How to change the behavior of a nation
Summary
TLDRThis video explores the psychological strategies behind effective public health messaging during the COVID-19 pandemic. It discusses how collective appeals rather than individualistic messages can better influence behavior, as seen in the UK government's shift from 'wash your hands' to 'stay home, protect the NHS, save lives.' The script delves into the importance of design, authority bias, and social proof in behavior change, offering insights from experts like John Jerry and practical examples from various countries. It also addresses the negative impact of emphasizing non-compliance and suggests focusing on positive social proof to encourage adherence to guidelines.
Takeaways
- 🏠 Countries like Italy enforce strict lockdowns with signed documents for essential outings, while Greece requires citizens to text for permission to leave home.
- 🇸🇪 Sweden has taken a lenient approach, keeping shops open and relying on social pressure for compliance, unlike Belarus, which has not implemented significant restrictions.
- 🧬 The core scientific question is determining the response that will cause the least damage to human life, but the implementation of such decisions involves more nuanced questions.
- 📢 Behavioral science can help identify effective messaging and slogans during the coronavirus pandemic, which is crucial for influencing public behavior.
- 🤝 John Jerry's research suggests that appeals to collective action, rather than individual interests, are more effective in emergencies, as people are more likely to coordinate and support each other.
- 👶 Save the Children's innovative approach to handwashing involves soap bars with toys inside, encouraging children to wash regularly to reveal the toy.
- 🌈 The UK government's messaging has evolved to be less personalized and more collectivized, emphasizing the impact of individual actions on the community.
- 👨⚕️ The authority bias suggests that people are more likely to follow health advice from medical professionals rather than politicians, which is reflected in the government's communication strategy.
- 🚪 The 'cootie effect' could be used to discourage touching high-touch surfaces like door handles by using graphic symbols that create revulsion.
- 📊 Negative social proof, where common negative actions are highlighted, can lead to more people following those actions, which is a phenomenon to be avoided in messaging.
- 📰 Media coverage that emphasizes non-compliance with government guidelines can inadvertently encourage negative social proof, leading to more people defying the rules.
Q & A
What is the main challenge that the UK and other countries are facing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic?
-The main challenge is convincing a whole nation to stay at home to prevent the spread of the virus, which involves implementing effective measures and communication strategies.
How does Italy enforce its lockdown to control the spread of COVID-19?
-In Italy, the lockdown is strictly enforced, requiring individuals to carry a signed sheet of paper declaring an official reason to go outside.
What method does Greece use to control its citizens' movements during the lockdown?
-Greece requires citizens to text a number to get permission to leave their homes, a system that uses technology to enforce the lockdown.
What approach has Sweden taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic?
-Sweden has not implemented extreme measures and has kept many shops and public areas open, relying on social pressure to encourage people to stay home.
How does Belarus handle the COVID-19 situation differently from other countries?
-Belarus has been lenient, refusing to shut down public spaces, including the Belarus Football League, which continues with matches and fans attending.
What is the key scientific question at the heart of each country's decision-making regarding COVID-19?
-The key scientific question is what response will cause the least damage to human life while managing the spread of the virus.
What role does behavior science play in the messaging and slogans used during the COVID-19 pandemic?
-Behavior science helps in understanding the psychology behind messages and slogans, identifying what works and what doesn't in persuading people to follow guidelines and stay home.
Why does John Jerry argue that the UK government's initial message to wash hands more often was the wrong approach?
-John Jerry argues that the initial message was too individualistic and did not create a sense of shared social identity, which is crucial for collective action and support during a crisis.
How has the UK government's messaging evolved to be more effective in encouraging collective action?
-The UK government's messaging has evolved to be less personalized and more focused on helping others, with slogans like 'Stay home, protect the NHS, save lives' and 'Stay in this Easter, don't put your friends and family in danger.'
What is the von Restorff effect and how has it influenced the design of public health messages during the COVID-19 pandemic?
-The von Restorff effect suggests that people are more likely to be drawn towards distinctive words, letters, or colors. This has influenced the design of public health messages to use distinctive colors and clear, concise language to catch viewers' attention.
How does the authority bias affect the way people respond to health messages, and how has this been applied in the UK's COVID-19 response?
-The authority bias is the tendency to follow the lead of perceived independent authorities. In the UK's COVID-19 response, this has been applied by having the chief medical officer or chief scientific officer deliver key messages instead of politicians, as people are more likely to follow the advice of medical experts.
What innovative approach did Save the Children use to encourage children to wash their hands more regularly?
-Save the Children designed soap bars with a colorful toy in the center, requiring children to wash their hands regularly to reveal the toy, thus encouraging frequent hand washing.
How does the 'cootie effect' suggest changing behavior to prevent the spread of germs?
-The 'cootie effect' associates touching with the transfer of negative characteristics. To prevent the spread of germs, Roger Dooley suggests using graphic biohazard symbols on high-touch items to create an immediate revulsion and impact behavior without the need for extensive messaging.
What is negative social proof and how can it unintentionally encourage undesirable behavior?
-Negative social proof occurs when a message indicates that an action is commonplace, leading people to follow it even if it's against the rules. This can unintentionally encourage undesirable behavior by making it seem normal.
Outlines
🌍 Global Responses to COVID-19
The video script discusses the various strategies employed by different countries to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. It starts with the UK's struggle to keep its citizens at home, contrasting it with Italy's strict lockdown measures and Greece's requirement for citizens to text for permission to leave their homes. The script then compares these with Sweden's and Belarus's more lenient approaches, highlighting the scientific question at the core of these decisions: minimizing harm to human life. It also touches on the psychological aspects of messaging during a crisis, such as the importance of collective action over individual interests, and the evolution of the UK's public health messaging to emphasize community responsibility.
📢 The Evolution of Public Health Messaging
This paragraph delves into the evolution of the UK government's messaging during the pandemic. It discusses how initial messages focused on individual behavior, such as washing hands for 20 seconds, which were later critiqued for not fostering a collective response. The script introduces John Jerry, an expert in crowd psychology, who argues for messages that build a sense of shared social identity to encourage collective action. The narrative then shows how the UK's messaging shifted to be more collective, with slogans like 'Stay Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives,' and the importance of using authoritative figures like the chief medical officer to deliver messages for better public compliance.
🎨 Designing Effective Public Health Messages
The script explores the design elements of public health messages, emphasizing the importance of distinctiveness to capture attention. It references the von Restorff effect, which suggests that people are more likely to notice and remember distinctive elements. The paragraph discusses how the UK government updated its messaging design to use bright colors and concise language to make the messages more noticeable. Additionally, it covers the application of nudge theory in communication, highlighting the authority bias, where people are more likely to follow advice from perceived experts, and how this is utilized in the government's messaging strategy.
🚪 Behavioral Strategies to Combat COVID-19 Spread
This section of the script focuses on behavioral strategies to prevent the spread of COVID-19, such as increasing hand washing and avoiding touching high-touch surfaces like door handles. It discusses the 'cootie effect' and suggests using graphic symbols as a visual deterrent. The paragraph also addresses the issue of negative social proof, where highlighting non-compliant behavior can inadvertently increase its occurrence. It provides examples of how messaging can influence behavior, both positively and negatively, and stresses the importance of emphasizing the majority's adherence to guidelines to encourage compliance.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Lockdown
💡Social Pressure
💡Behavioral Science
💡Shared Social Identity
💡Collectivized Messaging
💡Von Restorff Effect
💡Nudge Theory
💡Authority Bias
💡Cootie Effect
💡Negative Social Proof
💡Habit Change
Highlights
Different countries have adopted various strategies to enforce lockdowns, with Italy using strict enforcement and Greece requiring citizens to text for permission to leave their homes.
Sweden and Belarus have taken a more lenient approach, keeping public areas open and not implementing extreme measures.
The effectiveness of lockdown measures is tied to scientific questions about minimizing damage to human life.
Behavioral science can provide insights into how to persuade people to follow guidelines like staying indoors during a pandemic.
John Jerry's research suggests that appeals to individual interests may not be as effective as those that foster a sense of shared social identity.
Messages that frame a threat in group terms can lead to a more robust and effective public response.
The UK government has shifted its messaging to be less personalized and more focused on collective action, such as 'stay home, protect the NHS, save lives'.
The design of public health messages has evolved to be more distinctive and memorable, leveraging the von Restorff effect.
Nudge theory has been applied to behavior change communication, with messages being more effective when delivered by authoritative figures like doctors.
Hand washing rates can be increased by making the risks of not washing more salient, as demonstrated by the use of harmless food dye in a factory.
Save the Children has created soap bars with toys inside to encourage children to wash their hands regularly.
Door handles are a prime way to spread viruses due to their interactive nature, and efforts to discourage touching them have had limited success.
The cootie effect, which associates touching with the transfer of negative characteristics, could be used to discourage touching high-touch surfaces.
Negative social proof, where common negative actions are highlighted, can actually increase the likelihood of those actions being followed.
Media coverage that emphasizes non-compliance with government guidelines can inadvertently lead to more people following the negative behavior.
Highlighting the majority of people following the rules and adhering to social distancing can help cement the right behavior.
Behavioral science shows that messages are more likely to be remembered and followed when they are delivered by authoritative figures and when they emphasize collective rather than individual action.
Transcripts
[Music]
how'd you convince a whole nation to
stay at home this is the problem the UK
in most other countries around the world
are grappling with at the moment looking
at the UK's neighbours in Europe a lot
of options are available in Italy the
lockdown is strictly enforced
individuals and the northern provinces
can only leave their homes for a signed
sheet of paper declaring an official
reason to go outside in Greece citizens
must text a number to get permission to
leave their homes before doing so these
strict measures are harder to enforce
but potentially more effective other
countries have taken a very different
approach
Sweden hasn't attempted to implement
extreme measures and has even kept many
shops and public areas open instead the
Swedes rely on social pressure to keep
people inside Belarus is even more
lenient refusing to shut anything down
even the Belarus Football League is
still going ahead with thousands of fans
descending on their teams stadiums each
weekend at the heart of each of these
decisions is a very clear scientific
question what response will cause the
least damage to human life but
implementing these decisions creates
more nuanced questions things like who
should deliver the message how can we
get people to wash their hands and what
language will persuade people to stay
indoors finding answers to those
questions isn't easy the behavior
science can help today I'll talk through
some of the psychology behind the
messages and slogans we've seen around
coronavirus and identify what appears to
be working and what doesn't resonate
[Music]
in preparation for this episode I
chatted to John Jerry John is the
director of research and knowledge
exchange in the School of Psychology at
Sussex University he specializes in the
psychology of crowds and collective
action John has worked with government
agencies in the past advising them on
best practices around managing the
movements of large groups of people in a
piece for the psychologist which is
linked to in the show notes below
John challenges the message the
government used to keep people in doors
one of the first messages used by the UK
government tried to appeal to individual
interests this message seen on posters
bus stops TV ads and elsewhere simply
stated wash your hands more often for 20
seconds this type of message targets and
individuals needs
telling them explicitly to change their
behavior it appeals just on an
individual level suggesting you should
change your behavior for your own sake
but John argues that this is the wrong
approach
he states that at a practical level
those at the least risk may feel it
isn't really worthwhile to make changes
only based on their own personal
interests many may think they're not
worried about getting the virus so don't
really need to wash their hands more
John's own research published last year
looked at messages sent out during an
emergency
he and his team discovered that when
individuals stopped thinking in terms of
themselves and instead start thinking of
a group of people or more technically
when they develop a sense of shared
social identity that's when they start
to coordinate support each other and
ensure that the neediest get the
greatest help similar research from
Carter in 2013 suggests that when a
threat is framed in a group rather than
individual terms the public response is
more robust and more effective perhaps
this shouldn't come as a surprise we
know from other studies that our
behavior changes when we consider other
people's health instead of our own for
example you are far less likely to crash
your car if you're driving with an
elderly relative or a young child so
looking again at the coronavirus
response it's clear that the
government's messages shouldn't be
personalized instead that should be
collectivized it should highlight
explicitly that one person's actions
will seriously influence other people
interestingly in recent weeks the UK
government has started to change their
messaging in line with this thinking the
slogan brought in around mid-march was
stay home protect the NHS save lives
this is less personalised and a bit more
focused on helping others but the most
recent slogan around the bank holiday
weekend goes even further it states
stay in this Easter don't put your
friends and family in danger I've
included a link to it in the show notes
if you want to take a look and this
message clearly emphasizes that it's a
collective issue not personal a viewer
can't read this and think oh I won't
bother going out because it won't hurt
me instead they are forced to think of
their parents grandparents or friends
that might be at risk if Jones research
is anything to go by it should have a
much better impact it's not just the
government's message that has evolved
over time the font the color and the
design of the message has changed to the
first design which stated catch-it been
a killer was a simple black font on a
white background the message was clear
but the image wasn't particularly
distinctive and potentially wouldn't
catch a viewers eye you can take a look
at this first image and the more recent
designs by clicking the link in the show
notes now we know this design won't be
effective if we look at research done
way back in 1933 by Hedwig von restorff
her study revealed what's now known as
the von restorff
effect which shows that were more likely
to be drawn towards distinctive words
letters or colors work done by Richard
Kimble oh and Louis brink from the
Damien College discovered that the von
restorff effect
is impacted by the viewers age in the
study 72 students and pensioners
memorized a list in which one item was
distinctive
both groups recalled the distinctive
item more that it was significantly more
pronounced amongst the a younger age
groups if the government wants younger
age groups who are more likely to go out
to be aware of this message than it
needs to make the message distinct the
two designs released in march and then
in april heed that advice they now use
distinctive neon or yellow colors with
fewer words and a clearer message it's
not the only way the government has
applied a nudge theory to their work
richard Chataway vice president at the
BBA used to work for the government
energy unit back in 2010 in his latest
blog he explains the best practice
training they created for behavior
change communication used at times like
these by looking at the previous year's
swine flu pandemic back in 2009 they
found that information on desired
behaviors was much more likely to be
adhered to
when communicated by the chief medical
officer rather than by politicians in
other words we follow the advice of
doctors more than Prime Minister's this
shouldn't come as a surprise studies
cited in joseph marks book messengers
shows that patients are considerably
more likely to remember health
beneficial messages from a doctor
wearing a stethoscope even if they know
the doctor is really an actor this is
all down to something called the
authority bias
it's our tendency to follow the lead of
perceived independent authorities
particularly white-coated scientists as
the infamous Milgram experiments
demonstrated participants were willing
to administer 450 volts of electricity
to a complete stranger simply because a
Yale scientist told them to do so the UK
government possibly under advice from
the nudge unit seems to be following
this approach in briefings ministers are
flanked usually by the chief scientific
officer or the chief medical officer and
in the UK's nationwide TV ad campaign
became at 19 the chief medical officer
professor
Chris Witte shares the vital information
rather than the prime minister or
another politician Richard chat aways
BVA unit also had advice for increasing
hand washing their research found that
simply asking people to wash their hands
is not particularly effective a better
approach is to make the risks of not
washing your hands much more salient the
team increased the rates of hand washing
by over sixty percent in a food
processing plant simply by stamping
people's hands with a harmless food dye
when entering the factory on the stamp
while icon - reminding them of relevant
illnesses they could pick up for example
ecoli and this constant reminder
dramatically increased hand washing
that's great for adults but what about
for kids
well Save the Children realise that kids
will struggle to fully comprehend the
need to wash their hands more regularly
so they came up with a genius idea
they designed soap bars that contain a
colorful toy in the center to get to the
toy the kids must wash their hands
regularly to slowly erode the soap over
time
this smart approach could make a big
difference especially in countries where
hand washing is less common but that
alone won't solve the problem door
handles are a prime way to spread
viruses simply because they are designed
to be interactive with we usually use
our hands to push pull or rotate these
handles the current pandemic makes these
actions particularly problematic as it
appears that the virus can survive on
surfaces for hours or even days
Roger Dooley writes in his blog that
cruise lines have been coping with virus
outbreaks typically norovirus for years
and they've actually started to create
messages to try and encourage guests not
to touch doorknobs directly for example
a cruise ship has created hundreds of
signs saying please use a paper towel
for unlocking and opening the toilet
door but Roger isn't confident this is
the right solution first these signs are
almost always seen in bathrooms and not
seen in the entry doors ship cabins
hotel doors or anywhere else second and
probably much more important they are
still ignored by many restroom use
pree coronavirus CDC data showed that
just 31% of men
wash their hands after using the
restroom and if you're wondering it's
65% for women and it's a good bet that
non hand washes don't stop for @issue
before touching the door handle either
and thirdly we know that wordly messages
like these aren't particularly good at
changing behavior in fact even simple
psychology based messages don't work
very well as well
one robust study examined 200,000 people
using the bathroom the researchers
tested a variety of different nudges to
try and increase hand-washing but they
found they had minimal impact the most
effective message for men used social
proof placing a sign that stated is the
person next to you washing their hands
with soap actually increased
hand-washing from 31% to 35.5 percent
that's a 14% increase and it's better
than nothing but overall compliance
remained really low Rodgers suggested
using something called the cootie effect
to change behavior the effect suggests
that our brains associate touching with
a transfer of negative characteristics a
great example of this comes from the
Duke School of Business and they found
that touching a disgusting product like
lard or a hygiene product before eating
something like a cookie actually made
the cookies seem less tasty so why not
apply the same theory to door handles
Roger suggests sticking a small but
graphic biohazard symbol on high touched
items these stickers should create an
immediate revulsion that impacts
behavior without the need to read a
wordy sentence or to fully comprehend
the risks applying this approach at
supermarkets or on public transport
could have a significant impact with
very little cost okay on to something
slightly different in 2003 Arizona's
Petrified Forest had a problem too many
people were stealing petrified wood now
petrified wood if you don't know is a
for crystallized wood which takes
millions of years to form and sells for
thousands of dollars to stop the thieves
Park Rangers erected signs stating that
14 tons of wood was stolen each year
from the park something interesting
happened after placing those signs the
amount of wood being stolen actually
increased saying that people were
stealing 14 tons of woods each year
increased the amount of people who
actually stole this is due to something
called negative social proof when a
message says that an action is
commonplace people are more likely to
follow it even if it's against the rules
the same phenomenon has been found at
dentists who state that hundreds of
patients don't turn up on time that type
of message increases the amount of
patients who don't turn up or even on
Wikipedia's page at the top they'll
often claim that only 2% of their
readers donate this makes that action
commonplace and makes people less likely
to donate by stating that negative
action is the norm more people are
likely to follow that negative action
unfortunately a lot of the UK media
coverage appears to be falling foul of
the same problem last week Google
released a study stating that more
people were using parks than in previous
years now this headline suggests that
people were defying the government
advice and going out more than they
usually would the problem is it wasn't
true Google's data might have shown that
more people were using parks more but it
also revealed that far fewer people were
leaving their homes overall compared to
similar periods in previous years of
course days that did leave their house
were far more likely to use the parks as
almost all other facilities are closed
but that didn't mean that people were
defying the government advice sites like
the BBC Times and Guardian in the UK all
published similar articles stating that
parks in London were packed with people
all that seaside towns or thousands of
walkers according to the content
analysis platform buzzsumo
in April so far 9,000 articles have been
written online stating that citizens
around the globe are not following
government guy
clients while only 500 articles mention
citizens that are following the advice
this type of messaging will only lead to
negative social proof this ultimately
makes people more likely to feel like
that behavior is okay just like in the
example of the Amazon forest people will
be more likely to follow the negative
action simply because they think it's
commonplace instead the UK's media
outlets should emphasize that 99% of
people are following the rules staying
indoors and not using parks to actually
influence behavior and keep us all at
home changing the behavior of a whole
nation isn't easy but it can be done the
events of the last year mums have shown
that nationwide habit changes are
possible even without some of the harder
approaches implemented by Greece China
or it there's always more to do
behavior science shows that messages can
be messages are more likely to be
remembered when delivered by doctors or
industry experts rather than politicians
hand-washing can be increased by
highlighting the risks of not doing so
while we could halt the spread of germs
with cootie inspired stickers finally we
should praise the majority for following
the advice and adhering to social
distancing rules rather than
highlighting the few that date
doing so will cement the right behavior
rather than making the wrong behavior
seem commonplace I want to give a huge
thank you to John jury who inspired this
episode you can read his piece and all
the other articles referenced in the
show notes also in the show notes you'll
find a link to the mailing list if you
sign up to the mailing list you get an
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goes live you'll also get my personal
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touch and ask me a question you can do
so there
and finally the nudge podcast is just
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much for listening to this episode
[Music]
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