The psychology of beach users: importance of confirmation bias, action, and intention to improving rip current safety

The rip current hazard on beaches is a global public health issue. While physical controls on rip current formation and flow behavior are relatively well understood, there has been a recent increase in studies examining the less-understood social dimensions of the hazard. This paper reviews how these studies provide insight into beach safety practices and rip current knowledge among beach users, their ability to spot a rip, and their ability to understand and heed posted warnings. However, we identify how these studies are hindered by methodological limitations and problematic sample choices. It is argued that beach user behavior is affected by confirmation bias, a cognitive shortcut by which a person selectively attends to evidence confirming their preexisting beliefs and ignores disconfirming evidence, and to make decisions in accordance with this bias. Evidence is presented to suggest that there is a potential for beach-going behaviors to be influenced by other beach users and past observations, whether the behavior of others conforms to warnings about the dangers posed by rips in general or at a specific time and place. We also suggest that beach users’ self-reported intentions and beliefs about beach safety may not correspond to their actions at the beach. This suggests a need for active intervention and creation of social norms that address cognitive errors associated with unsafe beach behavior, which in turn requires that coastal scientists and beach safety practitioners should collaborate with social scientists and psychologists for more effective safety outcomes.