Two Minds Blog

  This week, the White House announced that the United States will not  meet the target of vaccinating 70% of American adults by July 4th. Back in April, many people here in Denver were driving a hundred miles to get their vaccine doses in rural areas the minute they became available. What gives? As usual , human behavior rather than medical expertise is the limiting factor in addressing health challenges. A recent national survey identified four main reasons that people weren't yet vaccinated. Together they add up to around 35% of adults, or about the number who haven't yet gotten a COVID-19 vaccine. 1. Watchful Waiting (about 8%) - these people aren't yet convinced that the vaccines are efficacious or safe. An often-cited argument that might tell you someone is in this group is the fact that the vaccine hasn't yet been FDA-approved, but is still in an "emergency authorization" phase. That's of course true. Normally, the FDA approval process involves mu...

In several previous studies on HIV prevention and HIV medication adherence , I used a model in which various Intuitive-level experiences have their effect on behavior by way of a mediating variable called "motivation." The title of one of my previous papers, " motivation as a mechanism ," explains the way that I was thinking about this relationship between Intuitive-level variables 4 or 5 years ago. A student recently asked me whether I meant intrinsic or extrinsic motivation when I included the variable in my model. That question got me thinking again about the whole concept of motivation, and whether it really plays a role in determining people's behavior. Motivation can be defined as "reasons for acting in a particular way," as a "desire to do something," or as "willingness to do something." My own use of the term has been most similar to the last of these definitions, "willingness," because I understand "reasons...