PSY259 Personality and Individual Differences

Introduction:

Personality came from the Latin word persona. Personality is a way of thinking. Personality defines different behavioural characteristics. Personality can be inherent or can be acquired. In the year 2020, the world faced a huge challenge due to the pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus or COVID  19. This pandemic also affects and changes the personality characteristics of the human being. This reflective essay will give an overview of how this pandemic situation changes or affects the personality characteristics of me. This essay will further describe the effect of COVID 19 on human beings' personality with the help of personality theories.

Discussion:

On 20th March 2020, to prevent the spreading of coronavirus, schools, colleges and universities were closed. I am a student at one of the prestigious universities of the United Kingdom and lives in central London. At the beginning of 2020, I used to go to university three days a week, and on other days, I used to go to other places, sometimes do party. If someone tells me to stay in the room for a month and be idle and reading books and do the cooking, I could hardly do that. I did not have that time to watch movies and to read storybooks sitting in my room. Practically I am an extrovert person, and I prefer more socializing than solitude. Socializing always gave me a rewarding and pleasant experience. But this pandemic situation completely changed my lifestyle. I have to stay more in solitude which I never want in my life. I have started to miss my daily classes. I learned that there is no substitute for the physical presence of the human being (Hussain et al., 2020).

I started to introspection due to having so much time for myself. I have started realizing the flaws in the decision and choices I used to take pride in. I have never been so much social as I am carrying an extrovert personality (Volk et al., 2021). But there is some good thing also happens in my life due to the complete lockdown due to pandemic. I got the opportunity to connect with some of the old bonds I have always taken for granted. I took so much stress to cope with the new culture and daily lifestyle in a completely new country as I came to England to complete my research work, and due to the pandemic situation, I have to stay completely alone (Prasad et al., 2020). In this world, before the pandemic situation, we all are used to travel and communicate rapidly, but this pandemic situation has been forced us to remain isolated socially. This situation gives me a feeling of frustration, anxiety and uncertainty. In a foreign country, I am completely feeling helpless. I am breaking up emotionally due to the social isolation of my friends and family (Shanmugam et al., 2020). From an extrovert person, I transformed into an introvert person forcefully. In England, social distancing and other lockdown norms had been carried out in a very strict manner. We had no permission to go outside of our house without prior approval.

Uncontrolled fears regarding the disease destroying me from inside. Frustration from life, pervasive anxiety, loneliness, boredom became a permanent element in my life during the lockdown period (Nicomedes & Avila, 2020). It had completely changed my personality. Stress occurred in my daily life and distant us from different factor. Stress is a form of mental, physical or emotional torture connected with unseen circumstances like the COVID 19 pandemic (Chakraborty & Maity, 2020). In the time of the pandemic, it was a more difficult and frustrating experience in my life was to wait for day by day. In this process of waiting, I lost my patience and became bored, furious, which eventually led to anxiety.

In the period of the pandemic, a large scale of economic and political overhauls, which was unimaginable even in 2019, proved to be existing in 2020. The day-by-day public crisis could be seen in the social structure of the capitalist setting of the United Kingdom. The alarming shortage of healthcare was seen in the distant part of The United Kingdom. While novel coronavirus did not adopt the theory of discrimination, capitalism adopted the theory of discrimination on a large scale. The daily wage worker and the migrants were returning to their hometown because the capitalist framework snatched their equality right of doing a satisfactory job. All this situation prevailing all over the country had a deep impact on citizens' minds, including myself. I was feared, bored, anxious and frustrated at the same time. Quality of life had been changed completely for the pandemic situation. As I was alone in England and no family and relatives were present at that moment, I had to go outside to buy necessary items, and I was completely exposed to the risk of infection from the virus. Due to this, there was an uncontrolled fear presented in my mind. That gives me more anxiety and lonely feelings that affect my personality. I was completely hopeless at that time. Social isolation gives me a feeling of uncertainty about my future. I became an insomniac at that time. I am a very cool-headed person, but due to the anxiety generated from this pandemic situation, I developed a personality of an angry, frustrated and agitated person (Zhong et al., 2021). Anxiety and frustration also come from the separation of my friends, family and loved ones. COVID 19 pandemic situation affects my mental health, which is related to my personality (Barber & Kim, 2021).

Apart from this, a change in personality traits was also transforming (Matthews, 2018). By the help of personality trait theory, it can be explained (Fajkowska & Kreitler 2018). For example, a higher level of conscientiousness and lower levels of extroversions were connected with a better commitment to applying handwash and social distancing norms as containment initiatives against COVID 19 among the population of the United Kingdom. The higher level of openness was accompanied by better cleaning practice. In comparison, a lower level of extraversion and a higher level of neuroticism, a higher level of conscientiousness and a higher level of agreeableness were connected with better hygiene and maintenance of social distancing norms among the residents of the United Kingdom. Besides, the lower level of neuroticism and a higher level of openness was connected with improved sanitization process and better social distancing norms in the population of The United Kingdom.

A further higher level of extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness were associated with fulfilling the commitment towards applying formal instructions to fight against the COVID 19 disease. Among a population of The United Kingdom, the higher level of extraversion was related to maintaining better social distancing norm. And also, to better handwashing and better sanitization process. A high level of negative influence on daily living was connected with a higher level of neuroticism during the pandemic situation.

This pandemic situation also gives a positive impact on my personality. Before this pandemic situation, we all used to do tasks, attend classes, or visit the doctors' chamber traditionally or in an offline process. This pandemic situation and lockdown changed my personality. I became more used to the internet for my daily life purpose. Food habit personality also changed for me (Mazza et al., 2020). Before lockdown, I never cooked anything, and maximum, I was dependent on the restaurant food. But lockdown changed that habit. Now I became more health-conscious and cooked my food by myself. In the phase of the movie theatre closure in the pandemic situation, multiple movie production houses made their on-screen films visualize in the OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon prime, etc. This type of changes helps me with some activities which I could use to counter my boredom. I watched films and web series in my leisure times and adopted the habit of film reviewing. With the help of digitization, I could purchase items through different e-commerce websites, which helped me adapting the behaviour of a digitalized customer. I was amazed by how digitization can influence my personality so much in such a pandemic situation. Before the pandemic situation, I was the B type of personality, but the changes in 2020 made me adopt type A personality. I was, from the beginning, a relaxed, easy-going and stress-free person. But after the pandemic situation, I became an impatient, stressed and agitated person.

Conclusion:

No one can think of a situation like the situation that arises due to the COVID 19 pandemic situation. This pandemic and complete lockdown change the personality traits of a person. The pandemic situation changes the way of thinking of human being. In a pandemic situation, a type-A personality person forced to change their personality into a type B personality. The pandemic situation creates more anxiety, boredom and loneliness in the mind of the human being. People became less social due to maintaining social distancing norms. People became more lonely and less social. An uncontrolled fear persists in the mind of the human being. Pandemic situation breaks human being more emotionally. The pandemic situation makes a human being more digitally dependent.

References:

Barber, S. J., & Kim, H. (2021). COVID-19 worries and behavior changes in older and younger men and women. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 76(2), e17-e23.

Chakraborty, I., & Maity, P. (2020). COVID-19 outbreak: Migration, effects on society, global environment and prevention. Science of the Total Environment, 728, 138882.

Fajkowska, M., & Kreitler, S. (2018). Status of the trait concept in contemporary personality psychology: Are the old questions still the burning questions?. Journal of personality, 86(1), 5-11.

Hussain, M. W., Mirza, T., & Hassan, M. M. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Human Behavior [J]. International Journal of Education and Management Engineering, 10(8), 35-61.

Matthews, G. (2018). Cognitive‐adaptive trait theory: A shift in perspective on personality. Journal of personality, 86(1), 69-82.

Mazza, C., Ricci, E., Marchetti, D., Fontanesi, L., Di Giandomenico, S., Verrocchio, M. C., & Roma, P. (2020). How personality relates to distress in parents during the COVID-19 lockdown: The mediating role of child’s emotional and behavioral difficulties and the moderating effect of living with other people. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(17), 6236.

Nicomedes, C. J. C., & Avila, R. M. A. (2020). An analysis on the panic during COVID-19 pandemic through an online form. Journal of affective disorders, 276, 14-22.

Prasad, K. D. V., Vaidya, R. W., & Mangipudi, M. R. (2020). Effect of Occupational Stress and Remote Working on Psychological Wellbeing of Employees: An Empirical Study during Covid-19 Pandemic with Reference to Information Technology Industry around Hyderabad. Indian J. Commer. Manag. Stud, 2, 1-13.

Shanmugam, H., Juhari, J. A., Nair, P., Ken, C. S., & Guan, N. C. (2020). Impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in Malaysia: a single thread of hope. Malaysian Journal of Psychiatry, 29(1).

Volk, A. A., Brazil, K. J., Franklin-Luther, P., Dane, A. V., & Vaillancourt, T. (2021). The influence of demographics and personality on COVID-19 coping in young adults. Personality and individual differences, 168, 110398.

Zhong, B., Huang, Y., & Liu, Q. (2021). Mental health toll from the coronavirus: Social media usage reveals Wuhan residents’ depression and secondary trauma in the COVID-19 outbreak. Computers in human behavior, 114, 106524.

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