Special Issue on Psychology of Uncertainty and Vulnerabilities: COVID-19 Pandemic Related Crisis

Abstract

What happens when what is more or less predictable in our lives becomes uncertain? Simple things like going out for work, visiting friends and relatives, or even grocery shopping have been uncertain for most of us in all regions of the world for almost two years, since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many such uncertainties about our present as well as future, unfolded during the various waves of COVID-19. Throughout the world, most people experienced uncertainties about health, economic, social, and personal lives. This has impacted our health, wellbeing, productivity, and posed many challenges for all of us. As Anderson et al. (2019) point out, uncertainty is a mental state, a subjective or cognitive experience that many people experience as aversive (Carleton, 2016). Individuals and communities are all facing what has been called the ‘‘new normal’’, with significant changes in our lifestyles and the way we work and function. Like it is for many social issues, it is true that marginalized and vulnerable groups all over the world have been hardest hit by the pandemic. In light of this ravaging health emergency, Psychological Studies decided to bring out this special issue on ‘‘Psychology of Uncertainty and Vulnerabilities: Pandemic Related Crisis.’’ We chose ‘‘Psychology of uncertainty and vulnerabilities’’ as the focus, because there is a close linkage between uncertainty and vulnerabilities as evidenced in literature on environmental hazards (Berkes, 2007). Understanding uncertainty helps in reducing vulnerability, as it may allow us to plan things better, mitigate some of the risks, and adapt more successfully. Many societies and communities have learnt to live with a myriad of uncertainties. Most people living in developing societies and especially global south, are adept with coping with unpredictability and uncertainties. People develop their own protocols of behaviour to cope with these uncertainties, and often such protocols are shared and become part of community and institutional memory. ‘‘Learning to live with uncertainty requires building a memory of past events, abandoning the notion of stability, expecting the unexpected, and increasing the capability to learn from crisis.’’ (Berkes, 2007; p.288). This facilitates adapting to the challenges of uncertainty. Robinson (2020) posited that uncertainty can cause tremendous anxiety. Human beings prefer psychological stability and deride uncertainty. When our certainty is questioned, stress responses set in, instantly arousing some discomfort (Robinson, 2020). In case of COVID19, the uncertainty, the uncontrollability, the sudden changes, and the fear of the unknown caused anxiety, fear, stress etc. However, there is a positive side of uncertainty too. It may facilitate out of box thinking and innovation, as demonstrated by various vaccines and testing facilities, developed & Tholene Sodi [email protected]