People need support to follow local lockdowns, not orders from above | Stephen Reicher
If communities feel singled out, discriminated against, left behind and ignored, blame the messenger not them
At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK, we heard much talk of behavioural fatigue", the idea that people lack the willpower to endure tough restrictions. Though it wasn't clear where the idea had come from, it was invoked many times as a justification for delaying lockdown - and so contributed to the loss of many thousands of lives.
As psychologists who study disasters and emergencies predicted , the public showed remarkable resilience through the lockdown. Compliance was high from the start, and remained so throughout. People stayed home to protect their communities even though many suffered personally from doing so. And when Dominic Cummings broke the lockdown rules, displaying the weaknesses that the government had earlier projected onto the population, people continued to comply with them despite - not because of - Westminster.
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