The Most Important Resolution of Them All

The Associate Professor or Psychobiology and Epidemiology at University College London is running the Covid-19 Social Study, which aims to understand the psychological and social impact of the pandemic.

At the beginning of January, the Guardian ran a punchy opinion piece she’d authored, entitled: ‘People started breaking Covid rules when they saw those with privilege ignore them’. It has generated a lot of interest.

In it, she argues: “Compliance needs to be modelled as the norm. Currently, nine in 10 people think they are complying more than the average. News headlines that “tens of millions follow the rules” are understandably less exciting than stories of police raids on raves and other infringements. But we need to beware implying that the actions of a minority represent the behaviours of the entire population.

“Modelling good compliance is the responsibility of us all. So as we start to practise our new year’s resolutions, let this be the top of all of our lists, and let this be the resolution that we work hardest to keep.”

To see the full article, please click here.

More than 70,000 people across the UK regularly take part in UCL’s Covid-19 Social Study and share their experiences every month in a 10 minute online survey, which focuses on their levels of anxiety, depression, stressors, loneliness, self harm, domestic abuse, compliance with regulations and experiences of adversities. The results are turned into reports which are read by the Cabinet Office, other parts of Government, the World Health Organisation, Public Health England and other organisations around the UK.

If you’d like to take part or find out more about the study, please click here.