Applied behavioral science has seen significant growth and success over the past decade, as techniques like nudging have been applied to a wider range of goals.
However, it has faced credible critiques as its activity levels have grown.
To address these critiques, Michael Hallsworth has put forth a new manifesto that proposes a coherent vision for the scope, methods, and values of applied behavioral science.
The manifesto is made up of the following 10 proposals:
-1)Use behavioral science as a lens to view public and private issues -2)Build behavioral science into organizations -3)See the system (use systems thinking) -4)Put RCTs in their place by anticipating system interactions and measuring diffusion and contagion in networks -5)Replication, variation and adaptation -6)Beyond lists of biases (Emphasize theories that are practical: they fill the gap between high-level frameworks and jumbled lists of biases) -7)Predict and adjust (develop the practice of predicting experiment results and feeding them back to behavioral scientists) -8)Be humble, explore and enable (practice epistemic humility, pay attention to people's interpretations of their beliefs and behaviors, and reach a wider range of experiences) -9)Use data science to identify and reduce inequalities -10)No “view from nowhere”(Increase diversity among behavioral scientists and their teams)
The proposals emphasize the need for self-reflective practice, awareness of situational factors, and a change in the narrative around what the field can achieve.
" [A] main priority for behavioural scientists is to recognize the various ways that their own behaviour is being shaped by structural, institutional, environmental and cognitive factors.
Despite the challenges of disrupting familiar practices and weak incentives for change, the proposals aim to improve coordination, collaboration.
We as practitioners must perceive the competitive advantages of adopting new practices and going beyond nudges.
"Examples of individual biases are accessible, popular and how many people first encounter behavioural science. These ideas are incredibly useful, but they have often been presented as lists of standalone curiosities in a way that is incoherent, reductive and deadening.
Presenting lists of biases does not help us to distinguish or organize them.
Such lists can also create overconfident thinking that targeting a specific bias (in isolation) will achieve a certain outcome.
Perhaps most importantly, focusing on lists of biases distracts us from answering core underlying questions.
-When does one or another bias apply? -Which are widely applicable, and which are highly specific? -How does culture or life experience affect whether a bias influences behaviour or not. -These are highly practical questions when one is faced with tasks such as taking intervention to new places."
I'll leave a link in the description to the manifesto #behavioralscience #innovation #behavioraleconomics