The interactional production and breach of new norms in the time of COVID‐19: Achieving physical distancing in public spaces

Drury, John; Stokoe, Elizabeth

doi:10.1111/bjso.12513

Cited by 15 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…It is worth considering, for instance, how such steps in some cases have been, could have been, or could still be taken to establish norms around protective behaviors in the COVID-19 pandemic—including to promote social distancing, mask-wearing, self-quarantining, and vaccinating (see Drury & Stokoe, 2022; Latkin et al, 2022; Neville et al, 2021; Young & Goldstein, 2021). These practices can pose self-control conflicts: While they can protect the self and others against a potentially serious illness, they may also pose short-term costs, such as forgoing social events or not seeing loved ones.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social norms govern what behaviors come to mind—And what do not.

Kalkstein¹,

Hook²,

Hard³

et al. 2023

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

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It is well known that norms influence behavior. Beyond simply shaping what people do, we argue that norms constrain what behaviors even come to mind as options, effectively excluding counternormative behaviors from consideration. We test this hypothesis across five primary and multiple supplementary studies using diverse methods (Ntotal = 5,488). In Study 1, people reported that behaviors that were counternormative in a situation, even behaviors that could satisfy a motivational drive, were far less likely to come to mind and less desirable than behaviors that were norm-consistent. Going beyond self-report measures, Studies 2a–2c found that people even misrepresented norm-violating behaviors as “impossible,” suggesting they are not considered. Using a change-blindness paradigm, Study 3 found that people were less likely to track changes in goal-relevant objects that would be counternormative (vs. normative) to engage with. Studies 4 and 5 explored implications for problems of temptation and self-control. Study 4 found that members of a clinical population striving to eat healthier reported that the very same unhealthy but tasty food items would be less tempting and would trigger less self-control conflict if they encountered the food in a context where its consumption would be counternormative (vs. normative). Study 5, a field study, shows that introducing a norm prohibiting laptop use in class reduced students’ temptation to multitask (as well as actual multitasking) over the term, whereas encouraging individual self-control did not. Discussion addresses how norms can be harnessed to lighten the burdens of temptations and help people achieve their goals.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social norms govern what behaviors come to mind—And what do not.

Kalkstein¹,

Hook²,

Hard³

et al. 2023

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

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“…COVID-19 has been likened to a breach experiment comparable to the ones that Garfinkel devised for his students to uncover the rules of everyday life (Drury & Stokoe, 2021;Scambler, 2020). COVID-19 and the measures taken to contain it led to a sudden change in taken-for-granted rules and routines of everyday life for CAs in Rwanda as elsewhere.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Infection and Social Dislocation: Wellbeing Impacts of COVID-19 on Children and Young People - Perspectives of Rwandan Leaders

Abbott¹,

Binagwaho²,

Cowan³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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COVID-19, the fear it engendered, and the policy measures to manage its spread have disproportionately impacted the wellbeing of children and adolescents (CAs). We present an intensive critical realist case study of the impact of COVID-19 on the health and wellbeing of CAs in Rwanda, seeing it as much a social and political crisis as a medical and public health one. To do this, we carried out interviews with a purposive sample of 25 leaders with a working knowledge of children and young people; they were more likely than the CAs themselves to observe changes across the CA population within their remit and more likely to be looking for general explanations rather than individual experiences. The findings show that CAs' responses to the changes wrought on their lives by Covid-19 were conditioned by their age, gender, social class and if they lived in urban or rural areas. However, Covid19 has not just revealed the structural weakness of the Rwandan health system but of education, social protection, child protection, employment, family, and financial systems. The pathway to (adverse) impacts of COVID-19 on CAs is conditioned by these institutions and their interactions together with structural socioeconomic inequalities both within Rwanda and globally.

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“…In contrast, keeping a 1.5 m distance from other people, while standing in a room, could be challenging, especially if there was no exact distance marking or indication in the surroundings, if the people were moving, and/or if there was a large number of people in a small space. Besides, keeping a distance required other individuals’ cooperation [ 24 ], and distinct individual perceptions could lead to coordination difficulties. In an observational study conducted on students seated in a university library in Canada at the same period of our second survey (March–April 2021), a relatively high compliance with both physical distancing and mask wearing (78%) was also documented [ 25 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compliance with Barrier Gestures during COVID-19 Pandemic as a Function of the Context: A Longitudinal Observational Survey at the University of Liège

Parisi

Renault

Humblet

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, barrier gestures such as mask wearing, physical distancing, greetings without contact, one-way circulation flow, and hand sanitization were major strategies to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2, but they were only useful if consistently applied. This survey was a follow-up of the first survey performed in 2020 at the University of Liège. We aim to evaluate the compliance with these gestures on campuses and examine differences in the extent of the compliance observed in different educational activities and contexts. During 3.5 months, the counting of compliant and non-compliant behaviors was performed each week in randomly selected rooms. Using data collected during both surveys (2020 and 2021), binomial negative regression models of compliance depending on periods (teaching periods and exam sessions), type of rooms, and campuses were conducted to evaluate prevalence ratios of compliance. The percentage of compliance in this second survey was the highest for mask wearing and physical distancing during educational activities (90% and 88%, respectively) and lowest for physical distancing outside educational activities and hand sanitization (45% and 52%, respectively). Multivariate analyses revealed that the compliance with most gestures was significantly higher in teaching rooms than in hallways and restaurants and during exam sessions. The compliance with physical distancing was significantly higher (from 66%) in auditoriums, where students had to remain seated, than during practical works that allowed or required free movement. Therefore, the compliance with barrier gestures was associated with contextual settings, which should be considered when communicating and managing barrier gestures. Further studies should specify and confirm the determining contextual characteristics regarding the compliance with barrier gestures in times of pandemic.

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The interactional production and breach of new norms in the time of COVID‐19: Achieving physical distancing in public spaces

Abstract: A key requirement of COVID-19 pandemic behavioural regulations in many countries was for people to 'physically distance' from one another, which meant departing radically from established norms of everyday human sociality.

Cited by 15 publications

References 61 publications

Social norms govern what behaviors come to mind—And what do not.

Social norms govern what behaviors come to mind—And what do not.

Infection and Social Dislocation: Wellbeing Impacts of COVID-19 on Children and Young People - Perspectives of Rwandan Leaders

Compliance with Barrier Gestures during COVID-19 Pandemic as a Function of the Context: A Longitudinal Observational Survey at the University of Liège

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