Fig. 3

Changes in fear and anger during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020). The figure describes three things: The number of confirmed infections and changing trends of fear and anger, major factors attributed to fear, and major events and factors attributed to anger. [Top of figure] In the first year of the COVID-19 outbreak in South Korea, there were three waves of spikes in infections. In the graph, the number of cases and the intensity of emotions are changing. The emotion value is the intensity of the emotion averaged over each month, from a minimum of 0 to a maximum of 1. The peaks of the waves do not show the peak increases in social negative emotions, namely anxiety and anger. It also shows that the increase in anxiety is not proportional to the increase in anger. The graph illustrates that anxiety and anger are driven by different attributional factors. [Middle of figure] The cognitive attribution of social anxiety is the lack or ambiguity of information regarding COVID-19, and social anxiety shows the highest increase in the early stages of the outbreak. There is also a modest increase in social fear when the political protests at Sarang Jeil Church are resolved (September) and just before the third wave begins to rise (October). [Bottom of figure] Anger arises from cognitive appraisals of major events. Social anger peaks with negative appraisals of all aspects of ethics, religion, and politics, especially during the protests of Sarang Jeil Church’s leader and his followers showing their religious and political bias (August)