Social Psychology with Jeff

On February 27^th, I spent the day surrounded with many of my favorite people in my subfield of social psychology (Group Processes and Intergroup Relations). During that day, I met with old and new colleagues, discussed research ideas, and was able to network and plan for the next few months of research. It is usually a top-10 experience every year, and it was especially exceptional this year. I was excited for what life would be like throughout the semester and over the summer at an international conference in Poland.

On March 12^th (two Thursdays later), I brought most of my materials from my lab in case I lose access to my building, and I started the processes of moving my instruction for classes that I teach or TA for to an all-online format. I said my goodbyes to my in-person statistics class in case we went to an online-primarily format (24 hours later, and we did), and I said “see you soon or see you later” to anyone who I might not see for a while.

Covid-19 changed everything fast. Most of us are on a pseudo-isolation for at least 30 days, and many of us in colleges and universities will have limited interactions with our colleagues until August or September due to the switch to mostly online-based interactions. It is scary, and it is creating uncertainty in who we are and how we live.

I spent the last 48 hours thinking about the previous times that I have been uncertain in my life. And here is what I learned from getting out of those experiences that I will try to use over the next two months:

How to stop the immediate triage.

1. Breathe. I need to breathe and take care of myself mentally and physically. Being in poor health will make it much harder to adapt to whatever comes next.
2. Listen to experts. I am not in epidemiology nor a related field. I know some high-school science, and I know a bit about statistics. Experts will know more than me when it comes to public health, and I should listen to them when they offer guidance. The CDC can help. So can the WHO, as would state and local government updates and updates from my schools and places of employment. I will try to avoid sources that just reinforce my worldview or do not provide the data for their information.
3. Follow good leaders and be a good leader to others. There will be moments where people will look to me to lead. I need to be a good leader in those moments to help those who look up to me or depend on me to be a leader. There will also be moments where I will need guidance from my leaders, and I need to let them know when I need help or guidance, and to help them out when they ask me for help (within reason).
4. Get basic food and water in case we go into full isolation or quarantine for 15 days. These need to be shelf-stable in case power goes out or the water supply gets threatened (BTW, this should occur at all times). As of this writing, I have enough food for 7 days with another 7 days of supplies being shipped from Amazon by tomorrow. FYI, refer to Red Cross for some helpful information for what is important to have when in isolation, and stop panic buying (only buy what is needed and important and can be consumed within a reasonable time-frame). Second FYI:Kind bars are a good place for basic nutrients.

Once I do that, it comes time to system building. There is no way to mitigate a long-term crisis without knowing what the systems are. The next week will be spent doing the following:

5. Identifying tasks. What tasks need to get done now that I can identify and get done? What tasks can I postpone?
6. Identifying systems. What systems can I build to make life easier for now? What systems can I build to make life easier for later?
7. Identifying my default options and changing them to fit the needs. We often have default options in the world, and they vary based on our groups or situations. We can consciously change them until they become unconscious default options. For example, for the next while, I am spraying down high-touch entry areas and touch points in the apartment to kill any viruses that get accidentally brought into the house. I also identified high-touch points to help with that. I also wash my hands more now than I did before (although I apparently washed my hands much more often than many of you all out there. Seriously. Wash your hands).

After that, I will then determine what I need to do for my research, academic, work, and job commitments.

8. What professional or academic tasks can I do now? I can read and write, and I can design studies. I can focus on building out a library of studies to try and make it work.
9. What are tasks that I cannot do now? My spring conference plans have been canceled due to travel bans by university or government officials. My summer conference plans are up in the air, but are probably going to be canceled as well. In-person meetings will be highly limited, as we are trying to limit the spread of viruses and many are going to also be working remotely (although technology has improved).
10. When designing classes for an online environment, what is a class structure that I can justify 90% of my class meeting? Many of the students that I teach have unstable internet connections. Forcing them to go to a café or library to get internet access will cause similar issues to in-person classes. How can I ease the burden while still assessing student learning?    
11. What are my strengths that I can use to help others adapt to short- and long-term changes?
12. What are my weaknesses that I will need help when adapting to short- and long-term changes?
13. What opportunities do I now have to make life better for when life changes again? The school that I currently teach at offers to pay for my online certification for teaching colleges. With the time that I will save in transportation, I am planning to take that certification. That can open me up for new job opportunities. I am also going to see how I can become more efficient, which can help with all of my tasks.

All that is left is trying to keep my mental and physical health high, and to not be fully reclusive in the threat of the virus.

14. I will not look at the stock market until it rebounds.
15. I will try to support local businesses—especially if they are small businesses. They will be hit hard with an economic slowdown, so any chance I can reasonably have to support them will help.
16. I will schedule video calls as much as possible. Seeing faces and facial reactions can do many wonders for creating social dynamics. Having the tools to do so will help me and others keep our membership in our community.
17. I will make time for pleasure and self-care. Nature walks, reading books on my book list, new TV shows, video games, and creating. As Rent says: “The opposite of war isn’t peace. It’s creation.”

That is how I will try to survive the next few weeks until the new normal exists. It is already weird, and it is already weirder. But we are adaptive, and we will make it work. Let’s handle our business, and I will see you all soon!

Special thanks to Eric Persaud for feedback and helpful suggestions (with links) on this post.