Combat the COVID 19 Pandemic: Motivating Self Surveillance Behavior Through Enhanced Sense of Control

The path ahead in the COVID-19 pandemic will be shaped by how timely governments identify new cases and take effective measures. Self-surveillance, in which individuals are asked to self-disclose their health conditions, locations and contacts, proves to be an effective measure to balance disease control and economic growth. Implementing self-surveillance largely relies on self-disclosure of disease-related personal information (i.e., locations, contacts). In two studies, we demonstrate sense of control as the psychological mechanism that drives self-disclosure of personal information during the COVID-19 pandemic in China, and we identify societal-level and individual-behavior-level factors that affect sense of control during the pandemic. We suggest although individuals are not able to change societal-level factors that affect sense of control (i.e., severity of COVID), prosocial behavior and information seeking regarding COVID-19 are associated with higher sense of control and higher tendency of self-disclosure. Governments may motivate self-surveillance behavior through enhancing sense of control.