EXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMOTION RECOGNITION ABILITY AND PREVENTIVE BEHAVIOURS RELATED TO THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK IN TURKISH SOCIETY

Abstract

It has been shown that emotions such as fear and anger may play a role in preventive behavior of individuals during the COVID-19 outbreak. Correct interpretation of emotions can contribute to early treatment of disease spread measures. In addition, studies have focused on the negative effects of stress on emotion identification. In this study, we aimed to measure the emotion recognition ability during the pandemic and to examine the relationship between this skill and preventive behaviors related to the pandemic among healthy individuals. In total, 520 people participated in the study online. A sociodemographic data form, a personal information form with questions about COVID-19, and the Reading the Mind from The Eyes Test (RMET) were applied to the participants. The vast majority of the participants who participated in the study stated that they found COVID-19 as a dangerous disease, showed that they were worried about this disease and that they constantly avoid eating out and using public transportation due to COVID-19. However, it was found that those who can define neutral emotions better worry about the disease and take a more active role in preventive behaviors such as eating out and avoiding public places. It has been shown that individuals who are more effective with recognition of negative and neutral emotions during the outbreak are more active in risk-avoiding behaviors during COVID-19. Attempts to increase emotion recognition skills can be beneficial for both healthy individuals and people with mental illness in the early development of preventive behavior.