The Psychology of Pandemics

An emerging health crisis situation like a viral pandemic brings with it plagues of fear, panic, suspicion, stigma and moral controversies. There are usually 3 components of a crisis situation which (1) involves a mass of people, (2) include the perceived or actual threat of death, and (3) the subjective possibility of escape or safety. it is crucial to develop an accurate understanding of human behavior in such situation.

Some striking problems such as social disorder, fear, panic, stigma, moralizing  and calls to action characterizes the immediate reaction of the public. This results in societies being caught up in an extraordinary emotional maelstrom which is beyond anyone’s control. A lot of drama follows naturally and is seen in such situations. Even though, in normal situations, people are less or more rational, but when people are gripped by fear, they make irrational judgements as emotion takes over the rational logical decision making. So, how can we analyze this initial drama? What psychological factor are in play? For that we need a good understanding of social psychology of Pandemics as well as human psychology. Understanding this psycho-social component of an epidemic crisis can contribute much for future preparedness.

An interesting thing about the pandemic psychology is that the ‘social psychology’ is itself epidemic in nature.  Like a disease, social psychology of pandemics too can spread rapidly from person to person, resulting in major collective as well as individual impact. This pandemic psychology may then take wide variety of forms.

Mainly there are three factors of psycho-social epidemics in play. The first of these is an epidemic of fear, second is epidemic of explanation and moralizations, and the third is epidemic of action. These three florid form of epidemics have the potential to affect almost everyone in the society, therefore, they simultaneously possess profound psychological and collective characteristics. Thus, pandemic psychology is not just an analysts construct but an ideal type which is in everyday use. Simply saying, when words like ‘panic’ and ‘mass hysteria’ become the common buzz words, the analysis is essentially psychological in form.

The epidemics of fear is actually an epidemic of suspicion. This suspicion of “I might catch a disease or others can pass it to me” and “the disease can spread through touching anyone or anything” makes the fear more concrete  resulting in panic in most cases. Unusual trends or events may upset the mundane ways which we are geared into the everyday world. This epidemics of irrationality, fear and suspicion leads to avoidance, segregation and abuse in some cases. It simply looks like— the war of all against all—the Hobbesian Nightmare.

Like wise, the epidemics of explanation, moralizations and action has a striking psychological feature. In case of a novel epidemic, first, people may not be able to decide the seriousness of situation. People seem to swing backwards and forwards from one state of judgement to another. We can call this a collective disorientation. Even when people do finally decide or have a grasp of the reality of the situation, further unusual psychological states may occur in some people. I personally call it a ‘messianic conversion’. Once people think that they know, they rush out trying to warn, educate and convert other people. Thus, when in unchartered grounds like the case of novel emerging epidemics where there is no routine collective ways of handling the situation, a thousand different converts may spring up from every corner of society. Each will have their own agenda, plan of action and their own strategy for containing and controlling of the disease. This results in a new epidemic of interpretation.

Now consider the epidemic of interpretation brought about by the epidemic of messianic converts; a hundred different theories spring up about the origin and potential threat of the disease. As most of these theories are moral in nature, the furor and hubbub is dramatically increased by huge rash of control measures proposed to contain the disease bringing forth the epidemics of action.

In conclusion, the psychology of pandemics seem to be a human universal. In addition, different societies may deal with it with different sets of preferences, structures and means at hand.

By: Serious 李 2020