Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic, which involves the threat of contracting a potentially fatal disease, can be understood as a source of terror. According to terror management theory, people shield themselves from terror by adopting culturally specific worldviews and protecting self-esteem. The study investigates the protective role of worldviews that are culturally specific to Poles: religiosity and social solidarity. The hypothesis was that Poles who tend to worry, entertain these worldviews and are more likely to maintain high self-esteem and concentrate on the current moment (carpe diem), which theoretically allows them to reduce future-related anxiety. Path analysis confirmed that self-esteem, the centrality of religiosity, and expectation of solidarity due to the COVID-19 pandemic mediate the relationship between the worry trait and carpe diem.
Highlights
IntroductionThe outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has reminded people around the world of the fleeting nature of life
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic as a Source of TerrorThe outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has reminded people around the world of the fleeting nature of life
We tested the model proposed by the Terror Management Theory (TMT), that predicts people coping behaviors in the life-threatening situations, what can be applied to the case of COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
The outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has reminded people around the world of the fleeting nature of life. People were forced to face a threat of getting a contagious and potentially fatal disease, losing their loved ones, and suffering from severe economic consequences of the pandemic. Because the world has changed dramatically and unexpectedly, personal constructs people formerly used in their attempts to understand the world and cope with life turned out to be useless or at least insufficient. According to the classical view, situations in which personal constructs cease to fulfill their functions and a person feels unable to control potential threatening events are likely to produce anxiety (Kelly, 1955; Bandura, 1986).
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