Double standards in the COVID‐19 pandemic: The moderation of perceived threat

Abstract

This research explored whether people hold double standards in a public crisis. We proposed that during the COVID‐19 pandemic, people required others to strictly follow self‐quarantine rules and other preventive behaviors, whereas they themselves would not, demonstrating double standards. Moreover, this effect would be moderated by the perceived threat from the pandemic. Using data collected in the United States and China, three studies ( N = 2,180) tested the hypotheses by measuring (Study 1) and manipulating the perceived threat (Studies 2 and 3). We found that people generally applied higher standards to others than to themselves when it came to following the self‐quarantine rules. This effect was strong when a relatively low threat was perceived, but the self–other difference disappeared when the perceived threat was relatively high, as the demands they placed on themselves would increase as the perceived threat intensified, but their requirements of others would be constantly strict. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Cultural differences in behavioural regulation under the collective threat of COVID-19: More adjustment in Japan and more influence in the US

“…Although it was not the focus of the current study, it is also interesting to note that American participants consistently appeared to believe that they did not need to change their behaviour as much as others did, but that this tendency was significantly weaker (in our original study) or not observed at all (in our replication study) among Japanese participants. The pattern of results found among American participants echoes findings that American but not Chinese individuals demonstrated self-serving bias in the context of the pandemic (Dong et al, 2021), and that Americans who were told that the COVID-19 pandemic was abating felt they did not need to take preventative measures as much as others did (Wang et al, 2022). Although the authors of the latter study found similar double standards when asking Chinese participants about adherence to self-quarantine measures, they did not test whether this effect generalised to their perceptions of preventative measures.…”