Optimism-pessimism, conspiracy theories and general trust as factors contributing to COVID-19 related behavior – A cross-cultural study

The main aim of this research was to examine the role of optimism-pessimism, general trust and belief in conspiracy theories, in COVID-19 related fears, preventive and hoarding behaviors. We also examined the role of different sources of information in these relations. The convenience sample was use...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPersonality and individual differences Vol. 167; p. 110216
Main Authors Jovančević, Ana, Milićević, Nebojša
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England Elsevier Ltd 01.12.2020
Elsevier Science Ltd
Subjects
Behavior
Conspiracy
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 pandemic
Cross cultural studies
Fear
Fear & phobias
Food supply
General trust
Hoarding
Hoarding behaviors
Information sources
Optimism
Optimism-pessimism
Pessimism
Preventive behaviors
COVID-19 pandemic
Fear
Preventive behaviors
Optimism-pessimism
General trust
Hoarding behaviors
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Summary:The main aim of this research was to examine the role of optimism-pessimism, general trust and belief in conspiracy theories, in COVID-19 related fears, preventive and hoarding behaviors. We also examined the role of different sources of information in these relations. The convenience sample was used (N = 412) and it consisted of individuals from Serbia (N = 292) and Latin-America (N = 120). Following instruments were used: The Life Orientation Test (Scheier, Carver, & Bridges, 1994), Trust in people scale (Arbor, 1964), questions regarding fear, source of information, preventive behaviors and conspiracy constructed for the purposes of this research. The results suggest that fear of food shortage was the most pronounces one in both samples, followed by fear for oneself and finally by the fear for beloved others. Results suggest that optimists, those with high level of general trust and those who do not believe in conspiracy theories show lower level of fear and higher level of preventive behaviors. Pessimists on the other hand, show higher level of fear. Fear was related to all information sources suggesting that more information leads to higher intensity of fear – except information from the president which did not show any effect.
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ISSN:0191-8869
1873-3549
0191-8869
DOI:10.1016/j.paid.2020.110216