Which domain or aspect of social life will show the most significant negative societal and/or psychological change in response to the pandemic?

Igor and Charles share and discuss responses from 57 of the world's leading behavioral and social scientists, collected as part of the World After Covid project. Each episode, four responses are selected. This time, the conversation covers themes of autobiographical memory, estrangement, political conflict, and prejudice in the midst of the pandemic. Igor wonders how losing track of distinct day-to-day memories might distort our sense of who we are, and Charles considers the odd influence that a year of mask-wearing may have on how we'll interact with strangers in the post-pandemic future.

Featuring:
Jeffrey Zacks, Professor and Associate Chair of Psychological & Brain Sciences at Washington University
Paula Niedenthal, Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
David Rooney, Honorary Professor of Management and Organisation Studies at Macquarie Business School, Macquarie University
Douglas Kenrick, President’s Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University

Links:

• World After Covid site
• Igor Grossmann's homepage
• Expert Predictions of Societal Change: Insights from the World after COVID Project - Grossmann, Twardus, Varnum, Jayawickreme, McLevey (2021, in press)
• Everyone Was Wrong on the Pandemic’s Societal Impact: Foreign Policy - Varnum, Hutcherson, Grossmann (2021)
• Estimating societal effects of COVID-19 - Hutcherson, Sharpinsky, Varnum, Rotella, Wormley, Tay, Grossmann (2021, preprint)
• How Life Could Get Better (or Worse) After COVID (berkeley.edu)
• Words of wisdom: 4 tips from experts on how to endure until the COVID-19 pandemic ends (The Conversation)
• Jeffrey Zacks Interview
• Paula Niedenthal Interview
• David Rooney Interview
• Douglas Kenrick Interview