Social threats to human nature during the pandemic

Abstract

Social pain is discussed from different angles and is related to primal emotions, the experience of exclusion, unconscious response patterns, attachment, evolutionary psychology, interpersonal neurobiology, and social neuroscience. The internet and online solutions developed during the pandemic are problematized. Such discussion fora offer many useful solutions for problem solving and communication. However, they might cause new problems in the long run, not least reinforcing authoritarian solutions. It is concluded that social isolation and the accompanying pain of not being part of a Group is real and against human nature. Other aspects of human needs that are threatened during the pandemic are Rightmindedness, Autonomy, Status, and Security. They can be summarized in the acronym GRASS. To prevent health problems in the population all these needs, including human’s dependency on experiencing greenery, must be taken into consideration.