Pandemic reaction and personality

[Euclid]

A common refrain from many people who are now relaxing and not following social distancing (partially or completely) is - "you can't live in fear for the rest of your life". This also seemed to be the state of mind of many of the people who brushed aside the warnings early on, that they are "choosing" not to live life in fear.


On the flip side, the people who were/are still being cautious seem not to be living life in fear and are just being more measured and conservative with their approach to the pandemic.


I've been wondering if this is tied to a more general personality divide, risk takers vs. risk adverse; i.e. risk adverse people look at risk takers as reckless, and that risk takers look at people who are risk adverse as somehow living in abject terror. Which is why these DDF threads about this pandemic just seem to be going in circles, again and again. The 2 personality sides just have trouble understanding each other (even though most people have both traits - usually they'll lean 1 way).


Is your pandemic reaction inline with this aspect of your general personality?

[etech0]

I would think for most people it is some kind of balance

[Sam Finkelstein]

I would think for most people it is some kind of balance

Boring answer.

[etech0]

Boring answer.

Sorry. I can delete it if you want.

[yelped]

I would think for most people it is some kind of imbalance.

Boring answer.

Better now?

[yuneeq]

A common refrain from many people who are now relaxing and not following social distancing (partially or completely) is - "you can't live in fear for the rest of your life". This also seemed to be the state of mind of many of the people who brushed aside the warnings early on, that they are "choosing" not to live life in fear.


On the flip side, the people who were/are still being cautious seem not to be living life in fear and are just being more measured and conservative with their approach to the pandemic.


I've been wondering if this is tied to a more general personality divide, risk takers vs. risk adverse; i.e. risk adverse people look at risk takers as reckless, and that risk takers look at people who are risk adverse as somehow living in abject terror. Which is why these DDF threads about this pandemic just seem to be going in circles, again and again. The 2 personality sides just have trouble understanding each other (even though most people have both traits - usually they'll lean 1 way).


Is your pandemic reaction inline with this aspect of your general personality?

I'm definitely a risk taker and I have also never felt afraid of corona for myself.

[etech0]

Better now?

... but is it more or less imbalance than it would have been pre-covid?

[Dan]

I'm very risk averse, but if I do enough research into something risky I'll buy into it, whether it's jumping off a mountain in Rio, spending a small fortune to redesign DD, or making an investment in AMZN.

I cancelled my CX flight in mid-February to avoid COVID, but Gd had the final laugh as I got COVID in NYC instead that week. Being with a pregnant wife and being overweight myself, we were exceedingly COVID machmir, especially as my COVID swab was negative. My shul is still being machmir as new cases pop up here and that's fine by me for now. But I hope things can open up soon.

There's little research into COVID issues in infants/kids, long-term COVID issues, and 2nd wave possibilities, so not much to convince me that all is fine now.

Had a very tight knit sholom zocher and the mohel said the bris will just be him and me. I'm saddened by the situation and would have loved to have a nice big event with the boy's 8 living grandparents (may they live to 120+), but this is life and as long as everyone is healthy that's the key.

[Galitzyaner]

Short answer to your question IMHO: Absolutely not.

I don't want to share specifics but I can tell you that based on the behavior of multitudes of people in my surroundings during this pandemic, that I don't see any link.

[PlatinumGuy]

I'm very risk averse, but if I do enough research into something risky I'll buy into it, whether it's jumping off a mountain in Rio, spending a small fortune to redesign DD, or making an investment in AMZN.

I cancelled my CX flight in mid-February to avoid COVID, but Gd had the final laugh as I got COVID in NYC instead that week. Being with a pregnant wife and being overweight myself, we were exceedingly COVID machmir, especially as my COVID swab was negative. My shul is still being machmir as new cases pop up here and that's fine by me for now. But I hope things can open up soon.

There's little research into COVID issues in infants/kids, long-term COVID issues, and 2nd wave possibilities, so not much to convince me that all is fine now.

Had a very tight knit sholom zocher and the mohel said the bris will just be him and me. I'm saddened by the situation and would have loved to have a nice big event with the boy's 8 living grandparents (may they live to 120+), but this is life and as long as everyone is healthy that's the key.

I think you're pretty far from being considered over-weight for the purposes of COVID risk groups, but wholly agreed long term affects are yet to be known.

[S209]

I think you're pretty far from being considered over-weight for the purposes of COVID risk groups, but wholly agreed long term affects are yet to be known.

I'm not looking for pity, which I why I didn't bring these things up. I never claimed to be more sensitive or more effected than anyone else, first because it's not true, and second because I don't feel those should be factors when making a point. I try to argue with logic and facts, and ask questions when there are things I don't understand, either about the facts or someone's opinions. The nastiness can be cut back on, but it mainly comes out (I think) when the logic and the science are being blatantly ignored to the detriment of public safety, or when people use others' suffering as an excuse to get their own lives back to normal. I'm far from a perfect person, and I definitely don't always make the best argument. Stupidity has always been a trigger for me, and hopefully I can be more cognizant not to let it affect the toichen of what I feel needs to be said. I'll probably fail at that, but point taken.

This is easy once you get the hang of it (discussed in the grammar thread).

If it's a noun, it's most likely effect. If it's a verb, it's most likely affect.

There are some exceptions, like "to effect change."

[PlatinumGuy]

You're right, my bad.

[AsherO]

I’ve been thinking for a while now that most positions taken by DDFers in this Corona forum seem to correlate to their pre-Corona personality. I saw it more generally as peoples’ biases coloring their opinions. Attitudes towards risk is just one symptom of someone’s full panel of biases.

[skyguy918]

Preexisting beliefs regarding media and government play a huge role as well IMHO.

[ExGingi]

I’ve been thinking for a while now that most positions taken by DDFers in this Corona forum seem to correlate to their pre-Corona personality. I saw it more generally as peoples’ biases coloring their opinions. Attitudes towards risk is just one symptom of someone’s full panel of biases.

Spot on! So now I can't wait to read the book you will write about DDFers biases and personalities (mostly due to my interest in how you would describe me).

[CountValentine]

Anyone going to mention the elephant in the room?

[ExGingi]

Anyone going to mention the elephant in the room?

Which one? There seem to be so many all around, that all I can see is dark gray.

[AsherO]

Spot on! So now I can't wait to read the book you will write about DDFers biases and personalities (mostly due to my interest in how you would describe me).

I’m not much of a book writer and I don’t think I’ve engaged to much in classifying individual DDFers and boxing them into stereotyped delineations. My observations were more of the general type, I wasn’t referring to anyone specific.

[ExGingi]

I’m not much of a book writer and I don’t think I’ve engaged to much in classifying individual DDFers and boxing them into stereotyped delineations. My observations were more of the general type, I wasn’t referring to anyone specific.

Hey, you never know. Maybe your first book will become a bestseller and your career switch will be attributed to כבוד-19 

[B.D.Da'ehu]

Anyone going to mention the elephant in the room?

Preexisting beliefs regarding media and government play a huge role as well IMHO.