During an epidemic, any person who sneezes can exacerbate our fear of getting sick. “But at the same time, we also begin to fear many other things just as much. Those over 45 are afraid of a heart attack, and anxious people are afraid of an accident,” says social psychologist Norbert Schwartz.
During an epidemic, any person who sneezes can exacerbate our fear of getting sick. “But at the same time, we also begin to fear many other things just as much. Those over 45 fear a heart attack, and anxious people fear an accident,” says social psychologist Norbert Schwarz. During his experiments at the University of Michigan (USA), volunteers were asked to rate the likelihood of such misfortunes. Before the start of the survey, some of them met with a severely cold man, whose role was played by an actor. And more than 40% later were sure that the threats were real (against 27% of those who avoided contact). Fear, involuntarily caused by a meeting with the «sick», prevented a sensible answer. “In other words,” says the psychologist, “we make decisions under the influence of momentary feelings, without realizing it. From an evolutionary perspective, this behavior is good for us – it is better to raise a false alarm than not to notice the real danger.” However, during an epidemic, it is still worth taking adequate measures — drinking vitamins and washing your hands thoroughly, but at the same time do not forget that the situation is still not so dramatic: according to doctors, only one person out of eighty will get the flu this year.