Two Lessons From Psychology for Policymakers

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"In 2021, more than 7,300 pedestrians died in America—three in four of them during the hours between sunset and sunrise."

This statistic comes from a story in yesterday's New York Times that carefully examined why the rate of pedestrian deaths in the U.S. is three times higher than Canada and France, four times higher than Germany and Japan, and five times higher than Scandinavia and Britain. There is no single explanation, of course, but the authors identified at least two relevant factors.

First, American drivers spend more time on their phones than people in other countries. Unlike drivers in other countries, Americans don't need both hands to drive (because their cars have automatic transmissions) and don't fear being caught by a traffic camera.

Second, the rate of pedestrian deaths is especially high in America's Sun Belt, where, according to the New York Times, roads often lack sidewalks, crosswalks, and bike lanes. European cities generally have safer sidewalks, better-marked crosswalks, and bike lanes.

Two Strategies for Solving Problems

The Times story nicely illustrates two lessons from psychology about how to develop and implement effective solutions to social problems.

The first lesson comes from cross-cultural psychology: Look abroad to see how policymakers in other countries approach the problem. Other countries sometimes do things better than we do in the United States. We can and should learn from them. In Europe, shops and restaurants post the actual price of an item instead of the pre-sales tax price. We should do that.

The second lesson comes from social psychology: When trying to change people's behavior, modifying the situation almost always works better than trying to change people's attitudes. Attitudes are highly resistant to direct attempts to change them. They also are generally poor predictors of actual behavior. We can, however, shape people's behavior very effectively by designing "psychologically smart" settings and environments.

Antiracism workshops, for example, are notoriously ineffective (Singal, 2023), but levels of prejudice decrease significantly when individuals from different backgrounds work together to achieve mutually desirable goals (Aronson, 1978; Sherif, 1961). As a bonus, our attitudes often align with how we've behaved in the past. No one wants to feel like an inconsistent hypocrite.

A Better Approach to Policymaking?

Imagine how policymakers might approach social problems differently if these two lessons from psychology informed them.

Gender identity and access to public restrooms. In the U.S. today, there is a contentious debate about whether transgender and non-binary persons should be allowed to use the public restroom of their choice. Some women, for example, say they would feel uncomfortable if a trans woman were to use the women's bathroom.

Many countries—Canada, China, and Sweden, for example—have built thousands of public restrooms that are not gendered. They're just generic restrooms (with a toilet and sink) designed to be used by one person at a time. Anyone can use the restroom, regardless of their gender identity. (My favorite restroom sign has three silhouettes—a woman, a man, and an alien—accompanied by five words: Whatever. Just Wash Your Hands.)

Shooting deaths. For at least 25 years, the United States has led the world in mass shootings (four or more people killed at one time). Policymakers cannot agree on how to approach the problem. Some point to inadequate gun control measures. Others point to inadequate access to mental health care. Still others point to the impact of violent video games.

If we look abroad, we see that other countries have mentally ill and dangerous individuals, just like the U.S. does. They also have violent video games, yet those other countries have fewer mass shootings than the U.S. does.

Policymakers in these other countries have created a situation in which it is difficult to gain access to guns, especially semiautomatics. Some have laws forbidding gun ownership. Others have lengthy waiting periods for purchases and mandatory safety training courses. Gun owners may be required to store their guns in locked cabinets or install trigger locks. Some countries have only a few stores that sell guns. Others make guns and ammunition prohibitively expensive.

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These approaches are situational approaches to the problem. There is no attempt to change attitudes or mend personalities. The policies don't concern themselves with the degree to which a gun owner may have psychiatric problems or be prone to violence. Finally, and most importantly, the policies appear to work.