Costly Distractions: Focusing on Individual Behavior Undermines Support for Systemic Reforms

Abstract

Policy challenges can typically be addressed both through systemic changes (e.g., taxes and mandates) and by encouraging individual behavior change. In this paper, we propose that, while in principle complementary, systemic and individual perspectives can compete for the limited attention of people and policymakers. Thus, directing policies in one of these two ways can distract the public’s attention from the other—an “attentional opportunity cost.” In two pre-registered experiments (n = 1,800) covering three high-stakes domains (climate change, retirement savings, and public health), we show that when people learn about policies targeting individual behavior (such as awareness campaigns), they are more likely to themselves propose policies that target individual behavior, and to hold individuals rather than organizational actors responsible for solving the problem, than are people who learned about systemic policies (such as taxes and mandates, Study 1). This shift in attribution of responsibility has behavioral consequences: people exposed to individual interventions are more likely to donate to an organization that educates individuals rather than one seeking to effect systemic reforms (Study 2). Policies targeting individual behavior may, therefore, have the unintended consequence of redirecting attention and attributions of responsibility away from systemic change to individual behavior.

Assessing the Effectiveness of Distraction Techniques on Alleviating Pain and Anxiety in Women Undergoing Screening Mammography

“…In order to lessen related discomfort and increase adherence to annual mammography screening for the early diagnosis of this deadly disease, this research aims to enhance our awareness of the mammography experience. Health practitioners should thus take a leading role in determining and attempting to remove the things that prevent women from getting mammograms as well as offering them comfort and support when they get one (Hagmann et al, 2023). A third to half of women do not adhere to screening recommendations, within a Miller et al ( 2023).…”