Bizarre 'alien simulation' study shows how COVID panic-buying was a natural response

New research from the University of New South Wales has demonstrated how people react differently to change

Panic-buying: it's rarely helpful, often damaging, and always divisive. But it also might be a natural human response to sudden uncertainty, rather than just being a selfish action. At least, that's what's suggested by a study comparing people's responses to rapid and gradual changes.

To examine this issue, researchers from the University of New South Wales, Australia, enlisted the help of a pair of aliens. Well, not real aliens. In a virtual simulation, 35 participants were tasked with attaining as many 'alien dollars' as possible, by selling a selection of chemicals to one of two extraterrestrials. In each 'sale round', participants had to pick two chemicals before choosing which alien to sell to. However, unknown to the humans, only one of these chemicals would determine how much the selected extraterrestrial would pay.