Student Worksheet

One Size Does Not Fit All - Activity Instructions

Students will...

You will consider individual and collective reasons for complying with social distancing
You will summarise an article about how cultural values affect messaging
You will apply what you’ve learnt to generate several messages that consider cultural resonance.

Students can...

You can identify the difference between individual and collective risks and benefits
You can locate key information and explain it in your own words
You can consider cultural resonance when creating your own texts.

READ THE CONVERSATION ARTICLE BELOW

We're not all in this together. Messages about social distancing need the right cultural fit

Geetanjali Saluja, University of Technology Sydney

Governments everywhere face the challenge of getting people to stay home so they can limit the spread of coronavirus. In order to make their messages more effective, governments must ensure these appeals resonate with the cultural values of their audience.

Not all Australians have taken Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s pleas for them to stay at home and practice social distancing seriously.

We have seen people head to the beach with their friends, or host BBQs in their backyards.

One explanation for this might be mixed messages coming from government. But our research explored another explanation: when appeals don’t tally closely with our cultural values, we are less inclined to listen.

Read more: We've known about pandemic health messaging since 1918. So when it comes to coronavirus, what has Australia learnt?

Individual freedoms

Australians, along with US and UK citizens, tend to fit within what is known as an individualist culture. This is one that values independence, individual freedom and the pursuit of personal goals more than social relationships.

In contrast, the collectivist cultures in countries like China and Japan value interdependence and social relationships more than individual freedoms and goals. This framework for cross-cultural communication was developed by Geert Hofstede, an academic and researcher for IBM.

A government appeal asking people to practice social distancing because it will protect everyone in the community may work very well in collectivist cultures, but may not be as effective in individualist cultures. This might explain those Australians ignoring the message that “we’re all in this together”.

We tested this effect recently by showing two types of appeals to an online panel of 200 American study participants recruited via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk crowdsourcing platform. Both appeals requested citizens to stay home and practice social distancing to contain the COVID-19 crisis. But one asked them to do this in order to protect and preserve the freedom of the public. And the other focused on doing this in order to keep their community safe.

The responses showed that participants were more willing to comply with the appeal that asked them to practice social distancing to preserve their long-term personal freedom rather than an appeal which focused on keeping their community safe.

Australians, like Americans, tend to be individualists. So the results of our study extend to Australians, who would also place greater value on their personal freedoms and individual goals.

Coronavirus messages from authority figures may resonate differently in China or Japan versus Australia. The Climate Reality Project/Unsplash, CC BY

Power may not persuade

Another aspect of culture that can impact effectiveness of communication is deference to authority, also known as power distance. Power distance describes how much the less powerful members of a community or organisation accept that power is distributed unequally. Typically, Western cultures are low in their power distance belief and tend to emphasise equal distribution of power. This is not the case for Asian cultures, which are high in power distance and thus have greater respect for authority and hierarchy.

As a result of this difference, a message from an authority figure is expected to be more impactful in a country such as Japan. But this is less likely in a country like Australia, where deference to authority is lower. Message source (such as Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s blunt directive to stop panic buying) is unlikely to be a critical factor to its success in this context.

Data from several studies shows that individuals from high power distance cultures (those who accept authority) find marketing messages from CEOs to be more believable and authentic compared to regular brand messages. Such differences are not noted in consumers from low power distance cultures.

In Australia, a one-size-fits-all approach is also not appropriate. Indigenous Australian’s have been recognised as at higher risk of coronavirus infection and complications. Yet they present unique challenges for health communication given differences in language, historical relationship to authority, and nonverbal communication styles. Specific strategies for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples and other cultural groups are needed.

Tailor the message

Culture plays a critical role in effective communication. Message content that takes into account the cultural values of its audience should be more effective compared to one that does not.

In the current situation, appeals need to remind the public to take the lockdown measures seriously so the spread of COVID-19 can be contained but also so people can get back their freedoms and return to their Australian way of life sooner rather than later. And this message need not necessarily come from the top.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Part A: Find The Answers

Step 1.

Social distancing and effective hygiene practices are being encouraged and enforced in many countries right now. What are the individual (personal) and collective (group/social) benefits of following these practices?

(Note: Consider financial, health, emotional and practical aspects)

Step 2.

Answer the following questions about the article.

• Which countries tend to be seen as individualistic?

• Which countries tend to be seen as collectivist?

• What did the authors’ research show about Americans?

• What is power distance and how does it affect messaging?

• What is the ultimate message of this article (read the last paragraph)?

Part B: Putting It All Together

Step 1.

Reflect on the campaigns you have seen about social distancing and the messages you have heard from politicians. Have they appealed to the collective benefit, or the individual benefit, or both? List some examples in the table and label them as collectivist or individualist.

Step 2.

Reflect - which campaigns or messages have you found most persuasive? Explain why.

Step 3.

Do you think you are more motivated by messages about individual benefits and risks or collective benefits and risks? Explain what has influenced your position.

Start A Conversation

Step 1.

Create a survey - you might want to use Google Forms or Kahoot!. Generate a list of questions you want to ask your audience - they should focus on the messaging around COVID-19 and its effectiveness/resonance with them.

Note: Multiple-choice questions can make it easier to see patterns and trends.You may also want to read this article: https://www.snapsurveys.com/blog/six-rules-for-writing-effective-survey-questions/ or another for tips on how to write survey questions.

Step 2.

Publish your survey and encourage your peers, classmates and others to respond.

Step 3.

Look at the data you have gathered. Answer questions including:

How many people responded?

Did they have any similar opinions or not? Why?

Do any of the results surprise you? Why/why not?

Taking It Further

Step 1.

Choose a message from your table (Part B Step 2) or a message that your poll showed was popular.

Step 2.

Choose an audience - do you want to appeal to everyone, children, adults, teens or a particular cultural group? Think about the ways you will need to appeal to that audience and target your messaging. Take into account:

Imagery that will draw their attention
Messages they will understand
Messages that relate specifically to them
Messages that will align with their priorities (e.g. parents may be focused on keeping children safe).

Step 3.

Create posters or digital images that promote social distancing and other COVID-19 policies using this message. Consider the images and words you would use to appeal to people.

Step 4.

Edit your work. Read back through the poster you have just created and check for each of the following things:

Is your spelling correct? Ask a peer or family member to check.
Is your poster attention grabbing?
Have you included enough information to convince your audience?

Step 5.

Share your poster by putting it online, sending it to friends or placing it in your front window (with your parent/caregiver's permission).

Step 6. (Optional for online posters.)

Ask for feedback from those who see it. Poll your audience by asking:

Did the poster grab their attention? Why/why not?
Was the message clear? Why/why not?
Did they find it persuasive? Why/why not?

One Size Does Not Fit All

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