Reduced sense of danger following two years of COVID-19: Fear inoculation or growing recklessness?

The COVID-19 pandemic led to sudden changes in many people's lives, due to the risky and unpredictable nature of the disease and the consequences of public policies aimed at controlling its spread. As the pandemic progressed, people became more aware of what to do, and restrictions were relaxed. Our aim was to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on individuals' psychological reactions and to examine differences due to long-term exposure between the start of the pandemic in early 2020 and the lifting of restrictions in mid-2022. We used an anonymous online survey at two different points in the COVID-19 pandemic - early 2020 and mid-2022 - and collected data from two independent samples of Portuguese individuals (194 in 2020 and 220 in 2022). Measures of the psychological impact of trauma, emergency response, anxiety and sensation seeking were collected. Participants reported significantly lower levels of negative effects of COVID-19, anxiety and sensation seeking in 2022 compared to 2020. The negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on individuals appears to have gradually decreased between 2020 and 2022.