Capturing human behaviour: Is it possible to bridge the gap between data and models?

Abstract

Do people respond to changes in perceived risk of disease? The answer to this is surely yes, but how? And will we ever be able to reliably predict how individuals will react to a given situation? In this chapter we examine the evidence for changes in behaviour as a result of changing epidemiological situations and the practical implications of this research. We show that, with a few notable exceptions, empirical support for recent theoretical advances is generally weak. We highlight the areas where further observational data are needed, and suggest ways to collect this information.