Previous research concerning mass gathering-associated health risks has focused on physical factors while largely neglecting the role of psychological factors. The present research examined the effect of experiencing shared social identification on perceptions of susceptibility to health risks in mass gatherings. Participants in Study 1 were asked to either recall a crowd in which they shared a social identity with other crowd members or a crowd in which they did not. Participants subsequently completed measures assessing shared social identity, disgust, and health risk perceptions. Study 2 involved administering the same measures as part of a survey to participants who had recently attended a music festival. The results from both studies indicated that sharing a social identity lowered health risk perceptions; this effect was indirect and mediated via disgust. This highlights the importance of considering social identity processes in the design of health communication aimed at reducing mass gathering-associated health risks. Large crowd events, or mass gatherings, such as music festivals, pilgrimages, and sports events, pose serious health risks (The World Health Organization (WHO), 2015). Examples of non-communicable health risks include crush injuries, environmental stressors, and trauma incidences related to substance misuse (Steffen et al., 2012). However, the most serious health risk is the transmission of communicable diseases. Being in close physical proximity to masses of people, under often rudimentary living conditions, increases the risk of infection, which may spread beyond the bounds of the mass gathering (

Social group membership and its social‐relational corollaries, for example, social contact, trust, and support, are prophylactic for health. Research has tended to focus on how direct social interactions between members of small‐scale groups (i.e., a local sports team or community group) are conducive to positive health outcomes. The current study provides evidence from a longitudinal cross‐cultural sample (N = 6,748; 18 countries/societies) that the prophylactic effect of group membership is not isolated to small‐scale groups, and that members of groups do not have to directly interact, or in fact know of each other to benefit from membership. Our longitudinal analyses suggest that national identification (strength of association with the country/society of which one is a citizen) predicts lower anxiety and improved health; national identification was in fact almost as positively predictive of health status as anxiety was negatively predictive. The findings indicate that identification with large‐scale groups, like small‐scale groups, is palliative, and are discussed in terms of globalization and banal nationalism.

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The COVID‐19 pandemic has led to calls for contributions from the social and behavioural sciences in responding to the social and behavioural dimensions of the pandemic. The current two‐round Delphi study—involving a panel of 52 professors of social psychology from 25 countries—explored expert opinions and consensus about the contributions that can be made by social psychology and social psychologists, and research priorities and strategies to this end. Responses to open‐ended questions presented to the panel in Round 1 were condensed and reformulated into 100 closed‐ended statements that the panel rated their agreement with in Round 2. Consensus was reached for 55 topics to which social psychology can contribute, 26 topics that should be prioritised, and 19 strategies that should be implemented. The findings contribute to further focusing research efforts in psychology in its response to the social and behavioural dimensions of the COVID‐19 and future pandemics.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to calls for contributions from the social and behavioural sciences in responding to the social and behavioural dimensions of the pandemic. The current Delphi study explored expert opinions and consensus about the contributions that can be made by social psychology and social psychologists, and research priorities and strategies to this end. A two-round Delphi process was employed involving a panel of 52 professors of social psychology from 25 countries. Responses to open-ended questions presented to the panel in Round 1 were condensed and reformulated into 100 closed-ended statements that the panel rated their agreement with in Round 2. Consensus was reached for 55 topics to which social psychology can contribute, 26 topics that should be prioritised, and 19 strategies that should be implemented. The findings contribute to further focusing research efforts in psychology in its response to the social and behavioural dimensions of the COVID-19 and future pandemics.