Department of Strategy and Marketing University of Sussex Business School Jubilee Building, BN1 9SL, Falmer, Brighton, UK; Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science, University of Oxford, Nuffield Dept of Primary Care Health Sciences, Radcliffe Primary Care Building, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Rd, OX2 6GG, Oxford, UK.
Department of Strategy and Marketing University of Sussex Business School Jubilee Building, BN1 9SL, Falmer, Brighton, UK.
Soc Sci Med. 2023 Jul;328:116000. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116000. Epub 2023 May 29.
Health education campaigns often aim to create awareness by increasing objective knowledge about pathogens, such as COVID-19. However, the present paper proposes that confidence in one's knowledge more than knowledge is a significant factor that leads to a laxer attitude toward COVID-19 and hence lower support for protective measures and reduced intention to comply with preemptive behaviors.
We tested two hypotheses in three studies conducted between 2020 and 2022. In Study 1, we assessed participants' level of knowledge and confidence, as well as attitudes toward COVID-19. In Study 2, we tested the relation between fear of COVID-19 and protective behaviors. In Study 3, we used an experimental approach to show the causal effect of overconfidence on fear of COVID-19. In addition to manipulating overconfidence and measuring fear of COVID-19, we also measured prophylactic behaviors.
In Study 1, more overconfident participants had a laxer attitude toward COVID-19. While knowledge had an increasing effect on worry, confidence in said knowledge significantly decreased worry about COVID-19. In Study 2, participants who were more worried about COVID-19 were more likely to engage in protective behaviors (e.g., wearing masks). In Study 3, we show that when overconfidence was experimentally diminished, fear of COVID-19 increased. The results support our claim that the effect of overconfidence on attitudes toward COVID-19 is causal in nature. Moreover, the results show that people with higher fear of COVID-19 are more likely to wear masks, use hand sanitizers, avoid crowded places or social gatherings, and get vaccinated.
Managing adherence to public health measures is critical when it comes to highly infectious diseases. Our findings suggest that efficient information campaigns to increase adherence to public health measures should focus on calibrating people's confidence in their knowledge about COVID-19 to prevent the spread of the virus.
健康宣传活动通常旨在通过增加有关病原体（如 COVID-19）的客观知识来提高认识。然而，本文提出，对自身知识的信心比对知识本身的信心更重要，这是导致对 COVID-19 持宽松态度、降低对保护措施的支持以及减少遵守预防行为的意愿的重要因素。
我们在 2020 年至 2022 年期间进行的三项研究中检验了两个假设。在研究 1 中，我们评估了参与者的知识和信心水平，以及他们对 COVID-19 的态度。在研究 2 中，我们测试了对 COVID-19 的恐惧与保护行为之间的关系。在研究 3 中，我们采用了一种实验方法来证明过度自信对 COVID-19 恐惧的因果效应。除了操纵过度自信和测量对 COVID-19 的恐惧外，我们还测量了预防行为。
在研究 1 中，更过度自信的参与者对 COVID-19 的态度更为宽松。虽然知识对担忧有递增效应，但对该知识的信心却显著降低了对 COVID-19 的担忧。在研究 2 中，对 COVID-19 更担心的参与者更有可能采取保护行为（例如，戴口罩）。在研究 3 中，我们表明，当过度自信被实验性地削弱时，对 COVID-19 的恐惧会增加。研究结果支持我们的主张，即过度自信对 COVID-19 态度的影响是因果关系。此外，研究结果表明，对 COVID-19 恐惧程度较高的人更有可能戴口罩、使用洗手液、避免拥挤场所或社交聚会以及接种疫苗。
在涉及高度传染性疾病时，管理对公共卫生措施的遵守至关重要。我们的研究结果表明，提高对公共卫生措施的遵守率的有效信息宣传活动应侧重于调整人们对 COVID-19 知识的信心，以防止病毒传播。
