Per Kristensson, you and three colleagues wrote a debate article with this headline in the Swedish newspaper DN Debate regarding the spread of Covid-19. What do you mean by this?
"We believe that governmental agencies and regional authorities have a naïve understanding of how to change people’s behavior. Recommendations and information in the form of stickers and signs which urges us to wash our hands, stay home in case of symptoms and keep our distance, can remind of important behavior but research shows that it’s rarely enough to change a behavior," says Per Kristensson, Professor of Innovation and Consumer Psychology and Director at CTF, Service Research Center at Karlstad University.
In the debate article the researchers write that the corona pandemic is to a large part a behavioral problem, and information campaigns need to be based on current research on behavior change to achieve the desired effect.
The researchers share five concrete pieces of advice on how Swedish authorities can achieve better effect when spending funds.
"The point of our advice is that behavior to a large extent are influenced by factors other than general recommendations. Our key message is that authorities should consult scientific research in psychology in order to better influence human behavior," says Per Kristensson.
