Selecting the right methodology for researching and exploring human behaviour can be a challenge. This article provides an overview of different applied behavioural science methodologies and offers some simple steps toward selecting the most suitable approach to gain insights into human behaviour.
There have been a lot of juicy headlines in behavioral science around replicability and the falsification of data. I can’t help but wonder whether these spotlights are distracting (read: biasing) us from the potential and existing contributions of the field as a whole. Perceptions of behavioral science are just as vulnerable to our perceptions and biases. Is it possible that the field is suffering from the effects of its own contributions?
The debate between differentiation and distinctiveness in brand positioning is a false dichotomy. While distinctiveness is more important for a brand, differentiation can also be used to your advantage. Understanding your brand positioning relative to competitors is a valuable strategic tool that can help your brand consistency in your tactical efforts. In this article, I discuss how you can build and measure the values that differentiate your brand.
Market segmentation is a valuable strategic tool in marketing. How to properly do segmentation is, however, not widely known. In this article, I lay out the principles of segmentation and provide a step-by-step guide.
Experiments (aka A/B tests) are the bread and butter of behavioral scientists. However, running experiments requires much more than knowing statistics, especially when you’re running “field” experiments and not purely digital ones. In this post, I’ll give you four recommendations to get your experiment right.
Technology has become a relevant asset for scientists supporting people in modifying their behavior. For instance, we find various apps on the market trying to achieve this. Some inspire their designs in psychological theories, but most do not. Creating theory-based app designs provides a guide on which people's behavioral outcomes to expect in response to a particular stimulus, leading to more robust design and effective apps. How to begin designing theory-informed apps? Continue reading to find out!
There is a growing concern that the academic literature, because of publication biases and other limitations of single-shot, lab-based studies, overstates the power of nudges in real life. We examined this issue in a 10-week RCT in 60 supermarkets comparing 4 front-of-pack simplified nutrition labels. The good news is that the ordering of the nutrition labels was the same as in published lab-based studies. The bad news is that our effect sizes were, on average, 17 times smaller than in the published literature.
There is a lot of evidence on the variation of human experience and that economic, social and linguistic environments strongly shape people’s behaviour, motivations and preferences. Despite this, these topics have not received a lot of attention in decision making psychology. In this article, I shed some light on the background of why this is the case.
Applied behavioural science is facing some tough challenges, in the form of an ongoing replication crisis and a public debate on limits to nudging (including COVID-related stumbles). At the same time, we believe there is reason to be optimistic: the fusing of behavioural knowledge with data science methods means that we can see some of these shared challenges in a completely new light. In this article, we show how a transformation of our interactions with consumers and employees can usher in a new age for the field.
With most of its attention captured by the global fervor around 'big data', the banking industry has failed to give behavioral science the attention it deserves. I argue that, considering today’s challenges to fully take advantage of big data, implementing insights from behavioral science is a more cost-effective approach to improve customer experience in banking.
