Integrating ebola in the everyday thinking: Social representations, risk perception and emotions

Abstract

To understand the new phenomena that threaten our society, such as the current ebola outbreak, we build shared meanings, that is, social representations. Social representa- tions make the ebola be understandable and also channeled the risk perception and emotions. This work analyzed how 294 people from the Basque Country understood, perceived and felt for ebola from August to November 2014. The results showed that ebola is represented as a dangerous disease linked to Africa, but in our society creates mild risk perception and fear. Even more, the risk perception and fear emotions were higher when the health crisis started than when contagions happened in the West. This could be explained by the fatigue created by the incessant reappearance of epidemics or because the tragic predictions of epidemics almost never become real. What is clear is that these factors directly influence the way to face emerging infectious diseases.