With the COVID-19 pandemic, behavioural scientists aimed to illuminate reasons why people comply with (or not) large-scale cooperative activities. Here we investigated the motives that underlie support for COVID-19 preventive behaviours in a sample of 12,758 individuals from 34 countries. We hypothesized that the associations of empathic prosocial concern and fear of disease with support towards preventive COVID-19 behaviours would be moderated by trust in the government. Results suggest that the association between fear of disease and support for COVID-19 preventive behaviours was strongest when trust in the government was weak (both at individual- and country-level). Conversely, the association with empathic prosocial concern was strongest when trust in the government was high, but this moderation was only found at individual-level scores of governmental trust. We discuss how motivations may be shaped by socio-cultural context, and outline how findings may contribute to a better understanding of collective action during global crises.

Astana Medical University Astana Kazakhstan

Carrera de Psicología Universidad Científica del Sur Lima Peru

Center for Evaluation Studies Educational Research Institute Ljubljana Slovenia

Center for Psychological Counselling and Research Sofia University St Kliment Ohridski Sofia Bulgaria

Center for Research in Psychology and Human Well being Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Bangi Selangor Malaysia

Centre for Advanced Research Excellence in Public Health Dhaka Bangladesh

Centre for Research in Child Development National Institute of Education Nanyang Technological University Singapore Singapore

Clinical Psychology Department Albizu University Miami FL USA

Clinical Psychology Department Institute of Human Behavior and Allied Sciences Delhi India

Counseling and Psychological Services Duke University Durham NC USA

Data and Research on Society GESIS Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences Mannheim Germany

Departamento de Psicología Universidad de Atacama Copiapó Chile

Department of Applied Psychology University of Zimbabwe Harare Zimbabwe

Department of Culture Studies Tilburg University Tilburg The Netherlands

Department of Education Psychology Communication University of Bari Bari Italy

Department of Education University of Taipei Taipei Taiwan

Department of Educational Psychology and Andragogy University of Montreal Montreal QC Canada

Department of Educational Psychology and Health Psychology Pavol Jozef Šafárik University Košice Slovakia

Department of General Experimental Developmental and Health Psychology Sofia University St Kliment Ohridski Sofia Bulgaria

Department of Healthcare Faculty of Health University of Vlora Vlore Albania

Department of Life Sciences College of Health Medicine and Life Sciences Brunel University London UK

Department of Physical Education and Rehabilitation Ternopil Volodymyr Hnatiuk National Pedagogical University Ternopil Ukraine

Department of Physical Education Lviv Polytechnic National University Lviv Ukraine

Department of Psychology De La Salle University Manila Philippines

Department of Psychology Heriot Watt University Edinburgh UK

Department of Psychology MEF University Istanbul Turkey

Department of Psychology Multidisciplinary Clinic Empatia Prishtina Kosovo

Department of Psychology Stockholm University Stockholm Sweden

Department of Psychology Universidad Central Marta Abreu de Las Villas Santa Clara Cuba

Department of Psychology University of Crete Rethymno Greece

Department of Psychology University of Novi Sad Novi Sad Serbia

Department of Psychology University of Porto Porto Portugal

Department of Psychology University of Sargodha Sargodha Pakistan

Department of Psychology University of Waterloo Waterloo ON Canada

Department of Public Health and Informatics Jahangirnagar University Dhaka Bangladesh

Department of Social Sciences and Communication Transilvania University of Brasov Brasov Romania

Department of Sociology and Social Policy Lingnan University Hong Kong SAR China

Department of Youth and Family Utrecht University Utrecht The Netherlands

Dimitri Uznadze Institute of Psychology Ilia State University Tbilisi Georgia

Faculty for Psychology Fern Universität Hagen Germany

Faculty of Business Administration Matsuyama University Ehime Japan

Faculty of Education Beit Berl College Kfar Sava Israel

Faculty of Education Universidad de los Andes Santiago Chile

Faculty of Medicine Syrian Private University Damascus Syrian Arab Republic

Faculty of Psychology and Education University of Malaysia Sabah Sabah Malaysia

Faculty of Psychology Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia Jakarta Indonesia

Faculty of Psychology Cooperative University of Colombia Santa Marta Colombia

Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences Department of Psychology Haigazian University Beirut Lebanon

Faculty of Social Science and Humanities Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu Sibiu Romania

Federal University of Bahia Salvador Brazil

Federal University of Parana Curitiba Brazil

General Psychology Chair Yerevan State University Yerevan Armenia

Graduate Institute of Social Work National Chengchi University Taipei Taiwan

Health Promotion Research Center Zahedan University of Medical Sciences Zahedan Iran

Higher Medical School University St Kliment Ohridski Bitola North Macedonia

Hiroshima University Hiroshima Japan

Humanities Department Universidad Rafael Landívar Guatemala City Guatemala

Iberoamerican University Mexico City Mexico

Impact Managers Lusaka Zambia

Indian Institute of Management Bangalore Bangalore India

Indian Institute of Management Indore Indore India

Institute for Kinesiology Research Science and Research Centre Koper Koper Slovenia

Institute for Population and Human Studies Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Sofia Bulgaria

Institute for Social Science Studies Universiti Putra Malaysia Serdang Selangor Malaysia

Institute of Psychology Czech Academy of Sciences Prague Czech Republic

Institute of Psychology Mykolas Romeris University Vilnius Lithuania

Institute of Psychology University of Gdansk Gdansk Poland

Interdisciplinary Research Team on Internet and Society Faculty of Social Studies Masaryk University Brno Czech Republic

Ipswich Hospital Ipswich UK

Istanbul Policy Center Sabanci University Istanbul Turkey

Kabul University of Medical Sciences Kabul Afghanistan

Karolinska Institutet Solna Sweden

Lviv State University of Physical Culture Lviv Ukraine

Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts Skopje North Macedonia

Medicine School Mother and Teacher Pontifical Catholic University Santiago Dominican Republic

Millennium Nucleus to Improve the Mental Health of Adolescents and Youths Imhay Santiago Chile

Mokhtass for Consultations and Research Doha Qatar

National Economics University Hanoi Vietnam

Núcleo Científico Tecnológico en Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades Universidad de La Frontera Temuco Chile

PHI Psihomedika Bitola North Macedonia

Polish Society for the Psychology of Religion University of Gdańsk Gdańsk Poland

Psychological Research Institute National University of Córdoba CONICET Córdoba Argentina

Psychology Department Fudan University Shanghai China

Psychology Department Universidad Francisco Marroquín Guatemala City Guatemala

Psychology Department University of Zambia Lusaka Zambia

REMIT Research on Economics Management and Information Technologies Universidade Portucalense Porto Portugal

School of Applied Psychology Griffith University Brisbane QLD Australia

School of Human Ecology Tata Institute of Social Sciences Mumbai Maharashtra India

School of Liberal Arts M Narikbayev KAZGUU University Astana Kazakhstan

School of Management NUCB Business School Nagoya Japan

School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health Peking University Beijing China

School of Psychology Dublin City University Dublin Ireland

School of Psychology Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador Ambato Ecuador

School of Psychology Victoria University of Wellington Wellington New Zealand

Siglo 21 University Córdoba Argentina

Singapore Centre for Character and Citizenship Education National Institute of Education Nanyang Technological University Singapore Singapore

Social Psychology Department Doha Institute for Graduate Studies Doha Qatar

Social Sciences Doctoral and Master Program Don Bosco University Antiguo Cuscatlan El Salvador

South Kazakhstan Medical Academy Shymkent Kazakhstan

The Chicago School of Professional Psychology Chicago IL USA

Theological School Church of Cyprus Nicosia Cyprus

United Nations University Macau Macau SAR

United Private School Athaiba Oman

Universidad César Vallejo Trujillo Peru

Universidad del Norte Division of Health Sciences Barranquilla Colombia

Universidad del Valle de Guatemala Proyecto Aigle Guatemala Cdad de Guatemala Guatemala

Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa Ponta Grossa Parana Brazil

Universidade Salgado de Oliveira Niterói Brazil

University of Delhi Delhi India

University of Maribor Maribor Slovenia

University of Prishtina Hasan Prishtina Prishtina Kosovo

University of Zagreb Zagreb Croatia

University Sains Malaysia Penang Malaysia

Western Paraná State University Francisco Beltrão Brazil

Yeditepe University Istanbul Turkey

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