People are optimistic about own Covid-19 risk, pessimistic about society

Most people believe themselves to be less at risk from Covid-19 than others of their own age and gender, indicating an optimism bias, according to a recent UCL survey conducted in the US. The findings, published as a pre-print on  PsyArXiv  ahead of peer review, also show that most people surveyed see Covid-19 as a grave danger to society. The researchers found that this public pessimism outweighed optimism about one's own prospects, in influencing whether they followed public health advice. Lead author Professor Tali Sharot (UCL Psychology & Language Sciences) said: "While a widespread tendency to underestimate one's own risk of contracting the virus may sound concerning, we actually found that people's health-related behaviours were more linked to their expectations of Covid-19's global impact." "People who saw Covid-19 as a grave danger to the health of the human race were more likely to follow public health guidelines such as social distancing and hand-washing, even if they underestimated their own personal risks." "This suggests that people are mainly engaging in protective behaviours for the benefit of others, and are not just guided by self-interest, which supports the use of public health messaging framed around concern for the greater good and protecting others." The researchers surveyed 1,145 people in the US in late March, using a sample that is broadly representative of the population as a whole, 683 of whom were surveyed again in late April while all states were under lockdown.