Main Dangerous Bias in Social Perception During Terrorism and Pandemic

Torture during the plague epidemic at Milan, 1630 (Wikipedia Commons)

"Viruses can have more powerful consequences than any terrorist action," said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) from Geneva on 11 February. One month later, yestarday, he said "This is the first pandemic caused by coronavirus".

Indeed, during a pandemic as it occurs facing a terrorist attack (1), we put in place some mechanisms of social 'defence' rather dangerous (bias) because they erase the real perception of risk. The first one is distance. The one that allowed us to stand still (paralyzed by fear) looking at China, first, Korea and Iran, then; just as Europe was looking at Italy, and just as Eastern Europe is now looking at Western Europe, or as Southern Italy is looking at Northern Italy. Viral propagation follows a mathematical model that terrorism fortunately does not follow, but the defense mechanism that we all put in place is the same: I am far from danger, so I do not give a damn.

A second mechanism of social perception, similar to terrorism, is mechanism of the scapegoat, studied by René Girard. The victim is guilty, in this case his responsibility is declined, as during plague, in the figure of the anointer. It is too tiring to delve into the root causes of the pandemic: spillover, eating habits, climate change. We are not interested, but it is much easier to identify a stigma: the group of plague victims (the anointers) to stay away from. First the Chinese, now the Italians, ... and tomorrow, who knows?

There is a third level of perception similar to that found in victims of terrorism. It's the media that tells us or not the story of the individual infected, the victim of the virus, according to his social status. As long as they are  Chinese or Italian elders, we have no empathy: they are just numbers without stories, that is, dehumanized strangers. But if  a city mayor, a minister, a famous writer or football player are found positive for the coronavirus, then yes, it becomes legitimate to tell and spread their story. So the info sphere and media arena build empathic narrative toward celebrities and heros leaving the real victims dehumanize by number (3). And this causes a low risk perception threshold especially among young people and adolescents who tend to maintain their (dangerous) behavioral bias.

Awareness of the above 'errors in perception' is relevant for institutional communication to foster the resilience of communities reached by the pandemic. (4)

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(1) Luca Guglielminetti (2017) La percezione sociale delle vittime del terrorismo
(2) René Girard (1982). Le Bouc émissaire. Paris: Grasset. ISBN 2-246-26781-1. (English translation: The Scapegoat. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986)
(3) See also Dehumanize Victims By Numbers
(4) See also Coronavirus: The Social Perception Of Risk