Responses from People to Control Policy of COVID-19: The Roles of Fear in Information Processing and Persuasion

Abstract

The Covid19 pandemic sent the world into a panic. Local governments have made policies to prevent and control the outbreak. Some governments advocate mandatory controls, while others rely on the population's sense of autonomy to fight the epidemic. By the same token, the public has responded differently to the government's controls. The purpose of this article is to analyze the theories of fear behind the policies issued by governments and the response of the population to them. It includes how governments try to influence the process of how information is processed through the program of fear appeals.