Human Behavioral Responses Research Articles

Human Behavioral Response in the 2019 Ridgecrest, California, Earthquakes: Assessing Immediate Actions Based on Data from “Did You Feel It?”

ABSTRACTHuman behavioral response to earthquake ground motion has long been a subject of multidisciplinary interest and research. In most versions of seismic intensity scales, human perceptions and behavior are one component of the assignment of intensity. Public health research has shown that actions taken during earthquakes have a significant impact on the incidence of injury or the maintenance of safety. Based on this research, emergency managers and organizations promoting emergency preparedness have advocated strategies such as drop, cover, and hold on (DCHO) and promoted this safety measure through public education and annual drills. The “Did You Feel It?” (DYFI) mapping system (see Data and Resources) based on an online questionnaire developed and maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey has provided opportunities for those who have experienced an earthquake to report this experience worldwide since 2004. The DYFI questionnaire, although designed to assign intensity, also contains questions regarding the behavior in which one has engaged during the earthquake. The questionnaire includes other important information that may elucidate behavioral response to earthquakes, including assigned intensity, emotional reaction, and whether damage occurred at the location where the earthquake was experienced. The very large number of people who completed DYFI questionnaires following the July 2019 Ridgecrest, California, earthquakes provides a robust dataset for analysis and suggests that as intensity and levels of fear increase, behavior becomes more active in terms of physical movement to locations of presumed safety. Among active responses including DCHO, going to a doorway, and running outside, DCHO was the least likely to be implemented. The study provides possible explanations for low participation in DCHO despite active campaigns to promote this strategy.

Using Panel Data to Understand the Dynamics of Human Behavior in Response to Flooding.

Insights into the dynamics of human behavior in response to flooding are urgently needed for the development of effective integrated flood risk management strategies, and for integrating human behavior in flood risk modeling. However, our understanding of the dynamics of risk perceptions, attitudes, individual recovery processes, as well as adaptive (i.e., risk reducing) intention and behavior are currently limited because of the predominant use of cross-sectional surveys in the flood risk domain. Here, we present the results from one of the first panel surveys in the flood risk domain covering a relatively long period of time (i.e., four years after a damaging event), three survey waves, and a wide range of topics relevant to the role of citizens in integrated flood risk management. The panel data, consisting of 227 individuals affected by the 2013 flood in Germany, were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA and latent class growth analysis (LCGA) to utilize the unique temporal dimension of the data set. Results show that attitudes, such as the respondents' perceived responsibility within flood risk management, remain fairly stable over time. Changes are observed partly for risk perceptions and mainly for individual recovery and intentions to undertake risk-reducing measures. LCGA reveal heterogeneous recovery and adaptation trajectories that need to be taken into account in policies supporting individual recovery and stimulating societal preparedness. More panel studies in the flood risk domain are needed to gain better insights into the dynamics of individual recovery, risk-reducing behavior, and associated risk and protective factors.

Measuring human perceptions of developing room fires: The influence of situational and dispositional factors

SummaryStudies of human behavior during emergencies have observed that when presented with situational cues that a hazard may be present, humans can fail to act on this information in a timely manner. Some models of human behavior in response to fire‐related emergencies can explicitly account for potential delays in identifying and acting on the presented risk of a fire. Past research has indicated that variations in the disposition of individuals, such as psychological traits, can also influence responses to emergencies. The present study examines the extent to which responses to images of growing room fires are influenced by situational and dispositional factors. Participants judged whether words reflecting normalcy, risk, or protective action applied to images of developing room fires that varied in intensity. Psychophysical models of responses revealed that, as room fires developed, deviation from normalcy words were first reliably judged to apply, then risk, and finally protective action, in line with models of human evacuation behavior. Individual differences in specific dispositional traits influenced when participants identified that protective action applied to the growing fire. The evidence in the present study suggests that psychophysical and observational data can contribute to understanding human evacuation behavior during fire emergencies.

Critical Examination of the Parametric Approaches to Analysis of the Non-Verbal Human Behavior: A Case Study in Facial Pre-Touch Interaction

A prevailing assumption in many behavioral studies is the underlying normal distribution of the data under investigation. In this regard, although it appears plausible to presume a certain degree of similarity among individuals, this presumption does not necessarily warrant such simplifying assumptions as average or normally distributed human behavioral responses. In the present study, we examine the extent of such assumptions by considering the case of human–human touch interaction in which individuals signal their face area pre-touch distance boundaries. We then use these pre-touch distances along with their respective azimuth and elevation angles around the face area and perform three types of regression-based analyses to estimate a generalized facial pre-touch distance boundary. First, we use a Gaussian processes regression to evaluate whether assumption of normal distribution in participants’ reactions warrants a reliable estimate of this boundary. Second, we apply a support vector regression (SVR) to determine whether estimating this space by minimizing the orthogonal distance between participants’ pre-touch data and its corresponding pre-touch boundary can yield a better result. Third, we use ordinary regression to validate the utility of a non-parametric regressor with a simple regularization criterion in estimating such a pre-touch space. In addition, we compare these models with the scenarios in which a fixed boundary distance (i.e., a spherical boundary) is adopted. We show that within the context of facial pre-touch interaction, normal distribution does not capture the variability that is exhibited by human subjects during such non-verbal interaction. We also provide evidence that such interactions can be more adequately estimated by considering the individuals’ variable behavior and preferences through such estimation strategies as ordinary regression that solely relies on the distribution of their observed behavior which may not necessarily follow a parametric distribution.

Comparative Analysis of the Application of Behavioural Insights of 33 Worldwide Governments on the Landing Pages of Their COVID-19 Official Websites and Their Impact on the Growth Scale of the Pandemic

The COVID-19 crisis has seen over a third of the world population locked down and this article has sought to understand human behaviour in response to a historical and unprecedented global pandemic. Through the analysis 18 behavioural mechanisms present on the landing pages of the websites of 33 institutional governments from March 1st til May 1st 2020 compared to the WHO data on the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths per million for each country, the authors show that a behavioural consensus was observed across all 33 countries and that Individual and Social nudges had no impact. Whilst the decisions in essentially every country on Earth, were taken with the same aim: to limit population movements and social life, two aggravating factors of the spread of the virus, only the environmental nudges effectively helped slow the virus growth scale. The authors explain the rationale behind these results and suggest that people seek information beyond governmental websites that they generally mistrust. They further suggest using Scientists as role models to encourage governmental website’s traffic and designing recursive nudges to increase the impact of individual and social interventions. Together with the new phases of the spread of the virus will come new rules and guidance. Public health policies need to address behavioural change of the population on a global scale in a more targeted manner and it is hoped that this paper will provide some insight on how to do so.

Pulsating campaigns of human prophylaxis driven by risk perception palliate oscillations of direct contact transmitted diseases

Human behavioral responses play an important role in the impact of disease outbreaks and yet they are often overlooked in epidemiological models. Understanding to what extent behavioral changes determine the outcome of spreading epidemics is essential to design effective intervention policies. Here we explore, analytically, the interplay between the personal decision to protect oneself from infection and the spreading of an epidemic. We do so by coupling a decision game based on the perceived risk of infection with a Susceptible-Infected-Susceptible model. Interestingly, we find that the simple decision on whether to protect oneself is enough to modify the course of the epidemics, by generating sustained steady oscillations in the prevalence. We deem these oscillations detrimental, and propose two intervention policies aimed at modifying behavioral patterns to help alleviate them. Surprisingly, we find that pulsating campaigns, compared to continuous ones, are more effective in diminishing such oscillations.

Community Behavior and Health Literacy in Outbreaks

Salgınlarda, insanların davranışsal tepkilerinin toplumsal sonuçları etkilediği görülmüştür. Acil müdahale için toplum bilimlerine dayalı yaklaşımları ve müdahaleleri entegre etmek önemlidir. Müdahalelerin toplum tarafından algılanması ve uygulanması ise bireylerin sağlık okuryazarlığı düzeyi ile yakından ilişkilidir. Bu derlemede salgınlarda birey davranış modelleri ve etkili faktörler incelenmiştir. Salgın esnasında uygulana kriz iletişiminin başarısında sağlık okuryazarlığının etkisine değinilmiştir.

Artificial intelligence for sustainability: Challenges, opportunities, and a research agenda

Artificial intelligence (AI) will transform business practices and industries and has the potential to address major societal problems, including sustainability. Degradation of the natural environment and the climate crisis are exceedingly complex phenomena requiring the most advanced and innovative solutions. Aiming to spur groundbreaking research and practical solutions of AI for environmental sustainability, we argue that AI can support the derivation of culturally appropriate organizational processes and individual practices to reduce the natural resource and energy intensity of human activities. The true value of AI will not be in how it enables society to reduce its energy, water, and land use intensities, but rather, at a higher level, how it facilitates and fosters environmental governance. A comprehensive review of the literature indicates that research regarding AI for sustainability is challenged by (1) overreliance on historical data in machine learning models, (2) uncertain human behavioral responses to AI-based interventions, (3) increased cybersecurity risks, (4) adverse impacts of AI applications, and (5) difficulties in measuring effects of intervention strategies. The review indicates that future studies of AI for sustainability should incorporate (1) multilevel views, (2) systems dynamics approaches, (3) design thinking, (4) psychological and sociological considerations, and (5) economic value considerations to show how AI can deliver immediate solutions without introducing long-term threats to environmental sustainability.

PENGARUH KUALITAS LAYANAN TERHADAP LOYALITAS PELANGGAN DI SPBU 34-17123 HARAPAN INDAH – BEKASI

Business competition in this modern era is so diverse, that business people who provide products and services must be able to make every effort and effort to be able to survive in the business that is being run. Currently for product providers not only provide what products are needed and quality products, but no less important in business is how businesses can provide the best service for their customers. The Stimulus Response (S-R) communication model is a human behavior (response) that can be predicted according to the stimulus to be sent. Regarding this, in this study the stimulus in question is service quality (variable X) and the intended response is customer loyalty (variable Y), this study uses quantitative research methodology. The object of this research is the gas station company 34-17123 Harapan Indah-Bekasi, customers who more than 3 times refuel four-wheeled vehicles as subjects, as well as service quality and customer loyalty as objects. The data obtained are primary data and secondary data. This study used a sample of 308 respondents from a total population count of 1,342 customers. The sampling technique used in this study is non-probability sampling with accidental sampling method. This study uses 5 test instruments using SPSS version 24 (Statistical Package for the Social Science) data processing application, namely validity, reliability, normality test using probability plot (p-plot), Anova (one-way Analysis of variance) test, simple linear regression analysis using partial test and a simple linear regression analysis test was performed. The results of this study are that the quality of service at SPBU 34-17123 Harapan Indah-Bekasi affects customer loyalty by 57.9%, and 42.1% is influenced by other factors. The results of this study have a significant effect on the significance level of 0.05% and the average customer agrees to be loyal to the SPBU 34-17123 Harapan Indah-Bekasi.

Earthquake ground motion and human behavior: Using DYFI data to assess behavioral response to earthquakes

Human behavioral response to ground motion produced by earthquakes has been the subject of response readiness campaigns like the Great ShakeOut, conventional wisdom regarding how people respond as portrayed in news media, a small but growing social science literature and, in earlier versions of the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale, one component of the assignment of intensities to earthquakes. This study drew on the extensive USGS “Did you feel it?” (DYFI) database to explore human behavioral response in 12 earthquakes that occurred between 2005 and 2018 in 8 countries. These earthquakes varied from moderate in magnitude to very large and destructive events. Some occurred in developed nations with extensive earthquake preparedness campaigns and advanced building codes and others in developing nations with almost no attention to the hazards posed by earthquakes and no seismic provisions in building codes. Our objective was to describe and analyze the behaviors reported by those who navigated to the DYFI site and reported how they responded.

Human behavioral responses to the 8.2 ka BP climatic event: Archaeological evidence from the Zhongshandong Cave Site in Bubing basin, Guangxi, southern China

As one of the most pronounced climatic episodes during the Holocene, the impact of the 8.2 ka BP cooling event was felt throughout the Northern Hemisphere. However, human behavioral responses to this climatic episode has only recently begun to be documented in different areas of the world. Southern China is one region where these human behavioral responses have yet to be clearly identified. Here, we present a recent discovery of stone artifacts from the Zhongshandong (ZSD) Cave Site, which is located in Bubing Basin, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, southern China. The cultural deposits within ZSD have been tentatively dated to the 8.2 ka BP cooling event. The ZSD Cave is a narrow, low ceiling cave about 60 m in length. Sixty-one stone artifacts were surface collected in the extremely dark terminal chamber in the back of the cave. One stone artifact was found in situ in the same area of the cave. The overlying stalagmite was U-series dated to 8130 ± 430 years BP and charcoal found below the artifact was AMS dated to 8242 ± 54 years BP. The stone artifact assemblage is comprised of cores, flakes, choppers, and scrapers produced on locally available river cobbles, an artifact collection normally assigned to the eastern Asian Early Paleolithic. Charcoal fragments are abundant in the cultural layer, implying that fire was possibly used for lighting and/or warmth. Interestingly, given the dimensions of the inner chamber and the fact that the cultural deposits sit about 60 m inside the cave, this would not be considered a typical area that would be suitable for long term human occupation. Although other possibilities may exist, one possible explanation may be that, due to the cold winter and/or harsh environment during the 8.2 ka BP climatic event, these hunter-gatherers were forced deeper inside the cave to set up their temporary campsite. This is a hypothesis that needs further testing.

ОЦІНКА ВПЛИВУ ПАРАМЕТРІВ ЯКОСТІ ТРАНСПОРТНОЇ ПОСЛУГИ МІСЬКОГО ПАСАЖИРСЬКОГО ПІДПРИЄМСТВА- ПЕРЕВІЗНИКА НА ТРАНСПОРТНУ ПОВЕДІНКУ В МІСТІ КИЄВІ


 
 
 The rapid significant increase in the quality of the process of passenger transportation by Kyiv public transport can be a powerful motivation to increase the frequency of its use. However, the parameters of the desired change in the quality of urban transport remain unknown, which leads to its chaotic management. Two trends in urban passenger traffic quality research are common. The first approach deals with measuring the operating parameters of the transport system, and the second one focuses on the research of customers' opinions regarding transport services. However, none of the scientists focuses fully on the specific human behavioral responses to the quality of the city's passenger transportation service, when urban transport is opposed to a private car. Because of this, the assessment of the quality of urban passenger transport requires the development of special tools. It is already clear today that not all traditional approaches used in studies of transport behavior that depend on the quality structure may be suitable for this.
 
 

Suppressing Epidemic Spreading by Imitating Hub Nodes’ Strategy

In this brief, we incorporate the impact of preferential imitation rule into a vaccination game based epidemic spreading model on social networks, where each individual chooses one of its neighbors as an imitation reference with a probability proportional to the neighbor’s degree. Our results indicate that the vaccination coverage can be remarkably increased if hub nodes are preferentially imitated, leading to the dramatic reduction of the epidemic size. We explain this by suggesting that the vaccination willingness of hub nodes is very high when voluntary vaccination mechanism is assumed, who can attract more individuals to take vaccination if they are preferentially imitated. Moreover, a mean-field theoretical approach is developed to further verify our findings. This brief suggests that the human behavioral response is an important factor for spreading dynamics.

Acercamiento al campo de la Psicología aeronáutica

El impacto de la psicología en el sector aeronáutico es innegable. Este artículo presenta un estudio de profundización que indaga la forma en la cual el sector aéreo ha recurrido a la ciencia que indaga por las motivaciones del comportamiento, y trata de que ésta permita entender de qué manera la actuación humana se ajusta con los objetivos que buscan fomentar y mantener la seguridad operacional a través del estudio e intervención sobre el elemento humano y la comprensión de los Factores Humanos en Aviación. Se hace un recorrido por la definición del campo y la forma en que éste, desde sus comienzos, tuvo un interés por las respuestas comportamentales humanas en las condiciones de vuelo, así como preguntas sobre la selección de las personas que intervienen en la operación aérea y finalmente, el impacto de este campo en el contexto colombiano. El presente texto pretende situar cómo se ha definido la psicología aeronáutica, cuál es su objeto de estudio y la concepción de sujeto al interior de esta. Así mismo, plantear algunas de las limitaciones del hacer del psicólogo en este campo.

User engagement with political “facts” in the context of the fake news phenomenon

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present the results of a study that explored human behaviour in response to political “facts” presented online by political parties in Scotland.Design/methodology/approachThe study consisted of interactive online interviews with 23 citizens in North-East Scotland, in the run-up to the 2017 UK General Election.FindingsParticipants demonstrated cognitive and critical responses to facts but little affective reaction. They judged facts swiftly and largely intuitively, providing evidence that facts are frequently consumed, accepted or rejected without further verification processes. Users demonstrated varying levels of engagement with the information they consume, and subject knowledge may influence the extent to which respondents trust facts, in previously unanticipated ways. Users tended to notice facts with which they disagreed and, in terms of prominence, particularly noted and responded to facts which painted extremely negative or positive pictures. Most acknowledged limitations in capacity to interrogate facts, but some were delusionally confident.Originality/valueRelatively little empirical research has been conducted exploring the perceived credibility of political or government information online. It is believed that this and a companion study are the first to have specifically investigated the Scottish political arena. This paper presents a new, exploratory fact interrogation model, alongside an expanded information quality awareness model.

Why Colobus Monkeys (Colobus guereza) are Attracted to Human Settlements, and Urinate When They Come Across Humans in Their Territory and in Predator Dominant Places? Observation from Bale Mountains National Park, in Ethiopia

Colobus guereza is among the native African primates characterized by a having mainly black, short-haired tails with a small amount of white at the tip. The current study was made on groups of C. guereza found in Bale Mountains National Park, in the east of Rift Valley in Ethiopia. It is commonly called Colobus guereza gallarum though the taxonomy of this group has not been well-resolved. The aim of this paper was to identify the reasons for high abundance of the species in human settlements and related behavioural responses to human appearance in their territory following the recent observation made in Bale Mountains National Park. These issues were addressed through exploration of similar studies in different organisms including primates and referring various journals. The study indicated the high abundance of the species in human settlement has been associated with the need of protection from predators as interactions with humans can buffer non-human primates against the negative impact of environmental factors. Similarly, the urination of C. guereza was found to be anti-predator strategy, which has been demonstrated in combination with alarm calls, running back and forth, etc in other primates. The close attraction of C. guereza to human settlements can affect their existence either positively or negatively. Those unable to adapt to altered habitats will be forced into marginal habitat patches. While those that adapt, are able to live with the changing ecology and survive in agricultural systems often come into direct competition with humans. Similarly, the greater human-primate contact can increase pathogen transmission. Urination which was observed in C. guereza plays key roles in animal territorial defense and in prey-predator interaction. This overlooked behavioural aspect of primates is crucial in conservation of species. Keywords : Attract, Colobus guereza , human settlements, territory, urination. DOI : 10.7176/ALST/75-02 Publication date :June 30 th 2019

Vulnerability and costs of adaptation strategies for housing subjected to flood risks: Application to La Guérinière France

Coastal flooding along the Atlantic coast caused by Storm Xynthia killed 41 people. The location and configuration of residential housing were the main factors affecting the vulnerability of people to flooding. The French government responded by destroying buildings in the most flood-prone areas and relocating residents to safer areas. This strategy attracted much criticism, in particular because of the high costs involved with demolition on this scale, and that not insufficient consideration was given to other possible solutions. In this study, the goal is to compare different adaptation strategies in terms of cost of implementation and efficiency in order to reduce the vulnerability of houses to flooding. The strategies are grouped based on: (i) protection, (ii) relocation, (iii) housing architectural adaptation, and (iv) preventive warning and evacuation. This work is applied to La Guérinière, an Atlantic coastal town at risk of coastal flooding, although it was not impacted by Storm Xynthia. The initial results show that the most efficient strategy to reduce housing vulnerability to coastal flooding is also the most expensive. Ranked from the most to the least efficient and expensive, the strategies are as follows: (i) relocation, (ii) housing architectural adaptation, (iii) protection, (iv) and preventive warning and evacuation. Until now, these strategies have been limited as they omit human behaviour in response to coastal flooding scenarios. Therefore, this study examines the role of human behaviour in relation to different mitigative strategies. The efficiency and costs of the strategies are then reappraised.

The Association Between Incentive Designs and Health Assessment or Biometric Screening Completion.

To identify statistically significant predictors for completing a Personal Health Assessment (PHA) or biometric screening from attributes of incentive designs. A cross-sectional study was conducted that included 426,694 members from 56 employer groups who required a PHA or screening as part of their incentive during 2016. Incentive designs that combine high-value with immediate disbursement can relatively increase employee PHA participation by as much as 66% over plans with low-value and delayed disbursement (56.7% vs 34.1%, P < 0.001). Surcharge component was a significant predictor of PHA completion (P < 0.001); similar predictors were found for screening completion. This study identified several significant predictors of PHA or screening completion, including: monetary value, time to disbursement, disbursement method, and frequency. Our findings are consistent with prior research in human behavior responses to positive reinforcement.

A Provisional Conceptual Model of Human Behavior in Response to Wildland-Urban Interface Fires

With more frequent and destructive wildfires occurring in the growing wildland-urban interface (WUI), the ability to ensure the safe evacuation of potentially large groups of people is of increasing importance. This is a challenging task made only more difficult by the fact that there is often little warning and that evacuations often need to take place in a short period of time. The creation of credible and effective evacuation models is needed within the fire safety engineering community to help address this challenge. Although potentially difficult to represent, a critical component in developing such models is the consideration of what people will do in response to a WUI fire. In this literature review, research relating to WUI fire evacuations was collected to identify the factors that influence protective action decision-making and response during these events, specifically whether someone chooses to evacuate or not. To supplement the findings, related hurricane evacuation literature was also reviewed for such factors. The factors that were identified relate to sociodemographic factors, social and environmental cues, preparation and experience, familial responsibilities, location, and credible threat and risk assessment. These factors were organized according to the Protective Action Decision Model (PADM) to create a conceptual model of protective action decision-making. This is the first step in being able to incorporate such factors and their corresponding impact on public response into comprehensive WUI evacuation models.

Distraction and facilitation: The impact of emotional sounds in an emoji oddball task.

Emotional stimuli are argued to capture attention and consume attentional resources differently depending on their emotional content. The present study investigates the impact of the automatic detection of unexpected and to-be-ignored emotional stimuli on human behavioral responses, and aims to unravel the differences in distraction between two negative emotional stimuli: sadness and anger. Forty participants (Mage = 25.5 years) performed a visual categorization task where angry and sad emoji faces were presented after either a standard neutral tone (in 80% of trials) or a deviant emotional sound (tone changing in pitch; sad or angry sound in 10% of trials each) that was to be ignored. Deviant trials were either congruent (e.g., sad sound-sad face) or incongruent (e.g., angry sound-sad face). Although the stimuli presented to the participants were brief and to-be-ignored, results indicate that participants were significantly more distracted by sad compared to angry stimuli (seen as prolonged response times). Findings are discussed with reference to the nature of the two negative emotions.