MOTIVATED HELPLESSNESS IN THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC: EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE THAT PERCEIVED HELPLESSNESS TO AVOID THE VIRUS REDUCES FEAR OF COVID-19

Uri Lifshin, Mario Mikulincer, Mabelle Kretchner

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Introduction: According to the motivated helplessness hypothesis, thinking that there is nothing to do to avoid the coronavirus may make people less afraid of being infected (Lifshin et al., 2020). Previous correlational evidence indicated that high levels of helplessness were associated with diminished fear of COVID-19 (Lifshin et al., 2020; Lifshin & Mikulincer, 2021). Method: We tested if manipulated perceived helplessness to avoid the virus using bogus messages (high, low or moderate helplessness) would reduce fear of COVID-19, state anxiety, and motivation for protective actions. Results: Supporting the hypothesis, in the high helplessness condition, higher perceived helplessness related to less fear of COVID-19, but this did not occur in the low and moderate helplessness control conditions. Perceived helplessness in the helplessness condition also indirectly reduced state anxiety and motivation for protective actions. Discussion: This research may advance the psychological study of helplessness and our understanding of human behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)176-197
Number of pages22
JournalJournal of Social and Clinical Psychology
Volume41
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2022
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Guilford Publications. All rights reserved.

Funding

This research was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the School of Psychology, Reichman University (IDC Herzliya), and followed the guidelines set forth by the APA’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct Standard 8 (http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx). The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. This research was supported by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Small Research Grant awarded to the first author (award number: 20-3-003).

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • anxiety
  • fear
  • helplessness
  • motivation
  • threat

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