El 11 de marzo del 2020 la Organización Mundial de la Salud declaró pandemia a la enfermedad ocasionada por el Covid-19, la cual provoca efectos tanto en la salud física como mental de las personas infectadas por el virus, así como en el personal sanitario que las asiste. Dada la escasa disponibilidad de guías y recomendaciones elaboradas por instituciones psicológicas a nivel continental para afrontar los efectos en la salud mental, investigadores de la Sociedad Interamericana de Psicología (SIP) se propusieron el objetivo de construir una guía de recomendaciones sobre diferentes temas y problemáticas psicológicas. Para esto, se realizó una revisión sistemática de la literatura científica referida a la afectación de la salud mental provocada por este tipo de pandemia. Con base en la información recuperada y analizada de diversas bases de datos científicos (PsycInfo, Scielo, Redalyc y Dialnet), fuentes documentales procedentes de organismos nacionales e internacionales de salud mental, consulta a expertos en salud mental y diversas investigaciones científicas, se redactó un documento orientador para afrontar las consecuencias emocionales y psicosociales del Covid-19. Se espera que este aporte sea de utilidad para orientar a la ciudadanía y las prácticas profesionales de los psicólogos y psicólogas, y se constituya en una herramienta que sustente la toma de decisiones en las organizaciones psicológicas y en los organismos gubernamentales en salud pública de los diferentes países de las Américas.

Emotions are complex reactions that allow individuals to cope with significant positive and negative events. Research on emotion was pioneered by Darwin’s work on emotional expressions in humans and animals. But Darwin was concerned mainly with facial and bodily expressions of significance for humans, citing mainly examples from mammals (e.g., apes, dogs, and cats). In birds, emotional expressions are less evident for a human observer, so a different approach is needed. Understanding avian emotions will provide key evolutionary information on the evolution of related behaviors and brain circuitry. Birds and mammals are thought to have evolved from different groups of Mesozoic reptiles, theropod dinosaurs and therapsids, respectively, and therefore, their common ancestor is likely to be a basal reptile living about 300 million years ago, during the Carboniferous or Permian period. Yet, birds and mammals exhibit extensive convergence in terms of relative brain size, high levels of activity, sleep/wakefulness cycles, endothermy, and social behavior, among others. This article focuses on two basic emotions with negative valence: fear and frustration. Fear is related to the anticipation of dangerous or threatening stimuli (e.g., predators or aggressive conspecifics). Frustration is related to unexpected reward omissions or devaluations (e.g., loss of food or sexual resources). These results have implications for an understanding of the conditions that promote fear and frustration and for the evolution of supporting brain circuitry.

The objective of this study was to develop and determine the psychometric properties of an instrument designed to detect traits and behavior that are associated with predatory violent behavior, which is defined as a determined, planned, controlled, and proactive aggression. The sample was comprised of 564 students, mostly in their last year of high school, or in their first year of college. The initial instrument had 78 items, ultimately resulting in 13 with good internal consistency (α = 0.825). Factor analysis showed four factors: anger-in, appeal for weapons, suicidal ideation, and the tendency to take justice into one’s own hands. Said factors showed significant correlations of convergent validity. Data shown here allows inferring that the instrument is a novel and concise tool that evaluates and detects the potential of predatory violent behavior.

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