Does your cognitive bias make you careless?
Remember seven weeks ago when the words “new normal” were in everyone’s vocabulary? When we all found ourselves facing unforeseen circumstances, including but not limited to working from home, social distancing, wearing face masks, washing our hands exponentially more than we ever have before? SEVEN WEEKS AGO! Doesn’t seem real that it’s been that long, right?
Here we are, heading into a new month, and the new normal has become, well, normal. Today’s tip gives us obstacles in the way of remaining vigilant with our vital public health behaviors, especially with the influx of plans and reports of phased reopenings.
In order to maintain the good behaviors we have been practicing, we must acknowledge our own cognitive biases, as well as the strategies we can employ to overcome them. As physician-researcher Donald A. Redelmeier and behavioral scientist Eldar Shafir explain, the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has gone on for so long can lead some of us to assume that the worst of the threat is over, which is not the case. Because the pandemic no longer feels new, each of us may be tempted to ease up on the healthy habits we created. Dana Rose Garfin, on the faculty at the Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing (University of California-Irvine), has been conducting studies on Redelmeier and Shafir’s cognitive biases. When self-isolation works, for example, it creates the kind of results that prompt people to ask why we’re still self-isolating. “This creates agitation in the community,” Garfin says. “People start saying we don’t need to be doing this.”
One of the more important cognitive biases on this list is confirmation bias, which is our tendency to favor our own preconceived notions. (How many of you only follow news outlets which align with your personal/political preferences?) “People pay attention to information that supports what they already believe,” Garfin explains. If you are looking for news that matches your personal beliefs about coronavirus transmission, herd immunity, or local/national reopening strategies, you’ll definitely be able to find plenty of articles and social media posts that support your beliefs, regardless of if the source is reputable.
What does that mean for all of us, now in our seventh week of staying at home and social distancing? Basically, don’t let your guard down yet. You still need to isolate yourself, avoid unnecessary trips outside, stay six feet away from people not in your home, continue to wear masks in public places, and practice good hand-washing habits. On the other hand, we can’t be so guarded that we forget about other threats to our health and well-being. (As we are reminded by Redelmeier and Shafer, there is no reason any of us want to end up in the hospital right now.)
In other words: Remain vigilant, but avoid excessive anxiety. Stay connected and stay balanced, even while you stay at home. Don’t look for articles and Twitter threads that suggest you can be the exception to the rule, because you’ll probably find something that tells you just what you want to hear—and it might prompt you to engage in risky behavior that could hurt both yourself and others.
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Sources: Redelmeier, D. A., Shafir, E. Pitfalls of judgment during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Lancet Public Health. 2020.
Dieker, N. Don't Let Cognitive Biases Cause You to Engage in Risky Public Health Behavior. Lifehacker. 2020.
Here we are, heading into a new month, and the new normal has become, well, normal. Today’s tip gives us obstacles in the way of remaining vigilant with our vital public health behaviors, especially with the influx of plans and reports of phased reopenings.
In order to maintain the good behaviors we have been practicing, we must acknowledge our own cognitive biases, as well as the strategies we can employ to overcome them. As physician-researcher Donald A. Redelmeier and behavioral scientist Eldar Shafir explain, the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has gone on for so long can lead some of us to assume that the worst of the threat is over, which is not the case. Because the pandemic no longer feels new, each of us may be tempted to ease up on the healthy habits we created. Dana Rose Garfin, on the faculty at the Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing (University of California-Irvine), has been conducting studies on Redelmeier and Shafir’s cognitive biases. When self-isolation works, for example, it creates the kind of results that prompt people to ask why we’re still self-isolating. “This creates agitation in the community,” Garfin says. “People start saying we don’t need to be doing this.”
One of the more important cognitive biases on this list is confirmation bias, which is our tendency to favor our own preconceived notions. (How many of you only follow news outlets which align with your personal/political preferences?) “People pay attention to information that supports what they already believe,” Garfin explains. If you are looking for news that matches your personal beliefs about coronavirus transmission, herd immunity, or local/national reopening strategies, you’ll definitely be able to find plenty of articles and social media posts that support your beliefs, regardless of if the source is reputable.What does that mean for all of us, now in our seventh week of staying at home and social distancing? Basically, don’t let your guard down yet. You still need to isolate yourself, avoid unnecessary trips outside, stay six feet away from people not in your home, continue to wear masks in public places, and practice good hand-washing habits. On the other hand, we can’t be so guarded that we forget about other threats to our health and well-being. (As we are reminded by Redelmeier and Shafer, there is no reason any of us want to end up in the hospital right now.)
In other words: Remain vigilant, but avoid excessive anxiety. Stay connected and stay balanced, even while you stay at home. Don’t look for articles and Twitter threads that suggest you can be the exception to the rule, because you’ll probably find something that tells you just what you want to hear—and it might prompt you to engage in risky behavior that could hurt both yourself and others.
--
Sources: Redelmeier, D. A., Shafir, E. Pitfalls of judgment during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Lancet Public Health. 2020.
Dieker, N. Don't Let Cognitive Biases Cause You to Engage in Risky Public Health Behavior. Lifehacker. 2020.
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