Impact of spatial distance on public attention and sentiment during the spread of COVID-19
The recent coronavirus pandemic impacted the mental health of people worldwide as it rapidly spread to most countries. Social media has provided a cost-effective method to examine these negative effects, but which aspects of the disease impacted the general population's psychology is not well u...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2024-01-01
|
| Series: | Informatics in Medicine Unlocked |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352914824000194 |
| _version_ | 1797271346571378688 |
|---|---|
| author | Fred Atilla Rolf A. Zwaan |
| author_facet | Fred Atilla Rolf A. Zwaan |
| author_sort | Fred Atilla |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The recent coronavirus pandemic impacted the mental health of people worldwide as it rapidly spread to most countries. Social media has provided a cost-effective method to examine these negative effects, but which aspects of the disease impacted the general population's psychology is not well understood. This study examined one potential factor that moderated people's responses to the fast-spreading, deadly coronavirus disease (COVID) during its emergence from January 2020 to March 2020. Applying sentiment analysis to 3.2 million COVID-related messages posted on Twitter from 189 countries, we examined how the physical distance to COVID impacted the attention and emotions of the general population as it spread around the globe. The spatial distance from each message's origin country to the nearest COVID-infected country was computed to use as an independent variable. Statistical analyses revealed that spatial distance significantly influenced both public attention and sentiment toward COVID, even when controlling for confounders. As the disease came closer, more tweets were posted and the average sentiment became more negative. These observations suggest that physical proximity to a threat influences how much attention people pay to the threat and how they respond to it emotionally. This is in line with previous disaster research and fits the psychological framework of construal level theory. Although these findings are limited in their generalizability, they have important implications. In practice, communicating the personal risks of a disease outbreak to distant people might increase public engagement in protective behaviors such as social distancing and hand washing, subsequently slowing disease spread. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T14:01:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b8e396671b474f788e96dd959c4e6f95 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2352-9148 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T14:01:25Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Informatics in Medicine Unlocked |
| spelling | doaj.art-b8e396671b474f788e96dd959c4e6f952024-03-07T05:28:12ZengElsevierInformatics in Medicine Unlocked2352-91482024-01-0145101463Impact of spatial distance on public attention and sentiment during the spread of COVID-19Fred Atilla0Rolf A. Zwaan1Department of Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence, Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands; Corresponding author. Department of Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence, Tilburg University, Warandelaan 2, 5037AB, Tilburg, Netherlands.Department of Psychology, Education and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, NetherlandsThe recent coronavirus pandemic impacted the mental health of people worldwide as it rapidly spread to most countries. Social media has provided a cost-effective method to examine these negative effects, but which aspects of the disease impacted the general population's psychology is not well understood. This study examined one potential factor that moderated people's responses to the fast-spreading, deadly coronavirus disease (COVID) during its emergence from January 2020 to March 2020. Applying sentiment analysis to 3.2 million COVID-related messages posted on Twitter from 189 countries, we examined how the physical distance to COVID impacted the attention and emotions of the general population as it spread around the globe. The spatial distance from each message's origin country to the nearest COVID-infected country was computed to use as an independent variable. Statistical analyses revealed that spatial distance significantly influenced both public attention and sentiment toward COVID, even when controlling for confounders. As the disease came closer, more tweets were posted and the average sentiment became more negative. These observations suggest that physical proximity to a threat influences how much attention people pay to the threat and how they respond to it emotionally. This is in line with previous disaster research and fits the psychological framework of construal level theory. Although these findings are limited in their generalizability, they have important implications. In practice, communicating the personal risks of a disease outbreak to distant people might increase public engagement in protective behaviors such as social distancing and hand washing, subsequently slowing disease spread.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352914824000194Sentiment analysisSocial mediaCOVID-19Psychological distanceConstrual level theoryDisease outbreak |
| spellingShingle | Fred Atilla Rolf A. Zwaan Impact of spatial distance on public attention and sentiment during the spread of COVID-19 Informatics in Medicine Unlocked Sentiment analysis Social media COVID-19 Psychological distance Construal level theory Disease outbreak |
| title | Impact of spatial distance on public attention and sentiment during the spread of COVID-19 |
| title_full | Impact of spatial distance on public attention and sentiment during the spread of COVID-19 |
| title_fullStr | Impact of spatial distance on public attention and sentiment during the spread of COVID-19 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impact of spatial distance on public attention and sentiment during the spread of COVID-19 |
| title_short | Impact of spatial distance on public attention and sentiment during the spread of COVID-19 |
| title_sort | impact of spatial distance on public attention and sentiment during the spread of covid 19 |
| topic | Sentiment analysis Social media COVID-19 Psychological distance Construal level theory Disease outbreak |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352914824000194 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT fredatilla impactofspatialdistanceonpublicattentionandsentimentduringthespreadofcovid19 AT rolfazwaan impactofspatialdistanceonpublicattentionandsentimentduringthespreadofcovid19 |