4 psychological effects of the Coronavirus (on a social and individual level)

The new species of coronavirus discovered in China's Wuhan region, SARS-CoV-2, is evolving from a news of world-wide scope to a true phenomenon that affects politically and economically most of the nations of the world. world.

The disease it produces, pneumonia due to coronavirus or COVID-19, is seen as a serious threat that targets especially the elderly and people with a delicate health in general, and it is spreading more and more rapidly, following an exponential progression.

However, between the physical consequences that this virus generates in the human body and the economic and political consequences, there is another level of analysis that must also be taken into account: the psychological effects of coronavirus, both at the level of individual behavior and at the level of collective and social behavior.

• Related article: "What is social psychology?"

The psychological effects of the coronavirus and its COVID-19 disease

First of all, it must be assumed that both the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus (known for many years of the existence of coronaviruses, but not of this specific species) as the disease that produces still

raise many unanswered questions for the scientific community, which is working against the clock to accumulate as much knowledge as possible about its characteristics.

On the other hand, the general population has known about the existence of this virus very recently, and the number of people who have been infected is still insufficient to have conducted research focused on how all this influences our behavior.

It is because of these kinds of limitations that what we will see here is basically an outline of the psychological consequences of the coronavirus that, from my perspective as a psychologist, I think are expected. With that said, let's see what they are.

1. The most important factor: hypochondria

Hypochondria is the clearest psychological consequence of phenomena such as the spread of this coronavirus. This propensity to assume that the chances that we are infected or that a disease is affecting us disease are very high is more or less latently present in most people, but in some cases it becomes something pathological, which appears in the diagnostic manuals of psychiatry and clinical psychology.

It is true that this new version of the coronavirus that has become transmitted between humans is much more contagious than the seasonal flu, But it is also true that exposure to constant alarmist messages can make many people have a really bad time unnecessary.

• You may be interested: "Hypochondria: causes, symptoms and possible treatments"

2. The information of power: the importance of rumors

In situations that generate uncertainty, information becomes more valuable than ever. And it is clear that the spread of coronavirus disease fits those kinds of ambiguous situations in which there is much speculation about what will happen: something like this has never happened (because this species of virus had never jumped from animals to humans), and at the same time the media are constantly bombarded with news related to this, many times exaggerating about its dangerousness considering how little is known about the health risks that supposed.

That is why, unfortunately, these cases of massive contagion they are capable of harming many people because of the importance given to rumors. Rumors are ultimately pieces of information whose value lies in the speed with which they pass from one person to another at the cost of not having been validated, contrasted with the rigor they deserve.

And that explains that they tend to overlap with stereotypes, making marginalized minorities and people who are most excluded and living in small communities more likely to stigmatized, whether or not they are actually infected (and despite the fact that in many cases the discrimination they suffer can act as a barrier against contagion, paradoxically).

3. The preference for the small community

Human beings are social animals "by nature", as they say. However, that we are social does not imply that the societies we want to be part of are very large. In fact, the changes that occur in the context are capable of making us turn quickly in this direction, going from participating in broad sectors of society to wanting to participate almost exclusively in micro-societies, such as the family.

Normally, when fear of pandemics arises, people tend to want to avoid insignificant social relationships, focusing on interaction with those more relevant people and with whom you tend to live more (that is, with those who are more likely to be exposed to the same people, minimizing the risk of contagion).

4. Emphasis on long-term thinking

Another of the psychological consequences of the coronavirus also has to do with the fear of radical changes in lifestyle.

The expectation that governments implement policy measures that radically alter the way we live They lead to the collection of goods, for example something that is already noticeable on the shelves of supermarkets in various countries. And sometimes the fear is not so much of the measures taken by politicians, but of a situation of lack of control in which not even basic goods are guaranteed.

Ultimately, research shows that human beings tend to focus on pessimistic future options (within several possible options that seem reasonable to us). Although this means losing the opportunity to win, we are more concerned with the risk of losing.

Bibliographic references:

• Avia, M.D. (1993). Hypochondria. Barcelona: Ediciones Martínez Roca S.A.
• Besnier, N. (2009). Gossip and the Everyday Production of Politics. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.