Abstract
Partisan patterns of compliance with public health measures are a feature of early COVID-19 responses. In many cases, these differences in behaviour relate to pre-existing group identities. However, in times of rapid societal change, novel opinion-based groups can emerge and provide a new basis for partisan identification and divergent collective behaviour. Here, we use network methods to map the emergence of opposing opinion-based groups and assess their implications for public health behaviour. In a longitudinal study, we tracked public health attitudes and self-reported behaviour in a sample of UK participants over four time points. Network visualisation reveal a rift in attitudinal alignment over time and the genesis of two distinct groups characterised by trust, or distrust, in science (Study 1a; N = 253). These groups also diverge in public health behaviour. In a brief follow-up study (N = 206), we find that this opinion polarization partially reflects underlying societal divides. We discuss implications for opinion-based group research and public health campaigns.
Original language | English (Ireland) |
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Pages (from-to) | 641-652 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | British Journal of Social Psychology |
Volume | 59 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jul 2020 |
Keywords
- attitude networks
- COVID-19
- identity
- opinion-based groups
- political polarization