Choosing not to follow rules that will reduce the spread of COVID-19
Open accessAbstract
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many authorities have implemented public health measures that place restrictions on individuals. Understanding how individuals respond to these new rules, particularly whether they are likely to follow or break them, is extremely important. Relational frame theory offers unique insights into rule-governed behavior, allowing researchers to develop functional-analytic interpretations of why a listener may understand a rule, have the required response established in their behavioral repertoire, and still choose not to follow the rule. Drawing from research on rule-following in accordance with relational frame theory and cognitive neuroscience, social psychology, and health literature, this paper presents reasons why a rule may be understood but not followed, identifying important considerations for implementing public health measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Specifically, rule-givers should attend to their credibility, authority and ability to mediate consequences, rule plausibility, establishing adequate motivative augmental control, whether the behavior specified in the rule opposes habits, and whether the message incites counterpliance.
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A person will tend to follow rules or not depending on whether the speaker is seen as reliable, knowledgeable, and lacking ulterior motives.
“A person will tend to follow rules or not depending on whether the speaker is seen as reliable, knowledgeable, and lacking in ulterior motives (cf.Stapleton, 2020).”
From A Process-Based Analysis of Cognitive Defusion in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (2023) · cites this paper as Stapleton, 2020
The “Speaker credibility” section says people are less likely to follow rules from a speaker they perceive as lacking credibility, and specifically says perceived knowledge makes rule-following more likely. This supports the reliability and knowledge aspects, but our copy does not identify a perceived lack of ulterior motives as a factor. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn interpersonal contexts, people respond differently to a verbalization depending on the speaker.
“It is also similar to how, in interpersonal contexts, people respond differently to a verbalization depending on the speaker.”
From A Process-Based Analysis of Cognitive Defusion in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (2023) · cites this paper as Stapleton, 2020
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Por que Seguimos Regras? Analisando o Exemplo da Prevenção a COVID-19
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“Over the last few years, self-report measures of dispositional tendencies to engage in pliance versus tracking have been developed (Inoue & Okajima, 2025; Ruiz et al., 2019, 2020) that may provide greater promise as moderators in accounting for variability in schedule control.”
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“Research on RGB has explored the conditions under which rules may or may not be followed (Stapleton, 2020; Törneke et al., 2008).”
- Authors
- Stapleton, A.
- Affiliations
- University College Dublin (IE)
- Corresponding author
- Stapleton, Alison
- ORCID
- Stapleton, Alison
- Venue
- Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2020-07
- Volume
- 17
- Pages
- 73-78
- ISSN
- 2212-1447 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7351050
- OpenAlex
- W3041142620
- Cited by
- 20
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 5
- FWCI
- 6.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Behavioral and Psychological Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › COVID-19 Prevention and Impact
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
- Keywords
- COVID-19 pandemic, public health measures, rule-following, rule violations, relational frame theory, rule-governed behavior, habit, non-compliance
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