It’s the Thoughts That Count: How Psychological Distance and Affect Heuristic Influence Support for Aid Response Measures During the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT

Guided by construal level-theory, this research seeks to understand the effect of perceived psychological distance on emotions and risk perception associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in its early stage. Survey data were collected from a nationally representative U.S. adult sample (N = 1009) in April 2020. Results reveal that social distance was negatively related to emotions and risk perception. However, hypothetical distance was not significantly related to these variables. Emotions and risk perception also mediated the relationship between social distance and support for aid response measures; theoretically, we demonstrate that people evaluate risks contingent on their emotions when making decisions. This research contributes to extant literature on psychological distance and its utility in communication messaging design during public health crises.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2022.2109394.

Notes

1. The derogatory phrase dates back to the Qing dynasty in 1900s and is deep rooted in xenophobia as it describes anti-Chinese sentiment, observable with the progress of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. (Huang & Liu, 2020).

2. An additional research question explores the association between psychological distance and emotions (see supplementary document).

3. Data reported here are part of a larger study (published in various journals) which focused on public risk perceptions and communication behaviors related to the COVID-19 outbreak.

4. Cohen (1988) conventional criteria for a medium effect size was selected.

5. Items that dealt with scientific consensus surrounding climate change in the original studies were removed.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, #NSF2020597.