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

• Published in: Journal 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
• Language: English
• 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)

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...