ISSN 1671-3710
CN 11-4766/R
主办:中国科学院心理研究所
出版:科学出版社

心理科学进展 ›› 2022, Vol. 30 ›› Issue (7): 1612-1625.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2022.01612

• 研究前沿 • 上一篇    下一篇

呼吸道传染病疫情背景下的民众社交距离保持行为

孙世月(), 张煜   

  1. 北京林业大学心理学系, 北京 100083
  • 收稿日期:2021-08-19 出版日期:2022-07-15 发布日期:2022-05-17
  • 通讯作者: 孙世月 E-mail:sunsy@bjfu.edu.cn
  • 基金资助:
    中央高校基本科研业务费专项资金(2021SPZ02)

Social distancing during a respiratory disease pandemic

SUN Shiyue(), ZHANG Yu   

  1. Department of Psychology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
  • Received:2021-08-19 Online:2022-07-15 Published:2022-05-17
  • Contact: SUN Shiyue E-mail:sunsy@bjfu.edu.cn

摘要:

自COVID-19疫情爆发以来,疫情背景下的社交距离保持行为成为了一个受到关注的新兴问题。民众遵守社交限制措施和主动扩大社交距离对遏制呼吸道传染病疫情非常重要,而这些社交距离保持行为受到疫情情境、疫情相关认知和情绪、社会文化背景以及个体心理特质影响。疫情情境方面,疫情严重性与民众报告的社交距离保持行为并非简单的线性相关,可能受到时间进程的调节;社交距离保持行为还存在地区特异性,疫情首发地民众遵守社交距离保持意愿和行为更主动、更持久。其次,疫情相关认知和情绪方面,疫情知识,感知到的疫情风险性、严重性、可控性和主观规范,以及恐惧、担忧等负面情绪均可预测社交距离保持行为。第三,作为社会文化背景的不确定性回避程度、个人主义-集体主义价值观等因素,可能对民众在疫情背景下社交距离保持行为及心理产生直接或间接的影响。最后,个体认知特征中的自我控制、认知需求水平与自我效能感可正向预测社交距离保持行为,显示出社交距离保持行为中需要个体主动努力做出决策的部分;情绪动机特质中的健康风险回避倾向、厌恶敏感性、亲社会动机,社会认知视角下对科学和政府机构的信任,均可影响社交距离保持行为,并且人际信任水平对社交距离保持行为模式时间进程具有调节作用。
上述社交距离保持行为影响因素的研究发现,可基于计划行为理论、保护动机理论和行为免疫系统理论进行解释。其中,计划行为理论和保护动机理论强调个体对行为情境、成本、结果、他人反应的有意识感知、计算等高认知资源需求的活动。而行为免疫系统理论主要强调在传染病威胁下自动化水平的感知和行为改变。三个理论从有意识加工和自动化加工两个层面共同支持疫情背景下社交距离保持行为存在威胁管理机制,是目前社交距离保持行为领域最受关注的研究方向。其次,保护动机理论所强调的应对评估、计划行为理论中的知觉行为控制要素,以及近期研究所发现的自我效能感、自我控制、认知需求水平对社交距离保持行为的预测,均提示可能还存在独立于威胁管理机制之外的自我效能感机制影响社交距离保持行为。最后,计划行为理论所强调的主观规范要素有利于解释社会文化背景及亲社会动机、社会信任等因素的影响,结合近期有关疫情污名化和社会分类相关研究进展,我们提出,疫情背景下的社交距离保持行为可能还受到社会认同机制的影响,整合社会认同理论和计划行为理论,有助于更综合地体现个体与群体、理性和非理性因素的作用。未来研究应进一步考察情绪认知过程及其与社会文化背景和个体心理特质的交互作用,构建双系统模型,例如基于熟虑-冲动双系统模型,整合社会认同理论和计划行为理论,结合追踪及实验研究,明确各影响因素之间的因果关系,检验疫情背景下社交距离保持行为的内在机制。

关键词: 呼吸道传染病, 疫情, 社交距离保持行为, 个体心理特质

Abstract:

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, social distancing in epidemic or pandemic contexts has become an emerging issue of concern. Both the public’s high level of adherence to social restrictions and its proactive social distancing behaviors are instrumental in containing respiratory infectious disease outbreaks. However, people’s engagement in social distancing fluctuates throughout a pandemic, and it can change based on pandemic severity, pandemic or disease-related perceptions and emotional responses, social and cultural backgrounds, and individual differences in psychological traits. First, regarding pandemic severity, the level of severity and the public’s reported social distancing behaviors are not simply linearly correlated and may be moderated by the time course. Moreover, social distancing adherence varies across geographical regions. Among people from the initial epicenter of the pandemic, social distancing behaviors seem to be more proactive and persistent. Second, social distancing is influenced by factors related to cognition and emotion such as knowledge of the pandemic, perceived susceptibility to and severity of the disease, belief in the effectiveness of social distancing practices, and subjective norms regarding pandemics. There is also evidence that negative emotions such as fear and concern significantly predict social distancing. Third, socio-cultural factors, such as the degree of uncertainty avoidance and individualistic-collectivist values, may have direct or indirect influences on the public’s psychological reaction and social distancing behaviors during the pandemic. Finally, individual differences in psychological traits affect social distancing behavior. Recent studies have shown that people who have a higher level of self-control or need for cognition better adhere to social distancing. The feeling of self-efficacy is also associated with greater engagement in social distancing, suggesting that certain cognitive processes requiring individual efforts to make decisions are involved in social distancing. There is also evidence that emotional or motivational traits, including health risk avoidance tendency, aversion sensitivity, and pro-social motivation, as well as social cognition such as trust in science and in government or authority institutions, can influence social distancing. Additionally, social distancing and time course patterns are also related to and moderated by the level of interpersonal trust.
The theory of planned behavior (TPB), the protection motivation theory (PMT), and the theory of the behavioral immune system (BIS) were discussed to explain the correlates and determinants of social distancing during the pandemic. First, the TPB, PMT, and BIS all highlight the influence of feelings and reactions to threat in determining the behavioral response. Both the TPB and PMT emphasize the conscious perception and deliberate computation of behavioral situations, costs, outcomes, and consequent reactions of others, which are highly cognitively demanding. Conversely, the theory of BIS focuses on perceptual and behavioral changes at an automatic level under the threat of infectious diseases. Therefore, threat management mechanisms in social distancing are supported by the three theories at both the levels of automation and conscious processing. Second, the coping assessment proposed by PMT and perceptual behavioral control emphasized by the TPB both propose a role of self-efficacy in social distancing behaviors. Primary evidence has shown that a sense of self-efficacy is another major source of behavioral compliance, and that it could moderate the effect of fear, suggesting that this independent mechanism could facilitate social distancing without fear. Lastly, the subjective norms construct in the TPB has the advantage of explaining the influence of social background and factors such as pro-social motivation and social trust. Based on previous findings and the social identity theory, we propose that an additional mechanism regarding social identity could influence social distancing behavior.
The role of fear or threat attitudes in social distancing during a pandemic is supported by ample empirical evidence. However, further investigations should be conducted to clarify the relationship between the emotional and cognitive processes underlying social distancing behavioral decisions, as well as the interaction between social and cultural backgrounds and individual psychological traits. Future research should also strengthen theory-driven studies on the determinants of social distancing. To summarize both rational and irrational processes and group and individual perspectives, it is necessary to construct a dual-system model, such as one that integrates social identity theory and the theory of planned behavior. Furthermore, most previous studies on social distancing relied on self-reports of behavior and were cross-sectional in design. Therefore, it is important to conduct behavioral research with an experimental design or longitudinal surveys to further explore the causal relationships among the influencing factors and to confirm the underlying mechanisms of social distancing behaviors in the context of epidemics or pandemics.

Key words: respiratory infectious disease, pandemic/epidemic, social distancing, psychological traits

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