1690 International Journal of Criminology and Sociology, 2021, 10, 1690-1698 E-ISSN: 1929-4409/21 Information on Covid-19 and Effortful Control Level: Increasing or Decreasing Anxiety? Evi Afifah Hurriyati 1,2,* , Sabilla Afriza 2 , Efi Fitriana 1 , Surya Cahyadi 1 and Wilis Srisayekti 1 1 Universitas Padjadjaran, Jawa Barat 45363, Indonesia 2 Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta Barat 11530, Indonesia Abstract: Anxiety has increased with more information about the COVID-19 outbreak. The COVID-19 information can make people more aware and care about this pandemic. However, it also can make people feel panic and anxious. Emotional induction in the information is referring to how the emotion carried by the information can affect early adult’s anxiety, but the differences in effortful control level that each person has also define the level of anxiety someone experiences. The anxiety level related to effortful control is one dimension of temperament. This study is conducted in concern of the effect of emotional induction in COVID-19 information towards anxiety in high and low effortful control groups. This study used a quantitative method with quasi-experimental research. This study involves 218 early adults in an age range of 20-40 years old. This study used pictures from content information about COVID-19, Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Effortful Control Questionnaire (ECQ) as the measuring tools. The results of the significance test show p <0.005. This means that there is an effect of emotional induction on anxiety at both high and low effortful control levels. This study shows that emotional induction in the form of COVID-19 information reduces anxiety in the respondent group with a high level of effortful control, but increases anxiety in the respondent group with a low level of effortful control. The effect of COVID-19 information on anxiety based on effortful control in the late adult (over 65 years old) group, in this study cannot be explained. Keywords: Anxiety, emotional induction, effortful control, OVID-19. INTRODUCTION Amid the sudden COVID-19 virus outbreak, the world seems to be shaken with and anxiety. Everyone panics and feels anxious with more information and appeals regarding the virus outbreak. In several countries, a lockdown is imposed where cities and even a whole country prohibit activities outside of home, traveling, or being visited for some time. However, in Indonesia there is no lockdown but, based on various considerations, PSBB (Pembatasan Sosial Berskala Besar) or Large-Scale Social Restrictions is enforced. PSBB is a government strategy to prevent the increase of COVID-19 cases by encouraging people to keep their physical distance from each other. Along with the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, all media, including television, radio, print, and digital, continue to raise this phenomenon with various purposes such as discussing more the virus, increasing awareness of its dangers, educating the public about how to prevent it, and so on. All of these have one positive objective, which is to keep the public more aware and ensure that people are educated about the virus. One very important piece of information constantly updated is the number of cases suspected of having contracted the virus, those who *Address correspondence to this author at the Bina Nusantara University, Fax Jakarta 11530, Indonesia; Tel: (+62-21) 532 7630; Fax: (+62-21) 533 2985; E-mail: e_afifah@binus.ac.id are positive, and those who have recovered. This point of information is constantly updated to inform as well as increase public awareness. However, is the goal of raising awareness only raise awareness? Apart from vigilance, anxiety also increases along with the amount of information about the COVID-19 virus. This is because the information in the media can induce the emotions of people who see or are exposed to this information constantly. Emotional induction is a stimulus that is given to stimulate hormonal and autonomic responses that prepare the body for a variety of complex reactions and behaviour (Ribeiro, Santos, Albuquerque, & Oliveira- Silva, 2019). Research conducted in China shows that the average rate of anxiety, depression, and the combination of depression and anxiety increased rapidly compared to a study conducted in 2013. These results also conclude that 82% of the studied respondents were those who actively use social media regularly and continuously (Montano & Acebes, 2020). Quoted from Beck (1992), media representation plays a very important role in characterizing danger, which then creates a potential hazard. In the case of the COVID-19 virus outbreak, which is within the scope of science, Allan, Adam, and Carter (2000) state that society is very dependent on media because the dangers and risks are not easily understood by simple logic and everyday experience (Guo, Li, & Chen, 2020). With a lot of information