Researchers identified a link between the likelihood of someone engaging in social distancing and the amount of information their working memory can hold.
The research paper, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was looking for potential strategies to mitigate social distancing noncompliance.
850 US residents were asked to complete a set of questionnaires that determined their memory capacity but also captured individual differences in social distancing compliance.
Researchers found individuals with a higher working memory capacity tend to have an increased awareness of the benefits over costs of social distancing, and were generally more likely to comply in the early stages of a COVID-19 lockdown.
The conclusion? If you want social distancing compliance, keep the message simple.
“The message is such materials should be succinct, concise and brief,” said Weiwei Zhang, an associate professor of psychology at the University of California, one of the study’s co-authors.
“Make the decision process easy for people.”
Makes sense to us!
