Maladaptive Cognitive Bias in the New Normal Period:  An Analyses from a Behavioural Science Perspective in the Time of Covid-19

Zafira Rahmania Nur Shabrina; Insan Rekso Adiwibowo; Nurul Aisya Beryllia

doi:10.22146/buletinpsikologi.60763

Maladaptive Cognitive Bias in the New Normal Period: An Analyses from a Behavioural Science Perspective in the Time of Covid-19

Zafira Rahmania Nur Shabrina, Insan Rekso Adiwibowo, Nurul Aisya Beryllia

(Submitted 23 October 2020)

(Published 22 December 2020)

Abstract

The limited number of effective medical interventions to combat Covid-19 to date has resulted in government institutions focusing on preventive behaviours believed to minimize virus transmission. The Indonesian government has launched a ‘new normal’ campaign whereby outdoor activities are restricted by various health protocols established by health authorities, such as wearing a mask, habitual hand washing and social distancing. However, these protocols have not been implemented with a thorough understanding of human behaviour. The result is numerous violations of the protocol, which subsequently lead to the persistence of Covid-19 cases in Indonesia. Behavioural science as an approach can provide important insights regarding the systematic errors of thought that contribute to non-compliance with Covid-19 health signs. This article will elaborate on the different types of systematic errors, known as cognitive biases, that plays a role in Covid-19 protocol compliance and suggest the corresponding solutions deemed most effective to overcome these obstacles. Understanding of the dynamics paired with the application of behaviourally informed strategies will hence contribute to the attempt to flatten the Covid-19 curve.

Keywords

Covid-19; cognitive bias; new normal; protocol compliance

Full Text: PDF

DOI: 10.22146/buletinpsikologi.60763

References

Advani, S. D., Yarrington, M. E., Smith, B. A., Anderson, D. J., & Sexton, D. J. (2020). Are we forgetting the “universal” in universal masking? Current challenges and future solutions. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, 1–2. doi: 10.1017/ice. 2020.333

Arkes, H. R. (1991). Costs and benefits of judgment errors: Implications for debiasing. Psychological Bulletin, 110(3), 486–498. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.110.3.486

Baron, J. (2000). Thinking and deciding. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bavel, J. J. V., Baicker, K., Boggio, P. S. et al. (2020). Using social and behavioural science to support Covid-19 pandemic response. Nat Hum Behav, 4, 460–471. doi: 10.1038/s41562-020-0884-z

Bickel, W. K., Moody, L., & Higgins, S. T. (2016). Some current dimensions of the behavioural economics of health-related behaviour change. Preventive medicine, 92, 16–23. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2016.06.002

Bottemanne, H., Morlaàs, O., Fossati, P., & Schmidt, L. (2020). Does the coronavirus epidemic take advantage of human optimism bias? Frontiers in Psychology, 11(August), 1–5. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02001

Burns, Z., Chiu, A., & Wu, G. (2010). Overweighting of small probabilities. In J. J. Cochran (Ed.), Wiley encyclopedia of operations research and management science (pp.1-8). New York: Wiley. doi: 10.1002/9780470400531.eorms0634

Centola, D. (2011) An experimental study of homophily in the adoption of health behaviour. Science, 334(6060), 1269–1272. doi: 10.1126/science.1207055

Cialdini, R. B. & Goldstein, N. J. (2004). Social influence: compliance and conformity. Annu Rev Psychol. 55(44), 591–621. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.142015

Fleming, S. M., Thomas, C. L., & Dolan, R. J. (2010). Overcoming status quo bias in the human brain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107(13), 6005–6009. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0910380107

Gallagher, K. M., & Updegraff, J. A. (2012). Health message framing effects on attitudes, intentions, and behaviour: A meta-analytic review. Annals of Behavioural Medicine, 43(1), 101-116. doi: 10.1007/s12160-011-9308-7

gandhi, m., & rutherford, g. w. (2020). facial masking for covid-19 — potential for “variolation” as we Await a Vaccine. New England Journal of Medicine, 383(18), e101. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp2026913

Goldstein, N. J., Cialdini, R. B., & Griskevicius, V. (2008). A room with a viewpoint: Using social norms to motivate environmental conservation in hotels. Journal of Consumer Research 35, 472–482. doi: 10.1086/586910

Halpern, S. D., Truog, R. D., & Miller, F. G. (2020). Cognitive bias and public health policy during the COVID-19 pandemic. JAMA, 324(4), 337. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.11623

Haselton, M. G., & Buss, D. M. (2000). Error management theory: A new perspective on biases in cross-sex mind reading. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(1), 81–91. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.78.1.81

Haselton, M. G., Nettle, D., & Andrews, P. W. (2005). The handbook of evolutionary psychology. The Evolution of Cognitive Bias, 724-746.

Haselton, M. G., Nettle, D., & Andrews, P. W. (2015). The evolution of cognitive bias. The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, 724–746.

Hume, S., John, P., Sanders, M., & Stockdale, E. (2020). Nudge in the time of Coronavirus: The persistence of behavioural messages during crisis. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi: 10.2139/ssrn

Jordan, J., Yoeli, E., & Rand, D. (2020). Don’t get it or don’t spread it? Comparing self-interested versus pro-socially framed Covid-19 prevention messaging. Working paper, https://psyarxiv.com/yuq7

Kahneman, D. (2003). Maps of bounded rationality: Psychology for behavioural economics. American Economic Review, 93, 1449–1475. doi: 10.1257/000282803322655392

Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica, 47(2), 263-291. doi: 10.2307/1914185

Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1996). On the reality of cognitive illusions. Psychological Review, 103, 582-591. doi:10.1037/0033-295x.103.3.582

Kai, D., Goldstein, G. P., Morgunov, A., Nangalia, V., & Rotkirch, A. (2020). Universal masking is urgent in the COVID-19 Pandemic: SEIR and agent based models, empirical validation, policy recommendations. ArXiv.

Loewenstein, G., Brennan, T., & Volpp, K. G. (2007). Asymmetric paternalism

to improve health behaviours. Journal of the American Medical Association, 298(20), 2415-2417. doi: 10.1001/jama.298.202415

Loewenstein, G., John, L. K., & Volpp, K.G. (2012). Using decision errors to help people help themselves. In E. Shafir (Ed.), The behavioural foundations of public policy (pp.361-379). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Lunn, P. D., Timmons, S., Barjaková, M., Belton, C. A., Julienne, H., & Lavin, C. (2020). Motivating social distancing during the Covid-19 Pandemic: An online experiment. ESRI Working Paper, 658.

Marteau, T. M., Ogilvie, D., Roland, M., Suhrcke, M., &; Kelly, M. P. (2011). Judging nudging: Can nudging improve population health? BMJ,342(3), 228. doi: 10.1136/bmj.d228

McDermott, R., Fowler, J. H., & Smirnov, O. (2008). On the evolutionary origin of prospect theory preferences. Journal of Politics, 70(2), 335–350. doi: 10.1017/S0022381608080341

Nettle, D. (2004). Adaptive illusions: optimism, control, and human rationality. In Emotion, Evolution, and Rationality (pp. 193–208). doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198528975.003.0010

O’Donoghue, T., & Rabin, M. (1999). Doing it now or later. American Economic Review, 89(1), 103-124. doi: 10.1257/aer.89.1.103

Samuelson, W., & Zeckhauser, R. (1988). Status quo bias in decision making. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 1(1), 7–59. doi: 10.1007/BF00055564

Saposnik, G., Redelmeier, D., Ruff, C. C., & Tobler, P. N. (2016). Cognitive biases associated with medical decisions: a systematic review. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 16(1), 1–14. doi: 10.1186/s12911-016-0377-1

Sasaki, S., Kurokawa, H., & Ohtake, F. (2020). Short-term responses to nudge-based messages for preventing the spread of Covid-19 infection: Intention, behaviour, and life satisfaction. Discussion Papers in Economics and Business No. 20-11, Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics. Retrieved from https://econpapers.repec.org/paper/oskwpaper/2011.htm

Sharot, T. (2011). The optimism bias. Current Biology, 21(23), R941-R945. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2011.10.030

Smith, M. (2020). International COVID-19 tracker update: 2 September. Retrieved November 16, 2020, from YouGov Covid-19 Tracker website: https://today.yougov.com/topics/health/articles-reports/2020/09/02/international-covid-19-tracker-update-2-september

Soofi, M., Najafi, F., & Karami-Matin, B. (2020). Using insights from behavioural economics to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, 18, 345-350. doi: 10.1007/s40258-020-00595-4

Thaler, R. H. (2016). Behavioural economics: Past, present, and future. American Economic Review, 106(7), 1577-600. doi: 10.1257/aer.106.7.1577

Thaler, R. H. (2018). From cashews to nudges: The evolution of behavioural economics. American Economic Review, 108(6), 1265-1287. doi: 10.1257/aer.108.6.1265

Thaler, R. H., & Sunstein, C. R. (2008). Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth and happiness. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Science, 185(4157), 1124-1131. doi: 10.1126/science.185.4157.1124

Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1981). The framing of decisions and the psychology of choice. Science, 211(4481), 453-458. doi: 10.1126/science.7455683

van der Pligt, J., Otten, W., Richard, R., & van der Velde, F. (1993). Perceived risk of AIDS: unrealistic optimism and self-protective action. In J. B. Pryor, & G. D. Reeder (Eds.). The social psychology of HIV-infection (pp.39-58). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

van der Pol, M., Hennessy, D., & Manns, B. (2017). The role of time and risk preferences in adherence to physician advice on health behaviour change. The European Journal of Health Economics, 18(3), 373-386. doi: 10.1007/s10198-016-0800-7

Weber, B. J., & Chapman, G. B. (2005). Playing for peanuts: Why is risk seeking more common for low-stakes gambles? Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, 97(1), 31-46. doi: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2005.03.001

Weinstein, N. D. (1980). Unrelistic optimism about future life events. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39(5), 806-820. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.39.5.806

Weinstein, N. D. (1987). Unrealistic optimism about susceptibility to health problems: Conclusions from a community-wide sample. Journal of Behavioural Medicine, 10(5), 481-500. doi: 10.1007/BF00846146

Weinstein, N. D., Marcus, S. E., & Moser, R. P. (2005). Smokers’ unrealistic optimism about their risk. Tobacco Control, 14(1), 55-59. doi: 10.1136/tc.2004.008375

World Health Organization (2020). WHO announces Covid-19 outbreak a pandemic. Retrieved September 23, 2020, from:https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/health-emergencies/coronavirus-Covid-19/news/news/2020/3/who-announces-Covid-19-outbreak-a-pandemic

Refbacks

There are currently no refbacks.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.