We Know How to Curb the Pandemic. How Do We Make People Listen?

At this point, we have all the scientific information we need in order to prevent the surgings of the coronavirus: Avoid gathering indoors with people from outside your household, keep physically apart from others, wear a mask, wash your hands often. Among those who can follow these precautions — a lot of people, as policymakers should recognize, can’t afford to — too many are still disregarding public health advice. A recent report by researchers from Northeastern University and elsewhere found that the number of Americans heeding most recommendations has dropped steadily since April. (Mask-wearing, which has increased, was an exception.)

This is a problem that societies have wrestled with for centuries: How do you persuade people to do things that are beneficial to the community, like social distancing — or crucially, being vaccinated when the time comes — if such actions don’t immediately benefit those who take them or even put them at a disadvantage in some way? As it turns out, research suggests that we are more likely to engage in “prosocial behavior” if we think lots of others are doing so, too. But that creates an obvious conundrum: How can you persuade more people to adopt a new behavior if, to do so, it needs to already seem ubiquitous?

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Read the whole story (subscription may be required): The New York Times