Lockdown now, then what?
Influencing social behaviours during the pandemic — Taking learnings from behavioural sciences this article shows a way for individuals and policymakers alike.
We are going out. It’s the North East Festival that happens every winter. This is my first time. I am excited as I am hardly exposed to the cultures of North East India, and this is my chance. So I wear a dress that I feel good in. Matched it with a jacket to keep me warm from the late evening winter chill. But my dressing is not done. Our final wear just before exiting the door is a black Vogmask hung over our ear lobes. It is to protect us from the smog outside.
~2018 to ~2019, over two years were our stay in Delhi. And as can be seen, green days are hard to come by. Informed by AQI is how we made our lifestyle decisions such as whether to step out for work or rather stay indoors, or whether to exercise or not. In the first week in the capital city of India, we invested in an air purifier. This was December 2017. Usually, October to December is when Delhi witnesses an uptick in air purifier sales. It is not that the pollution is in check during the earlier months (have a look at the spread above). It is just that between October to December is when Diwali comes and goes. And the smoke from the stubble burning in nearby states makes its way into Delhi via the northwesterly winds. Augmented with the winter fog, these incidences make the risk of smog more salient, thanks to media reach around that time. This risk salience nudges consumers to act for their safety.
But buying does not equal usage. Just like how building a toilet does not mean it is being used. I have seen even doctors and conservationists, who are most likely to be closely working with the direct outcomes of air pollution, station their air purifiers as a showpiece and never switch it on. Similar is the case scenario with masks. From kids to the elderly, in a crowd of 100, hardly 5 would have worn a mask.
Why is this unsurprising behavioural negligence for air pollution of importance to COVID19?
For one, both pose life-threatening health risks. And two, for both cases the underlying decision motivators overlap. Let us look at a few, shall we?
1.Risk is a feeling that gets triggered by its saliency: In circumstances of risk and uncertainty, we act based on how risky we feel and not based on our cognitive calculations of that risk.
One of the ways this feeling of risk gets triggered is by being present and near.
We often ‘feel risky’ when we hear incidents of crime near home. Similarly, we feel the risk when a COVID19 case is reported from near home, than, say, in another state. Data has the potential to augment this feeling, but not instigate it.
2. We follow norms, not rules: If more people wear the mask, it will remind others about the imminent presence of risk.
Desiring to not be left out of the herd, we often tend to fall in line.
It happened within my own condominium. As the lockdown days lengthened, it just needed two to three people to start walking in the evening. As days went by, 3–4 more joined. While the feeling of risk sustained the physical distancing rule, the norms around lockdown shifted to convenience.
3. We seek instant gratification: Risk or otherwise, logical reasoning is secondary to our decision-making process. Emotions steer our decisions. While emotional decision-making is our brain's tool for efficiency, it has its limitations.
Our emotional brain finds it difficult to imagine future outcomes. So we choose instant rewards that are certain in the present rather than those rewards in the future that may or may not be certain.
I have seen this behaviour time and again across risk environments, from road safety, anaemia to saving oneself from occupational hazards.
4. We are overly optimistic about our personal future: We hand wash, we wear a mask, and we follow physical distancing. While this 3-step formula is the need of the hour, it could also backfire.
Because following them may frame an illusion of control on self. Which in turn reduces our guard.
5. We prefer familiarity; Change is unfamiliar: Childhood memories flood us with delight. Pleasant nostalgia makes us yearn to relive that moment. Because, having experienced them, they are now familiar to us. We feel safe and comfortable with familiar habits and familiar people.
This yearning for familiarity juxtaposed with the fear of unfamiliar circumstances makes us resist change. Because change leads to unfamiliar territories.
SO, THEN, What will post lockdown look like?
“It is through surviving accidents and learning from them, or seeing them on television, or being warned by mother, that we acquire our perception of what is safe or dangerous.
Why do we take risks? There are rewards. And the magnitude of the reward influences propensity.”
~ John Adams
While our awareness and intentions to stay safe may be intact,
we may tend to trade-off safety for comfort.
“Mask inhibits my breathing.”
“Mask obstructs by vision.”
That is unless the ‘feeling of risk’ is sustained until the desired habits are formed.
Listen to this Conscious Cave webinar on COVID-19 Ground Reality, Dark Clouds, and Silver Linings, by Conscious Bengaluru. Interdisciplinary practitioners from across the Bengaluru city, including me, had come together to share what we know of the happenings on the ground. We have discussed mental health, risk perceptions, visible resistance to change, and have shared thoughts on how we can adapt to the expected new ways of life. The future that could be.
So, how can we handle this post-lockdown apocalypse?
- Use emotion triggering risk stories to sustain risk saliency: Information, when shared as human stories have triggered more charitable donation and has proved efficient in promoting pro-environmental behaviours. Emotions speak to us because emotions steer our decisions. So, stories appealing to our care for our loved ones, our fear of embarrassment within our community, and pride in being right will have a better impact on changing our behaviours to the upcoming new normal. Data could be used to add weightage to our emotions.
- What, Why and How: We are so used to appealing to our logical mind. So we provide reasons. Communication narratives usually share the what and the why. But how to react with the information is left to the audience who are flawed with biases. Any communication shared should have what, why and the how. What and why shares the information, and how is the call-to-action.
- Implement nudges: Nudges are subtle interventions that are meant to guide individuals to make the right choice. Such as placing hand sanitizers at the door or inside an elevator, or marking standing points at 1-meter intervals. Nudges have a high impact on behaviours when placed at the point of action, addressing the non-conscious decision processes. Such as the nudge wherein a looped animation of a human character acting out the wearing a mask be kept at bus entry, shopping mall entrance, etc. Thanks to the mirror neurons in our brain, we tend to non-consciously internalize the mental states and movements of the individual /character we are interacting with. The nudge intervention here is, therefore, aiming to stimulate our mirror neurons into wearing the mask as we enter crowded places. Be noted that this nudge is a personal example, and is not evidenced.
- Implement policy nudges: New practices come about via new norms. Relax rigid structures to actively promote working from home whenever possible. Encourage individuals to stay home if they feel even mildly sick. Actively find new ways to work with, in travel intensive professions. Encourage contributions that will aid with adapting to these new norms.
- Deliberately seek data-driven information to balance exaggerated feelings of risk: We are tuned to perceive risk based on how we feel. But our feelings are not always accurate as they can be easily swayed by false rumours or one bad experience. At these times of risk and uncertainty, we need to become smarter. Guided by our feelings of risk we should actively and deliberately seek to validate our feelings with credible data. Together we can make an informed decision.
