Emotional and cognitive representation of COVID-19 among Polish adults during the peak of the second wave of the pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: This paper presents the results of cognitive and emotional representation of COVID-19 in the sample of adult Poles during the peak of the second wave of the pandemic (November–December 2020). Aims: The study was designed to investigate the mental and emotional representation of COVID-19 in adult Poles. It was hypothesised that the representation would have a different structure depending on gender, age, education as well as personal experience of COVID-19 or other medical conditions. Methods: The survey was carried out in November and December 2020, and involved two hundred Polish adults aged 17 to 58 years (Mage = 32.59, SD = 10.19). The subjects were surveyed via the Google Forms web survey platform. A link to the survey was sent to the participants on Facebook. Results: Three in four respondents were found to believe that COVID-19 indeed existed, and that a virus was the most important cause of the problem. According to nearly one in two respondents, the effects of the disease were exaggerated by the mass media. On average, the respondents tend to believe that the severity of the disease may be controlled by one’s behaviour. The emotional representation of COVID-19 reflected predominantly negative emotions. The respondents were convinced that the disease led to significant consequences affecting the domains of personal life and work. Discussion: According to many participants, the effects of the disease are overestimated in media reports. The lack of knowledge about neurological and neuropsychological complications suggests that this aspect of the disease is insufficiently emphasised in the mass media during the second wave of the pandemic. Conclusions: Individual variables and experience of COVID-19 affect one’s cognitive and emotional representation of the disease and one’s beliefs concerning the mitigation of risks. This means that any future information related to COVID-19, and the promotion of knowledge concerning the possible mechanisms of disease development, must be conveyed in a way adjusted to gender and age as well as the level of education.