In your opinion, what will be the attitude of human to the natural resources management after COVID- 19 ERA?
Answers
Explanation:
In December 2019, a new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) emerged, sparking an epidemic of acute respiratory syndrome (COVID-19) in humans, centred in Wuhan, China1. Within three months, the virus had spread to more than 118,000 cases and caused 4,291 deaths in 114 countries, leading the World Health Organization to declare a global pandemic. The pandemic has led to a massive global public health campaign to slow the spread of the virus by increasing hand washing, reducing face touching, wearing masks in public and physical distancing.
While efforts to develop pharmaceutical interventions for COVID-19 are under way, the social and behavioural sciences can provide valuable insights for managing the pandemic and its impacts. We discuss topics that are broadly relevant to numerous stages of the current pandemic to help policy-makers, leaders and the public better understand how to manage threats, navigate different social and cultural contexts, improve science communication, align individual and collective interests, employ effective leadership and provide social and emotional support (see Fig. 1 for summary). For each area, we highlight relevant insights, discuss implications for policy makers, leaders and the public (Box 1) and note areas for future research.
Aligning individual and collective interests
The behaviour of individuals living in communities is regulated by moral norms and values158,159,160,161,162. People who do what is ‘right’ are respected and publicly admired, while those who do what is ‘wrong’ are devalued and socially excluded163. These mechanisms of social enforcement encourage people to embrace and internalize shared guidelines, making them motivated to do what is considered right while avoiding behaviours that seem wrong164, and do not rely on legal agreements and formal sanctions165. In this section, we consider how research on morality and cooperation can encourage prosocial behaviours by individuals and groups.
Zero-sum thinking
was it helpful?
People often default to thinking that someone else’s gain—especially someone from a competing group—necessitates a loss to themselves, and vice versa166,167. Zero-sum thinking fits uneasily with the non-zero-sum nature of pandemic infection, where someone else’s infection is a threat to oneself and everyone else168. Zero-sum thinking means that while it might be psychologically compelling to hoard protective materials (sanitizer, masks, even vaccines) beyond what is necessary, doing so could be self-defeating.