In psychological science, constructs appear to be an effective method for comprehending and analyzing human behavior. This term is used for labeling a cluster of covarying behavioral patterns, and therefore, it presents a mental construction. It is useful for providing an in-depth insight into the cause of commonality of people’s actions. In case a construct is precisely defined and applied to a particular event, which makes different individuals act or think in a similar way, it is possible to understand this phenomenon. The significant benefit of this tool implies the fact that it summarizes a cluster of behavioral patterns and allows to continue the analysis in accordance with data of different individuals (Fried, n. d.). There are four most common accounts of psychological constructs: natural, practical, complex, and social ones, and the last is the focus of this paper. It regards the assumption that constructs are socially elaborated. According to this perspective, researchers have not discovered psychological constructs but produced as the result of social interactions (Fried, n. d.). In addition, this theory implies that mental disorders are derived from society and communication within it.
This approach may be relevant for analyzing a recent phenomenon in human behavior. BBC News (2021) presented information on a high level of anxiety among doctors in the conditions of coronavirus pandemic. This causes considerable mental health problems and leads to suicide in some cases. BBC News (2021) the vulnerability of health care providers in the context of pressure put by the Covid-19 outbreak and the necessity to deliver care to numerous patients. BBC News (2021) mentions: “4000 doctors at the start of 2021 found 58 had anxiety or depression” (1:38). One of the doctors explains: “the hardest part of working in the pandemic was probably not being able to do enough for some patients, and I can’t honestly tell you how that made us feel” (2:16). Workers, who have to interact with clients regularly, find it challenging to witness the deaths of patients, which occurs despite all the efforts. In addition, they incur the negative impact of observing the sufferings of clients (BBC News, 2021). For this reason, the organization You Okay, Doc? is aimed to provide doctors with essential psychological support and relieve their anxiety.
This example may be illustrative in the context of the theory of a social psychological construct. As it has been mentioned above, the cause of this type lies in interactions with people. Doctors, who are the most vulnerable, have to contact patients regularly. They have to see all the problems they have to encounter and observe the results of the treatment. Health care providers are interested in providing the best outcomes for patients, though during the coronavirus pandemic, their efforts may be fruitless.
Furthermore, they may be incapable of providing a patient with the best treatment due to external factors, which do not depend on workers. One of the doctors states: “we’re uniquely vulnerable, we see a lot of very emotionally taxing things: people dying, people suffering” (BBC News, 2021, 4:06). Therefore, in this case, anxiety appears to be a social psychological construct. Namely, interactions with patients affect the mental health of medical workers and lead to a high level of anxiety. In particular situations, anxiety and inability to cope with coronavirus health consequences prompt health care providers to suicide.
References
BBC News. (2021). Covid pandemic’s impact on doctors mental health – BBC News [Video]. YouTube. Web.
Fried, E. I. (n. d.). What are psychological constructs? On the nature and statistical modeling of psychological kinds. Web.