On the Intergroup Discrimination during the Outbreak of COVID-19

During the spreading of COVID-19,the phenomenon of intergroup discrimination against"Wuhan residents/Hubei residents"has received much social attention.Intergroup discrimination in the epidemic period is mainly manifested in verbal con- tempt,transitional avoidance,diffusion of information,labelling stigma and rough treatment,which is due to the influence of individual psychological factors and social group normative factors under the combination of geographical discrimination and disease discrimination. Based on the analysis of the manifestations and causes of intergroup discrimination in the epidemic condition,we believe that increasing accuracy of information to guide the public cognition,focusing on the common identity of "Chinese" and understanding the multiple identities of individuals,adjusting the social classification clues to promote the cross-categorization effect of groups,and integrating the true feelings of human nature into the"rational"social role norms would be important psychological paths to eliminating intergroup dis- crimination in epidemic periods.