The document summarizes how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed human behavior and psychology based on various studies. It discusses how people initially hoarded goods like toilet paper due to herding behavior. People also had to learn new social rules and those with stronger social influences were more likely to follow restrictions. Some people struggled to follow all the rules due to memory issues or financial stress. The pandemic increased anxiety, depression, and stress, especially among women, young people, and those with neurotic personalities. It also disrupted relationships, work, and sleep patterns. However, staying connected to emotions, engaging in meaningful activities, spending time in nature, and relying on romantic partners helped improve well-being during the difficult times.

1. Psychology of a
Pandemic- How Covid 19
changed the behaviour of people
A. How COVID changed us
1. Hoarders
First it turned people into hoarders: some stashed cash under the mattress, others
hand sanitiser and masks.
But it was the hoarding of toilet roll that really caught the headlines.
But why toilet roll?
Some psychologist think it was partly down to herding — in other words, people saw
others hoarding it and then copied each other (Baddeley, 2020).
In the end we are social creatures and we partly learn by copying, especially when
under stress.

2. 2. Learn new social rules
To fight the pandemic, we had to learn a load of new social rules: when to go out,
stay at home, wear a mask, how to greet each other and when and where to walk,
run and travel.
Who followed the rules and what influenced them, psychologists asked.
Research found that people are more likely to follow COVID restrictions when their
friends and family do.
Social influence was a more powerful motivator than whether or not people agreed
with the rules.
The findings underline the tremendous power of social influence on people’s
behaviour.
3. Why people flout the rules
In the absence of other people to copy, though, we have to rely on our own
memories which, it turns out are not great.
People with better memories followed all the rules, but those with worse memories
tended to forget, one study found (Xie, 2020).
Similarly, worrying about money, jobs and where the next meal is coming from also
limit people’s ability to follow all the rules (Probst et al., 2020).
There’s even evidence that people started taking more risks during the pandemic
and are more prone to punishing others as a result of reduced cognitive
capacity (Bogliacino et al., 2021).
Professor Francisco Lupiáñez, study co-author, said:
“People’s decision-making abilities were impaired, and their reactions were not those
we might have expected.
Instead of being more careful because they were in a pandemic, they were taking
risks, because they couldn’t take it any more.”
4. Anxious and depressed
Quite naturally the pandemic made a lot of us depressed and anxious.

3. One study found that one-in-three adults are anxious and depressed as a result of
quarantines, lockdowns and social distancing.
But some groups are suffering more.
Women, young people and the poor are experiencing the worst psychological
distress from COVID, research from 68 studies found.
Another study suggested that 80 percent of people in their 20s in the U.S. are
experiencing significant depressive symptoms (Horigian et al., 2020).
Along with increased depression and anxiety, people are experiencing higher rates
of post-traumatic stress disorder and insomnia.
Interestingly, the old have fared better emotionally compared to younger people.
That is despite the fact that older people are more at risk from the virus (Klaiber et
al., 2020).
Mr Patrick Klaiber, the study’s first author, explained:
“Younger and middle-aged adults are faced with family- and work-related challenges,
such as working from home, homeschooling children and unemployment.
They are also more likely to experience different types of ongoing non-pandemic
stressors than older adults, such as interpersonal conflicts.”
The personality type faring the worst during the pandemic is, unsurprisingly, people
high in neuroticism.
And the personality type ‘enjoying’ the pandemic?
Sadists.
5. Working from home
Perhaps one of the biggest changes to people’s lives is the accelerating trend
towards working from home.
The challenges people face working from home are well-known and include a loss of
social connectedness, lack of separation between work-life and home-life and
increased risk of substance abuse (Kniffin et al., 2020).
There are advantages as well, of course, but periods of dramatic change like this are
bound to be stressful for people.
Whether people will go back to the office and how these changes will play out over
the coming years, we just do not know.

4. 6. Relationship strain
The pandemic put tremendous strain on people’s relationships.
With schools shut, parents suddenly had to take on more childcare responsibilities.
Women did more than their fair share, research from the U.S. has found (Shockley et
al., 2020).
That was bad for relationships, explained Dr Kristen Shockley, the study’s first
author:
“When the wife does it all, not surprisingly, the outcomes are bad for the couple.
It’s not just bad for the wife, it’s also bad for the husband, including in terms of job
performance although his work role presumably hasn’t changed.
When one person’s doing it all, there’s a lot of tension in the relationship, and it’s
probably spilling over into the husband’s ability to focus at work.”
7. Upsetting dreams
The pandemic has not just changed people’s days, it has warped their nights as well,
infecting our dreams.
The most common bad dreams are worrying about failures in social distancing,
forgetting to wear a mask, getting the disease itself and even the end of the world.
Bad dreams may be one way for the brain to process and so reduce the fear related
to the virus.
Once again, though, it is women that are having the worst of the pandemic, suffering
more bad dreams than men (Schredl & Bulkeley, 2020).
B. How we coped with COVID
The keys to keeping psychologically healthy are similar whether or not there is a
pandemic.
Eating right, exercising and the rest will help at any time, but there are some factors
that are particularly relevant during the pandemic.
Here are a few of them:

5. 8. Stay in touch with emotions
Staying in touch with your emotions is a good way to deal with COVID-19 stress.
It is natural to experience emotions like sadness, fear, loneliness and anxiety during
the pandemic.
However, people who are psychologically flexible tend to do better.
Flexibility means acknowledging emotions, accepting them and taking whatever
action is possible.
Continuing to do whatever is important to you — even if it is in modified form — is
key to reducing stress.
9. Meaningful activities
Meaningful activities are central to boosting happiness while social distancing and
lockdown rules are in effect.
In contrast, keeping busy just for the sake of it does not boost happiness.
Indeed, mindless busywork tends to leave people feeling unsatisfied and unsettled.
It is better to continue with activities that were enjoyable before the pandemic, as far
as possible.
When people took up novelty lockdown activities, like baking and painting, just to
keep busy, this was linked to more extreme emotions.
Incidentally, people who feel life has less purpose tend to sleep worse, research
finds.
This could be one of the reasons that people report sleeping worse during the
current pandemic.
During lockdown people are denied many of the usual routines that give meaning to
life, such as work, meeting with friends and pursuing recreational activities.
Without these, life becomes devoid of purpose.

6. 10. Nature
Access to nature is vital for surviving the pandemic.
People who are able to get out into nature are less likely to suffer depression and
anxiety during lockdown.
Even a natural view from inside can help to ameliorate the effects of COVID-19
related policies.
Pandemic or not, green and blue spaces have a remarkable healing effect on
people’s mental health.
11. Partners for comfort
People’s partners provide the best buffer against social disconnection due to the
pandemic.
Romantic partners help keep each other’s well-being from taking a knock from social
isolation.
In contrast, chatting with friends on Facetime and any number of children and pets
have little effect on making people feel socially connected.
In other words, it doesn’t matter how big your household is, it’s all down to the quality
of the connection.
The research affirms the importance of romantic partners for mental well-being.
12. Get help online
Like everything else nowadays, psychology went online.
People are going online to get help and psychologists are going online to give it.
The number of clinical psychologists helping people online has gone up 12-fold, one
recent study found (Pierce et al., 2020).
Jayadeva de Silva for Humantalents International