Individual and collective responses during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic posed tremendous challenges to individuals and societies worldwide. Addressing such a global crisis requires both individual and collective protection measures to mitigate risks and reduce impacts. Engagement in protective behaviors and support for collective protection measures often hinge on perceptions of risks and their potential impacts. Therefore, the present thesis aims to contribute to our understanding of how individuals respond to risks and crises. It provides insights into the factors that shape risk perceptions, protective behaviors, and support for broader measures. First, the present thesis examines whether individual risk perceptions and support for collective protection measures increased in response to an increasing infectious disease threat. Specifically, it compares worry about personal proximity and support for governmental measures concerning Chinese and Asian-looking people and other potential sources of pathogen transmission. The findings indicate that Individual and collective responses increased with rising infectious disease threat. However, there was no evidence of increased stigmatization or support for exclusionary measures specifically targeting Chinese and Asian-looking people. These results suggest adaptive responses to an increased infectious disease threat. The thesis then integrates individual and collective protection pathways. Specifically, it investigates connections between individual and collective levels by analyzing whether individual risk perception and the perceived effectiveness of collective measures jointly affected individual protective behavior and support for collective protection measures. Providing further evidence of adaptive responses during the COVID-19 pandemic, the well-established individual pathway from risk perception to protective behavior is replicated and complemented by a collective pathway involving the perceived effectiveness of and support for collective protection measures. Moreover, the analysis highlights the interconnections between the individual and collective levels. This underlines the need to consider and address both levels together in order to effectively manage crises in the context of infectious diseases. In a further step, the previous findings are extended beyond the health domain to address perceptions related to the controversy surrounding potential trade-offs between the economy and health. Specifically, the perceived economic and health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic at both individual and collective levels (i.e., national and global) are investigated. Although the COVID-19 pandemic was primarily a health crisis, its economic impacts were perceived as more serious, particularly at the national and global levels. While most individuals were optimistic about the pandemic’s impact on themselves, they considered their own country to be at least as affected as the global average, especially in economic terms. Considering that three wealthy countries (i.e., US, UK, and Germany) were studied, this suggests that the global imbalance in mitigation resources may have been underestimated, potentially influencing the perceived need to support other countries. The findings of the present thesis contribute to a deeper understanding of perceptions and responses to infectious diseases at both the individual and collective levels. Moreover, they highlight the importance of comprehensive research that extends beyond investigations of health at the individual level. This point is further emphasized through a general framework, outlining individual and collective responses (ICR) to risks and crises. Integrating different individual and collective levels (e.g., national, global) and domains (e.g., economy, health) provides new insights for pandemic preparedness efforts.