The study of the motivational structure of the collective subject under the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic: a psychosemantic approach

The pandemic has brought humans fear for themselves and their loved ones, and frustration because of changes in habitual behavior. All this led to emotional dynamics and, therefore, to changes in the motivational structure not only randomly at the individual level, but also systematically at the group level. We have developed two attributive psychosemantic techniques that we used to construct operational models of motivational space based on actions and judgments actual at the time of the pandemic. In two studies conducted in Moscow and Tashkent, we aimed to identify and study the motivational features of behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. 1) In Tashkent, the motivational space was constructed using the methodology of attribution of motives to beliefs about COVID-19. The study involved 76 respondents (38 men and 38 women) between the ages of 20 and 33 (M = 23,8, SD = 3,4). 2) The method of attribution of motives to behavior was applied in Moscow. We surveyed 112 respondents (74 females and 38 males), aged 15 to 72 years (M = 33.2, SD = 15.2). In both studies, we used a snowball sampling technique (research participants asked their acquaintances to be surveyed). The data were analyzed using factor analysis. In both cases, the Safety motive was extracted as the first factor, followed by the motives of Strengthening social relations and Self-Determination. The fourth factor differed: in the Tashkent sample, the motive of Distrust was extracted, and in the Moscow one, Conformism. We interpreted the results in the framework of the self-determination theory of E. Desi and R. Ryan and the motivation theory of A. Maslow.