How the Affective Quality of Social Connections May Contribute to Public Health: Prosocial Tendencies Account for the Links Between Positivity Resonance and Behaviors that Reduce the Spread of COVID-19

Although behaviors such as handwashing, mask wearing, and social distancing are known to limit viral spread, early in the COVID-19 pandemic, many individuals in the United States did not adopt them. The positivity resonance theory of co-experienced positive affect (Fredrickson, 2016 ) holds that shared pleasant states that include the key features of mutual care and a sense of oneness through behavioral synchrony function to build prosocial tendencies (e.g., self-transcendent and other-oriented dispositions of felt unity, empathy, altruism, and general positivity toward humanity). We tested the theory-driven hypothesis that prosocial tendencies are associated with high-quality social connections characterized by the affective state of positivity resonance and, in turn, account for behaviors to slow the spread of COVID-19. We measured perceived positivity resonance at the level of social episodes either during the COVID-19 pandemic (study 1, N = 1059, April–May 2020) or before it (study 2, N = 227, March–November 2019). In both studies, cross-sectionally and prospectively, results suggest that perceived positivity resonance had a positive indirect effect on self-reported hygienic behaviors (e.g., handwashing and mask wearing), which was mediated by a latent measure of prosocial tendencies. Sensitivity analyses confirmed these mediation effects to be independent of competing predictors of prosocial tendencies (e.g., overall positive and negative affect, frequency of social interaction) and competing predictors of health behaviors (e.g., political orientation, high-risk status, illness symptoms). Effects for social distancing were mixed. Overall, findings are consistent with the view that positivity resonance builds self-transcendent prosocial tendencies that motivate behaviors to protect community health.