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Abstract
Uncertainty puts people in a binary state of mind, where every piece of external information can positively or negatively affect their state of health. Given the uncertain situation created by the new coronavirus pandemic, this study claims to be the first empirical analysis of the real-time status of public panic in China. It frames peoples’ intrinsic and extrinsic stimuli, creating a psychosocial analysis of public panic. We conducted an online survey of WeChat and QQ users in February 2020 and collected 1613 samples through a QR code questionnaire. We used the ordinary least squares (OLS) regression equation model to conceptualize public panic pathways in different gender and age groups. This underlines the psychological origins of fear and anxiety and points out how the media uses socially constructed public panic. The results show that the outbreak of COVID-19 created uncertainty among the public, and the official media intensified it because of the late dissemination of news about the outbreak’s real-time status. Hence, unofficial media remained faster in news reporting, but the news reporting remained contradictory with official reports. This created doubts about the authenticity of the given information and caused public mental health abnormalities. The study provides a conceptual framework based on lessons learned from physiology, psychology, and social psychology and real-time public analysis to inform policymakers and public administrators about the contextual dynamics of public panic in China. It provides useful insights into the wise handling of this uncertain time and controlling the fatal conditions of public panic created by COVID-19. It has implications for other countries as well.
Highlights
The new coronavirus disease, termed COVID-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO) [1,2,3], has left people in a state of mind such that fear of the unknown has severely affected the mental well-being of people of all ages worldwide [4,5,6]
Social distancing, as a key prevention method to stay away from this virus, has further damaged their emotions [10]. Complex emotions such as fear, panic, anxiety, sadness, etc., have a significant physiological basis and psychological abnormalities, and are influenced by the psychosocial environment [11,12,13]. The latter subject areas have yet to be categorically studied with regard to the sources of panic, a coherent framework keeping in view the outbreak of COVID-19 is urgently needed to guide policymakers and public administrators in ensuring public mental health [14,15,16]
The scores of emotions like worry are the highest, while the scores of emotions like panic are relatively low. This indicates that people’s negative emotions are mainly dominated by worry, and panic exists to a certain extent, it is not the main emotive reaction
Summary
The new coronavirus disease, termed COVID-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO) [1,2,3], has left people in a state of mind such that fear of the unknown has severely affected the mental well-being of people of all ages worldwide [4,5,6]. Social distancing, as a key prevention method to stay away from this virus, has further damaged their emotions [10] Complex emotions such as fear, panic, anxiety, sadness, etc., have a significant physiological basis and psychological abnormalities, and are influenced by the psychosocial environment [11,12,13]. The latter subject areas have yet to be categorically studied with regard to the sources of panic, a coherent framework keeping in view the outbreak of COVID-19 is urgently needed to guide policymakers and public administrators in ensuring public mental health [14,15,16]. This study first retrieves the core theoretical viewpoints of panic from physiology, psychology, and social psychology, and tests two hypotheses
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