Page 8 - IJPS-8-2

International Journal of
Population Studies Psychosocial stress and risk assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic

extensive variety of measures undertaken to combat it. The hazardous events and disasters usually leads to increased
perception of such danger caused mass worldwide stress, risk perception (Božović, Mihajlović and Živković, 2019).
fear, and anxiety, which suggests that there is also a fear Of the three said factors, fear impacts human risk
pandemic to consider (Vujčić, Safiye, Milikić, et al., 2021). perception the most. When people face danger situations,
The crisis has affected all social strata, and no one has been their anxiety or fear of exposure to risk impacts their
spared from the effects. behavior (Mun, Moon, Kim, et al., 2021). In addition
The subject matter of this paper involves description to fear, individual risk perception and assessment also
and determination of individual behavior and risk depend on the type of risk (voluntary versus involuntary),
perception when facing danger and crises. The aim of individual characteristics (specific personal traits, age,
the paper is to review the specific nature and complexity level of education, income group, etc.), the nature of
of risk assessment during a crisis accompanied by stress, consequences (immediate versus delayed), and the
particularly in the case of current COVID-19 global ability to control risk. People are prone to assessing risk
pandemic, with an empirical focus on Serbia. in a multifaceted but subjective way, which is why it is
important to communicate about risk – to exchange risk
2. Psychosocial stress and risk assessment information interactively among risk assessors, persons
It is a well-known fact in psychology that there is a in charge, the media, stakeholders, and the broader public
significant difference between the actual objective state and (Brown, 2014).
the subjective perception of objects, events, or situations, Risk perception is important in determining health
especially when there is insufficient information or when protective behavior during the crisis caused by the COVID-
consciousness is in an altered state, for instance under 19 pandemic (Mun, Moon, Kim, et al., 2021). Public
extreme stress (Čabarkapa, 2016). Under the influence of perception and social construction of risks and threats are
thus altered perception and a series of mental, emotional, important for analyzing, assessing, and responding to crisis
and motivational factors affecting information processing, situations (Borodzicz, 2005; Beck, 1992; Mun, Moon, Kim,
a wide discrepancy may arise between the objectively et al., 2021). Strategies and methods are being developed
present risk and the subjectively perceived and assessed for the design of national or regional risk maps, with clear
risk (Seneviratne, Baldry and Pathirage, 2010). This paper indications of the effects, including not only safety and
will not discuss all the theories, factors, and types of risk health effects but also economic and social costs. Such
associated with different areas of people’s everyday life assessments and scenarios should be instituted beforehand
and activity, but will refer to risk in terms of negative and used proactively to draw an adequate response from
effects on the safety, health, and well-being of individuals, the community and hold proper political debates on risk
groups, or society in general within the context of stress acceptance (Borodzicz, 2005).
and crisis. Hazard perception and risk assessment are an To explain why different people assess different risks
important cognitive variable for the understanding of differently, scientists proposed three paradigms: Axiomatic,
people’s decisions and their adaptation before, during, sociocultural, and psychometric (Weber, 2001; White, 1974).
and after hazardous events (Weber, 2001; White, 1974). Studies dealing with the axiomatic paradigm focused on
The previous research regarding this topic indicates that the general biological and psychological principles and
there are considerable differences in risk assessments on the way people subjectively transform the objective
performed by technical experts, the media and the general information about the risk. The sociocultural paradigm is
public, and individuals of different age, gender, and culture prevalently focused on culture, rather than on individual
(Seneviratne, Baldry and Pathirage, 2010). psychology, as the explanation of differences in risk
Important psychological determinants of perceived decision-making. Anthropologists and sociologists claim
risk include fear, exposure, and familiarity of risks that risk perception is rooted in cultural and social factors
(Božović, Mihajlović and Živković, 2019). Fear refers and that culture is essential to explaining the differences
to the possibility of suffering, which is a clear emotional in risk perception. Studies examining the psychometric
and cognitive indicator of what people intuitively think of paradigm have shown that people’s emotional reactions
risk. Exposure refers to the actual exposure of people to to risk events or behaviors affect their assessment of the
hazards. Familiarity pertains to the previous experience degree of risk, as the assessment often goes beyond the
with and knowledge about a risk. Experience gained objective consequences, claiming that both experts and
during a disaster event significantly alters personal hazard laypersons fully perpetuate false representations of several
perception as well as individual opinions and behaviors aspects of danger (Weber, 2001; White, 1974). Researchers
in terms of preparedness for facing danger. Memory of identified the most common systemic biases that could

Volume 8 Issue 2 (2022) 2 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.v8i2.1335