Exploring the Mechanisms of Influence on COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors in China’s Social Media Users

Zeyu Liu, Huijun Geng, Hao Chen, Meng Zhu and Tingshao Zhu
Additional contact information
Zeyu Liu: Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Huijun Geng: School of Law, China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing 102249, China
Hao Chen: Department of Social Psychology, School of Zhou Enlai School of Government, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China
Meng Zhu: Institute for Advanced Studies in Finance and Economics, HuBei University of Economics, Wuhan 430205, China
Tingshao Zhu: Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 23, 1-14

Abstract: The outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) posed a powerful threat to human life. The preventive behaviors of individuals (e.g., home quarantine, disinfection, and wearing masks) play a key role in preserving and controlling the disease. In this case, as a motivational psychological system oriented toward avoiding infection, the behavioral immune system (BIS) may be activated and link to preventive behaviors. This study investigated the mechanisms through which emotional and cognitive processes resulted by BIS have promoted preventive behaviors in relation to COVID-19. We collected data on 22,005 active Sina Weibo users from 31 December 2019 to 8 February 2020 to measure their emotions (including disgust, happiness, and fear), cultural values (individualism and collectivism), moral concern (including purity vice, fairness vice, and authority virtue), and behavioral intentions (including isolation intention, protection intention, and aid intention) using Text Mind software and related dictionaries. Multiple regression and mediation analyses were performed to explore the relationships among variables. The results showed seven complete mediation paths (such as disgust–purity vice–protection intention). Each of these paths describes the effects of cognitive processes caused by BIS on preventive behaviors. We inferred that there may be path mechanisms such as disgust–cognitive processes–preventive behaviors. Using these results, policy makers can take appropriate measures to intervene in preventive behaviors (e.g., by posting disgusting images on social media to evoke disgust). The results can be used to explain differences in preventive behaviors among populations even in the face of similar thread levels. Furthermore, our research provides empirical evidence for the hypothesis of pathogen prevalence.

Keywords: COVID-19; preventive behaviors; influence mechanisms; behavioral immune system; social media (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/23/8766/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/23/8766/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:23:p:8766-:d:451026

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().