Public moral motivation during the COVID-19 pandemic: Analysis of posts on Chinese social media

• Liang Zhao

  Xi'an Jiaotong University

• Xiaojun Ding

  Xi'an Jiaotong University

• Feng Yu

  Wuhan University

As COVID-19 struck worldwide, we were inspired by behavioral immune system theory and wondered whether there would be changes to public morality brought about by the pandemic. We tracked public reactions through posts on Chinese social media to analyze the dynamics of public moral motivation. Big data analysis shows that the impact of disaster upon moral motivation was context-sensitive. The level of the severity of the disaster played a leading role in variation of moral motivation. We found that disaster increased moral motivation only when the situation was severe, and such augmentation rapidly faded when the disaster was under control and recovery began. The sentiment of news shared during the pandemic played a regulating role, such that positive or encouraging news helped augment moral motivation only when the situation was severe. Finally, we found that the pandemic increased expressions of both agency and communion in a similar way to that of moral motivation.

1. Liang Zhao, Xi'an Jiaotong University
   Institute of Social Psychology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences
2. Xiaojun Ding, Xi'an Jiaotong University
   Institute of Social Psychology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences
3. Feng Yu, Wuhan University
   Department of Psychology, School of Philosophy

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