Laurel Peterson Looks at Roles Norms, Prototypes Play in COVID-19 Protection
News of the omicron variant once again has many wondering anew what to do to protect themselves from COVID-19.
However, in some areas of the U.S., vaccination rates remain alarmingly low and preventive measures like indoor mask wearing are all but ignored.
Research published in the November issue of by a team that included Associate Professor of Psychology Laurel Peterson adds to the mounting evidence that perceived risk isn’t always as important in practicing preventive behavior as many may think.
Laurel M. Peterson, associate professor and chair of psychology“Start sharing those booster selfies. Spreading the word in your networks that prevention behavior is normal can help change others’ behaviors.”
Early in the pandemic, Peterson and her colleagues Marie Helweg-Larsen, from Dickinson College, and NYU doctoral student Sarah DiMuccio, surveyed a sample of U.S. adults and asked them about their participation in current prevention behaviors and followed up with them later to see whether they changed.
“Risk perceptions of the coronavirus did vary,” says Peterson. “But those beliefs did not predict increases in prevention behavior. Instead, peoples' thoughts about what other people around them were doing was more powerful, for both people who thought they were at risk and those who did not think they were at risk—people were more likely to increase prevention if they thought their neighbors, friends, and family were doing prevention behaviors.”n conducting their study, Peterson and her fellow researchers looked at the influence of “norms” and “prototypes” on behavior.
“Norms are our perceptions of what we think other people are doing,” explains Peterson. “Prototypes are what we think the typical person who does a behavior is like.”
Higher norms and positive prototypes influenced increases in coronavirus prevention behavior across regions of the country and above and beyond political orientation, the researchers found.
“Norms and prototypes are often influenced by media and public messaging,” says Peterson. “These results suggest that public health officials could create advertising campaigns that focus on positive representations of everyday people engaging in prevention behavior.”
Peterson presented these findings along with Bryn Mawr psychology Major Yvonne Yan (HC ’21) at the Society of Behavioral Medicine’s 2021 Conference where their research received a citation award.
Ellie Bowers ‘22, who is working on her thesis and is a member of Peterson’s lab, has found similar results for COVID-19 vaccination uptake in her research. Her results are currently under review to present at the Society of Behavioral Medicine’s annual conference in March.
“Start sharing those booster selfies,” says Peterson. “Spreading the word in your networks that prevention behavior is normal can help change others’ behaviors.”