In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, across six correlational studies in four different countries (total N = 4937), we examined the link between citizens' anger with and admiration for the government's actions and decisions (i.e., system-based anger and admiration) and engagement in preventive behaviour. The internal meta-analyses showed that individuals who admired the government's actions were more likely to adopt personal hygiene and social distancing behaviour. Yet, the link between emotions and preventive behaviour differed concerning the target of emotions, especially for anger. Specifically, anger about restrictions imposed by the government was negatively related to preventive behaviours, but this relationship was not significant when the target of anger was the government's overall handling of the pandemic. Our findings emphasise the importance of citizens' emotions and the targets of those emotions during the crisis.

Cognitive Neurophysiology Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Faculty of Medicine TU Dresden Dresden Germany

Department of Social Psychology and Anthropology University of Salamanca Salamanca Spain

Department of Social Psychology University of the Basque Country UPV EHU Leioa Spain

IKERBASQUE Basque Foundation of Science Bilbao Spain

Institute of Psychology Czech Academy of Sciences Brno Czech Republic

Institute of Psychology Jagiellonian University Krakow Poland

Pompeu Fabra University Barcelona Spain

University of Milano Bicocca Milan Italy

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