Compliance and Reactance in the Face of Authority Advice: An Experiment on Religious Gatherings in India during COVID-19

During the COVID-19 crisis, religious gatherings became known as ‘super spreader’ events. This vignette experiment in India ( n = 1040) tested the impact of advice from five types of authorities on individuals’ willingness to attend such events. We found no overall evidence of compliance (H1) or reactance (H2). However, advice from scientists triggered reactance among those who distrusted them, supporting Hypothesis 3. In addition, individuals with lower generalized trust were less willing to attend, likely due to scepticism about others’ adherence to safety protocols. This suggests that low trust operates as a self-protective mechanism in high-risk social contexts.