The Effect of Explicit versus Implicit Trust in the Government on the Number of Covid-19 Precautions Taken

School Name

Spring Valley High School

Grade Level

10th Grade

Presentation Topic

Behavioral Science

Presentation Type

Non-Mentored

Abstract

Much research has been done into the factors that impact whether people will take precautions against the Covid-19 virus. Among these factors is the level of trust someone has in the government. Previous research has shown that people seem to display varying levels of trust in the government depending on the kind of test they take. Implicit trust is found through tests that look for trust without directly asking the participants while explicit trust is found through asking the participants about their trust outright. This study aimed to find out whether the type of trust that someone holds in the United States government affects the amount of Covid-19 precautions they take. It was hypothesized that there would be a relationship between type of trust and number of Covid-19 precautions taken. By surveying teachers and social media users for their implicit and explicit trust as well as the number of Covid-19 precautions they take, the study found that there is a correlation between the two variables. The data was analyzed using a Chi-square test for dependence. In doing so, it was found that the p-value of 0.5649 was higher than the alpha value of 0.05, thereby showing that there was not sufficient evidence to suggest that the type of trust someone has in the government and how many Covid-19 precautions they take are dependent.

Location

B&E 235

Start Date

4-2-2022 9:30 AM

Presentation Format

Oral and Written

Group Project

No

COinS
 
Apr 2nd, 9:30 AM

The Effect of Explicit versus Implicit Trust in the Government on the Number of Covid-19 Precautions Taken

B&E 235

Much research has been done into the factors that impact whether people will take precautions against the Covid-19 virus. Among these factors is the level of trust someone has in the government. Previous research has shown that people seem to display varying levels of trust in the government depending on the kind of test they take. Implicit trust is found through tests that look for trust without directly asking the participants while explicit trust is found through asking the participants about their trust outright. This study aimed to find out whether the type of trust that someone holds in the United States government affects the amount of Covid-19 precautions they take. It was hypothesized that there would be a relationship between type of trust and number of Covid-19 precautions taken. By surveying teachers and social media users for their implicit and explicit trust as well as the number of Covid-19 precautions they take, the study found that there is a correlation between the two variables. The data was analyzed using a Chi-square test for dependence. In doing so, it was found that the p-value of 0.5649 was higher than the alpha value of 0.05, thereby showing that there was not sufficient evidence to suggest that the type of trust someone has in the government and how many Covid-19 precautions they take are dependent.