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Pandemic Communication and Resilience pp 75–87Cite as

Pandemics and Resiliency: Psychometrics and Mental Models

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Abstract

This chapter examines how people make sense of the uncertainty, the science, and their role in pandemics through the lens of mental models and cognitive biases such as mortality salience, optimism bias, and identity protection. The chapter will present definitions, the similarities and differences between various models, relevant evidence from literature pertaining to past and current pandemics, methods of assessments, and future directions for practitioners, students, and scholars to build resilience through communication driven by an understanding of mental models and cognitive biases.

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  1. Department of Advertising & Public Relations, Klein College of Media & Communication, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Meghnaa Tallapragada

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  1. North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA

    David M. Berube

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Tallapragada, M. (2021). Pandemics and Resiliency: Psychometrics and Mental Models. In: Berube, D.M. (eds) Pandemic Communication and Resilience. Risk, Systems and Decisions. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77344-1_5

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