INDIANAPOLIS–You’ve seen the pictures of empty shelves at the store where the toilet paper once was. You may wonder why people have bought up and stockpiled TP, when the coronavirus doesn’t have much to do with your stomach. Dr. Steven Taylor, author of “The Psychology of Pandemics”, says it’s all happened before, in one form or another.
“I didn’t predict the toilet paper one. That’s interesting. But, everything else, the rise of racism, the panic buying, the apprehension, the people who thought the whole thing was overblown, the conspiracy theories, they’re things that have all come up in previous pandemics.”
Taylor told WIBC’s Terri Stacy on First Day that the toilet paper overload buying may be because it’s a symbol of safety.
“When people get threatened with infected they tend to be more sensitive to disgust,” he said, “because disgust is an emotion that works to keep us away from infection. Toilet paper’s not gonna stop you from getting an infection, but it’s a good way of dealing with disgust because toilet paper’s the tool for getting away from disgusting things.”
Taylor said people are overreacting because they’ve been told about coronavirus being a big, new problem, but that simple hand-washing and covering coughs are what it takes to keep the spread down.
“For many people the two just weren’t commensurate. If I’ve got a big problem then why aren’t I doing big things?”
He said stockpiling and doing “big things” are ways of coping.
But, Taylor predicted that the coronavirus pandemic likely will not cause people to go completely mad, at least not on a grand scale.
“This pandemic won’t be one of these Hollywood disaster movies where the social fabric breaks down…that’s not gonna happen.”
Taylor does predict that people will pull together for the good of the community and may even donate some their toilet paper stockpiles to the needy.
