PeterSlattery comments on Laboratory Biorisk Management Needs More Social Scientists

[PeterSlattery]

Thanks for writing this!

Lessons from the social and behavioral sciences can and should be adapted to promote proactive biorisk management. For example, literature on social norms, persuasion, attitude change, and habit formation could be used to design and test behavior-change interventions. The bar is low; researchers have not rigorously tested interventions to change life scientists’ proactive BRM practices. Funders should support social scientists and biorisk experts to partner with life scientists on programs of applied research that start with interviews and surveys and build toward scalable and testable interventions.

I agree with all of this and believe that we undervalue the importance of diagnosing and changing behaviour in many areas of EA practice.

I think that this article provides useful theory and ideas for potential interventions.