I Need a Doctor, Call Me a Doctor: Attachment and the Evaluation of General Practitioners before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Dritjon Gruda,Konstantinos Kafetsios

doi:10.3390/ijerph18157914

Abstract

Attachment is a system of threat regulation, and insecure (anxious and avoidant) attachment orientations are important individual difference antecedents to the cognitive and affective attributions of trait inferences. However, little is known about how threat-related contexts, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, influence attachment-related socio-cognitive schemas. Using an experimental research design across two independent samples of 330 (pre-onset of COVID-19) and 233 (post-onset of COVID-19) participants, we tested whether attachment orientations influenced general practitioner (GP) ratings and selection differently pre- and post-onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that during the COVID-19 pandemic, when presented with only negative information signals, avoidant individuals attributed positive ratings to GPs, with differing ratings as the number of positive signals increased. Differences between pre- and post-onset of the COVID-19 pandemic were less pronounced with regards to positive signals. We discuss these results in line with signal detection theory (SDT) and provide practical implications in response to our findings.

Highlights

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented worldwide hostile psychological environment [1], while adverse mental health effects, such as anxiety and acute stress disorder [2], and the effects of associated governmental lockdowns and restrictions likely will be felt for months to come
Using ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions with a heteroscedastic-robust estimate of the variance, we regressed the dependent variable on the sum of displayed positive, anxious, and avoidant attachment
We examined attachment orientations as possible antecedents in the cognitive and affective attribution of characteristics to general practitioner (GP) before and after the onset of COVID-19

Summary

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented worldwide hostile psychological environment [1], while adverse mental health effects, such as anxiety and acute stress disorder [2], and the effects of associated governmental lockdowns and restrictions likely will be felt for months to come. The perception of positive versus negative social stimuli is important for social behavior [3], especially signals associated with facial emotion expression characteristics [4]. The automatic processing of trust signals in particular is a vital process for human survival [5], as it protects individuals from potential danger [6]. If this automatic process did not exist, there would be a lack of crucial information as to whether someone is a friend or a foe [7]. The present study focused on positive and negative ratings of GPs, which can influence individuals’ social perceptions consciously or unconsciously, especially in situations of threat such as the COVID-19 pandemic [8]

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