Published on November 23, 2020
This second lockdown makes us yearn for what lies ahead. The Christmas and end-of-year period takes on an added dimension during this corona crisis. Will we be able to celebrate Christmas with our families this year? Or would we rather stay in our lockdown cocoon? Is it worth the effort if we unload the current measures resulting in a Christmas wave in January? In the motivation barometer (UGent), four different hypothetical Christmas scenarios were presented to a few thousand respondents. Four Christmas formulas with varying degrees of freedom: from maintaining the current measures to opening our door to free social movement. Each scenario was assessed for its psychological advantages and disadvantages. The overall conclusion is that the population does not want to celebrate Christmas in the traditional way, but is prepared to exercise self-restraint. Although they even seem to want to comply with the current measures on Christmas Eve, a relaxation with two visitors would bring some psychological benefits (i.e., connectedness, less difficulties in making choices, more fun), while the disadvantages (i.e., anxiety) remain under control. Especially more voluntarily motivated and risk-aware citizens are willing to follow stricter scenarios, while demotivated individuals and young adults are more in favour of more lenient scenarios. In this report, we synthesise the main results according to four key questions and formulate eight action points for policy to increase motivation and risk awareness.
Dutch
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