We win together

                                           (philstar.com)

Umay paglingap? There are those who hoarded ethyl and isopropyl alcohol one could ask what would they do about it? They are going to bathe using it? You see, soap is still the best thing to use and alcohol with 70% solution can be an alternative way of disinfecting the hands so with the sanitizers. We understand that you are concerned about your health but what about the well-being of others?

Self-preservation according to the American Psychology Association is the fundamental tendency of humans and nonhuman animals to behave so as to avoid injury and maximize chances of survival (e.g., by fleeing from dangerous situations or predators).

Members of the Interagency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases yesterday met at Malacañang and agreed to implement sweeping measures to contain the spread of infection, including banning mass gatherings, extending class suspensions and imposing “localized community quarantine” for areas with confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Philstar.com reported: It’s no “lockdown,” officials said, but Metro Manila is being placed under a month-long “community quarantine” to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) starting March 15 to April 14 of this year.

These prompted the people not just in Metro Manila but even in the provinces to head to the nearest stores and started panic-buying.

When people panic-buy it’s a “gesture”, Hinde (2020) explains – they’re doing something to help themselves in an otherwise helpless situation. When we have no control over the bigger picture, we crave control in our “micro world” – our home and daily routines. And in this case, people are doing it by buying up supplies.

There’s also the fear element – understandable when some people have died from Covid-19, although only a small number in the UK. On top of that, people are scared of running out of food or supplies, says Pankhania (2020), so there’s the basic survival instinct of: “If I don’t have food, I’ll die.”

Is such fear an excuse for NOT being emphatic in such situations? You see, even in dire situations the sense of understanding that others also need stuff like food and alcohol for their own survival, we have the ability to think and feel. Have we not, as humans, transcended being animals?

Richard Taflinger in his paper called The Biological Basis of Life (1996) said: Any form of life must gather resources that allow it to survive and reproduce. The resources may be food, water, sunlight, minerals, vitamins, shelter. Without these things, the organism dies. Since the two most basic purposes of life are to live and to reproduce, it should do everything it can to avoid dying through a lack of resources.

Greed is one organism getting a larger piece of the pie, more of the necessary resources, than other organisms. For example, in the Amazonian rain forest, an occasional tree dies and falls. This leaves an opening to the sun in the continuous canopy of foliage. Plants and trees race each other to grow into that opening. The winners in the race fill the hole; the losers die through lack of sunlight. The greed for sunlight means life (Attenborough, 1990).

So that is it. Greed thrives when there is a need to survive.

Recent research indicates no decisive conclusion regarding whether humans are “fundamentally generous or greedy and whether these tendencies are shaped by our genes or environment.” (Robison, M, 2014). Studies seem to indicate we are both, and the reasons are genetic, evolutionary, and environmental.

In cases of the present situation, it seems that people are reacting to a stimulus. And this is the fear caused by the COVID-19 which is being elevated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a pandemic. But then, we cannot also discredit the fact that there are people who are genetically selfish or they are influenced by the environment to act selfishly.

There is a need for us to reflect on current situations rather than to perform reactive actions (like panic buying). We need to understand that in situations like these, we can contribute individually and be victorious as a whole.

People exert less effort when performing in groups than when working alone. Based on the collective effort model’s core principle that individuals are only willing to work hard if they expect their individual contribution to be instrumental in obtaining personally satisfying outcomes, there is a strong influence of individual motive dispositions on group performance. Motive dispositions vary from person to person and, when triggered by appropriate cues in the environment, form the current motivation and determine behavior (Helkenmeier, 2018).

The scientists are working hard to find a cure on this strain. We are afraid to be infected and we worry about our family members. But then again, others also deserve to survive not just ourselves. We can do this together.

Listen to the authorities! They mean well.