Psycorona: A World of Reactions to COVID-19 : How an online data visualization tool reports data from an international psychological survey

The COVID-19 pandemic and corresponding lockdowns have prompted one of the greatest mass disruptions to civil life in modern history. The potential psychological consequences of facing a virus without a vaccine are vast; some may be immediately evident, while others may manifest over time. The psychological impact of the pandemic may also vary across culture and context. Although psychological research and theories could help to explain responses to COVID-19 (Bélanger, 2020; Van Bavel et al., 2020), the last global virus event of this magnitude—the 1918 flu pandemic—occurred when empirical psychology was still at an early stage. As COVID-19 began its spread, it became clear that psychological science might benefit from a globally oriented study that could offer some insight into which reactions were universal and which were unique to certain regions and cultures.