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Discovery

The Evidence: Pandemic rules: follower or flouter?

Discovery

BBC

Science, Technology

4.31.2K Ratings

🗓️ 28 November 2020

⏱️ 52 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Millions of us, across the world, are subject to curfews, stay-at-home orders and lockdowns but what makes us stick to the rules, bend them or ignore them altogether? Claudia Hammond and her expert panel of guests consider the psychology of following the rules. Leading social psychologists share research which show that higher levels of trust in leadership translates to more pandemic guidance followed. A sense of “We” not “I”, a shared identity, makes a difference too, as well as identification with the whole of humankind, not just your immediate family. But there is danger too, from a “narrative of blame”, where individuals are demonised if they break the rules. Such an approach, Claudia hears, is corrosive to the all-important sense of shared identity and alienates some groups, while making others complacent. Also in the programme, what impact can rapid “have you got it” antigen tests which give results in minutes, rather than days, have on the virus? Claudia hears from the Cameroon in Central, West Africa, one of the first countries in the world to try mass testing using these rapid diagnostic tests. And she talks to scientists at the forefront of evaluating and modelling how their use could affect transmission of the virus, and daily life for all of us, until a vaccine is available. This month, Claudia’s panel of specialists answers BBC World Service listeners’ questions and includes Professor Michael Mina, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health in USA, Dr Margaret Harris, from the World Health Organisation in Geneva, Switzerland, Steve Reicher, Professor of Social Psychology at St Andrews University in Scotland, Professor Rolf Van Dick, social psychologist and Vice President of the Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany and Dr Jilian Sacks, senior scientific officer for Pandemic Preparedness for FIND, the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics in Geneva.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Newscast is the unscripted chats behind the headlines.

0:05.6

It's informed, but informal.

0:07.5

We pick the day's top stories and we find experts who can really dig into them. We use our colleagues in the newsroom and

0:14.4

our contacts. Some people pick up the phone rather faster than others.

0:18.0

We sometimes literally run around the BBC building to grab the very best guests.

0:23.4

Join us for daily news chats to get you ready for today's conversations.

0:28.3

Newscast, listen on BBC Sounds.

0:32.1

Hello and welcome to another edition of the evidence from the BBC World Service produced in collaboration with Welcome Collection.

0:39.0

I'm Claudia Hammond and my panel of global experts is here as usual ready to answer all the questions

0:45.0

you've been sending into us about COVID-19 and I don't know about you but the news

0:49.3

that vaccines could be rolled out very soon in some countries has made me feel happier in the past

0:54.1

couple of weeks. I love it when science works. But while we wait with our

0:57.9

fingers crossed to see whether the various vaccines satisfy the regulators, many of us around the world are of course still

1:04.6

subject to curfews or stay-at-home orders and lockdowns. So we're going to be

1:09.3

looking to psychology to ask what makes us stick to the rules, bend them or ignore them altogether.

1:15.0

And what can we learn from the countries where the highest numbers of people seem to be doing the right thing?

1:20.0

And to answer these questions we have two of the leading social

1:24.2

psychologists in the world. From Frankfurt in Germany we have Professor Rolf

1:28.2

Van Dyck, Vice President of Goeter University. And in Scotland from the University of St Andrews we have

1:34.6

professor of Social Psychology Stephen Reisha and it's welcome back to both

1:39.1

Professor Michael Meena an epidemiologist at theH. Chan School of Public Health in the US,

1:45.2

and to Dr Margaret Harris from the World Health Organization who joins us from France.

...

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