Updated on : Friday, October 23, 2020, 7:28 AM IST

Fear encourages physical distancing during pandemic: study

   By ANI
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tentacles, significantly strengthens that message.

   Fear encourages physical distancing during pandemic: study Fear
   encourages physical distancing during pandemic: study
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   Washington: Despite guidelines plastered on the walls and floors of
   grocery and retail stores encouraging customers to maintain six-feet of
   physical distance, many do not.

   A recent study has identified two key messaging components, that is,
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   Adjusting the messaging to stress the negative health outcomes
   associated with not following physical distancing guidelines, including
   the possibility of severe sickness or death, could more effectively
   persuade consumers to comply, according to the study co-authored by UH
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   information either negatively or positively. Based on a hypothetical
   supermarket scenario, survey respondents were presented with different
   physical distancing messages that either used preventive or promotive
   language - some included a "Mr Deadly COVID-19" scary face.

   The preventive messaging emphasized potential costs and negative
   outcomes: If you don't maintain physical distance, you could get
   infected and endanger your life. In contrast, promotive messaging
   highlighted potential benefits and positive outcomes: Maintaining
   physical distance protects you from infection and secures your life.

   "Preventive language was significantly more effective in this study
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   Despite a consistent rise in coronavirus cases and deaths, many
   customers underestimate the importance of complying with physical
   distancing. A survey of grocery and food workers conducted by the
   United Food and Commercial Workers International Union at the beginning
   of the pandemic last spring, found that up to 85 per cent of customers
   at grocery and retail stores did not practice physical distancing.
   Other surveys have revealed that people consistently underrate the risk
   of getting infected themselves or transmitting the virus to others.

   The researchers hope the service industry will adapt and change how
   they frame and present physical distancing appeals, particularly small
   retail and grocery businesses which lack the resources to fully
   implement expensive health and safety interventions.

   "This is more about playing with the human mind, which we know is more
   impactful than actual devices such as partitions or physical barriers,"
   said Guchait. "We encourage stores to add the picture of a scary
   coronavirus along with preventive messaging because it could save them
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   (To download our E-paper please click here. The publishers permit
   sharing of the paper's PDF on WhatsApp and other social media
   platforms.)
     * Fear
     * COVID-19
     * pandemic
     * social distancing
     * physical distancing

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