Behavioral Theory & Insights

Designing Theory-Informed Behavior Change Apps
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Designing Theory-Informed Behavior Change Apps

Behavioral Theory & Insights, Research Methods, Technology & Digital

Designing Theory-Informed Behavior Change Apps

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!

By Gabriela Villalobos-Zúñiga|2022-06-30T01:18:38+00:00May 9th, 2022|Categories: Behavioral Theory & Insights, Research Methods, Technology & Digital|Tags: app design, behavior change, human-computer interaction, persuasion, self-determination theory, taxonomy|

Personalised Persuasion: How Predictable Are You?
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Personalised Persuasion: How Predictable Are You?

Behavioral Theory & Insights, Society & Everyday Life, Technology & Digital

Personalised Persuasion: How Predictable Are You?

When it comes to nudging, it’s very much a case of ‘different strokes for different folks'. A free donut might entice some people to take a vaccine; for others, it might make them even more skeptical. Fortunately, a combination of digital footprints and ‘thin slicing’ psychology means that nudges can now be targeted to the right people in the right way.

By Patrick Fagan|2022-04-25T06:05:52+00:00April 22nd, 2022|Categories: Behavioral Theory & Insights, Society & Everyday Life, Technology & Digital|Tags: consumer behavior, morality, nudge, personality, persuasion, social psychology|

How Well Do Nudges Work?
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How Well Do Nudges Work?

Behavioral Theory & Insights

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.

By Behavioral Economics Institute|2022-02-17T05:20:33+00:00January 6th, 2022|Categories: Behavioral Theory & Insights|Tags: commitment, consumer behavior, default, environment, financial decision making, generalizability, health, meta-analysis, nudge, personal finance, prosocial behavior, replication, social norms|

Why Do We Pay Too Much for Information?
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Why Do We Pay Too Much for Information?

Behavioral Theory & Insights, Marketing & Consumer Behavior

Why Do We Pay Too Much for Information?

Should we postpone a decision to collect more information or decide based on the information already available? This is a typical dilemma not only in business life. Psychologists have found that most people tend to wait too long and spend too much on information collection. Why is that the case? Our study gives a surprising answer.

By Marc Oliver Rieger|2022-02-17T05:22:42+00:00November 9th, 2021|Categories: Behavioral Theory & Insights, Marketing & Consumer Behavior|Tags: consumer behavior, curiosity, decision deferral, decision making, information, overoptimism, purchasing behavior, risk aversion|

Getting It Done – The Behavioral Way
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Getting It Done – The Behavioral Way

Behavioral Theory & Insights, Society & Everyday Life, Work & Employment

Getting It Done – The Behavioral Way

Many people struggle to finish big projects. According to a 2020 survey, almost half of teleworkers had trouble getting motivated. Behavioral science can help! Here are some tips for accomplishing those daunting tasks.

By Alain Samson|2022-02-17T05:23:27+00:00October 19th, 2021|Categories: Behavioral Theory & Insights, Society & Everyday Life, Work & Employment|Tags: behavior change, goal pursuit, goals, habit, incentives, nudge, planning, pre-commitment, social influence|

Tell Me Why! Explanations for Ambiguity in Health Decision Making Affect Treatment Choice
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Tell Me Why! Explanations for Ambiguity in Health Decision Making Affect Treatment Choice

Behavioral Theory & Insights, Health & Medicine

Tell Me Why! Explanations for Ambiguity in Health Decision Making Affect Treatment Choice

Medical treatment decisions are often rife with ambiguity. Exact probabilities for things like side effects or treatment success rates are frequently unknown. But why is this important? Because decision making research has shown that ambiguity can systematically alter the choices people make. We investigated how providing different explanations for the ambiguity in a treatment decision context affected willingness to adopt a treatment with an ambiguously described success rate. When the explanations involved elements that the person was knowledgeable about or could control, people were more interested in an ambiguous treatment.

By Jillian O’Rourke Stuart|2022-05-26T06:59:13+00:00August 30th, 2021|Categories: Behavioral Theory & Insights, Health & Medicine|Tags: ambiguity aversion, communication, decision making, framing, personal health, public health, salience, treatment choice|

Anchors Aweigh! How Early Perceptual Information Biases Subsequent Judgments
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Anchors Aweigh! How Early Perceptual Information Biases Subsequent Judgments

Behavioral Theory & Insights

Anchors Aweigh! How Early Perceptual Information Biases Subsequent Judgments

Anchoring and adjustment, a ubiquitous heuristic process in judgment and decision making, has been vastly demonstrated in the numerical domain. With the help of four studies, we demonstrate the anchoring and adjustment bias in perceptual domains. Additionally, we outline a process of perceptual anchoring and provide a way for a potential resolution to the disagreement among different process accounts for the anchoring phenomenon.

By Gaurav Jain|2022-02-17T05:30:57+00:00March 9th, 2021|Categories: Behavioral Theory & Insights|Tags: anchoring, bias, decision making, judgment, perception|

Fake News, False Memories and Flawed Decisions: A Behavioural Solution
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Fake News, False Memories and Flawed Decisions: A Behavioural Solution

Behavioral Theory & Insights, Education & Learning, Morality & Prosocial Behavior

Fake News, False Memories and Flawed Decisions: A Behavioural Solution

At first glance, fake news and false memories appear to be separate phenomena. But they have much in common as dangerous sources of misinformation. This article argues that fake news generates false memories, which in turn leads to flawed decision-making. Ignoring this interplay amplifies risk for individuals, businesses and policymakers who rely on information accuracy. Behavioural science techniques can nudge decision-makers towards more proactive critical thinking and self-checking to minimise this predictable and avoidable error.

By Nuala Walsh|2024-08-27T01:30:58+00:00October 13th, 2020|Categories: Behavioral Theory & Insights, Education & Learning, Morality & Prosocial Behavior|Tags: behavioral science, cognitive psychology, fake news, false memory, memory, social influence, social psychology|

Do Lab Studies Replicate in the Field? The Case of Simplified Nutrition Labels
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Do Lab Studies Replicate in the Field? The Case of Simplified Nutrition Labels

Behavioral Theory & Insights, Health & Medicine, Marketing & Consumer Behavior, Research Methods

Do Lab Studies Replicate in the Field? The Case of Simplified Nutrition Labels

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.

By Pierre Chandon|2022-06-30T01:20:06+00:00October 6th, 2020|Categories: Behavioral Theory & Insights, Health & Medicine, Marketing & Consumer Behavior, Research Methods|Tags: consumer behavior, food labeling, generalizability, incentives, nutrition, public health, RCT, replication, shopping|

Behavioral Economics Guide 2020 Launch – Event Video
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Behavioral Economics Guide 2020 Launch – Event Video

Behavioral Theory & Insights

Behavioral Economics Guide 2020 Launch – Event Video

On September 24, 2020, we teamed up with the Think Forward Initiative to celebrate the launch of the Behavioral Economics Guide 2020. Our panel of speakers presented their work around the event's main topic 'What can behavioral economics contribute to tackle the threat of climate change?'. Here's a video recording of the event.

By Alain Samson|2022-02-17T05:37:58+00:00October 2nd, 2020|Categories: Behavioral Theory & Insights|