The use and misuse of behavioural science in the age of COVID-19

This chapter, in light of COVID-19, offers a reflection on how behavioural science, and behavioural scientists, might best be employed in any future pandemic policy response. Four lessons are suggested. Lesson 1: behavioural scientists should refrain, at the outset of a pandemic, from speculating on whether people are over or underreacting to the threat. Lesson 2: when seeking advice or commentary from behavioural scientists, governments and the media should cast their nets wide. Lesson 3: behavioural scientists, now and in moving forward, ought to focus their pandemic-related efforts on producing a firmer evidence base on the factors that may improve the effectiveness of micro-interventions. Finally, lesson 4: even in the most challenging of circumstances, we must always remain mindful of the importance of individual freedom.