ORCID
- Jan K. Woike: 0000-0002-6816-121X
- Patricia Kanngiesser: 0000-0003-1068-3725
Abstract
During pandemics, effective nonpharmaceutical interventions encourage people to adjust their behavior in fast-changing environments in which exponential dynamics aggravate the conflict between the individual benefits of risk-taking and its social costs. Policy-makers need to know which interventions are most likely to promote socially advantageous behaviors. We designed a tool for initial evaluations of the effectiveness of large-scale interventions, the transmission game framework, which integrates simulations of outbreak dynamics into large-group experiments with monetary stakes. In two studies (n = 700), we found substantial differences in the effectiveness of five behavioral interventions. A simple injunctive-norms message proved most effective, followed by two interventions boosting participants’ ability to anticipate the consequences of risky behavior. Interventions featuring descriptive norms or concurrent risk information failed to reduce risk-taking.
DOI Link
Publication Date
2022-02-25
Publication Title
Science advances
Volume
8
Issue
8
Acceptance Date
2021-12-30
Deposit Date
2022-07-03
Embargo Period
2022-03-08
Funding
We acknowledge financial support by the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. This includes the full funding of both studies.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Woike, J., Hafenbrädl, S., Kanngiesser, P., & Hertwig, R. (2022) 'The Transmission Game: Testing behavioral interventions in a pandemic-like simulation', Science advances, 8(8). Available at: 10.1126/sciadv.abk0428
