In this Internet era with developed information, we can see various disasters happening around the world, and negative news continues to "invade" our lives. Especially since 2020, the raging COVID-19 epidemic around the world and our country has always touched the hearts of the Chinese people. At the same time, during the waves of epidemic prevention and control battles, the fierce attack of the virus, the sudden "silent" management, the long stay at home and other sudden situations and response measures seem to constantly remind us: life is full of various uncertainties, but we seem to be unable to change anything. On September 5, the magnitude 6.8 earthquake in Luding County, Ganzi, Sichuan once again made our hearts worry... Therefore, we will feel that we are actually unable to control our own destiny, and we will become more and more anxious. There seems to be nothing specific to worry about, but "everything" can cause our anxiety.
Since we cannot change the current environment, we might as well take a "live flat" mentality, reduce the burden on ourselves during the epidemic, and try to feel the beauty of being alone or returning to our family. The following five psychological phenomena are the psychological states you have experienced or are experiencing? Through understanding these psychological phenomena, it can not only help us examine our hearts again, but also help us maintain a good attitude and drive away anxiety!
1 Forbidden fruit law
Forbidden fruit law refers to the more prohibited things, the more they can arouse a person's desire to try. For example, during the lockdown period, we always hope to unblock the lockdown as soon as possible, but when there is no epidemic, we can be very "home". This is actually driven by the law of forbidden fruit. The more you are forbidden to go out, the more you have to try it. This explains why people wanted to go out more than any other time during the lockdown.
Revelation: What we desire is not going out for a walk, but a sense of self-control.
First of all, we need to understand that we are in a closed and quarantine period, and it is normal for us to long for freedom and want to go out. Secondly, we must understand that we may not really want to go out for a walk, but are influenced by the "Forbidden Fruit Law" and always want to do something to improve our sense of control and thus alleviate our anxiety. Finally, we might as well be beneficial to the "Forbidden Fruit Law" in reverse and think about ourselves who are busy with work and study. What was we longing for at that time? Do you want to spend more time with your family or stay at home and do nothing when you are on a business trip or traveling? We might as well take advantage of this epidemic to realize our wish, get along with ourselves and spend more time with our family.
2 Flywheel effect
Flywheel effect means that in order to make the stationary flywheel rotate, you must use a lot of effort at the beginning, pushing it repeatedly, and each turn is very laborious, but the effort of each loop will not be in vain, and the flywheel will rotate faster and faster. After reaching a certain critical point, the gravity and momentum of the flywheel will become part of the driving force. At this time, you don’t have to spend more effort, and the flywheel will rotate easily.
Inspiration: People are very plastic, and if they survive the critical point, they will usher in victory.
As we all know, everything is difficult to start with. The new crown epidemic suddenly broke into our lives at the end of 2019, changing the lifestyle we had been accustomed to many years ago: for example, wearing a mask every day when going out, repeatedly blocking and isolation, often requiring nucleic acid to enter and exit work and study places normally, and always worrying when going out when traveling far away... There is no doubt that these have brought us inconveniences, whether big or small. And this is like adding a huge flywheel to our lives, and if we want to live healthily, we must use a lot of extra effort to push it forward, pushing it over and over again.But please believe that as long as we take all kinds of protective measures in accordance with the epidemic prevention requirements, protect ourselves, do not cause trouble to the country and society, and "lie down" at home or regulate our healthy behaviors outside, then every round of our efforts will not be in vain. Gradually, the negative impact of the epidemic on us will become smaller and smaller.
3Typhoon eye effect
Typhoon eye effect compares people's attitude towards risks similar to typhoons: the peripheral air rotates violently, while the wind flow in the center is relatively weak; specifically, it refers to the phenomenon that in the central area where the disaster occurs, the individual's psychological reaction is calmer than that in the individuals in areas outside the center and have a lower assessment of risks. The research of Chinese scholars Wen Fangfang, Ma Shuhan, Ye Hanxue, Zuo Bin and others (2020) also proves this effect: when individuals are based on the perspective of bystanders, the closer they are to the disaster area or the more severe the epidemic, the anxiety assessment of Wuhan people in the severely affected areas and the number of psychological counseling workers and doctors required in Wuhan will be significantly lower than the estimates of the above indicators by people in other areas farther away from the disaster area or the less epidemic, and there is a "psychological typhoon eye effect".
Revelation: The degree of psychological panic of an individual is not equal to the degree of external danger.
Based on this effect, it can be seen that for individuals who have already suffered losses, the results of their inner fear and anxiety have already occurred. They can be more resistant to and prevent future disasters and are more optimistic about the future, similar to "bottom-bottom rebound". For individuals who have not suffered losses, since the threat of disaster is still there, the anxiety and fear of disaster in memory does not stop because of luck, so they will continue to experience fear and anxiety. But whether we are anxious or not, danger exists objectively and is not affected by our subjective experience. All we can do is take scientific measures to protect us. It is worth noting that the time when we are most relaxed is not necessarily the safest, and the time when we are most anxious is not necessarily the most dangerous. Therefore, maintaining an optimistic attitude and taking precautions as you should be is the best way to reduce the threat of disaster.
4Failure - Invasion Mode
This theory was proposed by scholar Dorad, who believed that infringement is always a consequence of frustration, and the occurrence of infringement is always conditional on the existence of frustration. Miller corrected it, believing that setbacks can also have consequences other than violations and do not necessarily lead to violations. Berkwayz believes that frustration causes not the invasion itself, but the emotional state caused by the invasion, such as anger. The occurrence of the violation is also related to the invasion clues in the situation.
Revelation: Say "NO" to rumors and prevent yourself from becoming accomplices of some "minded people".
In the face of the risk of the spread of the epidemic and the pressure situation of everyone's danger, the natural anger filled our lives at any time. We are easily defeated by these "setbacks". This group emotion that cannot be vented is easily a breeding ground for 's online violence through the Internet, especially Weibo, WeChat groups, QQ groups and other platforms. In other words, we will unconsciously hurt more innocent people by unconsciously, and may even be exploited by inciteers with ulterior motives. Many rumors are precisely targeting people's panic, tempting us to vent our anxiety excessively in the form of overwhelming anger. Therefore, when seeing inflammatory speech or online content, controlling emotions and thinking rationally is one of the psychological abilities that each of us should have.
5 Ruminant thinking
Ruminant thinking refers to the repetitive and passive thinking of the event, its own negative emotional state and its possible causes and consequences after experiencing a negative event. Ruminant thinking, as a cognition, also has an important impact on emotions.When an individual encounters negative events in his life, he always thinks, "Why is this?" "How is this happening in life now?" The individual repetitive reflection of the causes, results and feelings about the events is not only unfavorable to the resolution of the events, but also easily leads the individual to fall into negative emotions and behaviors again.
Inspiration: Don’t immerse yourself in missing the past, try to live in the present.
At some point, do you suddenly think of the days before the epidemic and blurt out, "How did life become like this?" What follows will be a sense of helplessness and deprivation slowly invade the whole body. In the face of epidemics or other disasters, this repeated reflection and rumination of the "good times" of the past will not only not make our spirits happy, but will easily make us feel irritable and anxious in the face of the past. Therefore, don’t be deeply trapped in the vicious circle of time. Life cannot press the pause button. Remember that every minute you ruminate on the past now is at the cost of sacrificing every minute of the present, so living in the present is what we should do the most.
Try it, stretch your eyebrows and you will find that your eyebrows are always tense. In fact, part of the terribleness of the new crown epidemic and the terribleness of natural disasters also come from our ignorance. Obviously, this anti-epidemic war is like a marathon, relying on physical strength in the early stage, mental strength in the medium stage, and mental strength in the later stage.
Can you provide useful help to reduce your burden on your mind from the perspective of scientific psychology? Only by being able to withstand "lying down" may you finally achieve "winning down"!
References
Wen Fangfang, Ma Shuhan, Ye Hanxue, Qi Yue, Zuo Bin. (2020). "Ripple Effect" and "Psychological Typhoon Eye Effect": A dual-perspective test of risk cognition and anxiety in areas with different degrees of COVID-19 epidemic. Journal of Psychology, (09), 1087-1104.
Note: The picture is from the Internet, infringement and delete
Source: School of Psychology, Sichuan Normal University. text | Mao Jiangling, Du Qing, Yang Xiaoyang; typesetting | Li Shanjie; review | Gong Zhe Xiang Nannan Blue Ocean
