COVID-19: Common Constructions of the Pandemic and Their Implications

Cipolletta, Sabrina; Ortu, Maria Cristina

doi:10.1080/10720537.2020.1818653

Cited by 34 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 24 publications

(24 reference statements)

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“…Coping with threat and uncertainty. The COVID-19 crisis is marked by many uncertainties about health, the economy, and potential treatments [42][43][44] , which can lead individuals to develop or adopt narratives, including conspiracy theories, to make sense of these events 45 . Indeed, higher levels of uncertainty 19,46 (United States) as well as intolerance or avoidance of uncertainty 23,35 47 by creating meaning and filling a lack of control 48,49 , for example through providing alternative explanations to official accounts.…”

Section: Individual Differencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Antecedents and consequences of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: a systematic review

Mulukom¹,

Pummerer²,

Alper³

et al. 2020

Preprint

100

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COVID-19 conspiracy theories emerged almost immediately after the beginning of the pandemic, and the number of believers does not appear to decline. Believing in these theories can negatively affect adherence to safety guidelines and vaccination intentions, potentially endangering the lives of many. Thus, one part in successfully fighting the pandemic is to understand the antecedents and consequences of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs, which are here presented in a rapid review summarizing research from more than 28 countries. We evaluate the contribution of individual difference variables (demographic variables, personality traits, coping with threat and uncertainty), beliefs, biases, and attitudes (epistemically suspect beliefs, thinking styles and cognitive biases, attitudes towards science), and social factors (group identities, trust in authorities, social media) to COVID-19 conspiracy theories. We discuss the consequences of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs in regard to safeguarding behaviours (hygiene, distancing, and mask-wearing), self-centred (hoarding) and misguided behaviours (pseudoscientific practices), vaccination intentions, mental health and negative social consequences (e.g., discrimination and violence). Differences between countries as well as various conspiracy theories are considered. Summarising, we suggest that belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories is boosted by low levels of trust in a context of threat and low levels of comprehensive, accessible information in a context of uncertainty and unknowns. We conclude that research is urgently needed to address potential interventions to (re-)establish trust and provide accessible information about COVID-19.

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Section: Individual Differencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Antecedents and consequences of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: a systematic review

Mulukom¹,

Pummerer²,

Alper³

et al. 2020

Preprint

100

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Moreover, it is also noted that private sector university teachers are more positive towards this transition as compared to public sector university teachers. Although there could be many other factors that need to be explored but the current phenomenon of COVID-19 appears as one of the contributory factors for a comparatively successful adoption to paradigmatic shift (Cipolletta & Ortu, 2020).…”

Section: Comparative Context Of Public and Private Universitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Students Fear of COVID-19, Psychological Motivation, Cognitive Problem-Solving Skills and Social Presence in Online Learning

Munir

Saeed

Shuja

et al. 2021

International Journal of Education and Practice

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Online learning has been considered a successful source for reaching learners anywhere, and anytime despite all challenges for decades. This twofold study was designed to explore how COVID-19 fear affected students' social presence in online learning, and how their internal psychological resources such as motivation moderated to make their online learning experience successful in public, and private universities. A crosssectional, descriptive, and correlational research design was carried out by using a simple random sampling (N=244 students from Public sector universities, and N=178 students from Private universities). Online structured questionnaires were developed to collect data by using Google forms. The study found fear of COVID-19 highly insignificant in relationship with Social Presence, while Cognitive Problem-Solving Skill was significant with Psychological Motivation in Public Sector universities. Psychological Motivation also exhibited a strong positive and significant correlation with Cognitive Problem-Solving Skills. The study concluded that in Public Sector Universities, the existence of fear of COVID-19 was accompanied by greater psychological motivation among students, resulting in an increase in their cognitive problem-solving ability. While in Private Sector universities fear of COVID-19 was seen having a significant relationship with Social Presence, Cognitive Problem-Solving capability, and Psychological Motivation. In Private Sector universities, fear of COVID-19 was also accompanied by greater psychological motivation among students, resulting in an increase in their social presence.

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“…The reduction in social contact and steps taken to deal with the psychological impact of this ( Bzdok and Dunbar, 2020 ) has added a potentially significant disruption to the populations’ previous goal pursuits. Goals may now yield to new challenges such as limited access to food, financial worries, sudden need for employment, the care of isolated family members, or reductions to health ( Cipolletta and Ortu, 2020 ; Fraenkel and Cho, 2020 ; Wilms et al, 2020 ). In addition to its vast biomedical and economic costs, there likely was a psychological cost associated with the disruption of valued personal projects by imposed social and mobility restrictions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Goals and Self-Efficacy Beliefs During the Initial COVID-19 Lockdown: A Mixed Methods Analysis

2021

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This study aimed to capture how the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis disrupted and affected individuals’ goal pursuits and self-efficacy beliefs early during the lockdown phase of COVID-19. Participants impacted by lockdown regulations accessed an online questionnaire during a 10-day window from the end of March to early April 2020 and reported a significant personal goal toward which they had been working, and then completed quantitative and qualitative survey items tapping self-efficacy beliefs for goal achievement, subjective caring about the goal during disrupted world events, and current pursuit or abandonment of the goal. The findings from both quantitative and qualitative measures demonstrated a significant drop in self-efficacy beliefs from before to during the pandemic with a large effect based on whether people thought they could still achieve their goal under current conditions. Over two-thirds of the sample was unsure or did not believe they could still carry out their goal, and over a quarter either abandoned or were uncertain they could pursue the goal. Despite this, people continued to care about their goals. Reasons for abandonment and strategies for coping with goals within the lockdown and beyond are discussed.

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COVID-19: Common Constructions of the Pandemic and Their Implications

Cited by 34 publications

References 24 publications

Antecedents and consequences of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: a systematic review

Antecedents and consequences of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: a systematic review

Students Fear of COVID-19, Psychological Motivation, Cognitive Problem-Solving Skills and Social Presence in Online Learning

Goals and Self-Efficacy Beliefs During the Initial COVID-19 Lockdown: A Mixed Methods Analysis

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