What should we do as a community?
To understand Coronavirus and the public response so far, we need to be aware of a few cognitive biases innate to all humans.
The first is
“normalcy bias” during disasters. Many people tend to believe things will function as they always do. This means they underestimate the likelihood of a disaster and its subsequent effects. This is why, for example, people stay home during hurricanes or wildfires despite evacuation notices.
The second (and opposite) cognitive bias is the
“overreaction”. This means that people panic and overreact in ways that may not aid the situation. For example, the current trend of individuals buying up medical masks and depleting overall community stock qualify as an overreaction.
The third cognitive bias is
“attribute substitution bias”. Reputable studies show that humans instinctively try to use as little mental effort as possible.
In these cases, people may base a decision on intuition or convenience instead of facts and reflection. Or, they may inadvertently answer an easier question instead of the bigger, harder one. For example, instead of answering whether it’s a good idea to go out dancing, they may respond “I’m carrying hand sanitizer”. This bias makes situations like a novel virus and a once-in-a-lifetime outbreak challenging. With information changing daily, heaps of uncertainty, and inconsistent public health messaging, many of us are at risk of ‘checking out’ of dealing with the real issues.
Dance in the time of Corona: A primer and suggestions on the novel Coronavirus and social dancing (The Dancing Grapevine, March 6, 2020)
