Social ties, fears and bias during the COVID-19 pandemic: Fragile and flexible mindsets

Abstract

Fears and social ties have been frequently discussed during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, it is still insufficiently examined how people have developed or mitigated social ties, bias and inter-group conflicts caused by fear. This review examined relevant COVID-19 literature and the psychology of anxiety, distress and aggression to consider how these adverse behaviours might be neutralised by cognitive flexibility. The results showed that social ties function as both risk and protective factors. The importance of social ties was repeatedly described as alleviating loneliness; nevertheless, people also expressed stigma-related anxiety (fear of criticism via empathic distress) associated with peer pressures and hostile vigilantism. Social ties and empathy have strengthened human cohesion and helped reconcile relations, but they also reinforced unfavourable biased bonds, terror and rumours that benefited in-group members while discriminating against out-group individuals. Furthermore, cognitive flexibility may assuage these negative consequences through shifting attention and perspective. Context-adjusted viewpoints and reciprocal dialogues seem crucial. The subsequent mitigation of misunderstandings, fear-induced bias, and maladaptive distress appraisal may lead to more reasonable and flexible recognition of social ties. The significance of this conclusion is in its potential for implementing intervention programmes to reduce pandemic-induced fear, and it could help to address other relevant issues, such as refugee crises and displaced people, a phenomenon that is globally developing discrimination, stigma and polarised blaming. It is worth further investigating how flexibility and inter-group empathy help pursue humanitarianism.