Open AccessKeeping the Kids Home
Author(s) -
Johannes Leder,
Astrid Schütz,
Alexander Pastukhov
Publication year - 2023
Publication title -
social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.185
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 2151-2590
pISSN - 1864-9335
DOI - 10.1027/1864-9335/a000463
Subject(s) - prosocial behavior , psychology , empathy , vignette , salience (neuroscience) , psychological intervention , developmental psychology , social psychology , intervention (counseling) , social distance , covid-19 , cognitive psychology , psychiatry , medicine , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty)
. During the COVID-19 pandemic, social consequences in day-to-day decisions might not have been salient to the decider and thus egoistic. How can prosocial intentions be increased? In an experimental vignette study with N = 206, we compared the likelihood that parents send sick children to kindergarten after four interventions (general information about COVID-19, empathy, reflection of consequences via mental simulation, and control group). Independent of the intervention, empathic concern with individuals who were affected by COVID-19 and the salience of social consequences were high. The reported likelihood of sending a sick child to kindergarten was somewhat reduced in the control group and even more reduced in the reflection and empathy group, but not in the information group.