Abstract
The article is devoted to the description and explanation of individual psychological and social phenomena from the point of view of actualizing thanatic issues during the COVID-19 pandemic and its information coverage. The relevance of the study is due to the situation of the spread of coronavirus infection, the peculiarities of combating its spread, the influence of information technologies on this process and the need to understand the phenomena that have developed in society. The novelty of the research lies in the complex consideration of various social and individual psychological phenomena from the standpoint of the influence of the vital threat and existential fears on the individual and social consciousness. The article contains information on the socio-psychological phenomena that manifested themselves during the COVID-19 pandemic (alarmism, infodemic, intergroup tensions, stigmatization of certain groups of the population, a shift in political preferences, aggravation or emergence of mental disorders, inadequate purchasing activity) and describes them in terms of Terror Management Theory. In the conclusion, prospects are given for using the provisions of Terror Management Theory to develop a strategy for overcoming a pandemic situation, taking into account the action of proximal and distal defenses. The author comes to the conclusion that the features of the information coverage of the situation have a strong influence on its further development, in connection with which it is necessary to develop a clear plan for the preparation of official information that meets the criteria of completeness, credibility, scientific character and conveys the idea of positive realism.
Highlights
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact on human life
The following can be attributed to the group of social phenomena: alarmism and panic in the information field, called "infodemia", intergroup tension, stigmatization of certain groups of the population, shifts in political preferences towards charismatic leaders and conservative values
The consequences of these phenomena in the individual psychological plan, first of all, were the aggravation of the condition of people suffering from mental disorders, and the occurrence of such in people who do not suffer from mental disorders, the emergence of the Internet addiction, and inadequate purchasing activity
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact on human life This event, unprecedented in scale and methods of struggle, has put humanity in front of the need to take the most radical measures, sacrificing freedom and rights in the name of universal security. The availability of information, the speed and ease of its transmission shaped public opinion and behavior, which developed spontaneously under the influence of official and private, scientific and pseudoscientific, false and truthful information. This gave rise to the phenomenon of the so-called "infodemic", which often undermined the activities of government agencies to suppress the spread of coronavirus infection and led to an overload of healthcare systems
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