New reasearch by Dr. Yossi Maaravi from IDC: Not all worries were created equal – The case of COVID-19 anxiety

A novel study by Dr. Yossi Maaravi and Mr. Ben Heller explored the differential levels of anxiety reported amid the COVID-19 pandemic

Highlights

• Women score higher on COVID-19–related anxiety than men.
• COVID-19–related health concerns are greater than financial concerns.
• People are more concerned about other’s health and financial status than their own.
• People are more concerned about the health and financial status of close relatives than that of strangers.

In the few months since the outbreak of Covid-19, governments and policymakers worldwide have undertaken the difficult mission of relaying accurate and relevant information to the public, in order to motivate them to make decisions for the benefit of public health. Two of the more prominent tactics used by governments to achieve this goal are fear and anxiety appeals. For these appeals to be effective, policymakers need a better understanding of the causes and sources of individual anxiety. In this study, we measured two types of anxieties: health- and finance-related. We also measured the variance in anxiety levels when it originated from different sources: the self, a close relative, or an unknown stranger. We found that in general, people are more anxious regarding health concerns than financial concerns, but only when it pertains to the health and finances of others (closer others more so than strangers). This finding is important because we also found that people experience greater anxiety when thinking about the concerns of others – not only those of close relatives, but also those of strangers – compared to when thinking about their own. A more general finding of ours – in line with the current literature – was that women experience more general (non-specific) anxiety than men. Applying these findings to public policy, it seems current self-focused anxiety and fear appeals (e.g. “You have a X percent risk of contracting Covid-19”) are not as effective as they could be. Policymakers should emphasize the health-related concerns of close relatives (elderly, very young, at-risk groups) over those of the individual targets themselves.

Want to read more? —> https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0033350620302705

About Dr. Yossi Maaravi

I am the Vice Dean of the Adelson School of Entrepreneurship at IDC, Herzliya – Israel\’s most prestigious private university.

I have more than 20 years of experience in teaching and training young adults, students at B.A. and M.A. levels and managers from Israel, the US, Singapore, Germany and China. Over the years, I taught or managed programs for students from: Princeton University, The National University of Singapore, The Technische Universität Darmstadt, The Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, Tsinghua University, Tel-Aviv University and The Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya.

My research focuses on behavioral decision making, negotiation, creativity and innovation. Alongside academic research and publishing, I am also the author of two children\’s books and a book on negotiation.