Perach, R. and Limbu, M. 2022. Can culture beat Covid-19? Evidence that exposure to facemasks with cultural symbols increases solidarity. British Journal of Social Psychology. 61 (3), pp. 991-1010. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12521
| Title | Can culture beat Covid-19? Evidence that exposure to facemasks with cultural symbols increases solidarity |
|---|---|
| Type | Journal article |
| Authors | Perach, R. and Limbu, M. |
| Abstract | Facemasks have become integral to everyday life. We propose that exposure to facemasks with a solidarity-related cultural symbol can activate cultural values such as mutual trust and increase corresponding interpersonal perceptions, thereby enhancing collective resilience in the Covid-19 pandemic. In three (two of which preregistered) studies, we examined whether exposure to facemasks with a solidarity-related cultural symbol predicts positive interpersonal perceptions, and whether this depends on death awareness. Across studies, exposure to facemasks with a cultural symbol (either pride flag or National Health Service) increased positive interpersonal perceptions, an index of solidarity, in people for whom this symbol represents a meaningful social identity. This was found whether participants were reminded of death, a neutral experience, or a negative experience. Importantly, in Study 3, exposure to facemasks with a solidarity-related cultural symbol (vs. surgical) led to greater increases in positive interpersonal perceptions when death awareness was high. Together, our findings suggest that wearing facemasks with a cultural symbol that relates to solidarity can be a vehicle for shaping people's personality impressions of others. Applied directions for the activation of people's social identities via facemask selection to promote collective resilience in the Covid-19 pandemic are discussed. |
| Journal | British Journal of Social Psychology |
| Journal citation | 61 (3), pp. 991-1010 |
| Year | 2022 |
| Publisher | British Psychological Society |
| Publisher's version | License CC BY 4.0 File Access Level Open (open metadata and files) |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12521 |
| Web address (URL) | https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bjso.12521 |
| Publication dates | |
| Published online | 25 Jan 2022 |
| Published | Jul 2022 |