2023-07-13 12:00:00
LOCKDOWN FILES – In order to accept confinement and social distancing measures, in the event of new pandemics, the British people have been conditioned: according to Professor David Halpern, psychologist and director of the Behavioural Insights Teama behavioral analysis team named by its critics the nudge unit (1), citizens of the United Kingdom would start again “fast enough” to wear masks, confine themselves and work at home when a new pandemic virus is announced. Interviewed by The Telegraphas part of the Lockdown Files, Professor Halpern was part of the SAGE, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, the British Scientific Council responsible for developing health responses to Covid-19. It details the “methods” which were used for “persuade” the population to confirm themselves to the rules enacted, affirming that it is possible to “reactivate” certain behaviors. Methods which have already provoked numerous reactions from deputies, doctors and scientists, who have questioned the morality of resorting to such strategies of psychological manipulation.
Unveiled in March 2023, the “Lockdown Files” (the containment files) refer to more than 100,000 WhatsApp messages exchanged at the heart of British power and obtained thanks to journalist Isabel Oakeshott. These messages have been investigated by the The Telegraph. In addition to a series of numerous articles on behind the scenes of the main decisions of the authorities in the context of the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, such as vaccination, wearing a mask or confinement, the British media has launched a podcast to continue his revelations.
“Just re-enable the behavior”
Professor David Halpern was the guest of this podcast on Thursday July 6, 2023. Head of a team responsible for behavioral analysis (Behavioural Insights Team), known as nudge unit (referring to the behavioral theory of nudge), this psychologist affirmed that the population would accept “much easier” new health restrictions thanks to its previous experience during the Covid pandemic.
According to him, the British were “conditioned” (drilled (2) in the original version) to comply with confinement or mask-wearing measures, through specific nudge unit techniques. “Just re-enable the behavior”he insists.
The behavioral analysis unit was called upon by Matt Hancock, England’s Secretary of State for Health, at the start of the pandemic. The team, led by David Halpern, was to bring its “behavioral expertise” against a £1million contract, according to The Telegraph.
The nudge unit is behind many awareness campaigns using visuals and slogans to “incite” compliance with health rules through the “reinforcement of new behaviors”.
In this podcast from LockDown Files, the psychologist says a little more about the strategy of his team of “behaviorists”. He explains that the posters on wearing a mask “acted as ‘visual stimuli'”. “When you walk into a store, it serves as a reminder or cue to you by acting as a behavioral trigger”, he explains. People who don’t wear the mask feel this way “naked”. “In other words, you’ll be like, ‘Oh my God, I don’t have my mask on’. You feel naked”he continues.
David Halpern asserts that once the public adopts a new behavior, “you can reactivate it, in principle. You have the beginning, in particular, of what is called a habit loop: if it happened, then you will have to be able to do it again”. Added to these methods is the impact of major disasters such as pandemics, which “leave a lasting mark on society”he continues.
Based on this first experience during the Covid pandemic, Professor Halpern affirms, in the event of a new pandemic, that the British “will start wearing masks again fairly quickly if persuaded” to do. According to him, the population is more likely to return to telework or to confine itself to the fact that it has “already practiced the exercise”.
It’s even “much easier” that citizens will accept future restrictions. “They might protest, (…) but once you’ve exercised those [méthodes]they are likely to be applied again” to reproduce them. He rules out, however, the use of fear-based stimuli because, “in general, they are not effective”. He cites the example of posters, controversial to say the least, whose series was titled “Can you look them in the eye?“showing, in close-up, the faces of people with Covid and placed on respiratory assistance.
An “ethical” and “moral” problem
“We know a lot more than before. We practiced the exercise and we could do it again,” insists David Halpern. “Imagine if this happens, not in the whole population, but in an area, a city. You tell them that it is really important to do such a thing [comme le port du masque ou le confinement]… It is much easier to imagine than this city” and its population apply the new measures.
The leader of the nudge unit was invited after statements by Matt Hancock that the UK “must prepare for wider, earlier and stricter lockdowns to deal with future pandemics”. Surprising remarks, from the man who had to resign from the State Secretariat for Health across the Channel in 2018 and who is already questioned by the revelations of the LockDown Files, about his use of fear and blackmail to enforce lockdowns. Hancock even goes so far as to regret “shortcomings” in his government’s strategy to fight the pandemic, such as the fact of not having planned the restrictions of individual freedoms.
In 2022, the informal group of multi-party parliamentarians (All-Party Parliamentary Groups – APPG) called, through its co-chair, Conservative MP Esther McVey, for an investigation into the use of behavioral science. “Was it ethical to deploy covert psychological strategies on the British people?”she said questioned.
In July of the same year, the Health Advisory & Recovery Teama group of British doctors, scientists, economists, psychologists and other academic experts gathered to question policies to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, have also expressed concern about these methods. “Our view is that the use of these behavioral strategies raises deep moral questions”, lit-on.
Without forgetting that confinements, in themselves, have not scientifically shown any real effectiveness in order to fight against an epidemic linked to a respiratory virus, according to several studies. This type of measure appears to be the source of very significant collateral damage (health and social) to the population.
Notes :
(1) The office of the nugde. THE nudgeboost in French, is a method to encourage a population to change its behavior and to make certain choices without placing it under apparent constraint, without obligation, or threat of direct sanction.
(2) The word is used in psychology, the methodical repetition of a physical or mental response for the purpose of learning. The exercise can be used when the material to be learned does not yet represent an integrated or internally coherent entity for the individual.
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