When Private Optimism meets Public Despair: Dissociable effects on behavior and well-being

Abstract

When faced with a threat, peoples’ estimate of risk guides their response. When danger is to the self as well as to others two estimates are generated: the risk to oneself and the risk to others. As these estimates likely differ, it is unclear how exactly they drive a response. To answer this question, we studied a large representative sample of Americans facing the COVID-19 pandemic at two time points (N1=1145, N2=683). We discover a paradoxical duality: a tendency to be optimistic about one’s own risk of infection (private optimism) while at the same time to be pessimistic about the risk to others (public pessimism). These two estimates were found to be differentially related to affect and choice. First, private optimism, but not public pessimism, was associated with people’s positive feelings. The association between private optimism and positive affect was mediated by people’s sense of agency over their future. However, negative affect was related to both private risk perception and public risk perception. Second, people predominantly engaged in protective behaviors based on their estimated risk to the population rather than to themselves. This suggests that people were predominantly engaging in protective behaviors for the benefit of others. The findings are important for understanding how people’s beliefs about their own future and that of others are related to protective behaviors and well-being.

Income shock increases delay discounting independently of emotion

“…Participants completed an online survey which lasted approximately 30 minutes. In addition to the questions that formed this study, additional information was gathered as part of parallel studies conducted by members of our lab (e.g., Globig et al, 2020). These focused mostly on habits, personality, psychopathology and other opinions regarding the crisis.…”

Constructive Optimism, Defensive Optimism, and Gender as Predictors of Autonomous Motivation to Follow Stay-at-Home Recommendations during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Optimism, hope, and self-efficacy are three cognitive variables representing positive expectations that proved to protect against development of PTSD (Gallagher, Long, & Phillips, 2020) and which may be helpful in overcoming psychological consequences of COVID-19-related stress. We found two studies which examined different types of optimism in the context of COVID-19-related stress and well-being (Arslan & Yildirim, 2020;Globig et al, 2020). Globig, Blain & Sharot (2020) discovered that optimism regarding the COV-ID-19 pandemic was associated with people's positive feelings and this association was mediated by people's sense of agency over their future.…”

“…We found two studies which examined different types of optimism in the context of COVID-19-related stress and well-being (Arslan & Yildirim, 2020;Globig et al, 2020). Globig, Blain & Sharot (2020) discovered that optimism regarding the COV-ID-19 pandemic was associated with people's positive feelings and this association was mediated by people's sense of agency over their future. Arslan and Yildirim's study (2020) indicated that optimistic cognitions and psychological inflexibility mediated the effect of coronavirus stress on psychological problems.…”

“…Third, it seems that most people have adapted to the quarantine. Globig, Blain, and Sharot (2020) found that anxiety was significantly lower one month into lockdown relative to the beginning of lockdown, and people reported an increase in their sense of agency; optimism and happiness remained stable.…”

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has led many countries to implement lockdowns. While lockdowns help to contain the spread of the virus, research in many countries shows that they also result in substantial damage to well-being and mental health (Agteren et al, 2020;Ahmed et al, 2020;Balkhi, Nasir, Zehra, & Riaz, 2020;Brodeur, Clark, Fleche, & Powdthavee, 2020;Brooks et al, 2020;Bu, Hanspal, Liao, & Liu, 2020;Globig, Blain, & Sharot, 2020;Huang & Zhao, 2020;Lei et al, 2020;Pervichko, Mitina, Stepanova, Koniukhovskaia, & Dorokhov, 2020;Solomou & Constantinidou, 2020;Stanton et al, 2020;Wang et al, 2020). For example, findings from researchers in China, the country which faced the COV-ID-19 first, have shown a prevalence of depression during quarantine up to 37% (Ahmed et al, 2020), and a prevalence of anxiety up to 35% (Huang & Zhao, 2020).…”