New Psychological Finding of the Impact of Covid-19 on Motivation
We are all familiar with the concept of the American Dream – that if we work hard enough, we can all achieve our own version of success. But this success was never a guarantee. It involved a certain amount of sacrifice and risk-taking. Nonetheless, many have attempted – and succeeded – at pursuing their American Dream. We are a country founded on a spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship, where big risk equals high reward.
However, as COVID-19 continues to make its impact on our lives and the economy, the pursuit of the American Dream has also been impacted. We once could gamble on ourselves in order to pursue our dreams, with the understanding that, although it is possible that we could fail, there was also the chance that we could win it all. While the risk was still there, it could seemingly be combated by our own hard work and tenacity.
Now, many are facing what seem to be lose-lose situations. Not only must we still face economic and occupational risk in our careers, but we are also facing risk in terms of the health and well-being of ourselves, our families, and our neighbors. And, to many, it feels that our hard work and tenacity no longer impact our probability of success. While we are all physically distanced from each other, many of us are in the same spot mentally: between a rock and a hard place.
Take, for example, our local entrepreneurs and small business owners. While it is always a gamble to open a new business, this risk could at least be mitigated by a willingness to put in the extra hours and by making the right strategic decisions. Now, many are at a loss as to what those strategic decisions are. Do we make the decision to re-open, putting the health of our employees and customers at risk, or do we make the decision to stay closed, potentially risking the loss of our personal investment into a failed business and leaving employees unable to financially survive? No amount of hard work or clocked hours will make the right choice clear or reduce the risk for either path.
Not only are we flooded with anecdotal stories like the one above, but we can actually see this changing mentality in psychological data. As part of a standard battery of assessment measures, there is an item called Fear of Failure. Those who are high on this measure need to succeed in order to maintain self-esteem and the prospect of failure will spur activity. In contrast, those who are low on this measure will switch off rather than increase effort when they are faced with failure or criticism. For example, the statement “That idea would never work” would drive someone high in Fear of Failure to work even harder to prove that person wrong, while for someone low in Fear of Failure, that statement may cause them to give up the idea entirely.
By tracking this data over the years, we see some interesting trends. In 2019, the most commonly reported score on the Fear of Failure measure was a 7, meaning that, on average, the possibility of failure would drive people into action. Again, we are reminded of the American Dream – if you work hard, you can achieve your goals. But, as we entered the unprecedented times that define our current state in 2020, we saw a drastic change. Now, the most commonly reported score on the Fear of Failure measure is a 2, meaning that, on average, we are more likely to decrease or even cease effort all together when faced with the idea that we could fail.
An easy conclusion to draw from this drop is that it must be linked to the economic side of our lives. With constant daily changes in business practices and the stock market, it would make sense that people are more timid when it comes to risk taking! However, when comparing 2019 and 2020 data to that of the 2008 “Great Recession,” the 2008 data was actually more closely aligned with 2019 than 2020, with the most commonly reported score in 2008 also a 7.
This indicates that our current situation is much more complex and has a much wider reach than a simple economic impact. And you likely can all feel that. Beyond financial strain, we are facing a situation that impacts each and every part of our daily lives. COVID-19 makes what were once no-brainer decisions feel impossible.
Do we risk seeing our aging parents and potentially spread COVID-19, even if we are asymptomatic? Or do we risk staying socially distanced and potentially miss out on our last precious moments with them as they age?
Do we send our children to school and risk them becoming ill or bringing home the virus? Or do we keep them at home and risk them falling behind in their education and their peer socialization?
As a country, our formula for success was once a combination of risk-taking and hard work. Unfortunately, COVID-19 seems to have taken the hard work out of that equation, leaving only the risk. With each small choice now seemingly leading only to a losing path, it is no wonder that many of us feel frozen, unwilling or unable to take a risk that may lead to significantly more serious consequences than a lost investment.
However, there is an aspect of the pursuit of the American Dream other than hard work that some of us may be forgetting: innovation and adaptability. Those who strike out to make a better life for themselves don’t just follow a pre-paved road to success; instead, they forge their own paths. So, while it may seem that our two roads diverging both lead to dead-ends, we must not forget our ability to off-road and circumvent these roadblocks. While by no means does this eliminate risk, it does give us some opportunity to better control the impact of our effort. Instead of funneling our time into practices that COVID-19 has made redundant, we can choose to re-embrace our Fear of Failure and strike out to create new paths, turning our constraints into opportunities.
After all, when have the American people been known to stick to the “status quo?”
