10.17605/OSF.IO/UFB2V
Laurel Peterson
Laurel
Peterson
https://osf.io/5kbrg/
0000-0002-6666-7874
Sarah DiMuccio
Sarah
DiMuccio
https://osf.io/3f5ys/
0000-0002-7311-5787
New York University
New York University
Marie Helweg-Larsen
Marie
Helweg-Larsen
https://osf.io/e2n57/
0000-0002-5009-6288
Coronavirus Risk Perception
Open Science Framework
2022
Health Psychology
Social Psychology
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Psychology
coronavirus
COVID-19
optimistic bias
Open Science Framework
https://ror.org/05d5mza29/
https://grid.ac/institutes/grid.466501.0/
2020-04-13
2021-09-03
2022-08-31
Pre-registration
No license
Covid-19 is a highly-contagious, novel coronavirus disease that originated as a local outbreak in Wuhan (Hubei, China) in December 2019 and is now classified as a world pandemic by the WHO with over half a million confirmed cases in the United States (US) at the time of this preregistration (Dong, Du, & Gardner, 2020). Risk perceptions play a crucial role in preventative health behavior (Ferrer & Klein, 2015) and there is vast evidence that individuals express optimistic bias, an underestimation of health risks in comparison to others (Helweg-Larsen & Shepperd, 2001). This study will explore risk perceptions for coronavirus in real-time as the pandemic unfolds among a representative sample of US adults recruited via Prolific. Participants will respond to Qualtrics surveys across two time points, baseline (Time 1) and two weeks later (Time 2). We will examine how risk perceptions vary based on individual differences and across time, how risk perceptions and socially-informed cognitions (descriptive norms, prototypes) relate to precautionary behaviors for the coronavirus, and how community-level variables (state, severity of outbreak), political beliefs, and gender-related beliefs inform coronavirus risk perception and related behavioral pathways.