Boosting the Understanding and Approval of Anti-Corona Measures-Reducing Exponential Growth Bias and its Effects through Educational Nudges.

ABSTRACT: One major problem of compliance with anti-coronavirus measures originates from the so-called exponential growth bias, i.e. the cognitive distortion of systematically underestimating exponential growth and its consequences. We replicate an Amazon MTurk experiment regarding the spread of SARS-CoV-2 that was conducted in the general US population during the first wave of the pandemic in March 2020 dealing with this bias. Using a least-likely-design-approach, we find a similarly strong bias in our sample of German students in November 2020. Nevertheless, this bias can be reduced by one simple educational intervention. Furthermore, participants who received these educational nudges showed a considerably higher approval rating for contact restrictions. This effect is robust to different analytic

SUBMITTER: Jackle S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8662229 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature