In the right doses, fear is a very useful emotion when you are in danger. Everything is, of course, in knowing what to fear. In fact, the subjective perception of risk is not always equivalent to that which would be obtained with an objective assessment, and Covid 19 is no exception. An Italian study, born from a collaboration between the Italian Auxological Institute, the European Institute of Oncology, the University of Bergamo and Milan and the San Paolo Hospital, analyzed the question, investigating which psychological factors influence the perception of risk with respect to Covid 19, and how this then affects individual behaviors. Coming to formulate an identikit of the psychological characteristics that push us to have greater fears of the virus, and to adopt prevention rules with greater insistence.
The difference in perceptions
“At the beginning of the first lockdown I noticed that people responded in the most disparate ways to the indications of the health authorities”, he says Barbara Poletti, psychologist and psychotherapist, head of the Neuropsychology Center of the Auxologico San Luca in Milan. “The gap was very wide: it ranged from those who changed sidewalks to avoid crossing another human being, to those who refused to use the mask or to maintain the distance. Having dealt with risk perception for years, this intrigued me very much, and this is how our study was born: to look for which psychological factors help predict a greater or lesser perception of the risk represented by this virus “.
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The survey, published on Frontiers in Psychology, involved a sample of 911 adult citizens interviewed through an online questionnaire between May and June 2020. The objective of the study was twofold: on the one hand to highlight which factors, especially psychological ones, influence the perception of risk, on the other hand , verify whether the perception of risk was associated with the extent to which citizens complied with the preventive measures.
“Previous research had mainly focused on socio-demographic factors that influence opinions on this epidemic, we also wanted to evaluate the psychological ones,” Poletti emphasizes. “And indeed, our results tell us that while there are some factors, such as age or schooling, that help predict individual risk perception, psychological ones have a much more preponderant influence. At the same time, we have shown that as the perceived risk increases, adherence to prevention measures also increases ”.
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Speaking of psychological factors, the most important were anxiety and the anxious relationship modality, characterized by a particularly accentuated emotional response in an attempt to attract possible social support, an external locus of control, that is the tendency to think that health is something that does not depend directly on us (but rather is in the hands of God, luck, or any other entity outside of us), and having had a direct experience of danger. All these elements predispose to have a perception of the risk appropriate to the pandemic situation, and at the same time, to implement the necessary prevention measures.
“The results of this study show how a high perception of risk is associated with a greater adherence to preventive behaviors, underlining the practical and not only theoretical usefulness of studying this phenomenon”, he adds. Vincenzo Silani, full professor of Neurology at the University of Milan. “Such results could facilitate and optimize the management of the current situation, but also similar circumstances in the future.”
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How? By identifying, for example, the populations that tend to have a lower perception of the danger represented by Covid 19, towards which to direct communication efforts. “Correct, timely and personalized communication is an important element that has been missing in the management of this pandemic”, concludes Poletti. “What also emerges from our study is that receiving reliable and consistent information helps to develop an adequate perception of risk, and consequently increases adherence to the prevention measures that we have been asked to follow. It is an aspect on which it would be good to pay more attention in the future, because it can make a difference ”.
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