Telling people to "rely on their reasoning" increases intentions to wear a face covering to slow down COVID-19 transmission

Finding messaging to promote the use of face masks is fundamental during a pandemic. Study 1 (N=399) shows that telling people to “rely on their reasoning” increases intentions to wear a face mask, compared with telling them to “rely on their emotions”. In Study 2 (N=591) we add a baseline. However, the results show only a non-significant trend. Study 3 reports a well-powered replication of Study 2 (N=930). In line with Study 1, this study shows that telling people to “rely on their reasoning” increases intentions to wear a face mask, compared to telling them to “rely on their emotions”. Two internal meta-analyses show that telling people to “rely on their reasoning” increases intentions to wear a face mask compared (i) to telling them to “rely on their emotions” and (ii) to the baseline. These findings suggest interventions to promote intentions to wear a face mask.
[Abstract copyright: © 2021 The Authors. Applied Cognitive Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.]

© 2021 The Authors. Applied Cognitive Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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