Drivers of public responses toward Coronavirus outbreak and implications of social dynamics (COSD)

The purpose of this project is to study people's reactions to the Covid-19 pandemic and their reactions to measures against the pandemic that the authorities, companies and individuals have taken. The project is divided into two work packages. In work package 1 we study how people in Norway react to the Covid-19 pandemic over time. First, three preliminary studies were conducted: in the first, we categorized the corona measures implemented by the government from February 2020 to August 2020, in the second preliminary study, media reports about the pandemic from a national newspaper (Aftenposten) from March 2020 to December 2020 were systematically reviewed, and in the third preliminary study, in-depth interviews were conducted with 18 respondents (public entities, companies and individuals) in Western Norway in the fall of 2020. The results of the preliminary studies show that in the early phase of the pandemic, people's emotional reactions were characterized by fear and anxiety, and that people had a mixed perception of the measures implemented at the national level. In work package 1, a panel survey was also conducted on a nationally representative sample in Norway in 2021. This survey gave us insight into how the population's reactions to the pandemic have changed over time, for example how they perceived risk, their emotional reactions, their well-being, trust in public authorities, and how they supported corona measures throughout the pandemic. In work package 2, the project has examined the reaction pattern of the population to measures from three social actors: governments, businesses and individuals throughout the pandemic. Understanding this is important in order to be able to design measures and communication around future pandemics in the best possible way. A pilot study was conducted in Norway in the winter of 2020. The findings from this study indicate that if key societal actors (such as the government) downplay the consequences of the pandemic, this leads to negative emotional reactions in the population such as anger, blame and disgust. It also leads to the population trusting the government less and speaking negatively about the government. Another goal of the project was to examine the population's reactions to positive measures from key societal actors. These could, for example, be measures that show that the infection situation is being taken seriously. The results of the research show that positive infection control measures lead to admiration and gratitude among the population, which in turn leads to increased support for the government's policies. This applies especially to voters who belong to the left-wing political party. A pilot study no. 2 was conducted in the USA to further test the questionnaire. In work package no. 2, systematic experiments were then carried out in the first half of 2022 in five countries, Norway, Italy, China, Kenya and the USA. The purpose of the study was to look at similarities and differences in how the population in the five countries reacts to corona measures carried out by the authorities, companies or individuals. We also examined the willingness of the population to take a new vaccine. The results have given us valuable insight into how people in different cultural contexts will respond to future pandemics and provide advice on cooperation across countries during future pandemics.