What is it about?
This research investigated whether people who are generally helpful in their everyday lives (for example, by donating blood or volunteering) were also more cooperative during the COVID-19 pandemic. We created a "prosocial phenotype" score based on four real-world helpful acts. We then tested two main ideas in a large UK study (3,000+) across eight periods of the pandemic. First, we found that these prosocial individuals were especially good at following health guidelines, like social distancing, but only when the rules were confusing and unclear. When government instructions were strict and simple, everyone followed them similarly. Second, while the main reason anyone got vaccinated was to protect themselves, prosocial people were significantly more likely to also be motivated by a desire to protect others and help achieve herd immunity.
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Why is it important?
Understanding who cooperates and when is crucial for managing future public health crises. Our findings show that people's pre-existing tendency to help others is a powerful resource. First, clear rules are critical. Our study shows that when government directives became ambiguous, compliance dropped. In those confusing situations, only the highly prosocial people reliably stuck to the rules. To get high compliance from everyone, public health rules must be clear, consistent, and unambiguous. Second, vaccination messaging needs a dual approach. While 'protecting yourself' is a dominant motivator for vaccination across all personality types , messages about protecting others and achieving herd immunity are also crucial. These altruistic messages strongly motivate the prosocial individuals who are key to driving up vaccination rates.
Perspectives
What struck us most was seeing the 'situational strength' hypothesis play out in real-time during a global crisis. It was fascinating to see how in the beginning, during the first strict lockdown, everyone's behavior converged - the situation was 'strong', and personality did not matter as much. But as the pandemic dragged on and the rules became a confusing mix of tiers and exceptions, the 'situation' weakened. That is when we saw individual differences emerge starkly. People with a history of prosocial behavior were the ones who continued to cooperate for the public good, even when the guidelines were unclear. It shows that in a vacuum of clear leadership, it is this underlying prosocial character that helps sustain cooperation.
Dr Richard Mills
University of Nottingham
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The prosocial phenotype and co-operative health protective behaviors: Insights from COVID-19., Health Psychology, October 2025, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/hea0001561.
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