As pandemic progressed, people's perceived risks went up
Individual's personal risk assessments were found to be linked to
behavioral changes

Date:
September 16, 2020
Source:
California Institute of Technology
Summary:
A recent study documents how personal risk assessment and protective
behaviors are linked.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
In the first week of the coronavirus pandemic, people living in the
United States underestimated their chances of catching the virus, or of
getting seriously ill from the virus, according to a recently published Caltech-led study. But as the days progressed, those same people became
more worried about their personal risk, and, as a result, began to
increase protective behaviors such as washing hands and social distancing.


==========================================================================
"A little bit of anxiety is good in this case," says Toby Wise,
a visiting postdoctoral scholar at Caltech and lead author of the new
study appearing in the journal Royal Society Open Science. "It means that people will be more prudent. We found that an individual's assessment
of personal risk affected their behavior more than concerns about the
safety of other people. Knowing this helps in the development of public
health strategies." Wise, who is based at the University College London,
works with Dean Mobbs, assistant professor of cognitive neuroscience at
Caltech and a Chen Scholar.

The idea that people underestimate their risk of catching diseases has
been documented before. For example, in previous studies, researchers
have shown that smokers believe that they personally have less of a
risk of developing lung cancer than other people who also smoke. In the
new study, this same "optimism bias" is demonstrated for the case of
COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Wise, Mobbs, and
their colleagues monitored almost 400 people via online questionnaires
for a period of five days, beginning March 11, the official start of
the pandemic according to the World Health Organization.

"We found that people's perceptions changed dramatically during the first
few days of the pandemic in the U.S.," says Wise. "And the more people
became aware of the risk to themselves, the more engaged they became in activities like hand washing and social distancing. In the context of
a global pandemic, risk perception is highly susceptible to change."
The study also identified a subset of participants who continued to
feel that they were at a low risk of harm from COVID-19 even as the
pandemic unfolded, and consequently did not engage in any protective
behaviors. Although not demographically different from other people,
this group was shown to be less personally affected by the pandemic.

"We can target these disengaged individuals with information campaigns,
such as using emergency alerts on phones, for example. Educating people on
the beneficial effects to others may also improve engagement," says Wise.

Adds Mobbs: "Our study shows that in many cases, it doesn't take long for people's views and behavior to change rapidly when needed." The study,
titled, "Changes in risk perception and protective behavior during the
first week of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States," was funded
by a Merkin Institute award; the National Institute of Mental Health;
the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience at Caltech,
of which Mobbs is an affiliated faculty member; the Wellcome Trust; and
the National Science Foundation. Other authors include Tomislav Zbozinek
and Cindy Hagan of Caltech, and Giorgia Michelini of the University of California, Los Angeles.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
California_Institute_of_Technology. Original written by Whitney
Clavin. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Toby Wise, Tomislav D. Zbozinek, Giorgia Michelini, Cindy C. Hagan,
Dean
Mobbs. Changes in risk perception and self-reported protective
behaviour during the first week of the COVID-19 pandemic in the
United States.

Royal Society Open Science, 2020; 7 (9): 200742 DOI:
10.1098/rsos.200742 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200916154839.htm

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