Researchers
Problem
In response to COVID-19, Penn State introduced the Mask Up or Pack Up Campaign. in fall of 2020. This series of projects was designed to assess the impact of the campaign.
Goals
Specifically, the project aimed to (a) monitor COVID-related safety behaviors, such as masking, distancing, and hand-washing, during fall semester, (b) provide near-real time reports on those behaviors, and to (c) understand the effects of the Mask Up or Pack Up campaign on Penn State students living on and off-campus in Centre County.
The data in the report were gathered from University Park undergraduates (N = 705) who took part in a rolling cross-sectional survey that was administered weekly from September 17 to November 11, 2020.
Progress/Findings
Executive Summary
- The campaign appeared to be successful at reaching a very large proportion of the student body. But, a segment of the sample (5% to 15%) reported no exposure to the campaign. This result was stable over the period of study.
- Between 40% and 80% of respondents perceived the campaign to be effective at increasing COVID-related safety behaviors for themselves and others. However, these judgments showed no association with campaign exposure and inconsistent association with self-reports of behaviors.
- Safety behaviors: Self-reported masking and hygiene behaviors (e.g., handwashing, avoiding touching face) were high and stable across the eight-week period, whereas distancing was considerably lower. Frequency of campaign exposure via official Penn State sources positively predicted hygiene behaviors, but not distancing or masking.
- Safety behaviors were significantly lower among students who are younger, white, male, members of Greek letter organizations, and living off campus.
- To the extent that respondents perceived the campaign to be pressuring them, they reported lower levels of all three safety behaviors.
- Observing local others wearing a mask improperly or not at all was associated with lower frequency of masking and distancing among respondents themselves. Similarly, higher levels of exposure to local others who communicated a disdain for masking was associated with lower levels of distancing, masking, and hygiene behaviors.
Masking Behavior during a COVID-19 Campus Health Campaign
Problem
Efforts by universities to reduce the spread of COVID-19 often include health campaigns intended to encourage students to wear masks. While well-intended, these efforts have the potential to produce counter-persuasion (i.e., to decrease masking) if they are seen as threatening individuals’ perceived right to choose.
Goals
The goal of this project is to investigate the role of social norms and psychological reactance in the persuasiveness of the Penn State Mask Up or Pack Up health campaign.
Findings
Dillard, J. P., Tian, X., Cruz, S. M., Smith, R. A., & Shen, L. (2021): Persuasive Messages, Social Norms, and Reactance: A Study of Masking Behavior during a COVID-19 Campus Health Campaign. Health Communication, 38(7), 1338-1348.
Abstract. Efforts by universities to reduce the spread of COVID-19 include health campaigns intended to encourage students to wear masks. While well-intended, these efforts may produce counter-persuasion (e.g., decrease masking) if they are seen as threatening individuals’ freedom to choose. In a rolling cross-sectional study of one university campaign (n = 681), we found that the presence of the campaign did instigate a form of resistance known as reactance and that reactance was negatively associated with masking behavior. Masking was also diminished by the frequency with which respondents observed others not wearing a mask (anti-masking descriptive norm) and the frequency with which respondents observed others expressing disdain for masking (anti-masking injunctive norm). Most of these findings were magnified among students who identified as politically conservative. There was no evidence that the frequency of seeing others speak in favor of masks (pro-masking injunctive norm) produced an increase in masking. The results provide valuable theoretical insights into the causes of reactance and empirical evidence of the risks associated with student-oriented COVID safety campaigns.
Making Sense of COVID-19
Background Info
In the face of unexpected and novel events, people engage in sensemaking to explain what is happening. Few recent events have provided as powerful an example of this as the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 was a novel virus with relatively novel recommendations (e.g., making and wearing masks) and mandates (e.g., closed stores). The science, practice, and policies around COVID-19 changed throughout the pandemic.
Problem
People struggled to make sense of COVID-related events in communities, countries, and around the world, which created a unique context for studying sensemaking. College students were no exception, as these dynamic events impacted how they navigate campus and community life. Segments of the general public and student body—particularly those with different political ideologies— reacted to the pandemic in different ways, which may in part be due to differences in how they have made sense of what is happening and what they should do.
Goals
To understand the structure of explanations of COVID-related events.
Findings
Cruz, S. M., Zhu, X., Smith, R. A., Dillard, J. P., Shen, L., & Tian, X. (2023). Different Politics, Different Realities? A Case Study of Student’s Partisan Sensemaking about COVID-19. Negotiation and Conflict Management Research, 16(4), 320-343.
Abstract. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a source of conflict between liberals and conservatives in the U.S., with many politicized debates focusing on college students and universities. To understand this partisan conflict and how it might be mitigated, one useful approach is to examine how collective sensemaking about the virus and virus response, as reflected in language use, has differed between different political groups. Using semantic network analysis of a corpus of college students’ descriptions of their worries about COVID-19, we found that there were many similarities in sensemaking across the political spectrum, but also important differences between ideological groups. In particular, collective sensemaking for conservative students (more so than for liberal and moderate students) was organized around words related to anxiety and close personal relationships. These results have implications for addressing partisan intergroup conflict about COVID-19.
The Effect of Fatigue on a COVID-19 Campus Health Campaign
Problem
The Mask Up or Pack Up campaign, which launched months after the pandemic outbreak, faced an already fatigued and stressed-out audience.
Goals
This project examined the causes and consequences of fatigue on the effectiveness of the Penn State Mask Up or Pack Up campaign.
Progress/Findings
Shen, L., Dillard, J. P., Tian, X., Cruz, S. M., & Smith, R. A. (2025). The Role of Fatigue in a Campus COVID-19 Safety Behaviors Campaign. American Behavioral Scientists, 69(12), 1462-1480.
Abstract. Message fatigue is the aversive motivational state that results from excessive exposure to campaign messages or similar information over an extended period of time. When fatigued, individuals become less attentive, less responsive, and more resistant to campaign messages and related information. Thus, understanding the bases and functioning of fatigue in persuasive health campaigns has obvious value. Despite considerable interest in this important topic, major questions remain under-studied. One such question hinges on the observation that campaigns are implemented in social systems, not laboratories. Apart from any direct effects that a campaign might produce, there is the potential for secondary exposure via individuals or other media that can yield distinct influences. How do these multiple sources work together to influence fatigue? Second, as explicated, message fatigue is the consequence of repeated exposure to campaign messages over time. With few exceptions, however, fatigue research has employed only cross-sectional designs, which preclude conclusions about the dynamic behavior of fatigue. How does fatigue change over the course of a campaign? Finally, the bases of fatigue are not entirely clear. Whereas fatigue is defined as a subjective judgment of excessive exposure, little is known about the affective processes underlying that judgment. How do emotional responses to a campaign amplify or attenuate fatigue? We examined these questions in the context of a campus COVID-19 safety behaviors campaign.