Discover how practitioners can encourage mitigation action by understanding how our minds tick.

Episode Notes:

Availability Heuristic: If a threat has never happened or happened too long ago, people will discount it. We believe what comes to mind most readily that we were impacted by. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0010028573900339

Optimism Bias: We overestimate our chances of winning and of avoiding natural disasters. This mentality leads to inaction or even a disbelief that they are at risk. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1981-28087-001

Confirmation Bias: We accept only evidence that confirms our current beliefs. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1981-05421-001

Status Quo Bias: We prefer to keep existing conditions, even when an alternative option might be better. The longer a condition exists, the more ingrained it becomes. https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/rzeckhauser/files/status_quo_bias_in_decision_making.pdf

Chunking: Breaking larger actions or plans into smaller tasks make it easier to complete and the overall process less overwhelming, making action easier to achieve. https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004592

Georgetown Climate Center: www.georgetownclimate.org