Social Trust, Crisis Perceptions, and Viral Misinformation over the Course of the Covid-19 Emergency Period
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bristol
Department Name: Sociology
Abstract
Effective mitigation of the coronavirus health crisis partly depends on trust that the measures which are being imposed are worthwhile, and that the people who have decided them are trustworthy. Such basic trust has come under pressure over time, partly as society has become more questioning, and more recently through the spread of conspiracism online. There is some evidence of online actors exploiting the current emergency to generate distrust and undermine vaccine confidence. Widespread sense of insecurity - whether health-related, or due to economic hardship - may also sharpen distrust of authority.
Undermining of public trust may inhibit return to stronger lockdown measures, the management of exit from lockdown, rollout of testing and contact tracing, and introduction of vaccination programmes. Governments and public health bodies accordingly need high-quality evidence on the sources of distrust and noncompliance, and on the health and public security threats posed by the dissemination of conspiracism.
We will analyse whether endorsement of conspiratorial accounts of the pandemic undermines trust and compliance, or whether the relationship works the other way around. This will be delivered through robust analysis of new, high-quality survey data tracking both those who endorse conspiratorial views and those who do not over the coming months. Subject to their agreement, we will also sample respondents' posts from a popular microblogging service, to track their online information sharing against their reported attitudes, identities and behaviours.
Undermining of public trust may inhibit return to stronger lockdown measures, the management of exit from lockdown, rollout of testing and contact tracing, and introduction of vaccination programmes. Governments and public health bodies accordingly need high-quality evidence on the sources of distrust and noncompliance, and on the health and public security threats posed by the dissemination of conspiracism.
We will analyse whether endorsement of conspiratorial accounts of the pandemic undermines trust and compliance, or whether the relationship works the other way around. This will be delivered through robust analysis of new, high-quality survey data tracking both those who endorse conspiratorial views and those who do not over the coming months. Subject to their agreement, we will also sample respondents' posts from a popular microblogging service, to track their online information sharing against their reported attitudes, identities and behaviours.
Organisations
Publications



Allington D
(2021)
Media usage predicts intention to be vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 in the US and the UK.
in Vaccine


Allington, D.
(2022)
Covid in the UK: trust and freedom - the second year of the pandemic

Allington, D.
(2021)
Coronavirus conspiracies and views of vaccination

Allington, D.
(2021)
Covid-19 vaccines: beliefs, uncertainties and passports

Allington, D.
(2021)
Covid and trust: how the nations of the UK rate their governments

Allington, D.
(2021)
Covid-19 vaccines: confidence, concerns and behaviours

Allington, D.
(2021)
Covid-19: vaccine take-up and trust
Description | The award has funded a three-wave survey, in November/December 2020, April 2021, and November/December 2021. We have identified relationships between conspiracist beliefs and vaccine hesitancy, of urgent relevance as the Covid-19 vaccines were first being offered to the public from December 2020. We also identified relationships between generalised and institutional trust and vaccine confidence. Published papers have also identified relationships between social media consumption, political values and confidence in coronavirus vaccines. |
Exploitation Route | Findings have and are being fed into Whitehall via media and project partners to inform health communication strategies. They have also been communicated to academic audiences to inform methods for studying attitudes, trust and vaccine confidence in the context of the coronavirus crisis. |
Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Healthcare Government Democracy and Justice |
URL | https://www.kcl.ac.uk/policy-institute/assets/coronavirus-conspiracies-and-views-of-vaccination.pdf |
Description | See summary provided in earlier years. |
Sector | Healthcare,Security and Diplomacy |
Impact Types | Policy & public services |
Description | Coronavirus: Behaviours, Beliefs and Attitudes Policy Lab, Kings Policy Institute |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | The Policy Lab was the culmination of work that has been done by the Policy Institute, in partnership with University of Sheffield - conducting a series of longitudinal surveys and analyses on coronavirus, trust, misinformation and conspiracies since the start of the pandemic, which has been supplemented with twitter data analytics and analysis and an experimental survey concerning the drivers of trust in different authority sources. A report of the event is currently being drafted. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Online presentation on misinformation presented to sixth-form students: 'Is online misinformation damaging our politics?' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | The event was organised by 'Channel Talent': the project findings on coronavirus and conspiracism was packaged to inform Year 12 students about misinformation as a political risk. Participants reported: 'It was interesting to see how small the opposition group really is whilst also being very loud online and in society which makes them seem bigger than they are'. They also reported: 'I really enjoyed this event and I think it was really intriguing to find out not only how people willingly share misinformation to spread hateful or wrong messages, but even how by responding to these it can actually fuel these issues even further, and letting it reach a wider audience through the algorithm. I think after this session I'll definitely be more mindful about the ways that I approach online misinformation. This has helped me to further my knowledge as I'm currently doing Sociology, and I found the different trust type groups that people may fall into particularly interesting'. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |