National identification promotes compliance with Corona rules

A strong national identification motivates people to get involved in public health. Image: Jan-Peter Kasper (University of Jena) - Nearly every country in the world has been affected by the Covid 19 pandemic. In response, governments around the world have initiated far-reaching measures that have required-and continue to require-profound collective changes in citizen behavior. Especially in the first year of the pandemic, when vaccines were not yet available, it was parti­cularly important that people followed instructions, such as limiting physical contact, refraining from travel, and wearing masks. A network of more than 250 scientists-including psychologists from Friedrich Schiller University Jena in Germany-investigated the question of what parti­cularly promoted the acceptance of such measures at the beginning of the pandemic. Now a first result is available: National identification particularly motivates people to become more involved in public health. Those who have a stronger sense of shared identity are more supportive of public health policies.