Insight | How to stay calm amid all kinds of virus-related information?
Apr 10, 2020
Peking University, April 10, 2020: How to stay calm amid all kinds of virus-related information and get through this outbreak unscathed? Wang Hui, professor with Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management, urges people to flex their psychological muscles in addition to medical tips and body exercises.
Handle info properly
Wang recommends getting outbreak-related information from authoritative sources and analyzing it objectively so as to take away the most helpful and important messages, refraining from taking information out of its context and following unproven advices blindly. This is an effective method to avoid anxiety and panic.
Exercise caution when posting and do not spread rumors online. Psychologist Stanley Milgram’s six degrees of separation theory has it that all people are six, or fewer, social connections away from each other. Now it is suggested that the Internet brings us only three connections away from each other. The potential viral impact of online rumors is huge and people should be responsible for their own words and acts online.
Shore up your mind
Organizational behavior Professor Fred Luthans raised the concept of Psychological Capital (PsyCap), which refers to tacit knowledge that is built through socialization and offers a long-term competitive advantage as it is unique, cumulative, interconnected and non-transferable to competitors — as opposed to explicit knowledge that includes skills, abilities, and competencies derived from education and experience. In a word, it represents what kind of person you are.
Many studies, including one jointly conducted by Wang and Luthans in China, later proved that heightened PsyCap will lead to employees’ performance efficiency, contentment levels, and their sense of belonging in a group as well as organizational behavior and creativity.
PsyCap helps change people’s mindset and guides them to engage things in a more positive manner. People with high levels of PsyCap are more likely to reasonably and efficiently cope with the ongoing outbreak much the same as they are better at dealing things at work.
Psychological Capital can be broken down into four pillars: Hope, Efficacy, Resilience and Optimism (HERO).
Everyone has hope, but what matters are the will and methods to achieve it. During the outbreak, people hope to avoid infection or overcome the virus. In order to do that, they have to wash hands frequently, wear masks when going outdoors, open windows for good ventilation and do exercises to improve their immune systems.
Efficacy manifests itself as a form of confidence and belief that more patients will be cured and the outbreak will eventually be contained.
Resilience requires people to recover quickly from difficulties while optimism is also necessary when it comes to tackling the coronavirus.
The story of college student Li Linlin (alias) in Henan, a Chinese province neighboring Hubei, the former epicenter of the outbreak, is a vivid example. According to media reports, she had serious trouble breathing two days before the Lunar New Year and knew from her professional knowledge that “I was already in a critical condition.” “But I knew I had to stay awake no matter how hard it is, or I’d stop breathing,” she was quoted as saying. “I got myself to start moving and breathe loudly.” Later in hospital her resilience during treatments also inspired many people.
It takes all four pillars combined, or a HERO, to overcome obstacles and achieve success. One should exercise mind as well as their body so as to boost their PsyCap levels and get through this outbreak.
About the Guanghua-Kellogg Executive MBA program
The Guanghua-Kellogg EMBA Program is the first Sino-US joint EMBA Program on the Chinese mainland, bringing together the world-class faculty of two premier business schools and featuring a rigorous and cutting-edge curriculum. The program prepares executives with integrated management skills, Chinese business expertise, and a global perspective to lead their organizations in a dynamic environment. Kellogg’s EMBA global network offers students opportunities to engage in collaborations with peer leaders across the globe.
Source: PKU Guanghua EMBA
