• Question: why are people going crazy over corona virus

    Asked by anon-237463 to Madeleine, Catherine, Andrew on 20 Mar 2020.
    • Photo: Madeleine Pownall

      Madeleine Pownall answered on 20 Mar 2020:

      Coronavirus is serious because it can spread quickly and have big health consequences. However, we have a good idea now of how to combat it: washing hands, social distancing, staying away from people who have symptoms etc.

      You’re right, though, that there has been widespread panic – or people ‘going crazy’ as you put it! Recently, some psychologists have argued that the idea of ‘panic’ is actually quite dangerous. There’s a good article here that talks about this very issue: https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/truth-about-panic

      The psychologists in the article say that telling people not to ‘panic’ doesn’t actually work, because by saying this it suggests that there is something to ‘panic’ about! It also makes people aware that other people are actually panicking, and that therefore we cannot rely on or trust each other.

      Coronavirus should be taken seriously, but panicking or ‘going crazy over it’ is unhelpful. Now go and wash your hands! 🤝🧼

    • Photo: Andrew McNeill

      Andrew McNeill answered on 20 Mar 2020:

      In situations of uncertainty where we don’t know how to respond, we turn to other people for information. One source of information is from experts. If experts tell us to do things that are unusual then this makes us concerned. Another source is from our friends and neighbours. If we see them behaving in abnormal ways (buying 500 toilet rolls) then we may think that we also should do this. This process is known as social influence and it creates “norms” for how we should behave. It’s something I’m very interested in as a social psychologist.

    • Photo: Catherine Talbot

      Catherine Talbot answered on 20 Mar 2020:

      firstly, because it’s really scary and most of us have never been through something like this before! This send us into a mode of panic 🤯🤯, and we might not think rationally during these times. Instead, we go into survival mode and perhaps don’t think about the needs of others.

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