The Psychology of Human Behavior During a Pandemic

Sir,

In the absence of a tested vaccine for COVID-19, shaping appropriate human behavior is our first line of defense in slowing the spread of the ongoing epidemic.

Here, we lay out the importance of understanding the psychology of human behavior during a pandemic, and how this can contribute to effectively managing the outbreak.

People respond in one of two ways when faced with the threat of an epidemic. The “monitors” are those persons who seek out as much information as possible about the illness. They adhere to government recommendations, albeit at the expense of heightened anxiety. The “blunters” tend to tune out all information about the epidemic, in order to reduce the associated anxiety, but as a result, are ill-informed about responsible individual behavior. ¹ Most individuals use a combination of the two coping styles in varying proportions. Promoting a middle-of-the-road approach between these two styles is recommended, to minimize illness spread in the community.

The dissemination of information by public health agencies must be done keeping in mind the principles of both individual and mass psychology. Underplaying the health risks may have disastrous consequences, by failing to deploy sufficient safety nets to limit the spread of infection. Conversely, an overemphasis on the potential fallout of the epidemic may create a state of anxiety in the populace. It is, therefore, essential that information is provided in a calm, measured tone, with stress laid on the promotion of appropriate safety behaviors. For instance, the Prime Minister of New Zealand has earned accolades for her communication strategies during the nationwide lockdown, emphasizing humane, empathetic, and consistent messaging. Her call for people to “unite against COVID-19” while other nations were “declaring war” on the pandemic, helped maintain a sense of calm and encouraged the citizens to come together to defeat the pandemic. Her understanding of human psychology has resulted in New Zealand having one of the lowest rates of infection, per capita, worldwide. ²

Safety behaviors to check the spread of infection are often basic interventions such as frequent hand washing. It is often seen, though, that there is a psychological mismatch in the minds of the general public between the perceived threat of a fatal illness and the simplicity of the recommended protective behavior, that is, hand washing. This contradiction may lead to poor adherence to recommendations, as people generally associate drastic scenarios with equally drastic preventive measures. Governments attempt to overcome this problem by the repetitive nature of public safety announcements. While doing so, public health officials must be careful to avoid information overload, as people may develop psychological fatigue and simply tune out the information, which would defeat the entire purpose of the information campaign. ³

Uncertainty about the future and misplaced fear of scarcity drive irrational behaviors like panic-buying and hoarding. These may have domino effects, such as artificially created shortages and inflated prices. Social learning theory proposes that, in times of crisis, people acquire cues on how to respond by observing the reactions of others. Consequently, the widespread coverage about panic-buying in the media only served to promote the same behavior. ⁴ Hence, an understanding of why people behave in certain ways when under stress can help fashion public health interventions to prevent the trickle-down effects such as shortages of goods.

The concept of herd immunity lies at the heart of subduing a pandemic outbreak. Vaccination of a sufficient proportion of the population would guard against the unrestricted spread of disease, thereby protecting the most vulnerable persons. Psychological factors come into play here, as individuals would voluntarily have to subject themselves to vaccination. Fear surrounding the possible side effects of vaccines often acts as a barrier to timely vaccination. ⁵ Healthcare workers will have a major role to play in clearing misconceptions and disseminating correct factual information, to facilitate adequate vaccine coverage in the general population once an effective vaccine is synthesized in the coming years.

In summary, pandemics are often unprecedented in their unmitigated effects on entire populations. Human behavior and psychology play an integral role, both at an individual and community level, in limiting the spread of illness. A robust understanding of the psychology of human behavior during an epidemic can be invaluable, to apply recommendations in a manner that would facilitate better adherence to guidelines. This, in turn, can go a long way towards limiting the adverse health consequences of epidemics on the population.