COVID-19; Cross-cultural research; Family; Fundamental social motives; Life satisfaction; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Experimental and Cognitive Psychology; Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
Abstract :
[en] The COVID-19 pandemic caused drastic social changes for many people, including separation from friends and coworkers, enforced close contact with family, and reductions in mobility. Here we assess the extent to which people's evolutionarily-relevant basic motivations and goals-fundamental social motives such as Affiliation and Kin Care-might have been affected. To address this question, we gathered data on fundamental social motives in 42 countries (N = 15,915) across two waves, including 19 countries (N = 10,907) for which data were gathered both before and during the pandemic (pre-pandemic wave: 32 countries, N = 8998; 3302 male, 5585 female; M age = 24.43, SD = 7.91; mid-pandemic wave: 29 countries, N = 6917; 2249 male, 4218 female; M age = 28.59, SD = 11.31). Samples include data collected online (e.g., Prolific, MTurk), at universities, and via community sampling. We found that Disease Avoidance motivation was substantially higher during the pandemic, and that most of the other fundamental social motives showed small, yet significant, differences across waves. Most sensibly, concern with caring for one's children was higher during the pandemic, and concerns with Mate Seeking and Status were lower. Earlier findings showing the prioritization of family motives over mating motives (and even over Disease Avoidance motives) were replicated during the pandemic. Finally, well-being remained positively associated with family-related motives and negatively associated with mating motives during the pandemic, as in the pre-pandemic samples. Our results provide further evidence for the robust primacy of family-related motivations even during this unique disruption of social life.
Disciplines :
Social, industrial & organizational psychology
Author, co-author :
Pick, Cari M; Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States of America
Ko, Ahra; Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States of America
Wormley, Alexandra S; Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States of America
Wiezel, Adi; Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States of America
Kenrick, Douglas T; Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States of America
Al-Shawaf, Laith; University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, CO, United States of America
Barry, Oumar; University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar (UCAD), Senegal
Bereby-Meyer, Yoella; Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
Brandstätter, Eduard; Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria
Crispim, Ana Carla; University of São Paulo, Brazil
Cruz, Julio Eduardo; Universidad de los Andes, Colombia
David, Daniel; Babeş-Bolyai University, Romania
David, Oana A; Babeş-Bolyai University, Romania
Defelipe, Renata Pereira; University of São Paulo, Brazil
Elmas, Pinar; Adnan Menderes University, Turkey
Espinosa, Agustín; Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru, Peru
Fernandez, Ana Maria; University of Santiago, Chile
Fetvadjiev, Velichko H; University of Amsterdam, Netherlands ; North-West University, South Africa
Fetvadjieva, Stefka; Sofia University, Bulgaria
Fischer, Ronald; Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand ; Instituto D'Or de Pesquisa e Ensino, Brazil
Galdi, Silvia; University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Italy
Galindo-Caballero, Oscar Javier; Universidad de los Andes, Colombia ; Universidad Manuela Beltran, Colombia
Golovina, Galina M; Institute of Psychology Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia
Gomez-Jacinto, Luis; University of Malaga, Spain
Graf, Sylvie; Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic
Grossmann, Igor; University of Waterloo, Canada
Gul, Pelin; University of Groningen, Netherlands
Halama, Peter; Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia
Hamamura, Takeshi; Curtin University, Australia
Hansson, Lina S; Stockholm University, Sweden ; Karolinska Institutet, Sweden ; Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset, Sweden
Hitokoto, Hidefumi; Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan
Hřebíčková, Martina; Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic
Ilic, Darinka; University of Nis, Serbia
Johnson, Jennifer Lee; Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States of America
Kara-Yakoubian, Mane; Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada
Karl, Johannes A; Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Kohút, Michal; University of Trnava, Slovakia
Lasselin, Julie; Stockholm University, Sweden ; Karolinska Institutet, Sweden ; Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset, Sweden
Li, Norman P; Singapore Management University, Singapore
Mafra, Anthonieta Looman; University of São Paulo, Brazil
Malanchuk, Oksana; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America
Moran, Simone; Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
Murata, Asuka; Hokkaido University, Japan
Ndiaye, Serigne Abdou Lahat; University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar (UCAD), Senegal
O, Jiaqing; Aberystwyth University, United Kingdom
Onyishi, Ike E; University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria
Pasay-An, Eddieson; University of Hail, Saudi Arabia
Rizwan, Muhammed; University of Haripur, Pakistan
Roth, Eric; Universidad Católica Boliviana, Bolivia
Salgado, Sergio; Universidad de La Frontera, Chile
Samoylenko, Elena S; Institute of Psychology Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia
Savchenko, Tatyana N; Institute of Psychology Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia
Sevincer, A Timur; University of Hamburg, Germany
Skoog, Eric; Uppsala University, Sweden
STANCIU, Adrian ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences (FHSE) > Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences (DBCS) > Lifespan Development, Family and Culture ; Gesis-Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Germany
Suh, Eunkook M; Yonsei University, South Korea
Sznycer, Daniel; University of Montreal, Canada
Talhelm, Thomas; University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States of America
Ugwu, Fabian O; Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Nigeria
Uskul, Ayse K; University of Kent, United Kingdom
Uz, Irem; TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Turkey
Valentova, Jaroslava Varella; University of São Paulo, Brazil
Varella, Marco Antonio Correa; University of São Paulo, Brazil
Zambrano, Danilo; Fundación Universitaria Konrad Lorenz, Colombia
Varnum, Michael E W; Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States of America
Conceptualization and Methodology: C. M. Pick, A. Ko, D. T. Kenrick, and M. E. W. Varnum developed the manuscript's arguments and study design. Investigation: All authors contributed to data collection. Data curation: C. M. Pick, A. Ko, A. Wiezel, and A. S. Wormley curated the data. Formal analysis: C. M. Pick, A. Ko, A. S. Wormley, and A. Wiezel analyzed the data. Visualization: A. Ko, C. M. Pick, and A. S. Wormley produced and edited figures. Project administration: C. M. Pick coordinated the project. Writing – original draft: C. M. Pick drafted the manuscript, with significant input from D. T. Kenrick and M. E. W. Varnum. Writing – review and editing: C. M. Pick, D. T. Kenrick, M. E. W. Varnum, A. Ko, A. S. Wormley, A. Wiezel, L. Al-Shawaf, R. P. Defelipe, V. Fetvadjiev, L. S. Hansson, J. Lasselin, A. L. Mafra, S. Moran, J. O, T. Talhelm, A. K. Uskul, J. V. Valentova, and M. A. C. Varella provided critical comments and revisions; all authors approved the final manuscript for submission. Funding acquisition: M. E. W. Varnum, D. T. Kenrick, A. C. Crispim, R. P. Defelipe, S. Graf, M. Hřebíčková, J. O, S. Salgado, and A. S. Wormley each acquired financial support for the project. Supervision: M. E. W. Varnum and D. T. Kenrick supervised the project.
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