How Well Do Nudges Work?
The research literature on nudge effectiveness is growing. 2022 started with a new PNAS article reporting a meta analysis of 455 effect sizes from 214 publications. Here's a short summary.
Behavioral Economist, Behave Yourself
Using cognitive mechanisms (commitment, loss aversion, social norms and suchlike), I hacked myself to boost my motivation for exercise and healthy habits, get in shape and lose 15 kilos (33 pounds)… all in a record six months.
The Three Laws of Human Behavior
Human behavior is remarkably complicated. And yet, just as Newton's laws of motion distill three fundamental truths about the physical world, the three laws of human behavior describe three fundamental truths of human behavior: People tend to stick to the status quo unless the forces of friction or fuel push us them off their path; behavior is a function of the person and their environment; every decision includes tradeoffs and the potential for unintended consequences.
Why We’re Loving It: The Psychology Behind the McDonald’s Restaurant of the Future
Insights into the innovative behavioural design that underpins McDonald’s reinvention.
Applying Behavioral Science to App Design: A Short Journey
Like many of you, I work in problem domains that are bedeviled by complexities, often in dispersed teams of people with different skills. New technologies are thrown into this problem solving mix with an accompaniment of overwhelming hyperbole on a daily basis. It soon becomes a case of struggling to see the forest for the trees. How exactly do we marry behavioral science, app design and engineering in an organized, coherent and repeatable manner in such a workplace?
Three Ways the Internet of Things Is Shaping Consumer Behavior
The interconnection of devices within the “Internet of Things” (IoT) creates new data sources. Companies can now better observe people’s choices and test the effectiveness of different mechanisms to activate and retain more customers. It may also help policymakers overcome one of the most frequent problems of policy design: the lack of personalized content. We argue that the IoT not only disrupts the way we track our actions and monitor our goals, but also allows the identification of effective methods to alter our behavior. This is optimized by the combination of IoT, data analytics and behavioral science.
A Run-Down of the CEGA Behavioral Economics in Global Health Conference
“How can we use behavioral insights to nudge individuals into better health decision making?” This is one of the fundamental questions that inspired the third annual Conference on Behavioral Economics (BE) in Global Health at UC Berkeley, organized by the Behavioral Economics in Reproductive Health Initiative (BERI) at the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA).
A Nudge for Coverage: Last-Mile Problems for Health Insurance
A variety of case studies demonstrate the powerful combination of data science and behavioral science. Perhaps the health insurance market can benefit as well.
The Nudge Is Not Enough! The Love Story Between Behavioral Science and Practical Applications
Nudges are great, but they aren’t enough. While they are elegant, nudges are (often) just tweaks augmenting a pre-existing service or policy regardless of its quality, appropriateness or fitness. It is time to go from nudging to behavioral design.
Behavioral Economics and Healthcare: A Match Made in Heaven
By Benjamin Voyer Out of all the areas of public life that can benefit from the applications of behavioural economics (BE) principles, healthcare is probably the one where it can make the biggest societal contribution. There are two main reasons why the healthcare industry should welcome (more!) BE insights. The first reason is that many [...]