Action bias - A motivation for panic buying?
Hi!
"Action Bias" is a cognitive bias where humans feel an impulse to take action in response to a situation or issue. We are predisposed to rush to do something, rather than staying put, and also expect others to do the same. The classic example of this involves football goalkeepers at penalty kicks. Even though around 1/3 of shots go down the center, 90% of the time, the keeper tends to dive to either side. It feels better to have actively tried to stop the shot, even though they would have better results standing still. This is both internal - a sense of regret from failing to do something that could have helped, and external - other people expect to see us doing something.
This occurs to me often when parenting. I always feel like I should be doing something instead of leaving Joy to her own devices. When putting Joy to sleep, I have to be doing something to try and cause it: rocking, walking, singing, patting, swinging, and many more, in various combinations, doubling down the efforts when it fails to work. It is hard to tell if these actually make any difference. Perhaps she sleeps whenever she, no matter what I do. Yet, I like to tell myself that I can directly influence the outcome by doing this.
I believe this is also motivating the panic buying and hoarding responses to the Coronavirus outbreak. People want to feel like they are able to take some proactive steps towards improving their chances, and do not want to regret not having done so if an emergency does happen.
Giving in to our Action Bias can be counterproductive. It leads us to move too fast, without appreciating that an inefficient response is often worse than staying still. In truth, every action sets off a chain reaction of other actions. All this activity places unnecessary stress on people, resources, and systems. The panic buying now is a good example, creating inefficient distributions of resources, which are unlikely to have value. I do hope all the supplies being hoarded do not end up in garbage later on.
Even worse is how this Action Bias influences how we deal with others. When we expect that those around us to be in constant motion, we perpetuate a culture of busyness and insufficient rest. I have had several instances where my manager or client, feeling anxious while waiting, constantly ask me to bug the other side for a response, sending multiple chasers and calls, without giving fair chance for things to play out. The end result is overcommunication with little value. Sadly, some think that creating constant activity is what management or leadership entails. Even at home, I find it helps to make sure I am seen bustling to clear chores, and leaving my rest periods to when my wife is not around. Perhaps this is something for leaders to take note - if you only reward work that you can see being doing, then it will likely be saved for when you are around to see it.
I do think if everyone slowed down and reduced the pressure on one another, there will be more precision and less wastage. We could end up with the same level of productivity. We can still move fast without rushing to act. When in Finland on my honeymoon, I observed a strange difference between the cafes there and in Singapore. Even with a long queue, the baristas always did one thing at a time in a calm manner and served each customer fully before moving on to the next one. They never moved at the hummingbird buzz I often see in Singapore, trying to multitask to take orders, prepare drinks, and give change at the same time. Despite the calm, the queue seemed to move fast. I suppose I do not have hard evidence to support this, but I think by slowing down, they made less mistakes, and moved more efficiently, becoming much faster. What was unique was that customers gave a similar vibe of calm, the vibe of annoyance that is often felt when waiting was absent here. Perhaps this also helped the baristas do their job better by removing the expectation to rush.
Strangely, in my wakeboarding and wing chun experience; both activities where the windows of opportunity can be in split seconds, it is more common and more costly to have acted too soon than too late. There is often more time than we think available.
Love to hear if you have stories relating to this cognitive bias. Hopefully this helps remind you to slow down, keep calm, and take stock of problems before rushing in to meet them.
Stay safe!
James
About Ideothetic Flow
Ideothetic Flow is a small passion project following my own thoughts about living life better. Every 2 weeks I share something I find interesting, usually related to mental models which challenge common expectations or ideas.