Social Comparison for Concern and Action on Climate Change, Racial Injustice, and COVID-19

Preventing the negative impacts of major, intersectional U.S. social issues hinges on personal concern and willingness to take action. We examined social comparison of COVID-19, racial injustice, and climate change during Fall 2020. Participants in a U.S. university sample (n = 288), reported personal levels of concern and action taken on these issues, and estimated their peers’ concern and action. Participants accurately estimated similar levels of personal and peer concern for racial injustice and climate change, but overestimated peer concern for COVID-19. At higher personal concern levels, people estimated that they took greater action than peers for all issues. Exploratory analyses found that perceived personal control over social issues increased participants’ concern and action for racial injustice and climate change, but yielded no change for COVID-19. This suggests that issue-specific features, including perceived controllability, may drive people to differently assess their experience of distinct social issues relative to peers.

PHILOSOPHY OF GANDHI: VIEWS ON RELIGION AND GOD

Religion, according to Gandhi, is more or less, a way of life, and as such is the personal concern of the individual who has to choose his way of life. Gandhi believes that different religions are the different ways of apprehending the Truth. The basic conviction of Gandhi is that there is one reality – that of God, which is nothing else but Truth. His religious ideas are also derived from that conviction. If Truth is God, sincere pursuit of Truth is religion. Religion is ordinarily defined as devotion to some higher power or principle, Gandhi is not against such a description of religion, he only qualifies it further by saying that higher principle being truth, devotion to Truth (or God) is religion. Gandhi believes that true religion has to be practical. Therefore, he says that religion should pervade every aspect of our life. Religion is the belief that there is an ordered moral government of the universe, and this belief must have practical bearings for all aspects of life. According to Gandhi there is no difference between religious ideal and metaphysical or moral ideal, the religious way is also the way of truth – Sathyagraha. This paper discuss about Gandhi’s ideas of God, religion, the way of religion and the religious harmony in the world.

Over-estimation of Covid-19 Risks to Healthy and Non-Elderly Predict Support for Continuing Restrictions Past Vaccinations

I test the possibility that people who provide higher estimates of negative consequences of Covid-19 (e.g., hospitalizations, deaths, and threats to children) will be more likely to support the ‘new normal’; continuation of restrictions for an undefined period of time starting with wide-spread access to vaccines and completed vaccinations of vulnerable people. Results based on N = 1,233 from April, 2021 suggested that people over-estimate Covid-19 risks, and those over-estimates were consistently related to stronger support for continuing restrictions. This relationship emerged in four different samples, using core and supplementary risk estimations, and persisted after controlling for Covid-19 denialism, political ideology, and personal concern of contracting Covid-19. People were also more likely to support continuing restrictions if they believed there is scientific consensus on Covid-19 matters, even on issues where there is none (e.g., wearing masks while driving alone). The study concludes with a discussion of the ethical implications of letting both over- and under-estimation of Covid-19 go uncorrected. Just as it is important to combat misinformation that leads people to disregard health mandates, it is crucial to examine the real possibility that people’s support for continuing risk mitigation practices may also not be based on accurate information.

Persistence of Choice as a Reflection of Social Giftedness

The article raises the issue of social giftedness and outlines the necessity of the fundamental study of this phenomenon. The author suggests that social giftedness is reflected in the stability of socially oriented behavior and in more complex and diverse interest in one's own personality: in appreciation of one’s own uniqueness and in participation in a wide range of small and large social groups, where one expresses one’s involvement through personal concern for the groups. The object of the study is to identify the relationship between the stability of one’s choice for the benefit of the group and social giftedness. The proposed hypothesis states that socially gifted schoolchildren tend to make persistent socially oriented choices (with collectivistic cognitive orientation). The hypothesis was tested on a sample of third-graders by means of M. Kuhn and T. McPartland’s test "Who am I" and an experiment of collectivistic/individualistic choices relating to the presence of an authoritative figure. The study confirms that persistence of collectivistic choices is characteristic of socially gifted students.

Cyberchondriasis

Studies show a rising trend that individuals who worry about their health regularly search the internet. Recently, potentially negative effects of doing so have been highlighted. Illness anxiety and negative affectivity may influence these effects. We tested if searching the internet about a personal symptom leads to increased health concerns and if these traits have an impact. Data from 79 students were collected. Participants were asked to name and evaluate a symptom of personal concern and to research that symptom using the Internet for 5 min. Searching the internet resulted in a significant increase in health concerns and this was significantly moderated by negative affectivity but not by illness anxiety. A replication of these findings, possibly with an older sample scoring higher on illness anxiety will help to better understand the relations described above, and to point consumers and health professionals into the right direction regarding media usage.

Could Attitudes Toward COVID-19 in Spain Render Men More Vulnerable Than Women?

The COVID-1 pandemic affects the whole world. Spain is 3rd in the world and 2nd in Europe with largest number of diagnosed cases. Spanish citizens’ attitudes are important in controlling the pandemic. This research assessed key attitudes of the Spanish people toward COVID-19. One study (n =64) was conducted in a shopping center in Madrid and another (n= 640) online. The results of both studies suggest that women in Spain have a ‘more responsible’ attitude toward the COVID-19 than men. Young adults (18-25 years) appear to perceive less threatening the epidemic than older adults. Spanish people’s personal concern about COVID-19 is less than their perceived social alarm about it. Compliance is the strongest predictor of the approval to stay at home, which is the highest rated preventive measure by the Spanish people. These results might help policy makers in targeting public attitudes which could play an important role in the exponentially rising cases of COVID-19.

Environment Status: Official Assessment vs Perception by the Population

Environmental deterioration is a challenge for all major cities. Public authorities improve environment monitoring systems, develop and implement measures to reduce the negative consequences of manufacturing activities, inform the population. The article analyzes data on the state and dynamics of the environment status in Kemerovo (Western Siberia, Russia), where a large number of manufacturing enterprises are concentrated. The results of Kemerovo population survey aimed at assessment of perception of the air and water pollution degree, the attitude to the influence of meteorological conditions and landscape features on the environment status, and identification of respondents’ opinions about the enterprises having the greatest impact on the environment are described. In addition, the survey assessed changes in the environment status and the degree of personal concern of citizens. The results of the survey were compared with statistic data; a number of discrepancies were identified. The authors offer some recommendations for public authorities on working with the population on environmental issues.