Psychology Hub

The Five-day challenge: How to turn a change in a chance.

Teresa Galanti, Stefania Fantinelli, Michela Cortini, Teresa Di Fiore — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction. The social and sanitary emergency due to the spread of Coronavirus has certainly represented one of the most difficult challenges of contemporary world that has put at risk the psycho-physical health of people. Some studies in the field of psychological sciences have turned their attention to the impact of restrictive confinement within own homes, on the well-being and quality of life. Isolation, the lack of opportunity to socialization, the sense of job insecurity and economic precariousness, as well as the difficulty in managing a daily life without routine and predictability, have put a strain on people’s resilience, exposing them to numerous psycho-social risks. Aim of the study. Moving within Positive Psychology, the present action-research is aimed to investigate the level of well-being of Italians during the lockdown and promote the acquisition of proactive behaviours and self-empowerment. Method. We developed a self-report questionnaire and designed an intervention, called “the five-days challenge: how to turn a change into a chance”. A triangulated methodology has been implemented in order to enrich the data from a double point of view, qualitative and quantitative. Results. Firstly, it was observed that dispositional optimism was positive associated with wellbeing, but that this positive association will be significantly mediated, in a negative way, by state anxiety. Secondly, the results have shown a statically significant effect of the intervention proposed on anxiety level reduction of participants. Implication. To sum up, the five-days challenge seemed to be a practical and operative intervention to promote self-empowerment in various situations dominated by uncertainty, which requires a great effort in terms of resilience and reappropriation of meaning.

Psychological well-being and lockdown: a study on an Italian sample during the first COVID-19 wave

Michela Marchetti, Daniele Gatti, Lucio Inguscio, Giuliana Mazzoni — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

During February and March 2020, the Italian government decided to provide guidelines in order to counter the spreading of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Several studies have shown that the first Lockdown deeply affected the psychological well-being of the individuals, but the role of possible protective variables is currently not known. In the present study we aimed to investigate the impact of several behavioral variables on individuals’ mental states and emotions experienced during the first Lockdown in Italy. Participants were 172 Italian adults and they were asked to answer several questions regarding the intensity of mental states and emotions experienced, the perceived usefulness of lockdown, the feeling of living a normal life, and the coping strategies implemented to face the pandemic. Results showed that, during the first wave of COVID-19 in Italy, only the perceived usefulness of lockdown positively affected people’s emotions. This result suggests that a better communication of the experimental findings supporting the political decisions made, and behavioral measures shaped to increase people’s commitment to the proposed rules are crucial in order to enhance people’s wellbeing. While this result is limited to the first wave and the first lockdown, future research should assess the role of rule acceptance and coping strategies in subsequent waves of COVID-19, and consequent partial or total lockdowns.

The psychological impact of the pandemic: the effects of COVID-19 pictures on emotional processing

Raffaella Maria Ribatti, Antonietta Curci, Tiziana Lanciano — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the lives of billions of people in recurrent waves. The present study aims to investigate the effects of exposure to COVID-related pictures on affective states, working memory performance, rumination, and intrusion. Negative emotions -- such as those aroused by the pandemic -- trigger a post-emotional elaboration depleting working memory resources required to perform other tasks. We expected a greater negative affect state, a greater impairment in working memory performance (as assessed by a visuospatial task), and a greater persistence of rumination and intrusion in participants exposed to COVID-19-related pictures as compared with emotional and neutral pictures. Results on a sample of 96 subjects show that when participants were requested to process COVID-19 pictures, their negative affective states increased over time (p<0.05), but the same does not hold for the emotional and neutral conditions. Furthermore, when participants were requested to process COVID-19 pictures, they exhibited a relevant persistence of long-term rumination (p<0.05), in particular in its deliberate form (p<0.05), and a significant persistence of intrusive thoughts (p<0.005). These considerations lead to serious concerns about post-event processing as a long-term consequence of the ongoing pandemic.

Psychological factors predicting social distance during the COVID-19 pandemic: an empirical investigation

Calogero Lo Destro — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Numerous nations around the world are facing exceptional challenges in employing measures to stop the spread of COVID-19. Following the recommendations of the World Health Organization, a series of preventive measure have been adopted. However, individuals must comply with these rules and recommendations in order to make such measures effective. While COVID-19 was climaxing, it seemed of crucial importance to analyze which psychosocial factors contribute to the acceptance of preventive behavior, thus favoring the management of COVID-19 worldwide health crisis. In particular, the identification of aspects related to obstacles and facilitations of adherence to social distancing has been considered as crucial in the containment of the virus spread. We hypothesized social distance could be influenced by individual psychological differences and target’s characteristics. Specifically, since the virus was firstly detected in China, we assumed Asian people could be considered a relevant outgroup targeted for exclusion. 260 participants participated in this research on a voluntary basis. They filled a survey designed to explore a series of COVID-19 measures (such as exposure to virus and fear of infection). Participants’ state and trait anxiety was also assessed. The dependent variable was social distance, based on a measure of seating distance, designed ad hoc for the present study. Our hypothesis that participants could reports greater distance in response to Asian people was not confirmed. On the other hand, significantly lower distance in response to smiling compared to coughing targets was displayed. Finally, adopting a regression analysis model, we found that participants’ social distance, in response to both coughing and smiling targets was predicted by fear of infection and by the perception COVID-19 could become a pandemic. Social distance in response to coughing target was also significantly and positively predicted by age and state anxiety. In summary, the present work has sought to identify a set of psychological variables, which may still be relevant in predicting social distancing.

Remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic: A study on the emotional and relational experience and on the well-being of Italian university scholars and clerks

Ciro Esposito, Barbara Agueli, Caterina Arcidiacono, Immacolata Di Napoli — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction: This study investigated the emotions, relational experience and well-being of university scholars and clerks who continued their activities working remotely during the Italian lockdown period (March and April 2020).

Methods: Eighty-seven workers (55% scholars and 45% university clerks) filled out an online quali-quantitative questionnaire about their work remotely during the lockdown. Qualitative data were analyzed through Grounded Theory Methodology. Then cross-tabs were created to intertwine the code groups that emerged with work role and gender of participants and frequencies were analyzed by Chi square test. Data were also analyzed through Univariate Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).

Results: The results showed that scholars consider remote working mainly as a critical issue, while clerks see it more as a resource. Clerks more frequently reported negative affectivity such as anxiety, fear and anger, while scholars more frequently reported loneliness. Regarding interpersonal relationships, no significant differences between scholars and clerks were observed. Moreover, clerks reported lower physical, psychological, economic and overall well-being compared to scholars.

Conclusions: This study highlights the importance of the mattering role of human relations in work activities. Without taking into account the emotional and relational needs of the workers, remote working can have negative effects on well-being.

Keywords: remote working; COVID-19 pandemic; well-being; affects; Grounded Theory Methodology

The social pandemic from SARS-CoV-2 among Italian university students: a pilot study

Claudio Russo, Giuseppe Giordano, Giuseppina Marsico — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The impact of restrictions on movement resulting from the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic may contribute to a disruption of mental health in young people during this era. In March 2021, lockdown restrictions were enforcing national policies of tackling the infectious disease across the globe. In the early stages of the vaccination rollout, public enquires on confidence to endure the virus pandemic have shown high levels of psychological distress. Under the above circumstances, 333 university students were asked to fill in an online-based survey on alcohol consumption, compulsive behavior as a loss of control over eating, fear of weight changes, excessive sleepiness and sleep deprivation. Text mining and multiple correspondence analysis were employed to analyze qualitative data on the lived experience against the occurrence of health-related behaviors. Data analyses have showed that the pandemic was associated with a mixed breakup of clustered lemmas based on sex, age, and relationship status. The extent to which the participants have reported a lower degree of satisfaction on living arrangements, intimate and family relationships were interpreted as meaningfully related with a more negative lived experience. Social confinement has resulted as an immediate action for mitigating a public health crisis from the SARS-CoV-2 disease. Incidentally, social measures to mitigate the virus transmission have sought to protect internal collapse of the health care systems by reducing the number of casualties. Conversely, these findings provide new evidence on the social determinants of health among youth and consequently highlight the potential interference from missing social interactions in the COVID-19 pandemic response

Effects of Anti-COVID Face Masks on Contagion Risk Evaluation: Wearing a Mask Intensifies Moral Judgments Towards Risky Behaviors

Matteo Perini, Simona Sciara — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

We investigated the effects of complying with measures aimed at offsetting the risks of spreading COVID-19 on the evaluation of risks themselves. We concentrated on faces masks, being an easily manipulable condition that represents one of the most widespread, effective, and debated preventive measures to deal with the pandemic. Wearing face masks is an effortful behavior that, from the individual’s perspective, is justified as far as there are prudential or moral reasons to avoid the risks posed by COVID-19. Consequently, wearing masks without accepting these reasons is a condition that can trigger cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1957). The attempt to prevent or reduce dissonance, we argue, would promote attitude change with respect to the risks associated with the pandemic. This can be done by altering beliefs and emotions about the risks themselves or about the morally appropriate behavior related to these risks. In the present study, we tested this hypothesis by measuring the attitudes toward risks associated with COVID-19 of three randomized groups of participants: a group was asked to wear face masks, a second received no specific request, and a third was asked to put on an item of clothing unrelated to the pandemic. The data collected showed an effect of mask-wearing on the moral judgments related to COVID-19 risks, with no significant results for other morality-unrelated attitudes toward risks.

A Review of Theories in Gratitude Literature

Bala Subramanian R, Dr.Munish — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Gratitude is not an uncommon emotion that can be easily neglected and deservesempirical and theoretical attention. Gratitude research, initially originated frompsychology, expanded to all fields, in the last two decades. Various theories have beenapplied to explain the gratitude phenomenon in the research. The theories have theirown advantages, and limitations in explaining the gratitude. This paper is a review ofthe theories applied in gratitude research. The paper also analysis the theories in theirscope of level of analysis.

Special Issue Effect of Covid-19 pandemic: vulnerability and resources. Part 2

Francesco Gazzillo, Stefano Livi, Fiorenzo Laghi, Santo Di Nuovo — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The first seven contributions to this issue of Psychology hub derive from the call for papers of the Italian Psychology Association (AIP) centered around the “Effect of Covid-19 pandemic: vulnerability and resources”. Together with the first five papers of the previous issue and with the first contributions of the next one, these papers will cover all the articles received from the AIP members in response to the previously mentioned call for papers.
The first contribution of this issue, titled “The five-day challenge: how to turn a change into a chance. An action-research to promote resilience and self-empowerment during lockdown”, written by Teresa Galanti, Stefania Fantinelli, Michela Cortini e Teresa Di Fiore”, is aimed to investigate the level of well-being of Italians during the lockdown and to promote the acquisition of proactive behaviours and self-empowerment. The results of the research study suggest that dispositional optimism is positively associated with wellbeing, with this association mediated, in a negative way, by state anxiety. Moreover, it shows a significant effect of an intervention proposed on anxiety level reduction of participants.
The second contribution, written by Michela Marchetti, Daniele Gatti, Lucio Inguscio and Giuliana Mazzoni and titled “Psychological well-being and lockdown: a study on an Italian sample during the first COVID-19 wave” points out how during the first wave of COVID-19 in Italy, only the perceived usefulness of lockdown, among several other variables, positively affected people’s emotions, showing the importance of political communication in time of crisis such as that one.
The third contribution, whose title is “The psychological impact of the pandemic: the effects of COVID-19 pictures on emotional processing”, written by Raffaella Maria Ribatti, Antonietta Curci and Tiziana Lanciano, investigates the long term consequences of the exposition to COVID-19 related pictures and shows how they stir up negative affective states that increase over time and favor a relevant persistence of long-term rumination and a significant persistence of intrusive thoughts.
The fourth contribution, written by Calogero Lo Destro and titled “Psychological factors predicting social distance during the COVID-19 pandemic: an empirical investigation” investigates several psychosocial factors which may contribute to the compliance with the government rules about social distancing. This research study shows how participants’ social distance, in response to both coughing and smiling targets, was predicted by fear of infection and by the perception COVID-19 could become a pandemic. Social distance in response to coughing target was also significantly and positively predicted by age and state anxiety.
The fifth contribution, “Remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic: A study on the emotional and relational experience and on the well-being of Italian university scholars and clerks”, written by Ciro Esposito, Barbara Agueli, Caterina Arcidiacono and Immacolata Di Napoli, shows that scholars consider remote working mainly as a critical issue, while clerks see it more as a resource. Moreover, clerks more frequently report negative feelings of anxiety, fear, and anger, while scholars more frequently report loneliness. Moreover, clerks reported lower economic and overall well-being compared to scholars.
The sixth contribution, written by Claudio Russo, Giuseppe Giordano and Giuseppina Marsico, and whose title is “The social pandemic from SARS-CoV-2 among Italian university students: a pilot study” analyze qualitative data on the lived experience against the occurrence of health-related behaviors and shows that the extent to which the participants have reported a lower degree of satisfaction on living arrangements, intimate and family relationships appears to be meaningfully related with a more negative lived experience.
The last paper connected to COVID-19 topic, “Effects of Anti-COVID Face Masks on Contagion Risk Evaluation: Wearing a Mask Intensifies Moral Judgments Towards Risky Behaviors”, written by Matteo Perini and Simona Sciara, investigates the effects of complying with measures aimed at offsetting the risks of spreading COVID-19 on the evaluation of risks themselves, and shows an effect of mask-wearing on the moral judgments towards behaviors at risk of COVID-19 contagion, with no significant results for other morality-unrelated attitudes towards risks.
The last contribution to this issue is, in our opinion, a useful work tool for researchers and theoreticians. Written by Bala Subramanian and Munish Thakur, this “Review of Theories in Gratitude Literature” synthetically describes the different theories applied to explain the phenomenon of gratitude in research papers, analysing the different proposed models according to their scope and level of analysis.
We want to stress the richness of the perspectives and of the methodologies utilized in the papers published in this issue, and how they can help us better understand the psychological consequences of the pandemic, the psychological and social mediators of these influences, and the possibilities of developing and implementing interventions aimed at reducing the negative impact and side effects of the measures adopted to defend the population from the infection.
We think also that this richness is a sign of the good health of our community of academic psychologists in its different specificities and sensitivities, and we hope in future collaborations of our journal and this community.