Don't Get It or Don't Spread It? Comparing Self-interested versus Prosocial Motivations for COVID-19 Prevention Behaviors

By: Jillian J. Jordan, Erez Yoeli and David Rand

Language:English

Abstract

Efforts to avoid COVID-19 infection may be seen as self-interested or prosocial. Using American samples from Amazon Turk and Prolific (total n = 6,850), we investigated which framing is more effective—and motivation is stronger—for fostering intentions to engage in prevention behaviors. We tested three messaging treatments, emphasizing personal, public, or personal and public benefits of prevention. In earlier studies (conducted March 14-16, 2020), the Public treatment was more effective than the Personal treatment, and no less effective than the Personal+Public treatment. In later studies (conducted April 17-30, 2020), all three treatments were similarly effective. Across all studies, we also found that the perceived public threat of coronavirus was more strongly associated with prevention intentions than the perceived personal threat. Furthermore, people who behaved prosocially in incentivized economic games conducted years before the pandemic had greater prevention intentions. Together, these results highlight the importance of prosocial motives for COVID-19 prevention.