Description: In recent weeks I have been blogging about and linking to articles about the Psychology of Covid-19. I will likely continue to do so as there is a lot of Psychology popping up in our current experience. As a teaching Psychologist and Psychology textbook author I believe strongly that paying attention to what Psychological research can tell us about our current situation is as important as listening to the WHO, Health Canada and the CDC about what we should be doing. So far I have been drawing on previous Psychological research that is relevant to things like anxiety, stress, mental heath in crisis situations and vivid, weird dreaming (yes that too). Soon, in addition, we are going to start to see Psychological research papers focusses upon issues related to Covid-19 based on research now being done. The research topic page linked below is part of a site called Frontiers in Psychology which publishes cutting edge peer-reviewed Psychology research. They have no articles posted as yet but have 11 papers under review and 142 authors who have committed to submit research so it is a site worth book marking and going back to regularly to see what is popping up.
Source: Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): Psychological, Behavioral, Interpersonal Effects, and Clinical Implications for Health Systems, Frontiers in Psychology.
Date: April 19, 2020
Photo Credit: Image by Orna Wachman from Pixabay
One closing thought. There is a LOT of speculation on-line and elsewhere in the media about the impacts Covid-19 is having and will have on us and the world. It should go without saying that we should be looking for and paying attention to information that is research and data based. However, it is sometime harder to remember to do that if the topic we are considering is related to Human Psychology, because, being human, we figure we can figure it out for ourselves. Take toilet paper hording for example. I bet you have a pretty detailed theory about why people have been hoarding toilet paper. But, wait a moment and consider what an economist has to tell us. Sure some people may be hoarding toilet paper the way people shown on that reality TV show about hoarders collect junk but maybe it is a matter of supply and demand. Simply put, the toilet paper industry expected a 40% jump in demand for home toilet paper (which is different that commercial or office toilet paper isn’t it?). And guess what, TP manufacturers were running their home TP plants pretty much at capacity already so demand outstripped supply and lead to stripped shelves. The point? Maybe the data suggests we need to ease back a bit on the “my neighbors are crazy assed hoarders” meme/line. There will no doubt be many more examples so check in with the Frontiers in Psychology page linked above from time to time to at least keep your Psychological feet on the ground as we move through this Covid-19 situation.
Questions for Discussion:
- What are a few Psychological observations you have made recently that you may not have had sufficient data for?
- Has anything surprised you Psychologically in the past few weeks?
- What are you looking forward to find out more about as Psychological research relating to our response to Covid-19 starts to come out?
References (Read Further):
https://www.apa.org/pubs/highlights/covid-19-articles
https://cpa.ca/psychology-works-fact-sheet-psychological-impacts-of-the-coronavirus-covid-19/
https://www.psychologytools.com/psychological-resources-for-coronavirus-covid-19/
