First published May 4, 2020
On January 19, 2020, a man in Snohomish County, Washington, USA, presented at an urgent care clinic with symptoms he believed to be related to the novel coronavirus. He had recently returned from Wuhan, China after visiting family. The following day, on January 20th, it was confirmed that he had indeed contracted the virus. This was the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the United States of America. At first a lot of the media, social institutions, and even the American government didn’t seem to pay much attention to the severity of this virus outbreak. However, it didn’t take long for the virus to spread and concerns to grow. As cases grew so did the public’s response, a lot of it motivated by fear. One of the worst manifestations of this fear was xenophobia against people of Asian descent. In this paper, I will discuss a news story from NPR that relates three concepts from social psychology that showcase how people of Asian descent have been treated terribly around the world in response to the outbreak of COVID-19. I will also discuss a fourth concept that showcases how anyone (myself included) is susceptible to lapses in judgement.
“When Xenophobia Spreads Like A Virus.” This article on NPR reported on one of the saddest things that happened in response to the virus was xenophobia, arguably one of the worst expressions of deindividuation. Since the virus was labeled as having originated in China, the seemingly logical line of thinking for many people was that any person that appeared to be of Chinese descent could potentially carry the virus. It didn’t matter if individuals had never even visited China, let alone the Wuhan region; to some, everyone that now appeared “Chinese” was a potential threat. Sales at Chinese restaurants plummeted, Chinatown districts in cities nationwide were deserted, and bullying of people perceived to be of Chinese descent skyrocketed. (Escobar, N. 2020) Even worse, this xenophobia wasn’t limited to Chinese people. Many reported that even if only they were perceived as being Chinese would they be attacked and mistreated, meaning anyone of Asian descent could become a target of this xenophobia as well. The NPR article specifically mentions one Korean woman and her mixed-raced son being discriminated against. I can corroborate this with my personal experience. There are a number of Asian-cuisine restaurants near my apartment that all lament the steep drop off in clientele, ranging from Japanese to Thai.
In some countries, group polarization has played a role in trying to introduce racist policies. In Toronto, Canada, a petition that accumulated 10,000 signatures was circulated that demanded the local school district track and isolate Chinese-Canadian students who may have traveled to China for the New Year. (Escobar, N. 2020.) When not acting out of fear, one would hope that those 10,000 people wouldn’t act in such a xenophobic manner. If you were to ask them individually, most of them would probably respond that they’re “not racist.” But petitions are classic examples of “social movements” where the majority of people that sign them wouldn’t be out on the frontlines lobbying for their cause. However, having a petition where the number of supporters is visibly growing would make it much easier for someone to support something so extreme that they otherwise would not fight for. Arguably, they might even fight against such a policy under different circumstances.
It has also been speculated that the anti-immigration policies of the President of the United States of America has emboldened people more than ever before to engage in racist behavior. (Anbinder, T. 2019) In an article published by the Washington post that came out just a month before the first outbreaks of COVID-19 argues that Trump has “spread more hate” than any other American president in history. The growing group polarization in the political sphere in the U.S.A. no doubt contributes to the emboldened actions of xenophobics.
As I sit here typing this paper, I would hope that I would have the strength of character to stand up and defend a fellow human being against any attack, whether it was racially charged or otherwise. However, NPR reports on the comments of Thea Suh in Germany that nobody stepped in to help her in the face of racial discrimination. She laments that no German politician or influencer has stepped up to denounce such behavior either. (Escobar, N. 2020) This is an example of groupthink. In a public situation where individual accountability is practically zero, members of the public seemingly refuse to stand up in support of a person of Asian descent being discriminated against. The people doing the discrimination are obviously much more vocal and strong-willed, and it’s easier to put your head down and not say anything than to stand up in defense of another person.
Unfortunately, I have to report on a lapse in judgement of mine that resulted from me experiencing cognitive dissonance. I actually have a set of circumstances that forced me to confront the realities of COVID-19 sooner than others. For work, I do in-home caregiving. One of my coworkers is a woman from China that lives onsite with the client for whom we both work. Her friends from back home were communicating to her how dangerous coronavirus was going to be. She responded by marching around the house, announcing to the family and the other live-in caregivers that we needed to start bleaching the entire house and our hands, only leave the house when necessary, and to wear a facemask if we did leave the house. When her demands fell on deaf ears, she packed a bag and left the house for nearly a month. I paid little attention to her warnings. In fact, I lamented in private to my girlfriend that I felt like my coworker was overreacting and creating a problem instead of responding to one. I reasoned that it wasn’t that long ago the world experienced an ebola outbreak, and a little further into the past was a SARS outbreak. Both of those pandemics saw relatively small numbers of people infected. I felt that we wouldn’t have any problems. Despite wanting to believe that I’m not racist, I regretfully admit that I belittled the advice of my coworker. If I’m honest with myself, it was definitely in part due to her ethnicity.
In conclusion, I have demonstrated here how four social psychology concepts are evident since the outbreak of coronavirus: deindividuation where citizens of various countries of Asian descent were suddenly lumped together as potentially being carriers of the virus, regardless of personal circumstances; group polarization where a strong anti-Asian sentiment developed with a shockingly large number of non-Asian people and was compounded with an already anti-immigrant leaning majority; groupthink where individual responsibility doesn’t exist so “innocent bystanders” decline to speak up in support of their fellow Asian human beings; and cognitive dissonance where everyone is susceptible to treating people of a different ethnicity poorly in light of fear-inspiring events. Fortunately, coming to understand these concepts and how they relate to world events can help us raise awareness of these important issues and better understand why we act the way we do at times.
Works Cited:
- Anbinder, T. (2019, November 7). Perspective | Trump has spread more hatred of immigrants than any American in history. Retrieved May 4, 2020, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/trump-has-spread-more-hatred-of-immigrants-than-any-american-in-history/2019/11/07/7e253236-ff54-11e9-8bab-0fc209e065a8_story.html
- Escobar, N. (2020, March 4). When Xenophobia Spreads Like A Virus. Retrieved May 4, 2020, from https://www.npr.org/2020/03/02/811363404/when-xenophobia-spreads-like-a-virus
- Holshue, M. L., Oxley, T. J., Mehra, M. R., Doremalen, N. van, & Epidemic Intelligence Service. (2020, May 7). First Case of 2019 Novel Coronavirus in the United States: NEJM. Retrieved May 7, 2020, from https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2001191
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