The COVID-19 pandemic has caused what might be called a 鈥渟econdary pandemic鈥� of global anxiety, write Peter T. Coleman, Professor of Psychology and Education and Director of the at 51吃瓜网; and Anthea Chan, a research associate at MD-ICCCR, in the of the Earth Institute at Columbia University.
鈥淎nxiety, of course, is not necessarily a bad thing,鈥� write Coleman and Chan. 鈥淚n fact, it is a normal and healthy physical-emotional reaction to stressful or otherwise worrisome events.鈥� But the prolonged anxiety that many people are experiencing while staying primarily at home with spouses, partners, families and roommates, 鈥渃an have quite serious consequences,鈥� and people with an 鈥渦nderlying anxiety disorder鈥� are particularly at risk.
Peter T. Coleman, Professor of Psychology & Education and Director of TC鈥檚 Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution () (Photo: TC Archives)
Coleman and Chan cite research by the late Morton Deutsch, TC social psychologist, professor and founder of MD-ICCCR, showing that romantic partners tend to respond to anxiety 鈥渋n one or more of the following directions鈥�: they either avoid conflict or seek it out, or they become 鈥渉ard and unyielding or mushy and unassertive.鈥� They over-intellectualize or become overly emotional, become rigid and controlling or loose and disorganized, escalate the problem or minimize it, or become overly revealing or 鈥渟tonewalling and concealing.鈥�
To help people become more aware of how they tend to respond to conflict and anxiety, the developed a new survey called CARS (the Conflict Anxiety Response Scale) which helps generate an 鈥渋ndividualized feedback profile鈥� containing scores on the six 鈥渄erailer鈥� dimensions outlined above, compared to the average responses of others who have taken the survey. ICCCR recently launched a free online version of the CARS for the public at .
鈥淭his data can offer you some new insight into your general conflict response tendencies,鈥� Coleman and Chan write. 鈥淲e will not publish this data, although we may analyze and explore it for insights anonymously in the aggregate.鈥�
Peter Coleman has written and been quoted extensively in the news media about conflict resolution during the pandemic. Read A Voice for Our Times as well as a recent piece in