Psychological approach to improving the effectiveness of Earthquake Early Warnings

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K20872
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 10:Psychology and related fields
• Research Institution: Doshisha University
• Principal Investigator: Nakayachi Kazuya 同志社大学, 心理学部, 教授 (50212105)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 畑 敏道 同志社大学, 心理学部, 教授 (50399044)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-07-30 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 防災 / 緊急地震速報 / 防護行動の自動化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research project investigated why protective actions were not taken by individuals despite receiving Earthquake Early Warnings (EEWs), and explored ways to promote protective actions. Residents were surveyed, and results confirmed that mobile phones were the primary devices through which EEWs were received. The results also revealed that residents viewed their phone screens immediately after receiving the EEWs, hindering their ability to take protective actions instantly.
We examined the effects of a drill based on conditional discrimination learning. The results of subsequent experiments did not support our hypothesis that trained participants would pay attention to the correct subject in a shorter reaction time during certain situations compared to untrained individuals.

Free Research Field

社会心理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究課題の学術的意義は、これまでの緊急地震速報研究が速報の有効性を前提としているのに対し、速報を受信しても人々は防護行動をほとんどとらないという知見を提供し、なぜ、即座の行動がとられないのか、どうすれば行動を促進できるのかを検討した点にある。
また、日本は地震リスクが極めて高く、しかも、地震予知が実質的に不可能であることから、大きな揺れの直前に到来を伝える緊急地震速報は貴重な被害軽減手段であり、その有効性を高めようとするところに本課題の社会的意義がある。