Obligation or Desire: Variation in Motivation for Compliance With COVID-19 Public Health Guidance

Abstract

Why do people comply with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health guidance? This study considers cultural-psychological foundations of variation in beliefs about motivations for such compliance. Specifically, we focused on beliefs about two sources of prosocial motivation: desire to protect others and obligation to society. Across two studies, we observed that the relative emphasis on the desire to protect others (vs. the obligation to the community) as an explanation for compliance was greater in the United States settings associated with cultural ecologies of abstracted independence than in Chinese settings associated with cultural ecologies of embedded interdependence. We observed these patterns for explanations of psychological experience of both others (Study 1) and self (Study 2), and for compliance with mandates for both social distancing and face masks (Study 2). Discussion of results considers both practical implications for motivating compliance with public health guidance and theoretical implications for denaturalizing prevailing accounts of prosocial motivation.

Keywords: COVID-19; compliance; culture; obligation; prosocial motivation.

Figure 1

Study 1—the relative importance of desire and obligation motivation for American and Chinese participants. Error bars denote 95% confidence intervals of the mean.

Figure 2

Study 1—the importance ratings of desire and obligation motivation for American and Chinese participants. Error bars denote 95% confidence intervals of the mean.

Figure 3

Study 1—the autonomous and controlled motivation from Motivation to Help Scale for American and Chinese participants. Error bars denote 95% confidence intervals of the mean.

Figure 4

Study 2—the importance ratings of desire and obligation motivation for wearing face masks (left) and keeping social distance (right) for American and Chinese participants. Error bars denote 95% confidence intervals of the mean.

Figure 5

Study 2—the relative importance of desire and obligation motivation for the self for American and Chinese participants. Error bars denote 95% confidence intervals of the mean.

Figure 6

Study 2—the importance rating of desire and obligation motivation for the self for American and Chinese participants. Error bars denote 95% confidence intervals of the mean.