The coronavirus outbreak, which has negatively impacted millions of the world’s population since the beginning of 2020, raises questions about how adaptive individuals can be in dealing with difficult phases. Studies in the US suggest there are at least two explanations for the worst pandemic impacts that are difficult to overcome. Apart from the sociocultural factors (e.g., delayed pandemic responses, mismanagement of disaster management strategies by the government, etc.), individual attitudes and behaviors in responding to the pandemic were also causing serious problems.
Empirical evidence suggests that one of the causes of maladaptive individual responses is political ideology. Some research revealed that conservative people tend to get less concerned about the risks of coronavirus. On the other hand, this finding is rather counterintuitive because political conservatives are thought to be more vigilant against physical threats (such as infectious diseases) than liberals. From another finding, conservatives and liberals may instead be sensitive to different specific types of collective threats, which, will provide different responses.
Therefore, the research team investigate whether the associations between conservatism and coronavirus responses are mediated by trust in scientific information. Cause this trust in scientific information explains the associations between conservatism and its response to coronavirus. Besides, this study aims to see similar phenomena and patterns in various countries outside the US.
The study was conducted in 21 countries, including Indonesia, with a total of 25.159 participants. Participants were recruited across three cross-sectional waves in May, June, and July 2020 via CloudResearch. The model was tested using Hayes’ Model 6 template with a multi-group approach, where conservatism is the independent variable, trust in scientific information, and concerns about coronavirus as the intermediary variable (mediator), while compliance with coronavirus prevention recommendations is the dependent variable.
The data analysis revealed the correlations between variables create huge variations in various countries. One of the highlighted findings was the strongest correlations between conservatism and compliance with coronavirus prevention in the US and Indonesia. It shows that conservatism shares uneven impacts on individuals’ compliance with coronavirus prevention. One of the strongest hypotheses behind the amount in the US and Indonesia is the similar political climate which tends to get extremely polarized in both the countries. Therefore, this study shows that aside from creating social instability, political polarization risks creating social anomie, where individuals refuse to follow the rules, standards, or guidance.
Other finding shows that in several countries, including Indonesia, conservatism was negatively correlated with confidence in expert advice. It corresponds with the characteristics of populism which embraces anti-intellectualism. Anti-intellectualism against the activity, product, institutions, and actors of intellectualism. They tend to see them as the enemy. Intellectuals and scientific institutions are perceived as the elite who are seeking profits from the powerlessness of society. This strengthens the urgency to avoid populism in electoral politics, as it risks being counterproductive to the public interest.
Authors: McLamore, Q., Syropoulos, S., Leidner, B., Hirschberger, G., Young, K., Zein, R. A., … & Burrows, B. (2022).
Journal: Trust in scientific information mediates associations between conservatism and coronavirus responses in the US, but few other nations. Scientific reports, 12(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-07508-6
