Branden Johnson

Institution:

Decision Science Research Institute

Email:

[email protected]

PI's ORCID ID:

0000-0003-2264-5419

Video:



Awarded COVID Grants:
Expected Research Output:

This 6-wave longitudinal panel survey of Americans’ views and behaviors on COVID-19 (original n =2004), spanning the period from February 2020 to April 2021 at roughly 2-month intervals, was characterized uniquely by including almost all of its measures in each wave of the survey, thus allowing much more granular analyses than usual. This project aimed both to understand the temporal dynamics and predictors of these views and behaviors, and to use the results to probe more general issues (e.g., how people respond to hazards; attitude-behavior relationships; impacts of cultural biases, psychological distance, scientific deference, and social versus general trust), in part by building upon earlier longitudinal panel studies on Ebola and Zika, much less severe infectious outbreaks in the mainland U.S. Among the analyses produced or planned are:

  • The application of the Protective Action Decision Model (PADM; e.g., Lindell & Perry, 2012), which posits threat perceptions, perceptions of action attributes, and stakeholder perceptions as predictors, to COVID-19 protective behavioral intentions (e.g., handwashing, mask wearing, avoiding large public gatherings, avoid travel, isolating at home, vaccination when it becomes available) and their changes across time
  • Testing whether the PADM could be used to predict support for federal policy (real and hypothetical recommendations or mandates for mask wearing, public gatherings, vaccination, etc.), either directly or via behavioral intentions
  • Comparing effects of the Affect Heuristic-Cultural Cognition Theory Model (Kahan et al., 2017) and a Solution Aversion [Campbell & Kay, 2014]-based model of how different kinds of affective response—to the hazard itself, versus to a proposed solution to the hazard—might mediate the relationship between measures of cultural biases or political ideology or values on the one hand, and risk perceptions, behavioral intentions, and policy support on the other 
  • Testing three hypotheses about attitude-behavior relationships—on behavioral motivation (personal risk perceptions prompt higher protective behavior intentions later), risk reappraisal (protective behavior intentions/action prompt lower risk perceptions later), and accuracy (at a given time, risk perceptions and behavioral intentions are most likely to be inversely related, although other associations are possible)—that except for accuracy require longitudinal studies (Brewer et al., 2004), which are rare, mostly two-wave, and have concentrated on chronic health issues, not infectious ones like COVID-19
  • Exploring the cross-temporal factoring of diverse COVID-19 risk perception measures (personal, U.S., global, concern, dread, affect, likelihood, expected U.S. infections, expected U.S. mortality, expected length of the pandemic), and whether these measures differ in their effects on behavioral intentions and policy support
  • Demonstrating that associations of COVID-19 risk perceptions with their potential predictors differ across time (i.e., risk perception differences between people high and low in the predictor—e.g., trust in WHO; temporal or social distance from COVID-19; trend in county-level COVID-19 cases—increase or decrease; in a few cases positive associations become negative)
  • Probing the relationships between conservative political ideology, subtle and blatant prejudice against Chinese, conspiracist thinking, and intentions to avoid people of Asian ancestry as a “protective” measure against COVID-19, in light of the post-COVID19 attacks on Asians in the U.S.
  • Examining over-time effects of exposure to specific legacy or social media with related content on COVID-19 on behavioral intentions
  • Comparing between China and the U.S. in spring 2020 the association of cultural biases (e.g., hierarchist, individualist, egalitarian, fatalist) with COVID-19 behavioral intentions as mediated by risk perceptions, protective action attribute perceptions, and trust in government (i.e., PADM predictors; Lindell & Perry, 2012)
Project Keywords:

risk perception protective behavior policy support media trust knowledge culture psychological distance