Why it’s not so off your trolley to panic buy

TWO outdoor fires in Gwynedd and Conwy on Thursday night have prompted the fire service to issue a fresh plea.

The North Wales Fire & Rescue Service is urging people not to burn waste or carry out controlled burns while the emergency services’ efforts are focused on fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

Firefighters were called to Llanfair TH just after 7pm on Thursday to deal with a large

ASURGE of panic swept across the UK when the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic first became apparent last month.

Shoppers stripped shop shelves of items such as toilet rolls, pasta and hand sanitisers, despite supermarket chiefs assuring the public there was no shortage of these items.

A lecturer in psychology has shared his thoughts on human behaviour during the Covid-19 outbreak and the reasons behind panic buying.

Gareth Harvey, who is a lecturer in consumer psychology at Bangor University, shared the three main reasons as to why he believes so many shoppers have been over-buying over recent weeks.

According to Gareth Harvey, to make decisions easier for ourselves, people tend to rely on “heuristics” which in layman’s terms is “rule of thumb” to make decisions.

“One of the most commonly used heuristics is social norms,” he said.

“This means that if we’re not certain how we are meant to act in a situation, we look to see what other people do, and then mimic this behaviour.

“With everyone apparently stockpiling items on the news and on social media, we subconsciously think that ‘they must know something I don’t, maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to pick up some items.’

“Toilet rolls are also big bulky items. If a supermarket sells out of a few brands of toilet rolls, there are going to be big empty spaces on the shelves.

“Normally, this matter and most wouldn’t people area of gorse and bracken that was ablaze.

A North Wales Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman said three crews were tied up dealing with the incident.

She added: “The cause of this fire is unknown and this incident was under control just before 9pm.”

A short while later, crews were also called to an incident in Llannor, near Pwllheli just wouldn’t even notice. However, with everyone talking about people panic buying in the media, this is making the concept more obvious and we notice these empty shelves.

“We’ll also notice people with toilet roll in other people’s trolleys – all of which remind us that, maybe we should stock up before it’s too late.”

Despite this, the psychologist revealed that wanting to stock up was not an irrational idea.

“Prospect theory proposes that people make decisions not based on a cost benefit analysis, but based upon the idea on how the decision will make us feel,” he said.

“A loss is emotionally 2.5 times more powerful than the equivalent gain.

“When it comes to making decisions, humans have a tendency to prefer avoiding losses, even if it comes at the expense of equivalent gains.

“In this case, we’re worried that if we don’t stock up on items now, then we may miss out on the chance of stocking up in future. As a result we decide it’s probably better to buy the product now.”

The lecturer also mentioned the “Reactance Theory”, which refers to our response to a perceived threat.

He said: “If an individual’s freedom to act is restricted, in other words, we’re told that we after 8.30pm to “controlled burning that was out of control”.

They extinguished an area of rubbish that was on fire.

The spokeswoman said: “We are asking people not to burn rubbish and carry out controlled burning to help us reduce demand on our crews.”

Mike Owen, Head of Response for North Wales Fire and Rescue Service, reiterated can’t do something, then we try to reinstate control over the situation by doing the opposite.

“In some ways, you can think of humans as petulant fouryear-olds. If somebody tells us not to do something, then we automatically think ‘why not?.’

“At the moment we’re being told not to panic buy, but the research suggests this might actually encourage people to panic buy.”

Mr Harvey also explained that the fear of the great unknown created a wish to regain a sense of control.

He said: “In countries where flooding, hurricanes or even earthquakes are common, people know what to expect and the warning saying: “We’re asking farmers and landowners to avoid undertaking controlled burning and residents to avoid burning waste to help to reduce the demand on firefighters and help them to stay safe during this difficult time.

“A small fire can spread so easily. Please don’t put unnecessary extra pressure on North Wales’ services.

“Let’s work together to fight coronavirus.” how to prepare for it.

“Yet with coronavirus Covid19, nobody really knows what to expect and its characterised by lots of features that make it seem scary.

“You can’t see it, people haven’t come across something like this before and we perceive that anybody could infect us. Consequently, this really intensifies our feeling of powerless and lack of control – two states that humans really struggle to deal with.

“As a result, we want to convince ourselves that we have taken all practical measures to regain a sense of control.

“Government advice may be to just wash your hands thoroughly and for 20 seconds, but intuitively this doesn’t feel like it’s enough when considering all of the media attention on the virus.

“We make up for it by doing something tangible – buying toilet roll and bottled water!

“The lack of control also explains why we’re more likely to panic buy items such as toilet paper.

“Researchers have shown that when consumers feel like they’re not in control of a situation, they’re more likely to buy practical items, for example cooking ingredients and toilet rolls.

“This can end up lowering our stress and anxiety levels.”