One study evaluated how public health messaging could be more successful. What was more effective, telling people, “Follow these steps to avoid getting coronavirus” or telling them, “Follow these steps to avoid spreading coronavirus”? It turns out that the emphasis on the public threat of coronavirus is at least as effective as, and sometimes more so than, the emphasis on the personal threat. This is in keeping with other work that shows that people are motivated to get vaccinated not only out of self-interest but also out of concern for the common good.
