Thread by @swillsm

1. 2 psychological theories, Kahneman’s ‘Thinking Fast and Slow’ and Solomon et al’s ‘Terror Management Theory’ on why humans are vulnerable to thinking errors and how these combined with mortal terror, impede a rational response to global threats such as the #Covid19 pandemic.

2.Kahneman in ‘Thinking Fast and Slow’ (2011) described two systems of human thought guiding behaviour- System 1: An unconscious, automatic, fast thinking system based on the limbic system and System 2: A slower, rational thinking response led by the neocortex #COVID19 /25

3.Kahneman argues that as a species, we view ourselves as distinct from animals due to our capacity to use system 2 to think, plan and act rationally, however in reality we rely more heavily on system 1, often to our own detriment. #CovidIsntOver
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4.In ‘The Worm at the core, on the role of death in life’, Solomon, Greenburg and Psycznski (2015) state “our ever present potential for incapacitating terror is the ‘worm at the core’ of the human condition. To manage this terror we must defend ourselves.” /25

5.These defences they argue, have until now, helped to perpetuate our genes to future generations, although this is by no means guaranteed. #CovidIsNotOver
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6.Steven Jay Gould says “Life is a copiously branching bush continually primed by the grim reaper of extinction, not a ladder of predictable progress”. It’s also suggested that human survival until recently is based on us lacking the means to exterminate ourselves.
#COVID19 /25

7.Solomon et al argue that these defences to mortal terror are both 1.Proximal/Conscious and 2. Distal/unconscious. Thus, the ever present fear from reminders of death, lead to two different types of thought processes (paralleling Kahneman’s) #COVID19 /25

8.Whilst Kahneman blames our thinking problems on an unconscious default to system 1/Fast thinking, Solomon et al argue that both systems are used to quell mortal terror in often unhelpful responses. #CovidIsNotOver /25

9.Whilst threats to mortality are ever present, arguably the #COVID19 pandemic represents one of the biggest threats in recent times. Our default to System 1 thinking means we focus on the immediate threat of death from Covid, neglecting the pernicious threat of #LongCovid /25

10. Our response to the #COVID19 is marred by thinking fallacies, influenced largely by conscious and unconscious defences to existential fear. Ongoing manipulation of these, by ‘bad faith’ actors, further exacerbates our response, indefinitely prolonging the pandemic /25

11.Many System 1/fast thinking fallacies include manipulation of data and statistics which are framed in ways that downplay the risks associated with and impact of #COVID19 especially at a population and cumulative harm level. /25

12.The base rate fallacy is used by anti-Vaxxers to frame #COVID19 deaths as mainly being in those who are vaccinated. Whilst technically true, the rate of unvaccinated is infinitely smaller and it’s fact that the unvaccinated die from #COVID19 at a much higher rate. /25

13.Solomon et al cite experiments that confirm when mortal terror is high, cultural worldviews/defences based on faith not fact, strengthen and help to protect the view of human life as ‘uniquely significant and eternal’. #CovidIsNotOver /25

14.Throughout #COVID19 we’ve seen ideological views and differences between groups such as anti-Vaxxers, ‘Covid minimisers’ and public health advocates grow and anti public health agendas have been subject to amplification by politicians, media and business interests./25

15.According to Solomon et al another way humans keep terror of death at bay is through our striving for self-esteem which buffers us with feelings of personal significance and worth, thus distancing us from mortal terror. #CovidIsNotOver /25

16.The difference between true or intrinsic, self esteem and false self-esteem, means those with authentic self esteem are more likely to face and own their vulnerability in the face of death than those with external self esteem who turn to unhealthy distractions. #COVID19 /25

17.A 2023 study by Cha et al on those wearing masks to protect from #COVID19 was deceptively framed and amplified by msm as part of campaign undermining masks. MSM framed the results as revealing more attractive people are less likely to mask, ergo ‘ugly’ people wear masks. /25

18.In reality this study rated self-perception of attractiveness, finding those focused on appearance (an unconscious defence to fear of death) weren’t as concerned about a more rational threat, death or disability from #COVID19 #MaskUp /25

19.Solomon et al refer to 1. Proximal/conscious defences whose job is to usher death thoughts away. Even though the #COVID19 is killing and cumulatively harming more people now in 2023, its 4th year, the media, politicians and the populace refer to it in the past tense. /25

20. #COVID19 is now in our collective consciousness akin to Voldemort (literally meaning flight from death), the great unmentionable. Even death notices often refer to the euphemistic phrase ‘died after a brief Illness’. #CovidIsntOver /25

21. Distal/unconscious defences bury mortal terror. Experiments prove that when unconscious death thoughts are triggered, ideologically driven, non-evidence based methods eg faith or spiritual based healing and non-compliance with medical procedures, rises #COVID19 /25

22. As the saying goes ‘Knowledge is power’ and therefore awareness of our faulty thinking and defences to mortal terror, help us to understand the conundrum of the human condition and to solve complex, global crises such as #COVID19 and the #climatecrisis.
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23. The starting point is self awareness, encouraging critical reflection in ourselves and others about the ongoing risk of cumulative harm posed by repeat #COVID19 infections.
Global public health campaigns are needed to educate about airborne mitigations. #CovidIsAirborne /25

24. We also need to call out those that manipulate our vulnerability for nefarious aims. Raina McIntyre @Globalbiosec calls these people either ‘useful idiots’ (unaware of defences to mortal terror) or ‘bad faith’ actors (manipulating our fear) or both #CovidIsntOver /25

25. Finally, #COVID19 is disease which attacks our precious brains potentially jeopardising our capacity to think, plan and act our way out of the pandemic.Thus, there’s no time to lose and global efforts to suppress transmission, our best focus #CovidIsNotOver #vaccineplus /25

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