects, as it does in other areas.
A more extensive discussion is
given on the essay page of my website bartnooteboom.nl
Blagov, P.S. 2020, ‘Adaptive and dark
personality in the Covid-19 pandemic: Predicting health behavior endorsement
and the appeal of pubic-health messages.’, Journal
of Social Psychological and Personality Science, an advance publication.
Conway III, L.G., S.R. Woodward, A Zubrod, and L. Chan 2020, Why are conservatives less
concerned about
the Corona virus (Covid-19) than liberals?: testing experiential versus
political
explanations, PsyArXiv
Preprints.
Hamilton, L.C. and T.G. Safford 2020, ‘Ideology
affects trust in science agencies during a
pandemic’, The Carsey School of Public Policy at the scholars’repository`,
391.
Murphy, J., T.
Karatnias, P. Hyland, M, Shevlin, O. McBride, Bendill, A.Martinez and F
Vallieres, 2020, ‘Anxiety and depression in th Republic of Ireland during the
Covid-19 panmdemic’, Acta Pychiatrica Scandinavia,
1-8.
Qian, K. and
T. Yahara. 2020, ‘Mentality and behaviour in Civid-19, emerging status in
Japan:
influence of personality, morality and ideology’, Plos One.17/t e0235883
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