RAPID: Distancing & Digital Information in the Face of COVID-19
- Funded by National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Total publications:0 publications
Grant number: 2028242
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Key facts
Disease
COVID-19Start & end year
20202021Known Financial Commitments (USD)
$98,285Funder
National Science Foundation (NSF)Principal Investigator
Shalini MisraResearch Location
United States of AmericaLead Research Institution
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State UniversityResearch Priority Alignment
N/A
Research Category
Policies for public health, disease control & community resilience
Research Subcategory
Approaches to public health interventions
Special Interest Tags
N/A
Study Type
Non-Clinical
Clinical Trial Details
N/A
Broad Policy Alignment
Pending
Age Group
Unspecified
Vulnerable Population
Unspecified
Occupations of Interest
Unspecified
Abstract
Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences - The COVID-19 pandemic poses arguably the most formidable set of health and broader societal challenges of the 21st century to people around the world. This project studies the judgements, perceptions, and behaviors that result from different types, quality, and amount of digital information and different social distancing restrictions in a high-stress context of spatial distancing over a prolonged period during the COVID-19 crisis. Such understanding can help us develop better strategies?including shaping the content and timeliness of online and offline communication of public policies?to respond more effectively to future large-scale crises that also may impose restrictions on the day-to-day, face-to-face human interactions that comprise the norm for modern society.
As large numbers of people cut off spatial ties and limit their mobility in the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for digital media has increased, not only to increase understanding of health and economic impacts and to reduce anxiety and uncertainty, but also to compensate for the severance of in person social interactions. This information comes from different sources, changes over time, and varies in quality, credibility, and timeliness. The research team hypothesizes that the nature of the information consumed and intensity of immersion in the digital environment during the COVID-19 pandemic can prompt different construals of the pandemic and thereby shape risk preferences and behaviors. The team investigates these perceptions, preferences, choices, and behavioral responses to spatial distancing public policies through a multiple wave, online panel study of 400 residents of the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metropolitan area. The research uses construal level theory by empirically distinguishing between the spatial and psycho-social dimensions of the construct of psychological distancing and calibrating the psychological impacts of immersion in online environments during a period of limited in-person interactions. The team investigates how digital media and technology consumption influence construal level and how the interaction of these two factors shape individuals? risk perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors over time. Our research thus moves beyond simplistic explanations of the direct linkage between psychological distance, construal level, and judgments and decisions to a more nuanced understanding of interactions between construal mindsets and overload, stress, and fear.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
As large numbers of people cut off spatial ties and limit their mobility in the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for digital media has increased, not only to increase understanding of health and economic impacts and to reduce anxiety and uncertainty, but also to compensate for the severance of in person social interactions. This information comes from different sources, changes over time, and varies in quality, credibility, and timeliness. The research team hypothesizes that the nature of the information consumed and intensity of immersion in the digital environment during the COVID-19 pandemic can prompt different construals of the pandemic and thereby shape risk preferences and behaviors. The team investigates these perceptions, preferences, choices, and behavioral responses to spatial distancing public policies through a multiple wave, online panel study of 400 residents of the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metropolitan area. The research uses construal level theory by empirically distinguishing between the spatial and psycho-social dimensions of the construct of psychological distancing and calibrating the psychological impacts of immersion in online environments during a period of limited in-person interactions. The team investigates how digital media and technology consumption influence construal level and how the interaction of these two factors shape individuals? risk perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors over time. Our research thus moves beyond simplistic explanations of the direct linkage between psychological distance, construal level, and judgments and decisions to a more nuanced understanding of interactions between construal mindsets and overload, stress, and fear.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.