Mícheál de Barra

Get full access to this article Purchase, subscribe or recommend this article to your librarian. Acknowledgments Author contributions H.R.B. and A.W. wrote the paper. Competing interests The authors declare no competing interest. References G. C. Homans, Anxiety and ritual: The theories of Malinowski and Radcliffe-Brown. Am. Anthropol. 43, 164–172 (1941). B.

Abstract The emergence of COVID-19 dramatically changed social behavior across societies and contexts. Here we study whether social norms also changed. Specifically, we study this question for cultural tightness (the degree to which societies generally have strong norms), specific social norms (e.g. stealing, hand washing), and norms about enforcement, using survey data from 30,431 respondents in 43 countries recorded before and in the early stages following the emergence of COVID-19.

An analysis of 2,500 public-health claims reveals that organizations rarely communicate uncertainties around the benefits of behavioural change. To be ethical, public-health communication should be accurate and transparent. Adopting healthy behaviours and discarding unhealthy ones has costs. These costs can include saying no to pleasures, such as consuming alcoholic drinks and large meals. Healthy behaviours such as exercising, breastfeeding and preparing home-cooked meals are also time consuming.