A new article in the EU Research and innovation magazine Horizon features work from the BEHAVE group into moral decision making during the covid-19 pandemic. The full article can be found here; an excerpt of the text relating to our research program reads as follows: Professor Caspar Chorus, who researches choice behaviour modelling at Delft University of Technology, in the Netherlands and coordinates the BEHAVE project, has been studying how to turn these difficult moral choices into mathematical models that combine behavioural science and philosophy into a format that economists can use to make decisions. The technique asks participants to make dozens of these morally difficult choices, and when they are analysed can provide insights into the public preference. ‘Mathematically we were able to obtain what we call a utility function – you can think of this as a goal function that encapsulates the different effects of a policy and attaches weight to each effect. People are very poor at explaining those weights themselves, but we can learn these from the choices they make.’ His work is already helping to inform the Dutch government about some of the tricky decisions they have faced with regard to the pandemic. But it has also revealed one approach governments might take if they are hoping to bring about long lasting transformations. ‘People have some deep-seated moral values, which can be quite different from the moral actions they take,’ said Prof. Chorus. ‘Most governments think that if you can alter people’s attitudes then you will ultimately alter their behaviour – so if you convince people of a moral value like cycling is better for the environment, for example, then they will take a moral action and cycle more. ‘We have found from our research that this approach is much weaker than the other way around. If people have to start cycling because of an external factor like public transport stops running, like it did in the pandemic, then they (may) discover they like it and are more likely to stick with it. This effect is much stronger than an information campaign.’ He believes that this lesson could prove useful for governments hoping to use the pandemic to transform their economies and societies for the better. The pandemic has offered a period of intense disruption, which if harnessed could lead to lasting long-term change. ‘The key is to establish the right behaviours,’ said Prof. Chorus.
BEHAVE Research featured in EU Horizon Magazine
