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Social and Behavioral Sciences

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

COVID-19

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Profiles Of Activity Engagement And Depression Trajectories As Covid-19 Restrictions Were Relaxed, Jonathan L. Chia, Andree Hartanto, William Tov Feb 2024

Profiles Of Activity Engagement And Depression Trajectories As Covid-19 Restrictions Were Relaxed, Jonathan L. Chia, Andree Hartanto, William Tov

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Given elevated depression rates since the onset of the pandemic and potential downstream implications, this research examined the association between activity engagement and depression among middle-aged and older adults postlockdown. This study aimed to (a) identify activity engagement profiles among middle-aged and older adults, (b) understand factors associated with profile memberships, and (c) compare depression trajectories across profiles as COVID-19 restrictions eased over 16 months in Singapore. This longitudinal study involved 6,568 middle-aged and older adults. Latent growth analysis was first conducted to obtain estimates of depression trajectories for each individual. Latent profile analysis was then conducted to identify different …


A Dual-Angle Exploration Towards Understanding Lapses In Covid-19 Social Responsibility, Sean T. H. Lee, Jerome J. X. Mah, Angela K. Y. Leung Feb 2024

A Dual-Angle Exploration Towards Understanding Lapses In Covid-19 Social Responsibility, Sean T. H. Lee, Jerome J. X. Mah, Angela K. Y. Leung

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Breaking infection chains requires not just behaviours that allow individuals to stay healthy and uninfected (i.e. health protective behaviours) but also for those who are possibly infected to protect others from their harboured infection risk (i.e. socially responsible behaviours). However, socially responsible behaviours entail costs without clear, immediate benefits to the individual, such that public health-risking lapses occur from time to time. In this important yet understudied area, the current exploratory study sought to identify possible psychological factors that may affect people's likelihood of engaging in socially responsible behaviours. Assuming that self-perceived infection should provide an impetus to engage in …


Greater Traditionalism Predicts Covid-19 Precautionary Behaviors Across 27 Societies, Theodore Samore, D. M. T. Fessler, A. M. Sparks, C. Holbrook, L. Aaroe, Norman P. Li, Kai Lin Lynn Tan, Et Al Dec 2023

Greater Traditionalism Predicts Covid-19 Precautionary Behaviors Across 27 Societies, Theodore Samore, D. M. T. Fessler, A. M. Sparks, C. Holbrook, L. Aaroe, Norman P. Li, Kai Lin Lynn Tan, Et Al

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

People vary both in their embrace of their society’s traditions, and in their perception of hazards as salient and necessitating a response. Over evolutionary time, traditions have offered avenues for addressing hazards, plausibly resulting in linkages between orientations toward tradition and orientations toward danger. Emerging research documents connections between traditionalism and threat responsivity, including pathogen-avoidance motivations. Additionally, because hazard-mitigating behaviors can conflict with competing priorities, associations between traditionalism and pathogen avoidance may hinge on contextually contingent tradeoffs. The COVID-19 pandemic provides a real-world test of the posited relationship between traditionalism and hazard avoidance. Across 27 societies (N = 7844), we …


Public Service Motivation And Job Satisfaction Amid Covid-19: Exploring The Effects Of Work Environment Changes, Seulki Lee, Chongmin Na Nov 2023

Public Service Motivation And Job Satisfaction Amid Covid-19: Exploring The Effects Of Work Environment Changes, Seulki Lee, Chongmin Na

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought critical changes to job demands and resources, which in turn affect employee motivation and outcomes. This study explores how COVID-19–induced work intensity and COVID-19–related organizational support influence public service motivation (PSM) and job satisfaction. Using survey data from a nationally representative sample of 1,430 South Korean central government employees collected during the pandemic (May–June 2020), we find that COVID-19–induced work intensity is positively associated with PSM, which in turn has a positive association with job satisfaction. We also find that COVID-19–related organizational support has both direct and indirect associations with job satisfaction through PSM. These …


The Role Of Cosmopolitan Orientation In Covid-19-Related Attitudes: Perceived Threats And Opportunities, Vaccination Willingness, And Support For Collective Containment Efforts, Angela K. Y. Leung, Brandon Koh, Verity Yu Qing Lua, James H. Liu, Sarah Y. Choi, I-Ching Lee, Michelle Lee, Mei-Hua Lin, Darrin Hodgetts, Sylvia X. Chen Aug 2023

The Role Of Cosmopolitan Orientation In Covid-19-Related Attitudes: Perceived Threats And Opportunities, Vaccination Willingness, And Support For Collective Containment Efforts, Angela K. Y. Leung, Brandon Koh, Verity Yu Qing Lua, James H. Liu, Sarah Y. Choi, I-Ching Lee, Michelle Lee, Mei-Hua Lin, Darrin Hodgetts, Sylvia X. Chen

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Cosmopolitan individuals identify themselves as "citizens of the world." In the present research, we tested the idea that endorsing a cosmopolitan orientation (CO) is adaptive in the COVID-19 crisis. Cosmopolitan individuals more readily transcend national parochialism, show greater concern for all humanity, and prioritize collective interests. In a two-wave multi-region investigation with six samples from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, and the U.S., we first established longitudinal and cross-cultural measurement invariance of the CO scale. Next, we found that people with a higher CO tended to perceive over time a greater threat posed by COVID-19, take more safety measures, …


Shock Mobilities During Moments Of Acute Uncertainty, Biao Xiang, William L. Allen, Shahram Khosravi, Helene Neveu Kringelbach, Yasmin Y. Ortiga, Karen Anne S. Liao, Cuellar Jorge E., Lamea Momen, Priya Deshingkar, Mukta And Naik Apr 2023

Shock Mobilities During Moments Of Acute Uncertainty, Biao Xiang, William L. Allen, Shahram Khosravi, Helene Neveu Kringelbach, Yasmin Y. Ortiga, Karen Anne S. Liao, Cuellar Jorge E., Lamea Momen, Priya Deshingkar, Mukta And Naik

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The COVID-19 pandemic and interventions addressing it raise important questions about human mobility that have geopolitical implications. This forum uses mobility and immobility during the pandemic as lenses onto the ways that routinised state power reacts to acute uncertainties, as well as how these reactions impact politics and societies. Specifically, we propose the concept of "shock mobility" as migratory routines radically reconfigured: emergency flights from epicentres, mass repatriations, lockdowns, quarantines. Patterns of shock mobility and immobility are not new categories of movement, but rather are significant alterations to the timing, duration, intensity, and relations among existing movements. Many of these …


A Narrative Review Of Screen Time And Wellbeing Among Adolescents Before And During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Implications For The Future, Verity Yu Qing Lua, Terence B. K. Chua, Michael Y. H. Chia Feb 2023

A Narrative Review Of Screen Time And Wellbeing Among Adolescents Before And During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Implications For The Future, Verity Yu Qing Lua, Terence B. K. Chua, Michael Y. H. Chia

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the lives of many. In particular, during the height of the pandemic, many experienced lockdowns, which in turn increased screen time drastically. While the pandemic has been declared an endemic and most activities have been reinstated, there appears to still be elevated screen time among adolescents due to poor habits formed during the pandemic lockdowns. This paper explores the factors by which screen time affects well-being among adolescents and how the pandemic may have influenced some of these factors. For example, beyond having greater screen time, many adolescents have also reduced their physical activities and …


The Effects Of Ses, Social Support, And Resilience On Older Adults’ Well-Being During Covid-19: Evidence From Singapore, Mindy Eiko Tadai, Paulin Tay Straughan, Grace Cheong, Rachel Ngu Wen Yi, Yan Er Tan Feb 2023

The Effects Of Ses, Social Support, And Resilience On Older Adults’ Well-Being During Covid-19: Evidence From Singapore, Mindy Eiko Tadai, Paulin Tay Straughan, Grace Cheong, Rachel Ngu Wen Yi, Yan Er Tan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The COVID-19 pandemic has rendered visible many socioeconomic inequalities and the lengthy period of dis- ruption to everyday life had disproportionate effects on the most vulnerable groups in Singapore and across the world. Utilizing data from the Singapore Life Panel ® (SLP) collected in September 2021, this study examined a sample of 6667 older adults to assess the effects of socioeconomic status (SES) on well-being, and the mechanisms through which social support and resilience may mediate its influence. Overall, our results suggest significant direct and indirect effects of SES on well-being and provide evidence for the pivotal role that social …


Covid-19 Stress And Cognitive Failures In Daily Life: A Multilevel Examination Of Within- And Between-Persons Patterns, Nadyanna Binte Mohamed Majeed, K Tennakoon Appuhamillage Sandeeshwara Kasturiratna, Ming Yao Li, Jonathan L. Chia, Verity Y. Q. Lua, Andree Hartanto Jan 2023

Covid-19 Stress And Cognitive Failures In Daily Life: A Multilevel Examination Of Within- And Between-Persons Patterns, Nadyanna Binte Mohamed Majeed, K Tennakoon Appuhamillage Sandeeshwara Kasturiratna, Ming Yao Li, Jonathan L. Chia, Verity Y. Q. Lua, Andree Hartanto

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed an extremely high number of lives worldwide, causing widespread panic and stress. The current research examined whether COVID-19 stress was associated with everyday cognitive failures, using data from a seven-day daily diary study of 253 young adults in Singapore. Multilevel modeling revealed that COVID-19 stress was significantly associated with cognitive failures even after adjusting for demographic factors, both at the within-person and between-persons levels. Specifically, individuals experienced more cognitive failures on days they experienced more COVID-19 stress (as compared to their own average levels of COVID-19 stress), and individuals who experienced more COVID-19 stress overall …


Responses To Covid-19 Threats: An Evolutionary Psychological Analysis., Stephen M. Colarelli, Tyler J. Mirando, Kyunghee Han, Norman P. Li, Carter Vespi, Katherine A. Klein, Charles P. Fales Dec 2022

Responses To Covid-19 Threats: An Evolutionary Psychological Analysis., Stephen M. Colarelli, Tyler J. Mirando, Kyunghee Han, Norman P. Li, Carter Vespi, Katherine A. Klein, Charles P. Fales

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Responses to COVID-19 public health interventions have been lukewarm. For example, only 64% of the US population has received at least two vaccinations. Because most public health interventions require people to behave in ways that are evolutionarily novel, evolutionary psychological theory and research on mismatch theory, the behavioral immune system, and individual differences can help us gain a better understanding of how people respond to public health information. Primary sources of threat information during the pandemic (particularly in early phases) were geographic differences in morbidity and mortality statistics. We argue that people are unlikely to respond to this type of …


Family Still Matters: Human Social Motivation Across 42 Countries During A Global Pandemic, Cari M. Pick, Et. Al. Nov 2022

Family Still Matters: Human Social Motivation Across 42 Countries During A Global Pandemic, Cari M. Pick, Et. Al.

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The COVID-19 pandemic caused drastic social changes for many, including separation from friends and coworkers, enforced close contact with family, reductions in mobility, and a number of other health-related precautions. Here we assess the extent to which people’s evolutionarilyrelevant basic motivations and goals—their fundamental social motives—might have been affected. To address this question, we gathered data on these motives in 42 countries (N=15,915) in two waves, including 19 countries (N=10,907) for which data were gathered both before and during the pandemic (Pre-pandemic wave: 32 countries, N=8998; 3302 male, 5585 female; Mage=24.43, SD=7.91; Mid-pandemic wave: 29 countries, N=6917; 2249 male, 4218 …


Structured Reflection Increases Intentions To Reduce Other People’S Health Risks During Covid-19, Jairo Ramos, Marrissa D. Grant, Stephan Dickert, Kimin Eom, Alex Flores, Gabriela M. Jiga-Boy, Tehila Kogut, Marcus Mayorga, Eric J. Pedersen, Beatriz Pereira, Enrico Rubaltelli, K Sherman David, Paul Slovic, Västjäll. Daniel, Leaf Van Boven Oct 2022

Structured Reflection Increases Intentions To Reduce Other People’S Health Risks During Covid-19, Jairo Ramos, Marrissa D. Grant, Stephan Dickert, Kimin Eom, Alex Flores, Gabriela M. Jiga-Boy, Tehila Kogut, Marcus Mayorga, Eric J. Pedersen, Beatriz Pereira, Enrico Rubaltelli, K Sherman David, Paul Slovic, Västjäll. Daniel, Leaf Van Boven

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

People believe they should consider how their behavior might negatively impact other people, Yet their behavior often increases others’ health risks. This creates challenges for managing public health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. We examined a procedure wherein people reflect on their personal criteria regarding how their behavior impacts others’ health risks. We expected structured reflection to increase people's intentions and decisions to reduce others’ health risks. Structured reflection increases attention to others’ health risks and the correspondence between people's personal criteria and behavioral intentions. In four experiments during COVID-19, people (N = 12,995) reported their personal criteria about how …


In Covid-19 Health Messaging, Loss Framing Increases Anxiety With Little-To-No Concomitant Benefits: Experimental Evidence From 84 Countries, Charles A. Dorison, Et. Al., Andree Hartanto Sep 2022

In Covid-19 Health Messaging, Loss Framing Increases Anxiety With Little-To-No Concomitant Benefits: Experimental Evidence From 84 Countries, Charles A. Dorison, Et. Al., Andree Hartanto

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The COVID-19 pandemic (and its aftermath) highlights a critical need to communicate health information effectively to the global public. Given that subtle differences in information framing can have meaningful effects on behavior, behavioral science research highlights a pressing question: Is it more effective to frame COVID-19 health messages in terms of potential losses (e.g., “If you do not practice these steps, you can endanger yourself and others”) or potential gains (e.g., “If you practice these steps, you can protect yourself and others”)? Collecting data in 48 languages from 15,929 participants in 84 countries, we experimentally tested the effects of message …


A Climate Resilience Research Renewal Agenda: Learning Lessons From The Covid-19 Pandemic For Urban Climate Resilience, Mark Pelling, Winston T. L. Chow, Eric Chu, Richard Dawson, David Dodman, Arabella Fraser, Bronwyn Hayward, Luna Khirfan, Timon Mcphearson, Anjal Prakash, Gina Ziervogel Aug 2022

A Climate Resilience Research Renewal Agenda: Learning Lessons From The Covid-19 Pandemic For Urban Climate Resilience, Mark Pelling, Winston T. L. Chow, Eric Chu, Richard Dawson, David Dodman, Arabella Fraser, Bronwyn Hayward, Luna Khirfan, Timon Mcphearson, Anjal Prakash, Gina Ziervogel

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Learning lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic opens an opportunity for enhanced research and action on inclusive urban resilience to climate change. Lessons and their implications are used to describe a climate resilience research renewal agenda. Three key lessons are identified. The first lesson is generic, that climate change risk coexists and interacts with other risks through overlapping social processes, conditions and decision-making contexts. Two further lessons are urban specific: that networks of connectivity bring risk as well as resilience and that overcrowding is a key indicator of the multiple determinants of vulnerability to both COVID-19 and climate change impacts. From …


Universities In And Beyond A Pandemic, Lily Kong, Sovan Patra Jul 2022

Universities In And Beyond A Pandemic, Lily Kong, Sovan Patra

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The impact of the COVID pandemic, and concomitant public health interventions, on university operations and finances is unprecedented in its scope and scale. This chapter provides, firstly, a panorama of the challenges of tertiary teaching and learning in a socially distanced world as well as of the fiscal impact of the pandemic on universities. Secondly, it is an experience-informed personal reflection on the lessons that university instructors, researchers, and leaders can learn from the events of the past year to be more effective in sub-optimal environments, both as individuals and as members of the larger society. Finally, it presents an …


A Global Experiment On Motivating Social Distancing During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Nicole Legate, Thuy-Vy Nguyen, Andree Hartanto May 2022

A Global Experiment On Motivating Social Distancing During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Nicole Legate, Thuy-Vy Nguyen, Andree Hartanto

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Finding communication strategies that effectively motivate social distancing continues to be a global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-country, preregistered experiment (n = 25,718 from 89 countries) tested hypotheses concerning generalizable positive and negative outcomes of social distancing messages that promoted personal agency and reflective choices (i.e., an autonomy-supportive message) or were restrictive and shaming (i.e., a controlling message) compared with no message at all. Results partially supported experimental hypotheses in that the controlling message increased controlled motivation (a poorly internalized form of motivation relying on shame, guilt, and fear of social consequences) relative to no message. …


Information Trust And Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Amongst Middle-Aged And Older Adults In Singapore: A Latent Class Analysis Approach, Micah Tan, Paulin Tay Straughan, Grace Cheong Mar 2022

Information Trust And Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Amongst Middle-Aged And Older Adults In Singapore: A Latent Class Analysis Approach, Micah Tan, Paulin Tay Straughan, Grace Cheong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Rationale: COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy presents significant challenges for public health. Objective: Vaccine hesitancy among middle-aged and older adults has been a significant barrier in Singapore’s battle against COVID-19. We hypothesize that the trust middle-aged and older adults place in various sources of information influences vaccine hesitancy, and that distinct typologies of trust can be identified to better inform targeted health communication efforts. Method: Data from a nationally representative panel survey of Singaporeans aged 56–75 (N = 6094) was utilized. Modules fielded in August and November 2020, and June 2021 were analyzed, assessing social networks, trust in sources of information, and …


Politicians Polarize And Experts Depolarize Public Support For Covid-19 Management Policies Across Countries, A. Flores, J.C. Cole, S. Dickert, Kimin Eom, G.M. Jiga-Boy, T. Kogut, R. Loria, M. Mayorga, E.J. Pedersen, B. Pereira, E. Rubaltelli, D.K. Sherman, P. Slovic, D. Vastfjall, L. Van Boven Jan 2022

Politicians Polarize And Experts Depolarize Public Support For Covid-19 Management Policies Across Countries, A. Flores, J.C. Cole, S. Dickert, Kimin Eom, G.M. Jiga-Boy, T. Kogut, R. Loria, M. Mayorga, E.J. Pedersen, B. Pereira, E. Rubaltelli, D.K. Sherman, P. Slovic, D. Vastfjall, L. Van Boven

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Political polarization impeded public support for policies to reduce the spread of COVID-19, much as polarization hinders responses to other contemporary challenges. Unlike previous theory and research that focused on the United States, the present research examined the effects of political elite cues and affective polarization on support for policies to manage the COVID-19 pandemic in seven countries (n = 12,955): Brazil, Israel, Italy, South Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Across countries, cues from political elites polarized public attitudes toward COVID-19 policies. Liberal and conservative respondents supported policies proposed by ingroup politicians and parties more than …


Cognitive Barriers To Covid-19 Vaccine Uptake Among Older Adults, Jonathan L. Chia, Andree Hartanto Oct 2021

Cognitive Barriers To Covid-19 Vaccine Uptake Among Older Adults, Jonathan L. Chia, Andree Hartanto

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in tremendous loss of life. As of late-July 2021, there have been more than 191 million confirmed cases and over 4.1 million deaths recorded (1). Although most nations have developed some competency in COVID-19 containment (2–4), there are new challenges. The continual spread of COVID-19 has resulted in new variants (5–7). These new variants are posited to have a significantly higher transmissibility (8–10), with higher fatality rates (11, 12).


A Multi-Country Test Of Brief Reappraisal Interventions On Emotions During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Ka Wang, Amit Goldenberg, Charles Dorison, Et Al., Nadyanna Mohamed Majeed, Andree Hartanto Aug 2021

A Multi-Country Test Of Brief Reappraisal Interventions On Emotions During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Ka Wang, Amit Goldenberg, Charles Dorison, Et Al., Nadyanna Mohamed Majeed, Andree Hartanto

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. Left unchecked, these emotional changes might have a wide array of adverse impacts. To reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, we tested the effectiveness of reappraisal, an emotion-regulation strategy that modifies how one thinks about a situation. Participants from 87 countries and regions (n = 21,644) were randomly assigned to one of two brief reappraisal interventions (reconstrual or repurposing) or one of two control conditions (active or passive). Results revealed that both reappraisal interventions (vesus both control conditions) consistently reduced negative emotions and increased positive emotions across …


Noncompliance With Safety Guidelines As A Free-Riding Strategy: An Evolutionary Game-Theoretic Approach To Cooperation During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Jose C. Yong, Bryan K. C. Choy Mar 2021

Noncompliance With Safety Guidelines As A Free-Riding Strategy: An Evolutionary Game-Theoretic Approach To Cooperation During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Jose C. Yong, Bryan K. C. Choy

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Evolutionary game theory and public goods games offer an important framework to understand cooperation during pandemics. From this perspective, the COVID-19 situation can be conceptualized as a dilemma where people who neglect safety precautions act as free riders, because they get to enjoy the benefits of decreased health risk from others' compliance with policies despite not contributing to or even undermining public safety themselves. At the same time, humans appear to carry a suite of evolved psychological mechanisms aimed at curbing free riding in order to ensure the continued provision of public goods, which can be leveraged to develop more …


Seeking Control During Uncontrollable Times: Control Abilities And Religiosity Predict Stress During Covid-19, Shi Ann Shuna Khoo, Wei Xing Toh, Hwajin Yang Feb 2021

Seeking Control During Uncontrollable Times: Control Abilities And Religiosity Predict Stress During Covid-19, Shi Ann Shuna Khoo, Wei Xing Toh, Hwajin Yang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The COVID-19 pandemic has created an urgent need to understand the protective factors that can buffer individuals against psychological distress. We employed a latent-variable approach to examine how control-related factors such as religiosity, self-control, cognitive control, and health locus of control can act as resilience resources during stressful periods. We found that cognitive control emerged as a protective factor against COVID-19-related stress, whereas religiosity predicted a heightened level of stress. These results provide novel insights into control factors that can safeguard individuals' psychological well-being during crises such as a pandemic.


Learning Before And During The Covid-19 Outbreak: A Comparative Analysis Of Crisis Learning In South Korea And The Us, Seulki Lee, Jungwon Yeo, Chongmin Na Dec 2020

Learning Before And During The Covid-19 Outbreak: A Comparative Analysis Of Crisis Learning In South Korea And The Us, Seulki Lee, Jungwon Yeo, Chongmin Na

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Learning is imperative in government responses to crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examines the South Korean and United States governments’ responses to COVID-19 from a comparative perspective. The analysis focuses on crisis learning conducted before and during the COVID-19 outbreak, using the conceptual categories of intercrisis/intracrisis learning and single-/double-loop learning. The findings suggest that double-loop, intercrisis learning allows for more effective crisis management by (re)developing a common operating framework. The efficacy of learning is enhanced when double-loop learning is followed by single-loop learning that embeds new structures and operational procedures. The findings also suggest that intercrisis learning facilitates …


Dealing With Covid-19 And Emerging Stronger From It, David Chan Nov 2020

Dealing With Covid-19 And Emerging Stronger From It, David Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Whether it is reacting to news on COVID-19 cases, following safe management rules, adapting to changes at work, assessing leadership and public responses to the coronavirus crisis, or navigating post-pandemic realities, it is all part of understanding how humans think, feel, and behave, says SMU Professor David Chan.


Learning From The Past: Distributed Cognition And Crisis Management Capabilities For Tackling Covid-19, Seulki Lee, Jungwon Yeo, Chongmin Na Aug 2020

Learning From The Past: Distributed Cognition And Crisis Management Capabilities For Tackling Covid-19, Seulki Lee, Jungwon Yeo, Chongmin Na

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has presented an unprecedented public health crisis across the globe. Governments have developed different approaches to tackle the complex and intractable challenge, showing variations in their effectiveness and results. South Korea has achieved exceptional performance thus far: It has flattened the curve of new infections and brought the outbreak under control without imposing forceful measures such as lockdowns and travel ban. This commentary addresses the South Korean government’s response to COVID-19 and highlights distributed cognition and crisis management capabilities as critical factors. The authors discuss how the South Korean government has cultivated distributed …


How Do Intercrisis Learning Outcomes Affect Intracrisis Learning? “Learning In The Making” In The Case Of South Korea’S Covid-19 Response, Chongmin Na, Seulki Lee, Jungwon Yeo Aug 2020

How Do Intercrisis Learning Outcomes Affect Intracrisis Learning? “Learning In The Making” In The Case Of South Korea’S Covid-19 Response, Chongmin Na, Seulki Lee, Jungwon Yeo

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This study explores the processes of intercrisis and intracrisis learning and the link between them, drawing on South Korea’s responses to the COVID-19 pandemic as an example. The crisis management literature suggests that intracrisis learning is less likely to occur than intercrisis learning due to inherent barriers that hinder learning and adaptation in the heat of crisis. Based on the conceptual framework of problem-oriented governance and crisis learning, we unpack how prominent outcomes of intercrisis learning facilitate intracrisis learning during the acute phase of an emerging crisis. We postulate that learning after 2015 MERS crisis developed the core capabilities for …


For Cosmopolitan, Public, And Reflexive Sociology, Hiro Saito May 2020

For Cosmopolitan, Public, And Reflexive Sociology, Hiro Saito

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Is sociological theory up to the challenge of understanding and explaining the phenomenon? I think that the kind of sociological theory capable of meeting this challenge has to be cosmopolitan, public, and reflexive. To understand the social and political impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to embrace what Ulrich Bech called "methodological cosmopolitan" to investigate a multitude of networks, mechanisms, and processes through which the pandemic reverberates across national borders. At the same time, this cosmopolitan sociology has to be publicly oriented, addressing head-on the urgent matters of concern among citizens, rather than driven by discipline-specific debates that are …