RAPID: Stress and Emotional Response to Uncertainty in the COVID-19 Pandemic

许多重要的社会决策都是在高度不确定的情况下做出的。一个人解决这种不确定性的能力可能对从健康到工作表现等一系列结果产生深远影响。过去的研究表明，人们表现出可靠的倾向，以积极或消极的情绪来应对不确定性。这些个人偏见在对高度不确定性的反应中起着重要作用。本项目利用2019冠状病毒病大流行带来的紧急机会，在社会层面压力源的背景下，促进对个人层面偏见的理解。目前，人们对社会层面的压力因素（如全球大流行）对个人层面的特质类偏见的影响知之甚少。一些人在应对极端的社会不确定性时所经历的消极想法和感受会对健康、工作表现和人际关系产生有害的影响。该项目为制定干预措施奠定了基础，以破坏这些适应不良的过程，促进更有成效的应对措施。一项在线研究包括三种不同的效价偏差测量（将不确定性归因于负面意义的倾向）。收集可能受COVID-19大流行影响的情绪/气质、复原力和社会因素（例如孤独感）的测量值。该研究的一部分参与者在大流行（第1波）之前完成了价偏倚任务。在纵向设计中，将在大流行高峰期（第2波）和大流行结束后（第3波）对这些参与者进行重新评估。通过对人们进行长期跟踪，可以评估全球大流行带来的负面情绪增加以及疫情结束后更大程度的恢复所带来的影响。在波2和波3将增加一组新的参与者，为预测每个时间点价偏的个体差异的机制的横断面探索提供额外的数据。年龄相关的影响也将在每次浪潮中被探索。该研究考虑了人们如何学会“做得更好”，以增加幸福感和应对社会威胁和不确定性的弹性。这一发现将揭示一些人如何能够克服与压力相关的消极情绪的增加，而是以积极的方式解决不确定性。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Many significant social decisions are made in situations of high uncertainty. A person’s ability to resolve such uncertainty can have profound implications for outcomes ranging from health to work performance. Past research has shown that people exhibit reliable tendencies to respond to uncertainty with either positive or negative emotions. These personal biases play a significant role in responding well or poorly to high uncertainty. This project leverages the urgent opportunity presented by the COVID-19 pandemic to advance the understanding of individual-level biases in the context of a societal-level stressor. Very little is currently known about the effects of societal-level stressors, such as a global pandemic, on individual-level trait-like biases. The negative thoughts and feelings some individuals experience in response to extreme societal uncertainty can have deleterious outcomes on health, work performance, and relationships. This project lays the foundation for developing interventions to disrupt these maladaptive processes in favor of more productive responses.An online study includes three distinct measures of valence bias (the tendency to ascribe uncertainty with a negative meaning). Measures of mood/temperament, resilience, and social factors likely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., loneliness) are collected. A subset of participants in the study completed the valence bias tasks before the pandemic (Wave 1). In a longitudinal design, these same participants will be re-assessed at the height of the pandemic (Wave 2) and again after the pandemic ends (Wave 3). By following people over time, it is possible to gauge the effects associated with a greater increase in negativity as a function of the global pandemic, as well as greater recovery after it ends. A new group of participants will be added at Waves 2 and 3 to provide additional data for a cross-sectional exploration of the mechanisms that predict individual differences in valence bias at each time point. Age-related effects will also be explored at each wave. The research considers how people can learn to "do it better" to increase well-being and resilience in response to societal threats and uncertainty. The findings will shed light on how some individuals are able to override stress-related increases in negativity and instead resolve uncertainty in a positive light.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.