Schoolchildren and the pandemic: psycholinguistic perception

Abstract

This article is devoted to the study of the psycholinguistic perception of the pandemic by a special category – schoolchildren. Due to the fact that scientists note the need to comprehend and cognize a new reality unknown to most of humanity, it becomes important to study the impact of this situation on various age and social groups. A free associative experiment was chosen as a research method, since it is the simplest of all associative experiments and, at the same time, quite effective. It presents the results of a free associative experiment conducted among students from 12 to 17 years old. Responses to stimuli have been studied: quarantine, mask, social distance. The reactions obtained as a result of the experiment allow us to reveal the ideas and attitude of schoolchildren to the proposed stimuli. Thus, the respondents demonstrate the greatest loyalty to the observance of social distance, the informants show less loyalty to the mandatory wearing of a mask, and the associates to the «quarantine» incentive refl ect the negative perceptions of children about this restrictive measure.