scholarly journals Utilitarian Reasoning About Moral Problems of the COVID-19 Crisis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joaquin Navajas ◽  
Facundo Álvarez Heduan ◽  
Gerry Garbulsky ◽  
Enzo Tagliazucchi ◽  
Dan Ariely ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Moral Dilemmas ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Permissive Attitude ◽  
Moral Problems ◽  
The Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised complex moral dilemmas such as deciding how to assign scarce medical resources, or whether it is acceptable to share sensitive private data to effectively trace the virus. Here, we aimed at unfolding the reasoning processes underlying people’s responses to these and other contemporary moral problems. We report data from a large-scale study (N=15,420) across 10 countries where the impact of the pandemic has been highly dissimilar. A dimensionality analysis of moral preferences revealed that two principal components explained most of the variance in the data. The first dimension is consistent with a concern about human life expectancy and the second dimension suggests an interest in equitable public health. Consistent with the predictions of a bi-dimensional theory of moral reasoning, we found that each of these two dimensions correlated with different aspects of utilitarian thinking. While maximizing human life expectancy correlated with a permissive attitude towards instrumental harm, focusing on equitable public health was associated with an impartial concern for the greater good. The data also suggests that, above and beyond the effects given by individual differences in moral, personality, and demographic variables, country-level variations in the severity of the pandemic modulated the projection onto both dimensions. These results suggest that the utilitarian prioritization of public health over other aspects of wellbeing is shaped by the intensity of the crisis.

scholarly journals Moral responses to the COVID-19 crisis

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 210096
Author(s):  
Joaquin Navajas ◽  
Facundo Álvarez Heduan ◽  
Gerry Garbulsky ◽  
Enzo Tagliazucchi ◽  
Dan Ariely ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Animal Rights ◽  
Data Privacy ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Formal Analysis ◽  
Moral Dilemmas ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
The Usa

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised complex moral dilemmas that have been the subject of extensive public debate. Here, we study how people judge a set of controversial actions related to the crisis: relaxing data privacy standards to allow public control of the pandemic, forbidding public gatherings, denouncing a friend who violated COVID-19 protocols, prioritizing younger over older patients when medical resources are scarce, and reducing animal rights to accelerate vaccine development. We collected acceptability judgements in an initial large-scale study with participants from 10 Latin American countries ( N = 15 420). A formal analysis of the intrinsic correlations between responses to different dilemmas revealed that judgements were organized in two dimensions: one that reflects a focus on human life expectancy and one that cares about the health of all sentient lives in an equitable manner. These stereotyped patterns of responses were stronger in people who endorsed utilitarian decisions in a standardized scale. A second pre-registered study performed in the USA ( N = 1300) confirmed the replicability of these findings. Finally, we show how the prioritization of public health correlated with several contextual, personality and demographic factors. Overall, this research sheds light on the relationship between utilitarian decision-making and moral responses to the COVID-19 crisis.

The complication of cyber manhunt: How cyber manhunt further complicated the ethical conflict between breaching the confidentiality and endangering the society in face of the COVID-19 pandemic (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yen-Chang Chen ◽  
Yen-Yuan Chen
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Public Health Intervention ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Online Activity ◽  
Contact Investigation ◽  
The Impact

UNSTRUCTURED While health care and public health workers are working on measures to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an unprecedentedly large number of people spending much more time indoors, and relying heavily on the Internet as their lifeline. What has been overlooked is the influence of the increasing online activities on public health issues. In this article, we pointed out how a large-scale online activity called cyber manhunt may threaten to offset the efficacy of contact tracing investigation, a public health intervention considered highly effective in limiting further transmission in the early stage of a highly contagious disease outbreak such as the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first section, we presented a case to show how personal information obtained from contact investigation and disclosed in part on the media provoked a vehement cyber manhunt. We then discussed the possible reasons why netizens collaborate to reveal anonymized personal information about contact investigation, and specify, from the perspective of public health and public health ethics, four problems of cyber manhunt, including the lack of legitimate public health goals, the concerns about privacy breach, the impact of misinformation, and social inequality. Based on our analysis, we concluded that more moral weight may be given to protecting one's confidentiality, especially in an era with the rapid advance of digital and information technologies.

scholarly journals On (post) modern economy and (non) freedom

2005 ◽  
Vol 50 (166) ◽  
pp. 193-217
Author(s):  
Krstan Malesevic
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Human Life ◽  
General Internal ◽  
Modern Economy ◽  
Summum Bonum ◽  
Essential Questions ◽  
Human Liberty ◽  
Fundamental Value ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Modern Technologies

The (post)modern economy finds itself undoubtedly in the center of a large scale, radical contradictory, and uncertain current transformation of the world. Together with the (post)modern technologies it composes the dominant core of the globalizing processes, often referred to as globalization. The key features and especially the accumulated consequences of these processes pose a challenge for scientific and theoretical thought in the form of essential questions and dilemmas which are in the last instance tied to the impact of globalization on the quality and meaning of human life. This problem relates as much to individuals as it does to different social groups and human communities, that is to the entire humanity as such. This paper attempts to problematise these contradictory relationships between global corporative, economy as an instrumental value and the human liberty as a substantive i.e. the highest, value in itself (summum bonum), which gives meaning and dignity to human life. Therefore if economy in one form or another covers most of human practical activity then it is certain that it can have decisive impact on the most fundamental value of human life, that is the value of freedom (individual, general, internal and external). Of course the impact of economy can act either way - as an encouragement or, as it often happens, as a deterrent to expansion of the human freedom. This paper aims to briefly indicate some causes, characteristics and consequences of global economic processes which, in a way paradoxically, contribute more to narrowing than to opening spaces of human liberty, or simply generate proliferation of "hedonism of unfreedom". Is this another case of "surplus of knowledge" and "deficit of wisdom" that so strongly characterize our age, or something else?.

scholarly journals Why Do People (Not) Engage in Social Distancing? Proximate and Ultimate Analyses of Norm-Following During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
James O. Norton ◽  
Kortnee C. Evans ◽  
Ayten Yesim Semchenko ◽  
Laith Al-Shawaf ◽  
David M. G. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Preliminary Investigation ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Public Health Organizations ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Perceived Social Norms ◽  
The Impact

COVID-19 has had a profound negative effect on many aspects of human life. While pharmacological solutions are being developed and implemented, the onus of mitigating the impact of the virus falls, in part, on individual citizens and their adherence to public health guidelines. However, promoting adherence to these guidelines has proven challenging. There is a pressing need to understand the factors that influence people’s adherence to these guidelines in order to improve public compliance. To this end, the current study investigated whether people’s perceptions of others’ adherence predict their own adherence. We also investigated whether any influence of perceived social norms was mediated by perceptions of the moral wrongness of non-adherence, anticipated shame for non-adherence, or perceptions of disease severity. One hundred fifty-two Australians participated in our study between June 6, 2020 and August 21, 2020. Findings from this preliminary investigation suggest that (1) people match their behavior to perceived social norms, and (2) this is driven, at least in part, by people using others’ behavior as a cue to the severity of disease threat. Such findings provide insight into the proximate and ultimate bases of norm-following behavior, and shed preliminary light on public health-related behavior in the context of a pandemic. Although further research is needed, the results of this study—which suggest that people use others’ behavior as a cue to how serious the pandemic is and as a guide for their own behavior—could have important implications for public health organizations, social movements, and political leaders and the role they play in the fight against epidemics and pandemics.

scholarly journals The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on College Students: An Online Survey

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 10762
Author(s):  
Thien Khai Tran ◽  
Hoa Dinh ◽  
Hien Nguyen ◽  
Dac-Nhuong Le ◽  
Dong-Ky Nguyen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Statistical Tests ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Negative Mood ◽  
Psychological State ◽  
Survey Analysis ◽  
The Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic, since its beginning in December 2019, has altered every aspect of human life. In Vietnam, the pandemic is in its fourth peak and is the most serious so far, putting Vietnam in the list of top 30 countries with the highest daily cases. In this paper, we wish to identify the magnitude of its impact on college students in Vietnam. As far as we’re concerned, college students belong to the most affected groups in the population, especially in big cities that have been hitting hard by the virus. We conducted an online survey from 31 May 2021 to 9 June 2021, asking students from four representative regions in Vietnam to describe how the pandemic has changed their lifestyle and studying environment, as well as their awareness, compliance, and psychological state. The collected answers were processed to eliminate unreliable ones then prepared for sentiment analysis. To analyze the relationship among the variables, we performed a variety of statistical tests, including Shapiro–Wilk, Mc Nemar, Mann–Whitney–Wilcoxon, Kruskal–Wallis, and Pearson’s Chi-square tests. Among 1875 students who participated, many did not embrace online education. A total of 64.53% of them refused to think that online education would be the upcoming trend. During the pandemic, nearly one quarter of students were in a negative mood. About the same number showed signs of depression. We also observed that there were increasing patterns in sleeping time, body weight, and sedentary lifestyle. However, they maintained a positive attitude toward health protection and compliance with government regulations (65.81%). As far as we know, this is the first project to conduct such a large-scale survey analysis on students in Vietnam. The findings of the paper help us take notice of financial and mental needs and perspective issues for indigent students, which contributes to reducing the pandemic’s negative effects and going forwards to a better and more sustainable life.

scholarly journals Incidence of Photovoltaics in Cities Based on Indicators of Occupancy and Urban Sustainability

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 810 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Barragán-Escandón ◽  
Esteban Zalamea-León ◽  
Julio Terrados-Cepeda
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Urban Energy ◽  
Urban Level ◽  
Energy Emissions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The City

Previous research has assessed the potential of solar energy against possible demand; however, the sustainability issues associated with the use of large-scale photovoltaic deployment in urban areas have not been jointly established. In this paper, the impact of photovoltaic energy in the total urban energy mix is estimated using a series of indicators that consider the economic, environmental and social dimensions. These indicators have been previously applied at the country level; the main contribution of this research is applying them at the urban level to the city of Cuenca, Ecuador. Cuenca is close to the equatorial line and at a high altitude, enabling this area to reach the maximum self-supply index because of the high irradiation levels and reduced demand. The solar potential was estimated using a simple methodology that applies several indexes that were proven reliable in a local context considering this particular sun path. The results demonstrate that the solar potential can meet the electric power demand of this city, and only the indicator related to employment is positive and substantially affected. The indicators related to the price of energy, emissions and fossil fuel dependency do not change significantly, unless a fuel-to-electricity transport system conversions take place.

Exploring the Relationship between ICTs and Public Health at Country Level

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viju Raghupathi ◽  
Wullianallur Raghupathi
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mortality Rate ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Health Indicators ◽  
Fertility Rate ◽  
Child Immunization ◽  
The Public ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Public Health Indicators ◽  
The Relationship

The authors use a health analytics approach to investigate the relationship between information and communication technology (ICT) and public health at a country level. The research uses the ICT factors of accessibility, usage, quality, affordability, trade, and applications, as well as the public delivery indicators of adolescent fertility rate, child immunization for DPT, child immunization for measles, tuberculosis detection rate, life expectancy, adult female mortality rate, and adult male mortality rate. ICT data was collected from the International Telecommunication Union ICT Indicator database. The public health data was collected from the World Bank website. Results of the analytics indicate that ICT factors are positively associated with some public health indicators. Nearly all of the ICT factors are positively associated with the public health indicators of immunization rates, TB detection rates, and life expectancy. The association with adult mortality is negative, which is also favorable. However, the association of ICT with fertility rate is negative, which is an unfavorable effect. These results offer insight into the importance of understanding the positive and adverse impacts of ICT on public health so as to guide national policy decisions in the future.

Communicating Public Health Advice After a Chemical Spill: Results From National Surveys in the United Kingdom and Poland

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia M. Pearce ◽  
G. James Rubin ◽  
Richard Amlôt ◽  
Simon Wessely ◽  
M. Brooke Rogers
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Hazardous Substance ◽  
Crisis Communications ◽  
Public Health Preparedness ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Cost ◽  
And Coping ◽  
The Impact

AbstractObjectiveThe aim of this study was to enhance public health preparedness for incidents that involve the large-scale release of a hazardous substance by examining factors likely to influence public responses to official guidance on how to limit their exposure.MethodsAn online demographically representative survey was conducted in the United Kingdom (n = 601) and Poland (n = 602) to test the strength of association of trust in authorities, anxiety, threat, and coping appraisals with the intention to comply with advice to shelter in place following a hypothetical chemical spill. The impact of ease of compliance and style of message presentation were also examined.ResultsParticipants were more likely to comply if at home when the incident happened, but message presentation had little impact. Coping appraisals and trust were key predictors of compliance, but threat appraisals were associated with noncompliance. Anxiety was seen to promote behavioral change. UK participants were more likely to comply than Polish participants.ConclusionsSuccessful crisis communications during an emergency should aim to influence perceptions regarding the efficacy of recommended behaviors, the difficulties people may have in following advice, and perceptions about the cost of following recommended behaviors. Generic principles of crisis communication may need adaptation for national contexts. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2013;7:65-74)

scholarly journals Time and well¬being

2015 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Robert Levine
Keyword(s):  
Time Use ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Temporal Orientation ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Event Time ◽  
Country Level ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Way

This paper examines the impact of temporal experience—time use, conceptions of time and temporal norms—on happiness and well-being and suggests public policies to enhance these experiences. First, it reviews literature concerning the interrelationships of time, money and happiness. Second, it reviews data and issues concerning the use of work and non-work hours around the world. Third, it describes a broader range of temporal issues to be considered in policymaking decisions, e.g. clock versus event time-keeping, monochronic versus polychronic approaches, the definition of wasted time, the pace of life, and temporal orientation. Finally, suggestions are of ered for the formulation of time-use policies intended to increase individual and collective happiness. It is a virtual truism that the way we use our time is the way we live our lives. Our time is our most valuable possession. Much of this time, however, is controlled by others, ranging from our employers to our closest family members. It is also clear that there are profound dif erences-- individual, socio-economic, cultural and national--in the degree to which people hold control over their own time (e.g., LEVINE, 1997; LEE, et al., 2007). It may be argued that public policies are needed to protect the “temporal rights” of individuals, particularly those who are most vulnerable to exploitation. This paper was sparked by an ambitious large-scale project in which I had the opportunity to participate. The project was initiated in the Spring of 2012 following a United Nations resolution, adopted unanimously by the General Assembly, placing “happiness” on the global agenda. The nation of Bhutan was asked to convene an interdisciplinary group of international “experts” to craft recommendations for policies to raise worldwide happiness; more specifically, to develop a “new paradigm for world development.” Bhutan, a small, landlocked, relatively poor Himalayan nation, was chosen for this task because of its pioneering Gross National Happiness (GNH) project. “Progress,” the GNH designers declared, “should be viewed not only through the lens of economics but also from spiritual, social, cultural and ecological perspectives.” Happiness and development, in other words, depend on more than growth and the accumulation of money. England, Canada and other countries and country-level organizations have subsequently followed Bhutan’s lead and established GNH measures of their own (LEVINE, 2013). One of the nine core domains of Bhutan’s GNH index is “time use,” which comprised my section of the report. The present paper draws heavily on that report and the insights that research of ered me. I will address four major sets of issues: I. The inter-relationships of time, money and happiness. Most importantly, what is the relevance of time use to well-being and happiness? II. Time Use: Work hour issues and policies. III. Other temporal factors that need to be considered when formulating policies to increase happiness. IV. Suggestions for policymaking: The call for a “Temporal Bill of Rights.”

scholarly journals Student Perception of Interest in Learning and its Impact on Online Learning of Public Health Study Program, University of Muhammadiyah Jakarta

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 687-702
Author(s):  
Indah Nofita ◽  
Karimah Azzahra ◽  
Lentera Mahameru Kaffah ◽  
Nabilah Nur Haenisa ◽  
Munaya Fauziah
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Parental Support ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Learning System ◽  
Health Study ◽  
Motivation To Learn ◽  
Physical Point ◽  
The Impact

In Indonesia, a large-scale social restriction policy or commonly known as PSBB has been implemented to further suppress the spread of this virus in Indonesia. The education sector is changing due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The government through the Letter of the Minister of Education and Culture Number 36962 / MPK.A / HK / 2020 concerning Online Learning and Working from Home to Prevent the Spread of Covid-19 as an effort to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The Learning System has changed from face-to-face to online where this research was conducted at the Faculty of Public Health, the University of Muhammadiyah Jakarta in 2021. The objective of this study was to determine student perceptions regarding online learning during the Covid-19 period. Descriptive research method design with a qualitative approach with phenomenological methods. The sample in this study was four (4) students consisting of one second semester, one fourth semester, and two sixth semesters. This study wants to explore the phenomena experienced by students in online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The variables studied include behavior, perception, motivation, action and some of them are grouped into learning impacts, physical linkages, infrastructure, and holistic Islamic practices experienced by students in online learning. The result from The impact of learning is that students feel less interested in learning, less effective, and less understanding. From a physical point of view, eye fatigue is felt, from facilities and infrastructure students feel signal barriers when doing online learning from parental support to support online learning and from Islamic practice in the learning process carried out by several lecturers, in terms of decreased motivation to learn students experience decreased motivation to learn, in terms of student satisfaction, they are not satisfied and want offline learning.

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