Conclusion
impulsivity
This study recorded the intensity and controllability of various types of urges pertinent to pandemic management. We were able to measure people’s urges of non-adherence to protective behaviours during a pandemic without risking recall bias, by using ecological momentary assessment. Our findings show that episodic future thinking and compassion exercises reduced the intensity of urges to avoid protective behaviours, but did not affect self-control. We also found that different urges occur at widely varying rates within and between participants, which is an important consideration when assessing the relative impact of these urges.Our findings show that episodic future thinking and compassion exercises reduced the intensity of certain urges, but we found no evidence that it affected self-control in our sample. This finding broadly aligns with the evidence that EFT can enhance future-oriented decision making in various contexts [The mechanisms through which EFT and compassion exercises affect behaviour differ: EFT enhances future-oriented decision making in various contexts [These results suggest that an invitation to engage in EFT and compassion-inducing talking points could be incorporated into press conferences and some public announcements to decrease urges of noncompliance during public health crises. Additionally, people who pose a specific risk to the community (e.g., those in voluntary self-isolation after travelling abroad) could be invited to periodically perform such a task.We found no evidence that vaccine attitudes or predictions of back-to-normal timelines were associated with self-control in our sample. Other studies show that vaccine hesitancy is correlated with lesser social distancing and mask wearing [Different urges occurred at varying rates within and between participants, which is an important consideration when assessing the relative impact of these urges. If an urge is relatively rare, but difficult to control, then it may not be as relevant for policymakers and other key stakeholders to see if the probability to control this urge can be increased. Urges to avoid getting tested, or to not leave contact details were relatively infrequent, but the fact that around 20% of the sample reported one of these urges at least once is worrying given their importance to pandemic management [State impulsivity was related to stronger urges, but not to diminished self-control. This evidence suggests that state fluctuations in impulsivity play an important, but poorly understood role in determining public health guideline adherence during pandemics. A recent study has found this ‘bottom-up’ effect of state impulsivity for a different, more general domain of urges [