Here's Something I Wrote Today for A Work Website

[MineralMan]

Neuroscience Understands Why People Panic-Buy During Emergencies

The COVID-19 pandemic is at the top of the news around the world. The news is also covering people's response to it. We're seeing consumers emptying store shelves of products. Panic-buying of things like bottled water, bread, milk, and even toilet paper happens every time there is a natural disaster or emergency. Why? Neuroscientists have identified over 200 cognitive biases that often cause people to behave irrationally. Some of those ingrained tendencies can help explain panic-buying behavior.

Our Brains Are Biased toward Survival
Most cognitive biases arise in the fast-thinking, emotional areas in the brain that evolved early in the brains of mammals. Staying alive is a primary function of those areas, along with hunger and fear. Impending emergencies activate those emotions and can cause irrational reactions.

News Reports Trigger Our Worst Fears
Emergencies get round-the-clock coverage. The attentional cognitive bias makes us treat repetitive negative news stories as highly important. That triggers a fear response and put us in survival mode. We feel we must do something quickly. We want to flee from danger but have no control of what is happening. We panic. Reports of one shark attack in Florida makes people fear swimming everywhere.

Our Brains Tend to Overestimate Danger
Another tendency is called the relativity cognitive bias. Our fast-thinking brains are very poor at calculations. If we see reports of hundreds of deaths, we tend to believe those deaths are happening nearby, even if they are not. We overestimate the real risks and do not accurately calculate our odds of becoming ill. We just want to avoid the risk.

Our Fear of Missing Out Triggers a Hoarding Response
To help ease our panic, we want to make sure we have what we need to survive. News stories about long lines of shoppers buying out stores triggers the loss aversion bias in our brains. We rush to acquire the things we think we need. Following the crowd is called the bandwagon cognitive bias. We join the long lines out of fear. When we find supplies, we overbuy, "just to be safe."

Why We Panic-Buy Things We Don't Need
As we watch the news, we see what others are buying up. Another cognitive bias, the availability bias, makes us think we also need those things. If others are buying toilet paper, milk, bread, and bottled water, we seek those things, even if they are not really needed. In the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no increased need for toilet paper and the water supply is not threatened. But we feel a desperate need to buy what others are buying. We don't stop to think.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Good points. Maybe it would be better if people didn't follow the news obsessively.

I've turned off my TV except for streaming movies. I get what I need to know from the internet and local newspapers, whose presentation is inherently less scary than cable TV news. DU can be scary enough, and I won't touch the cesspool that is Facebook these days.

I do remember the freakout about sharks after Jaws came out years ago. People were afraid to swim in fresh-water lakes because the movie made them so afraid of shark attacks. Trying to explain that there were no sharks in Lake Harriet was a lost cause.

[MineralMan]

3. Well, a lot of people pay little to no attention to the news.

I'm not sure what they're doing at this time.

I think what is important is to think about all of this instead of just reacting to it.

And how do you know there aren't any sharks in Lake Harriet?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. The sharks in Lake Harriet bear a striking resemblance to carp.

[MineralMan]

12. You've gotta watch out for those carp, ya know.

A big one can suck your toe right off, I understand.

A few years ago, I was fishing off the public dock on the Mississippi in downtown St. Paul. I used to do that frequently. Well, that particular time, there was a family of tourists from Ireland that walked out to where I was fishing. We had a nice conversation about the river and fishing. The children, probably 11 and 9, asked lots of good questions, all of which this old white-bearded local fisherman answered. One question, as I baited my hook with a nightcrawler was, "Does that hurt?" My answer was, "I don't know, but it's a worm, isn't it?" That seemed to satisfy the child. Then, I got a strong bite. It was a very large channel catfish. That family, especially the children, were really excited about my heavily bent fishing pole and the struggle. The catfish surfaced and rolled several times so everyone could see it.

Once the fish wearied, I walked it slowly around the dock to a lower level landing near the water, I handed my big landing net to the 11-year-old red-headed Irish girl and asked if she'd follow me with it. I got to the lower landing, took the net, and landed a 35 pound catfish, with a rapt audience. It was the biggest one I had ever caught off that dock.

"What if it bites you?" "Will you eat it?" "What on earth is that ugly fish?" I answered all of the children's questions as I removed the hook, with the catfish still in the net. The two children got to touch the monster, before I picked it up and returned it to the river.

Anyway, I made some tourists' day with that. The mother said, as they were leaving, "Thanks for being so nice. We learned a lot."

Not a shark, but fearsome all the same.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

15. No photo of the fish?

Wikipedia says this about the channel cat: "A member of the American catfish genus Ictalurus, channel catfish have a top-end size of about 40–50 pounds (18–23 kg). The world record channel catfish weighed 58 pounds, and was taken from the Santee-Cooper Reservoir in South Carolina, on July 7, 1964. Realistically, a channel catfish over 20 lb (9 kg) is a spectacular specimen, and most catfish anglers view a 10-lb (4.5-kg) fish as a very admirable catch. Furthermore, the average size channel catfish an angler could expect to find in most waterways would be between 2 and 4 pounds."

[MineralMan]

16. Sadly, no. I wasn't carrying a cell phone back then.

I could have gotten on the master angler list with that catfish. There are also some huge carp in that spot. I even hooked a huge sturgeon off that dock. I saw it on the surface once, but it went under the dock and broke the line.

Oh, well. Fun times.

[SWBTATTReg]

2. Nice write up. Fear of the unknown does amazing things, doesn't it? NT

[MineralMan]

4. We're more afraid of the unknown than the known, really.

That's part of the problem, I think.

[dalton99a]

5. Kick

[marlakay]

6. In Costco this week along with normal

Groceries I noticed my frozen yogurt bars on sale, they come in a big box, even on sale I normally would buy one. I bought 3 thinking if I am stuck at home watching tv at least I will have my sweet fix!

[MineralMan]

7. Well, see...

Apparently there wasn't a run on your treats.

[marlakay]

10. Yes they were too worried about TP

The entire area where it normally is was restocked with bottled water.

I said to my husband well thats going to make me need the TP even more and a lady next to me laughed and laughed.

I find it nice how we all seem to bond during times like this.

[Dream Girl]

9. I loaded up thing because my college son will home for a,prolonged spring break...

Also, I I get sick want to have needed supplies on hand. Other than a five pack of Lysol spray, I I don’t think I purchased anything I wouldn’t ordinarily buy

[Cirque du So-What]

11. I guess I'm abnormal

I’ve never had the urge to panic-buy anything.

[MineralMan]

13. Yeah, me neither. I tend to think about things

before I do anything. We have 10 rolls of toilet paper from the dozen pack I bought before all this. Our tap water is, and will continue to be, just fine. We always have a week's worth of staple food in the pantry, and our freezer is full of things we can eat. We always have hand sanitizer on hand, and plenty of soap and hot water. Once the panic slows down, I'll go buy some other stuff.

I'm out of gin, though, so my gin and tonics will have to be vodka and tonics for a few days, until I decide to go to the liquor store. We have a full big box of Chardonnay for my wife, as well. I think we'll be OK.

[Cirque du So-What]

14. I have a nearly full bottle of sweet vermouth in my fridge

which is almost certainly a lifetime supply. I got the bottle to make Manhattans, which were not a hit with my wife or me, so it languishes. I’ve been intending to use it as cooking wine, but I keep forgetting.