“We” are in This Pandemic, but “You” can get Through This: The Effects of Pronouns on Likelihood to Stay-at-Home During COVID-19

We examine how first-person plural and second-person singular pronouns used in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) communications impact people's likelihood to follow stay-at-home recommendations. A 2 (first-person plural [“we”] vs. second-person singular [“you”]) by continuous trait self-contr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of language and social psychology Vol. 40; no. 5-6; pp. 574 - 588
Main Authors Tu, Ke C., Chen, Shirley S., Mesler, Rhiannon M.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.10.2021
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Behavior problems
Between-subjects design
COVID-19
Language usage
Pandemics
Pronouns
Self control
self-control
pronouns
stay-at-home
coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
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Summary:We examine how first-person plural and second-person singular pronouns used in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) communications impact people's likelihood to follow stay-at-home recommendations. A 2 (first-person plural [“we”] vs. second-person singular [“you”]) by continuous trait self-control between-subjects experiment (N = 223) was used to examine individuals’ adherence to stay-at-home recommendations. Results suggest that “you”-based appeals may be more broadly effective in garnering stay-at-home adherence, whereas low self-control individuals are less responsive to “we” appeals. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:0261-927X
1552-6526
DOI:10.1177/0261927X211044799