Bernhard Leidner and Quinnehtukqut McLamore receive NSF award

Strategic Science Communication in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Bernhard Leidner and Quinnehtukqut McLamore received an NSF award: RAPID: Strategic Science Communication in the COVID-19 Pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic is a global crisis threatening millions of lives, the economy, and national infrastructures, including healthcare, housing markets, and industrial supply chains. Health organizations, government, and local communities have introduced various measures to reduce the impact of the pandemic. In this global context, this project examines and compares people’s compliance with these measures over time, and across diverse cultural and governance contexts. Specifically, it focuses on how different value and belief systems influence (non-)compliance with containment measures as the pandemic unfolds. In doing so, the research enhances basic understanding of science/policy communications and their impact on public attitudes and behaviors. Ultimately, the project helps identify best science communication practices to inform and educate people about COVID-19 and similar crises. By integrating theories from social and cross-cultural psychology, this research explores the role of different value systems, including basic human values, social values, and cultural values, in public responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, across 21 countries over three cross-sectional time points ranging from May 2020 to July 2020.