Effects of Death Anxiety on Covid-19 Health-Related Prosocial Behavior Cooperation

Title

Effects of Death Anxiety on Covid-19 Health-Related Prosocial Behavior Cooperation

Description

In the past year, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused over 3 million deaths worldwide, over 500,000 in the US alone. The constant awareness of the potential for one’s own sickness and even death has created the perfect scenario for experiencing death anxiety. Viewing the issue of slowing and stopping the spread of Coronavirus as a collective action problem and willingness to cooperate with health and government recommendations as prosocial behaviors, the question was how does death anxiety affect people’s willingness to cooperate with Covid-19 health regulations. Participants (N= 121) were selected through Mechanical Turk and randomly assigned to view a Neutral video, a General Mortality Salience video, or a Covid-19 Mortality Salience video. Their general anxiety (GAD-7), death anxiety (DAS), and willingness to comply with Covid-19 regulations generally and if mandated by the government were measured. Results showed significant differences between the Covid-19 Mortality Salience group and the Neutral group in general anxiety levels. No other significant differences were found between the three video condition groups on the dependent measures. The results did show the Covid-19 Mortality Salience group trending toward being more willing to comply with health regulations, but not at a significant level.

Creator

Winzinger, Sarah

Publisher

Rider University

Contributor

Scorpio, Elaine

Relation

Baccalaureate Honors Program

Format

Adobe Acrobat PDF

Language

English

Type

Capstone

Files

winzinger.pdf
Winzinger PSY490_BHP Capstone.pdf

Citation

Winzinger, Sarah, “Effects of Death Anxiety on Covid-19 Health-Related Prosocial Behavior Cooperation,” Rider Student Research, accessed March 28, 2024, https://riderstudents.omeka.net/items/show/10.

Output Formats