Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Who's Holding Up Best

From a recent study, via Marginal Revolutions:

Fans of horror films exhibit less psychological distress during COVID-19.

Fans of “prepper” films reported being more prepared for the pandemic.

Morbidly curious people exhibit greater positive resilience during COVID-19. 

1 comment:

G. Verloren said...

Fans of horror films exhibit less psychological distress during COVID-19.

Fans of “prepper” films reported being more prepared for the pandemic.

Morbidly curious people exhibit greater positive resilience during COVID-19.


Interesting that two of these say "exhibit", but one says "report".

I'm assuming in all three cases, it should actually say "report", but I doubt there are any direct observations being made, and that the "data" collected is just a self reported survey of some kind.

That said, even then, something still doesn't sit right with me about the "preppers". Maybe it's the language of "being more prepared" that's bothering me, since in the other two cases the context is clearly psychological.

But if you asked a "prepper" whether they were prepared, they're obviously going to tell you yes, because of course they are - their entire hobby is stocking up on shelf stable supplies "in case the world ends". Even if they actually weren't prepared, or their preparations didn't help, they're not likely to admit it, given that a huge portion of their personal identity is wrapped up in the idea of being prepared for anything. You can't remotely trust their self reporting.

And of course, most "preppers" aren't doing psychological preparation, they're stockpiling physical goods and resources and learning useful skills and techniques. Most of them openly obsess over canning equipment and guns, but you're not very likely to see them talking about maintaining good mental health.

They want to live in a Mad Max scenario where they get to be the Kings of Bartertown after the bombs fall; they're not sitting around thinking deep thoughts about developing healthy coping mechanisms. They're out buying ammunition by the crate and filling entire rooms of their house with toilet paper stacked floor to ceiling, not practicing their meditation techniques and getting in touch with their feelings.