Fear in Public Policy Compliance: Citizens' Response to Crisis‐Induced Policies

ABSTRACT This article brings together social psychology and public policy literature in a mixed‐methods research design to explore how fear influences non‐compliance with challenging policies during crises. Building on Terror Management Theory, we argue that fear affects individual citizens' compliance tendencies. The argument is empirically explored by looking at COVID‐19 vaccination policies in Bulgaria and Sweden and surveying unvaccinated individuals. We demonstrate our argument by combining data from a mixture of methods (policy database, experimental survey, qualitative coding). Findings suggest vaccine‐resistant individuals are strongly influenced by fear—particularly of side effects, vaccine development, and political control. From a Terror Management Perspective, fear for one's safety generates anxiety that can exacerbate health‐defeating behaviors such as vaccine refusal. We therefore recommend that future policy interventions should (a) reinforce the anxiety buffering system of the public, and (b) protect against individuals' health‐defeating defenses via enhanced communication and trust building.