Summary: A psychosocial evaluation about the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of the terror management theory

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, human beings were faced with a feeling of terror that they could not prevent, could not be protected, and were desperate While trying to deal with the threat they faced, they resorted to many inappropriate ways Some have tried to overprotect from viruses, while others have insisted on maintaining their normal routine and ignoring the threat In the second stage of the pandemic, where the threat of death decreased, an increase in psychosocial problems began to be observed This review is written to understand these dysfunctional behaviors according to Terror Management Theory This theory provides insight into how human behavior is affected in terms of self-esteem and cultural worldview when mortality salience arises According to this theory, people resort to conscious and unconscious proximal and distal defenses in the face of the mortality salience While proximal defenses are irrational, rapid, and automatic mechanisms, distal defenses are efforts to defend the individual's cultural worldview and increase self-esteem