The COVID-19 pandemic has been a problematic situation for many individuals. It brought limitations to the spectrum of our daily needs and routines. The pandemic even affected various sectors and enterprises of many countries, leading to a lack of headcount and a weakened workforce.
The lockdowns and strict health protocols struck both the wealthy and financially-challenged communities. Along with the negative impacts of the pandemic caused by the coronavirus, a new study revealed bits of positive psychological effects people have unknowingly experienced. According to the research, there are little things that kept us up and running amid the chaos.
Positive Consequences: Silver Linings in COVID-19 Pandemic
According to the new paper, positive consequences are the simple things that occurred to us which we are not able to grasp and comprehend back in the normal world.
According to a Forbes report, these unforeseen positive consequences include appreciating the slow pace of life, working from home, and collaborating with the immediate community to overcome milestones and achievements.
Stanford University expert and author of the study Juan Antonio Lossio-Ventura said that the researchers determined the positive aspects, also known as silver linings, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The expert added that they have been able to gather data for the psychological examination by utilizing the approach of natural language processing.
In addition, Lossio-Ventura said that these silver linings, including gratitude, sense of community, and closeness, served the people as a strength for coping and thriving in the middle of the coronavirus crisis.
Social media platforms, including Facebook, NextDoor, and Twitter, were used for wide-scale psychological research online. In the forms provided, the participants were asked questions that tackle their life and days throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Natural Language Processing and Online Survey Revealed Positive Sentiments Caused by COVID-19 Pandemic
Natural language processing was the selected approach to consolidate and determine the absolute rate of answers from the questions distributed online.
Natural language processing is one of the techniques that experts are using to translate and define the collective answer from over a million words gathered from the social media responses.
The language processing product was consolidated in the form of sentiments score, which includes algorithms that helped the experts conclude whether the collective answers were positive or negative sentiments.
Based on the examination results, the experts saw numerous positive consequences or silver linings that the participants throughout the COVID-19 pandemic experienced. Among the additional findings is that women participants have a higher rate of positive sentiments compared to men.
Natural language processing is programmed to categorize each comment from the participants. The categories included nine different indications and were arranged accordingly to their respective common use.
According to the Forbes report, the authors said that the silver linings of the COVID-19 pandemic are essential factors to push the recovery of the communities. It can also serve as preparation for us to cope whenever a new crisis strikes.
The complete coverage of the silver linings in the COVID-19 pandemic was published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, titled "Identifying Internal Protective Factors During the Pandemic through Natural Language Processing."
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