Nudges

With all of the contemporary debate and discussion about nudge-type policies it can be difficult to assess the scale of the impacts that the “new” behavioural sciences (including behavioural economics, behavioural psychology and even neuroscience) are actually having on public policy.

Don’t get me wrong: No one who’s held an iPhone can deny the appeal of beautifully designed technology. But what really makes a product stick has more to do with the psychology behind its design than its physical or functional features. It’s all about the how, not the what.

Recently I attended a course on social norms and social change organized by UNICEF at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Understanding how social norms affect change in practices and behaviours is becoming an increasingly ‘hot topic’ in development discourse, and rightly so I would add. In some of my previous blogs I’ve discussed how in many cases the failure to achieve expected results should be ascribed to technocratic solutions, which are not always understood and agreed upon with local communities. The lack of a clear understanding of the role and mechanisms of behaviour change has been responsible for many development failures. However, developing strict behaviour change strategies might also be not enough to promote change.

Some economists are turning to psychology to explain why the health care system does not function optimally. Their work points to ways of encouraging providers to invest in new models of care and helping patients to engage in healthy behaviors.

Pharmacists and other health care providers often use persuasive messages to promote health behavior change. How such messages are framed affects patients’ perception of the content and how effective the message will be in making a difference. Two types of framing, known as gain framing and loss framing, are common but must be used correctly when conveying various health messages.

Healthcare marketing tends to focus on rational data driven arguments to change audience behaviours – be that increasing patient compliance, encouraging payers to grant formulary access or convincing healthcare professionals to prescribe.

If you believe that your clients actually give more than three seconds of thought to what you are selling, then ensure you read this article with your eyes wide open. [...] Marketers must realise that most shoppers operate on auto-pilot.