Understanding Compliance and Fear During COVID-19 Through Psychological Theory Introduction The ps

                      Understanding Compliance and Fear During COVID-19 Through Psychological Theory

Introduction

The psychological approach can be used to understand the personal behavior in the COVID-19 pandemic, especially how the element of fear contributed to adherence to the measures of the public health. This is because psychological theories concentrate on the behavior-driven behavior because of mental processes and emotional responses. The fear of the virus was one of the strong driving forces of the protective measures against COVID-19, including social distancing and wearing a mask.

Studies indicate that greater fear of getting COVID-19 was associated with increased positive health behavior, which also suggests that fear would lead to compliance in people who felt that it was a real danger to their health (Functional Fear Predicts Public Health Compliance in the COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020). Fear is a psychological mechanism of a reaction to the perceived danger and can lead to behavior change in case individuals think that protective measures will decrease the risk.

Besides the straight impact of fear on behavior, moral and cognitive influences also contributed to compliance. An analysis of Americans indicated that implicit moral intuitions like caring and fairness were used to determine whether people adhered to the recommended actions such as staying at home and social distancing, indicating that psychological values intersect with emotional reactions in determining pandemic behavior (Moral foundations underlying behavioral compliance during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020). These results are consistent with more general psychological theory suggesting that attitudes, beliefs and emotions all play a role in decision-making in a health situation.

In general, psychological theory can be used to explain why there were people who were able to follow the guidance of the pandemic and those who opposed it. The emotional response such as fear and moral cognition underlay also affected the way individuals perceived risk and acted accordingly. Knowledge of these psychological processes can direct future targeted public health interventions to enhance adherence in health emergencies.

References

Moral foundations underlying behavioral compliance during the COVID-19 pandemic. (2020). Journal Reference. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886920306541

Functional Fear Predicts Public Health Compliance in the COVID-19 Pandemic. (2020). Journal Reference. Retrieved from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32346359/