scholarly journals The impacts of cognitive biases and heuristics on Covid-19 preventive behaviors

2021 ◽  
pp. 143-149
Author(s):  
Mehmet Sevgin

The covid-19 pandemic disease became part of the study of many scientific disciplines recently since its impact area is large and it threatened millions of lives. One of the important disciplines is public policy since the characteristics may easily influence the spread of covid-19. It is assumed that an individual’s irrational tendencies can increase this spread since they are highly correlated with the most important actions of prevention of the spread such as isolation, wearing a mask, and washing hands. Moreover, public policies can be effective in such a pandemic period if they take into consideration of individual’s irrational tendencies. Hence, in this study the psychological background of why individuals do not follow the regulations that can decrease the spread of covid-19 will be presented: cognitive biases and heuristics.

Author(s):  
Federico VAZ ◽  
Sharon PRENDEVILLE

Described as units developing public policies in a design-oriented manner, Policy Labs are tasked to innovate to gain in policy effectiveness and efficiency. However, as public policymaking is a context-dependent activity, the way in which these novel organisations operate significantly differs. This study discusses the emergence of design approaches for policy innovation. The purpose is to map how Policy Labs in Europe introduce design approaches at distinct stages of the policymaking cycle. For this study, 30 organisations in Europe operating at various levels of government were surveyed. Based on the public policymaking process model, it investigates which design methods are Policy Labs deploying to innovate public policies. The study exposed a gap in the awareness of the utilised methods' nature. It also showed that the use of design methods is of less importance than the introduction of design mindsets for public policy innovation, namely ‘user-centredness’, ‘co-creation’, and ‘exploration’.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 1727-1727
Author(s):  
Verónica Mundo-Rosas

Abstract Objectives To analyze the magnitude and distribution of food waste and insecurity in Mexico as a first step in designing public policies to counteract these problems. Methods Based on methodology proposed by Subirats et al. (2008), we analyzed the magnitude and distribution of food waste and insecurity in Mexico. Using scientific evidence and official data, we responded to the following guiding questions: What is the problem? What is the magnitude of the problem? Who are the population groups most affected by the problem and where do they reside? To what extent does coverage under current public policies address these problems? Results Problem: By 2050, the Mexican population will have grown by 22.9 million with respect to 2015. The country's capacity to produce the amount of food required in the future will depend largely on what proportion of the population has the necessary financial resources to acquire the food it needs, and whether food is equitably distributed. Magnitude of the problem: Mexico loses and wastes approximately 34% of the national production of items in the basic food basket while 26.4 million Mexicans lack sufficient income to acquire the quantity and quality of food they need. Those affected the most: From an environmental viewpoint, the larger cities in Mexico constitute the principal production centers of food waste, among other residues. This causes air, land and water pollution at the regional level, as well as serious health problems in the population. From an ethical and nutritional perspective, food waste indirectly affects those experiencing food insecurity. Location of the affected population: In 2012, central Mexico was the largest generator of urban solid waste including organic and, specifically, food residues. Conversely, southern Mexico was the region most affected by food insecurity. Public policy coverage: Despite the magnitude of the problem, several Mexican states have no public policy in place to combat food waste or insecurity. Conclusions The evidence provided by our study contributes to decision making in the formulation of public policies aimed at reducing food loss and waste as well as food insecurity. It also serves to monitor progress towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Funding Sources None.


2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 409-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna P Durnová ◽  
Eva M Hejzlarová

In public policy scholarship on policy design, emotions are still treated as opposed to goals, and their presence is assumed to signal that things have gone wrong. We argue, however, that understanding how and for whom emotions matter is vital to the dynamics of policy designs because emotions are central to the capacity building of policy intermediaries and, with that, to the success of public policies. We examine the case of Czech single mothers in their role as intermediaries in ‘alimony policy’. Our interpretive survey provided single mothers an opportunity to express the way they experience the policy emotionally. The analysis reveals that the policy goal of the child’s well-being is produced at the cost of the mother’s emotional tensions and that policy designs defuse these emotional tensions, implicitly. These contradictory emotions expressed by mothers show us a gateway to problematising policy designs in a novel way, which reconsiders construing policy design as a technical, solution-oriented enterprise to one in which emotional tensions intervene in policy design and are essential for succeeding.


Urban Studies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 452-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Cardoso ◽  
Evert Meijers ◽  
Maarten van Ham ◽  
Martijn Burger ◽  
Duco de Vos

Despite the many uncertainties of life in cities, promises of economic prosperity, social mobility and happiness have fuelled the imagination of generations of urban migrants in search of a better life. Access to jobs, housing and amenities, and fewer restrictions of personal choices are some of the perceived advantages of cities, characterised here as ‘urban promises’. But while discourses celebrating the triumph of cities became increasingly common, urban rewards are not available everywhere and for everyone. Alongside opportunity, cities offer inequality, conflict and poor living conditions. Their narrative of promise has been persistent across different times and places, but the outcomes and experiences of urban life compare poorly with the overoptimistic expectations of many newcomers. And yet, millions still come and stay regardless of odds, raising the question why we have such positive and persistent expectations about cities. To examine this question, this paper considers the process of urban migration from the perspective of decision-making under uncertainty. It discusses how decisions and evaluations are based on imperfect information and offers a novel contribution by examining how the cognitive biases and heuristics which restrict human rationality shape our responses to urban promises. This approach may allow a better understanding of how people make decisions regarding urban migration, how they perceive their urban experiences and evaluate their life stories. We consider the prospects and limitations of the behavioural approach and discuss how biases favouring narratives of bright urban futures can be exploited by ‘triumphalist’ accounts of cities which neglect their embedded injustices.


2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Anglada-Tort ◽  
Daniel Müllensiefen

The repeated recording illusion refers to the phenomenon in which listeners believe to hear different musical stimuli while they are in fact identical. The present paper aims to construct an experimental paradigm to enable the systematic measurement of this phenomenon, investigating potentially related extrinsic and individual difference factors. Participants were told to listen to “different” musical performances of an original piece when in fact they were exposed to the same repeated recording. Each time, the recording was accompanied by a text suggesting a low, medium, or high prestige of the performer. Most participants (75%) believed that they had heard different musical performances. Participants with high levels of neuroticism and openness were significantly more likely to fall for the illusion. While the explicit information presented with the music influenced participants’ ratings significantly, the effect of repeated exposure was only significant in the more familiar music condition. These results suggest that like many other human judgments, evaluations of music also rely on cognitive biases and heuristics that do not depend on the stimuli themselves. The repeated recording illusion can constitute a useful paradigm for investigating nonmusical factors because it allows for the study of their effects while the music remains the same.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 3-6
Author(s):  
Prof. univ. dr. habil. Mihaela Rus ◽  
Lect. univ. dr. Mihaela Sandu ◽  
Tanase Tasente

We can talk about public policies when a public authority - central or local - intends, with the help of a coordinated action program, to modify the economic, social, cultural environment of social actors. At national level, public policies can appear from any of the major state institutions (Parliament, President, Government, central or local authorities). The study of public policies is different from the traditional academic research, having an applied approach, oriented towards: (1) designing and developing solutions for the problems of society, (2) Interdisciplinarity, (3) Orientation towards problem solving: it does not have a purely academic character, but it is oriented towards the problems of the real world, looking for solutions for them, (4) Normativity. The general stages of this process are as follows: (1) defining the problem, (2) making the decision, (3) implementation of public policy, (4) monitoring and evaluation of public policy.


2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (61) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriana María Arroyave Puerta ◽  
Flor Ángela Marulanda Valencia

Nowadays, several mega-trends capture the attention of governments, academia and the public in general given their implications for the quality of life and the development of nations. This work deals with two of them: entrepreneurship and environmental protection, as a result of research aimed at analyzing the processes, actors and results of the “Entrepreneurship for Life” Program led by the Valle de Aburrá Metropolitan Area, executed during the period from 2012 to 2015, in order to contribute to the improvement of public policies on eco-entrepreneurship. The methodology of the Synergy System1, applied by the Colombian Government, was used to appraise public policies. The required information was collected through in-depth interviews with the creator of the program, the entrepreneurs who benefited from it, officials of the entities involved and experts. Then, it was complemented by the analysis of documents such as minutes, reports and other sources. Among other results, it was evident that, although the public policy on environmental entrepreneurship is still incipient, the evaluated Program met the objectives for which it was created.


2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Teresa Araujo Vasconcelos ◽  
Juliana Amaral

Resumo O objetivo deste artigo é discutir a ação “Espaços Mais Cultura” no contexto do Programa Mais Cultura como política pública, que visa qualificar o espaço urbano, particularmente as áreas de vulnerabilidade social, através da implantação de equipamentos culturais. Ao mesmo tempo, os Espaços Mais Cultura poderão se constituir em ferramentas de política pública que se inserem em um quadro de valorização do conhecimento e de construção de novas dinâmicas sociais e culturais a partir da produção da cultura imaterial e da economia criativa. Neste sentido, pretende-se compreender o perfil destes projetos a partir do trabalho de visita técnica e análise dos projetos realizado pela Fundação Nacional de Artes em 2008. Palavras-chave Funarte; Espaço Mais Cultura; política pública; cultura imaterial; economia criativa.Abstract This article discuss the activity of the ‘More Culture’ Spaces in the context of public policies, which aims to qualify urban space, particularly areas of social vulnerability, through the implementation of cultural facilities. At the same time, the Espaços Mais Cultura may be included in public policy tools that are part of a framework for development of knowledge and construction of new social and cultural dynamics from the production of immaterial culture and the creative economy. The objective is to understand the profile of these projects, based on technical visits and analysis of projects conducted by the National Foundation of Arts in 2008. Keywords Funarte; Espaço Mais Cultura; public policies; immaterial culture; creative economy


2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-38

We know that our thinking is affected by conflict; this applies to groups and nations as much as to individuals. Mediators are at the sharp end of this phenomenon, and those we work with often find each other’s behaviour at best inexplicable and at worst malicious. This article considers how biases and heuristics (mental shortcuts) can exacerbate disputes. Two cognitive biases in particular can contribute to the growth of conflict: the fundamental attribution error and the self-serving bias. Using a workplace mediation case study the article traces the step-by-step mechanics of conflict in people’s thinking and its tendency to set in motion vicious circles of suspicion and defence. It goes on to provide a critique of bullying and harassment policies before proposing that they begin with a mediation stage in order to combat attribution errors by bringing more data into play.


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