Despite the popular and intuitive notion that people find climate change psychologically distant, a new review of the evidence shows that’s not the case at all.
There’s so much to process in our daily lives, we need habits to get us through and give the brain a break.
We do not laugh at the other’s suffering or distress; we react to the other’s surprise, incongruity and bewildered expression, having deciphered that he or she is not in distress and has not really hurt themselves.
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Big data analysis has unveiled startling links between seemingly unrelated things, such as how a person’s physical elevation above sea level might influence their personality.
Irrational behaviour during difficult circumstances is rooted in deeper cognitive and evolutionary psychological mechanisms. Many reflect what are called emergency decision and purchasing contexts.
It’s easy to judge people who escape from quarantine as not doing their bit. But if we use some basic principles from behavioural science, we might stop people wanting to escape in the first place.
Even in hospitals, where hand hygiene is vital, staff don’t always remember to wash their hands. What hope is there for the rest of us? Thankfully, research on handwashing behaviours has some answers.
To save as many lives as possible, public health efforts must take into account our subconscious biases.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward