Communicating Science in Times of Crisis. Группа авторов
can function both as proximal defenses useful in fighting the virus and the physical threat it represents, and as distal defenses useful in dealing with the existential anxiety and psychological threat presented by the pandemic.
Given how proximal defenses are moderated by perceptions of their effectiveness at decreasing the threat of death and distal defenses are moderated by CWVs and self-esteem (Goldenberg & Arndt, 2008; Greenberg & Arndt, 2011), efforts can be made, respectively, to achieve greater compliance with preventive measures; promote more protective behaviors; and reduce intolerance, bigotry, and violence during calamitous events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. First, in terms of increasing successful proximal defenses, effective measures should be provided along with psychologically artful rhetoric and effective messaging capable of increasing public perceptions of the efficacy of preventive measures, as well as encouraging the receptivity of promotional messages.
Second, considering the importance and significance of the worldview validating role played by respected cultural role models, communicating the risks of COVID-19 and of the efficacy of available preventive actions by such admired people should be shaped in ways that help individuals cultivate a sense of adherence to the higher order values within their CWV. By engaging in and demonstrating preventative actions for the sake of the many as well as the individual, leaders, dignitaries, celebrities, and other admired notables can aid in normalizing such actions, helping to render them as common values, central to cultural norms.
As an effective means for slowing the spread of viruses, vaccines have played a fundamental role in controlling and eradicating diseases for decades, yet their acceptance is far from universal. Promoting vaccination not only as a critically important defense against pandemic spread, but also as a significant value central to the dominant CWV is another vital area in need of attention. At the present moment (March, 2021), scores of promising vaccines have been developed and undergone advanced human trials, with several now available and already in wide distribution (Pfizer-BioNTech; Moderna; and Johnson & Johnson) and two more in large-scale Phase-3 clinical trials (AstraZenica and Novavax), likely soon to be released (CDC, 2021). Yet, as dozens of polls indicate, there is both a national and a global hesitancy in accepting vaccination as a common preventative measure (Reynolds, 2020). Even among otherwise well-educated populations, “vaccine hesitancy” (Dubé et al., 2013) is a persistent problem for a number of reasons lacking in scientific merit, including a range of religious beliefs, superstitions, motives for indecision, and other correspondingly irrational beliefs (Bedford et al., 2018; Warner et al., 2017). Thus, countering such beliefs, and further, replacing them with more valid understandings central to a sound, well-founded, and scientific worldview should be a major goal of governments, public health authorities, educators, and concerned citizens worldwide.
Of more immediate concern, as it applies to the coronavirus pandemic, it is estimated that developing antibodies in at least 60%–70% of the population is necessary for achieving herd immunity (DeMarco, 2020); therefore, concerted efforts to attain high vaccination rates are imperative. From the standpoint of TMT, vaccine promotion by all elements of society—at the national, state, and local community levels—is critical for emphasizing the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, not only for immediate purposes of controlling the pandemic during proximal defense against mortal threats, but at the distal level as well, where self-esteem, interpersonal relationships, and meaningful aspects of CWV all play vital roles in ameliorating existential anxiety within the complex process of terror management defense.
Conclusion
The dilemma we humans find ourselves in is as obvious as it is intractable. Our remarkably impressive cognitive capacities have endowed us with the ability to reflect upon the past introspectively, experience the present in all its intensity, and contemplate the infinite. Yet, as we learn, grow, and survive, we are faced with the fragility of our existence and constantly reminded of the inevitability of our mortality and the inescapable certitude of our eventual death. Over millions of years of evolution, our species has been phylogenetically prepared and ontogenetically motivated to strive for immortality. It is the conflict between our striving for the infinite and our comprehension of the finitude of our existence that generates the potential for crushing anxiety at the prospect of ultimate demise. As TMT research has affirmed, thoughts about death frequently menace us with trepidation and threaten our equanimity on an almost daily basis. Consequently, when death thoughts become accessible, we are motivated to reduce the resulting existential anxiety via a range of conscious and nonconscious defenses. More than 35 years of empirical observation has confirmed the validity of TMT as an explanatory framework for predicting a very broad range of motivation-based phenomena, including intergroup conflict, ethnic strife, racism, derogation of dissimilar others, dogmatism, intolerance for ambiguity, and all manner of violent behaviors that some have characterized as the essence of evil (Greenberg & Kosloff, 2008; Jost et al., 2003; Lifshin et al., 2017).
On the other hand, hundreds of experimental studies applying TMT have also documented a vast array of positive motivation-based phenomena predicted by the theory as well, including the unstinting investment so many humans are willing to make in efforts to strengthen and secure their close personal relations (Florian et al., 2002), as well as improve and enhance their physical and mental health (Goldenberg & Arndt, 2008). According to TMT, these efforts toward bodily and emotional strength are associated with a number of other positive and transformative paths in life, including community involvement and the building of supportive connections (Arndt et al., 2002), the fostering of creative and open-minded behaviors (Routledge et al., 2004), the instantiation and maintenance of positive values and beliefs (Crocker & Wolfe, 2001; Vess & Arndt, 2008), and the prioritizing of positive growth-oriented goals (Vail et al., 2012). These studies, and other similar explorations, provide important implications for health communication scholars considering many of the central variables involved in our efforts to cope with and survive cataclysmic events such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Of particular value and use when attempting to handle the daunting challenges posed by a global pandemic is a form of reciprocal altruism that, under the right conditions, can develop and blossom in response to crisis. Hirschberger et al. (2008) have shown how MS can foster the development of peaceful, healthy, and charitable communities when the prosocial causes pursued promote terror management defensive processes by helping individuals establish a belief in their own worth as a valued member of a group, playing a meaningful role in response to the needs of other group members. In so doing, the individual contributes to the community in worthwhile ways that reinforce a social contract that further ensures all community members can be relied upon to help one another. In this way, as Hirschberger et al. (2008) note, such reciprocal altruism indirectly promotes the individual’s own personal safety along with that of the community, while also boosting self-esteem, solidifying personal bonds, and instantiating the highest values central to a vibrant and stable CWV. Through the strengthening of all three of these psychological mechanisms, the latent but incessant threat of existential anxiety experienced during a global pandemic may be alleviated.
Granted, humans are naturally inclined to favor ingroups over outgroups relations (Tajfel, 1970); however, TMT offers some promising pathways for reducing the incidence and negative consequences of outgroup discrimination and dissociative behavior. Perhaps, foremost among these paths, research has shown how cultivating and elevating noble values and principles such as tolerance, empathy, compassion, openness, and creativity can be conducive to overcoming the rigid application of outgroup bias prompted by the existential dread following from the contemplation of death. Greenberg, Simon et al. (1992) have demonstrated how tolerance and egalitarianism can be encouraged and even maximized following DTA, as long as these two key values are primed before mortality is made salient. In a similar way, other values central to the highest principles of our CWV—freedom, equality, fairness, liberty, and justice—might also be primed within our collective consciousness during times of crisis, thereby fortifying the values and concepts embodying the most transcendent aspects of our CWV, and thereby brought to bear on how we choose to engage in our anxiety buffering efforts.
Finally, the calm assurance of our close, personal relationships functions as perhaps the most effective shield against existential anxiety, offering us a form of genomic immortality by sending our genetic material