Trust predicts COVID-19 prescribed and discretionary behavioral intentions in 23 countries

The worldwide spread of a new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) since December 2019 has posed a severe threat to individuals well-being. While the world at large is waiting that the released vaccines immunize most citizens, public health experts suggest that, in the meantime, it is only through behavior change that the spread of COVID-19 can be controlled. Importantly, the required behaviors are aimed not only at safeguarding one s own health. Instead, individuals are asked to adapt their behaviors to protect the community at large. This raises the question of which social concerns and moral principles make people willing to do so. We considered in 23 countries (N = 6948) individuals willingness to engage in prescribed and discretionary behaviors, as well as country-level and individual-level factors that might drive such behavioral intentions. Results from multilevel multiple regressions, with country as the nesting variable, showed that publicized number of infections were not significantly related to individual intentions to comply with the prescribed measures and intentions to engage in discretionary prosocial behaviors. Instead, psychological differences in terms of trust in government, citizens, and in particular toward science predicted individuals behavioral intentions across countries. The more people endorsed moral principles of fairness and care (vs. loyalty and authority), the more they were inclined to report trust in science, which, in turn, statistically predicted prescribed and discretionary behavioral intentions. Results have implications for the type of intervention and public communication strategies that should be most effective to induce the behavioral changes that are needed to control the COVID-19 outbreak. Fil: Pagliaro, Stefano. Universidad de Chieti Pescara; Italia Fil: Sacchi, Simona. University of Milano Bicocca; Italia Fil: Pacilli, Maria Giuseppina. Università di Perugia; Italia Fil: Brambilla, Marco. Università degli Studi di Milano; Italia Fil: Lionetti, Francesca. Universidad de Chieti Pescara; Italia Fil: Bettache, Karim. Monash University; Australia Fil: Bianchi, Mauro. Universidade Lusófona; Portugal Fil: Biella, Marco. Eberhard Karls Universitat Tubingen; Alemania Fil: Bonnot, Virginie. Universite de Paris; Francia Fil: Boza, Mihaela. University Alexandru Ioan Cuza; Rumania Fil: Butera, Fabrizio. Universite de Lausanne; Suiza Fil: Batur, Suzan Ceylan. University of Economics and Technology; Turquía Fil: Chong, Kristy. Monash University; Australia Fil: Chopova, Tatiana. Utrecht University; Países Bajos Fil: Crimston, Charlie R.. University of Queensland; Australia Fil: Alvarez, Belen. University of Queensland; Australia Fil: Cuadrado, Isabel. Universidad de Almería; España Fil: Ellemers, Naomi. University of Utrecht; Países Bajos Fil: Formanowicz, Magdalena. University Social Sciences and Humanities; Polonia. Nicolaus Copernicus University; Polonia Fil: Graupmann, Verena. DePaul University; Estados Unidos Fil: Gkinopoulos, Theofilos. University of Greenwich; Reino Unido Fil: Jeong, Evelyn Hye Kyung. University of Limerick; Irlanda Fil: Lahti, Inga Jasinskaja. University of Helsinki; Finlandia Fil: Jetten, Jolanda. University of Queensland; Australia Fil: Bin, Kabir Muhib. University of Limerick; Irlanda Fil: Mao, Yanhui. Southwest Jiaotong University; China Fil: McCoy, Christine. The University of Queensland; Australia Fil: Mehnaz, Farah. University of Limerick; Irlanda Fil: Minescu, Anca. University of Limerick; Irlanda Fil: Sirlopu, David. Universidad del Desarrollo; Chile Fil: Simic, Andrej. Università degli Studi di Milano; Italia Fil: Travaglino, Giovanni. University Of Kent; Reino Unido. Chinese University Of Hong Kong; Hong Kong Fil: Uskul, Ayse K.. University Of Kent; Reino Unido Fil: Zanetti, Cinzia. Universite de Lausanne; Suiza Fil: Zinn, Anna. University of Exeter; Reino Unido Fil: Zubieta, Elena Mercedes. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicología; Argentina