Background: A considerable quantity of research supports the findings that the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly influenced individuals’ psychological wellbeing and behaviours. Purpose: This chapter aims to provide an overview of some of the current studies examining psychological responses of various groups across cultures in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic employing the behavioural immune system (BIS) framework and terror management theory (TMT) as a theoretical lens. Methodology: Online databases are used to conduct a literature review of some of the studies carried out during the global pandemic between 2019 and 2021. Results: The pandemic has had an overall detrimental effect on everyone to some extent, with a disproportionate impact on more vulnerable populations. Conclusion and Recommendation: People continue to cope with the death anxiety from the perspective of the TMT and are driven to avoid pathogens from the BIS viewpoint in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic;however, given the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on vulnerable groups, it is recommended that societies prioritize equity-oriented public health measures to ensure the population’s future wellbeing. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
Psychological Perspectives on COVID-19