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

RAPID：对 COVID-19 大流行中的不确定性的压力和情绪反应

• 批准号: 2031101
• 负责人: Maital Neta
• 金额: $ 7.32万
• 依托单位: University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-06-15 至 2021-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2031101&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Stress; Emotional; Response; Uncertainty

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.

许多重大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会对从健康到工作表现等各种结果产生深远的影响。 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好坏方面发挥着重要作用。该项目利用 COVID-19 大流行带来的紧迫机会，促进对社会层面压力源背景下个人层面偏见的理解。 目前，人们对社会层面的压力源（例如全球流行病）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可能会对健康、工作表现和人际关系产生有害的后果。 该项目为制定干预措施来扰乱这些适应不良过程，以有利于更有成效的反应奠定了基础。一项在线研究包括三种不同的价偏差测量方法（将不确定性赋予负面含义的倾向）。 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（第一波）之前完成了价偏向任务。 在纵向设计中，这些相同的参与者将在大流行最严重时（第二波）以及大流行结束后（第三波）再次接受评估。 通过随着时间的推移对人们进行跟踪，可以衡量全球大流行带来的消极情绪的大幅增加所带来的影响，以及疫情结束后的更大程度的恢复。 第 2 波和第 3 波将添加一组新的参与者，为预测每个时间点价偏差个体差异的机制的横断面探索提供额外的数据。每波还将探讨与年龄相关的影响。该研究探讨了人们如何学会“做得更好”，以提高福祉和抵御力，以应对社会威胁和不确定性。研究结果将揭示一些人如何能够克服与压力相关的消极情绪增加，并以积极的方式解决不确定性。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。