It’s commonly assumed that when we experience a threatening event, our beliefs and values are likely to change as a result. It’s often assumed that such events prompt us to become more conservative or even extreme. Research from Michigan State University suggests this largely wasn’t the case in the wake of Covid, however.
“The onset of the pandemic was a major event that affected nearly every aspect of life. Political attitudes are often attitudes about how society should work and the rules and procedures that best guide society. One intuitive prediction is that if society changes, our political attitudes should also change,” the researchers explain. “But that didn’t happen. This suggests that people’s attitudes are pretty resistant to changes, even when the conditions of society radically change.”
Changing attitudes
The researchers surveyed over 2,000 people to explore whether their attitudes had shifted since the pandemic. They analyzed over 80 different attitudes, including economic responses to things like unemployment benefits and the economic stimulus introduced to boost the economy again.
To track day-to-day changes in people’s opinions over time, the team gathered data weekly for one study and every two weeks for the second study.
Out of the 84 different opinions they looked at, only 18 showed noticeable shifts towards either more conservative or more liberal views. And these changes were not very big. For instance, only 3.5% of the people became more against trade with China. On the other hand, 11% of people started to support unemployment benefits more, and 14% became more in favor of economic stimulus.
“We hope that this study helps social scientists understand how attitudes respond to real-world events so they can make better predictions in the future,” the authors conclude. “We also hope that this information helps people recognize how difficult attitude change can be. Things like attitude and cultural change do not seem to be the product of one large event, but instead, take time, effort and coordination among people from across society.”
