Want to go for a run, to the shops, or to a bar during COVID-19? Should you? If you go, can others go too? @SimonvBaal and I explored if imperative messages (StayHome) aid personal responsibility, or if it’s better to reason about situations (StaySafe). https://psyarxiv.com/s7jeq/ 

Participants were asked to rate if it is alright to go out for 30 everyday scenarios, framed with imperatives (Stay Home, if you can) or reasoning (Consider how many you’d meet). To see if people find loopholes for themselves we also changed perspective (You vs Somebody).

Participants were sensitive to the risk levels of scenarios, and imperative framing was most efficient, especially for low risk scenarios. No loophole effects as yet, but some interesting interaction trends to explore in larger samples later.

Men and younger people are more willing to go out (no surprises there). And a few more middle-aged individuals seemed strongly risk-seeking. This is also something to explore more in the lab.

Our study is preliminary and yet to be peer reviewed, but it’s important to focus on what can help avoid covidiocy. As @GiovanniPezzulo et co argue, personal responsibility is crucial to fight the pandemic - it only takes a few people to trigger outbreaks. https://arxiv.org/abs/2004.07081 

Judging by @xkcd, we got it roughly right… https://xkcd.com/2333/ 

Stay tuned to the @cogphillab https://www.monash.edu/arts/cognition-and-philosophy-lab