The DOI matches its Crossref record; 33 of the 33 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Emotional Path to Action: Empathy Promotes Physical Distancing and Wearing of Face Masks During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Open accessPublished version of a preprint
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic presents a major challenge to societies all over the globe. Two measures implemented in many countries to curb the spread of the disease are (a) minimizing close contact between people (“physical distancing”) and (b) wearing of face masks. In the present research, we tested the idea that physical distancing and wearing of face masks can be the result of a prosocial emotional process—empathy for people most vulnerable to the virus. In four preregistered studies ( N = 3,718, Western population), we found that (a) empathy indeed relates to the motivation to adhere to physical distancing and to wearing face masks and (b) inducing empathy for people most vulnerable to the virus promotes the motivation to adhere to these measures (whereas merely providing information about the importance of the measures does not). In sum, the present research provides a better understanding of the factors underlying the willingness to follow two important measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Cites
Using social and behavioural science to support COVID-19 pandemic response
Bavel, J. J. V., Baicker, K., Boggio, P. S., Capraro, V., Cichocka, A., Cikara, M., Crockett, M. J., Crum, A. J., Douglas, K. M., Druckman, J. N., et al. (2020) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-020-0884-z · Cited by 4,964
Evaluating Effect Size in Psychological Research: Sense and Nonsense
Funder, D. C., & Ozer, D. J. (2019) · Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/2515245919847202 · Cited by 3,295 · cited 1×
“We argue, however, that small effect sizes matter in the context of a pandemic (Funder & Ozer, 2019).”
BackgroundFair Allocation of Scarce Medical Resources in the Time of Covid-19
Emanuel, E. J., Persad, G., Upshur, R., Thome, B., Parker, M., Glickman, A., Zhang, C., Boyle, C., Smith, M., & Phillips, J. P. (2020) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmsb2005114 · Cited by 3,137
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Leung, N. H. L., Chu, D. K. W., Shiu, E. Y. C., Chan, K.-H., McDevitt, J. J., Hau, B. J. P., Yen, H.-L., Li, Y., Ip, D. K. M., Peiris, J. S. M., et al. (2020) · Nature Medicine · doi:10.1038/s41591-020-0843-2 · Cited by 2,270
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Rational use of face masks in the COVID-19 pandemic
Feng, S., Shen, C., Xia, N., Song, W., Fan, M., & Cowling, B. J. (2020) · The Lancet Respiratory Medicine · doi:10.1016/s2213-2600(20)30134-x · Cited by 1,418
Physiciansʼ Empathy and Clinical Outcomes for Diabetic Patients
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Is empathic emotion a source of altruistic motivation?
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Cheng, V. C.-C., Wong, S.-C., Chuang, V. W.-M., So, S. Y.-C., Chen, J. H.-K., Sridhar, S., To, K. K.-W., Chan, J. F.-W., Hung, I. F.-N., Ho, P.-L., et al. (2020) · Journal of Infection · doi:10.1016/j.jinf.2020.04.024 · Cited by 875
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Cited by
Functional Fear Predicts Public Health Compliance in the COVID-19 Pandemic
Harper, C. A., Satchell, L. P., Fido, D., & Latzman, R. D. (2021) · International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction · doi:10.1007/s11469-020-00281-5 · Cited by 1,564
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Collectivism predicts mask use during COVID-19
Lu, J. G., Jin, P., & English, A. S. (2021) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2021793118 · Cited by 342
Seale, H., Heywood, A. E., Leask, J., Sheel, M., Thomas, S., Durrheim, D. N., Bolsewicz, K., & Kaur, R. (2020) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0235112 · Cited by 281
Jiang, Q., Zhang, Y., & Pian, W. (2022) · Information Processing & Management · doi:10.1016/j.ipm.2022.103074 · Cited by 165
Metadata
- Authors
- Pfattheicher, S., Nockur, L., Böhm, R., Sassenrath, C., & Petersen, M. B.
- Venue
- Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2020-09-29
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 1363-1373
- ISSN
- 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9280
- OpenAlex
- W3041163813
- Cited by
- 574
- References
- 33
- FWCI
- 152.04
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- Licence
- journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
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- Pfattheicher, S., Nockur, L., Böhm, R., Sassenrath, C., & Petersen, M. B. (2020). The Emotional Path to Action: Empathy Promotes Physical Distancing and Wearing of Face Masks During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797620964422
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