Conformity foiled by forgetfulness and psychopaths

I’m so glad there are professional cognitive scientists and social psychologists trying to better understand why people behave the way they do.  As a biologist by training, I know that human behavior is influenced by a combination of biochemistry, and by a range of complex environmental factors.  I enjoy learning about little pieces of the puzzle discovered through the hard sciences and the social sciences.  My understanding of human behavior is even more complex, as I’ve decided to entangle natural and supernatural influences on human behavior.  For example, when God prompted me to get up out of my seat in a waiting area at the Pittsburgh airport, and go talk to a particular woman to pray for her, I don’t think it was my biology compelling me to do so (because everyone who knows me well, knows I’m a massive introvert and incredibly socially awkward, and would never do that, of my own accord), and I don’t think it was my natural environment, but I do attribute it to my self-chosen spiritual environment (which I argued with in my mind, until I finally relinquished and went and talked to, and prayed with that woman).

The modern American cultural and political wars provide so many human behavioral curiosities.  The strong commitments people make to specific ideologies amazes me.  The tribal affiliations people commit to fascinate me.  Consequently, the reactions of many people, as the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, are making for some interesting psychological research opportunities.  Some people assert it is all a hoax, some people assert it is just one more intentional step towards the dreaded one-world government, some people hold firm to the lead of the president no matter what the experts say, some people are prepping for the end times.  Why?

Here are two new studies from the early months of the pandemic, trying to understand the resistance by some people to social distancing guidelines.  These are not the actual research articles, but links to the research articles are included with these summary articles.

This article shows how working memory capacity correlates with adherence to social distancing guidelines.  Just like people vary in height and other characteristics, we vary in our working memory capacity.  Those with better working memory capacities were more likely to follow social distancing guidelines, and those with lesser working memory capacities tend to not do so.

This article describes a range of personality traits, including a few in the psychpathic spectrum which predict lack of engagement with preventative measures recommended for mitigating the pandemic.  Some of these traits are lower levels of agreeableness and conscientiousness, and higher scores in meanness (lack of regard for others) and disinhibition (poor impulse control).  

So do these articles explain why we still see some people walking around without face masks, despite the broad and obvious communications to do so?  I think so, at least in part.  Some people appear to lack the working memory capacity to quickly weigh the evidence and make a good decision, and some people display personality traits which result in their non-mask wearing behavior.  I’m sure there’s other pieces to this puzzle.  For example, I feel there are definitely political and religious variables in play with how some people are reacting to the social distancing guidelines.  That makes me think I'd better check in and see what Jonathan Haidt is up to. I can’t wait to see additional research studies published addressing these variables.