The Psychology of Partying near the Beginning of a Pandemic

Understanding Pandemic Parties and Individualism in America.

Photo courtesy of Max Abrams depicts ongoing partying in the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Observations

Spreading? The number one issue we saw with people's arguments was that they did not fully comprehend their own ability to spread the virus. This is due to the changing matter of our understanding of the virus as well as the general distrust in media and varying levels of information put out there. This may be partially due to people just not thinking about how they can spread the virus.

Individualism? The second-largest argument we found was for individualism. These

people seem to believe it should be everyone's individual responsibility to protect themselves from COVID-19. These people either seem to not realize the vast impact that just one infected person can make or they simply lack the empathy to care about their own impact. For these people, it may be most effective to just make social distancing more of a norm.

Herd Immunity? The next largest group of arguments I found was people who advocate for herd immunity and think the virus is inevitable for us all. These people need to be given better information on why herd immunity isn't an option. It should also be explained how if you're privileged enough, it is not very difficult to avoid the virus.

Downplaying Death? Certain people argued a point that seemed to only be tangent on devaluing the lives of those who are susceptible to the virus than themselves. For these people, it seems the pandemic deaths have become more of just a number. Getting across to these people may require humanizing the deaths of individuals.

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Analyzing

Many people are just bored. They don't care anymore since the pandemic has been going on for so long, causing them to be burnt out from the situation. These people need more encouragement and activities to keep them busy with low-risk alternatives to partying. The pandemic is essentially asking for us all to be activists by working towards keeping our neighbors safe even if we don't believe we personally will be affected by the virus. Not everyone is ready for this level of responsibility, so we need to help them.

Some people believe it is impossible to social distance due to their living situation however, this leads to a contagious herd mentality. If your roommates aren't social distancing get active about the situation. A Sociology PhD student at UCSB who has been interviewing UCSB students found that most roommates were able to peacefully come to a resolution about social distancing.

The biggest hurdle we need to overcome is normalizing social distancing. This includes presenting ourselves as leading examples, adapting our social activities, and getting used to asking others to comply with safety measures.

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The Mindset

FOMO. When others are partying, a group mentality is formed through the active Fear Of Missing Out. College students have been linked to making riskier decisions based on the need to belong. FOMO is associated with having less sensitivity to risk-taking behavior and is increased when people find that they need to be competitive to keep up with social situations. This is heightened with the more frequent use of social media.

CULTURE The college experience can be very different from life outside college and can add responsibilities and freedoms that students are not fully prepared for. The culture can also lead to certain behaviors like excessive drinking/partying. This is fueled by the common belief of students that their college parties more than it actually does and that this is a fleeting commodity they must take advantage of while they can.

DEVELOPMENT Around college age, the brain undergoes reconstruction in the frontal cortex. While this occurs, people's decisions are typically made through active use of the amygdala, which is the source of “fight or flight” responses. Young adults tend to exhibit elevated experiences of “egocentrism” which could lead them to prioritize wearing a mask to save others less.

RISK MANAGEMENT College age people are drawn to short-term rewards because of the way that they prioritize rewards over risks. When emotionally aroused, college aged individuals have very poor self control. Additionally, people below their mid-twenties exhibit a behavior where they take bigger risks when in a group.

DEVALUED A common belief among all people is that the more potential a life has, the more that life should be prioritized. So often people downplay the value of those in a higher risk bracket of dying to those who could potentially live much longer.