Cognitive Biases
Cognitive Biases
Cognitive Biases
to make quick
decisions without any conscious deliberation that often lead us to irrational behaviours.
These cognitive biases are hoarding of alcohol, facemasks, food items etc. Others may
even make illogical decisions like ingesting fish tank cleaner containing chloroquine to
prevent coronavirus infection. As a result, people panicked with the lack of supply and
are forced to buy these from the hoarders at a double or triple price. Prices have
increased while supply is down from the lack of production. People who act irrationally
have been labelled as “covidiots”. We often think by doing something such as
stockpiling our home supplies, we may mitigate unknown risks related to COVID-19.
However, by crowding in the supermarkets, we may instead be placing ourselves at
higher risk of infection.