Square Peg Insight

There's a lot to agree with this great piece: the narrative of the silver bullet like nudge and the power of non-conscious influences is still very strong in applied BeSci which often overshadows a conversation about the limits of its effectiveness - even if it might have been a necessary (unconscious) marketing strategy when the profession was just emerging.

"The problem the behavioural science industry has is that if Nudge constantly takes centre stage in conversations then, not unreasonably, there will be an expectation that practitioners can deliver sparkling results. --- We need a more sensible conversation about nudge that helps the wider audience for behavioural science understand that it is one, of many tools in the practitioner toolkit."

https://colinstrong.substack.com/p/on-not-being-derren-brown

On not being Derren Brown As behavioural scientists we have many skills but mind-reading automatic mental processes is surely not one of them: provocative thinking on how to sensibly apply heuristics and nudges

When it comes to behaviour change, there are few silver bullets – a good understanding of the science will go a long way, but the secret to success often lies in the small details. It’s tempting to use intuitive examples from the scientific literature and take them as “truth”.

In reality, working logically from deep understanding of the problem and considering the pieces of the behavioural puzzle as a whole will yield better solutions - otherwise you might end up spending millions developing a feature that does little to change the customer experience.

https://www.squarepeginsight.com/post/when-you-solve-the-wrong-problem-the-case-of-netflix-s-play-something-feature

When you solve the wrong problem: the case of Netflix's Play Something feature When it comes to behaviour change, there are few silver bullets – a good understanding of the science will go a long way, but the secret to success often lies in the small details. It’s tempting to use intuitive examples from the scientific literature and take them as “truth”. In reality, wo...

I've been working as a behavioural science practitioner for a decade now and I often come across misunderstandings about the difference between behavioural economics, behaviour change and behavioural science in general. After the most recent discussion with a client, I wanted to write about this to help people understand some of the differences and talk about what it means for my professional practice 👇

https://www.squarepeginsight.com/post/behavioural-economics-vs-behaviour-change-what-s-the-difference

Behavioural Economics vs. Behaviour Change - what's the difference? I've been working as a behavioural science practitioner for a decade now and I often come across misunderstandings about the difference between behavioural economics, behaviour change and behavioural science in general. After the most recent discussion with a client, I wanted to write about this to....

A great starting point for any behaviour change project is to understand the factors that are influencing behaviour. The problem is that some projects can turn into an analytical swamp after the first stage mapping barriers with a model like COM-B. One way to solve that and add focus is to think about the target behaviour as a process and layer the barriers step by step. Here's how you can do it 👇

https://www.squarepeginsight.com/post/how-to-layer-behavioural-drivers-and-barriers

The key idea of behavioural economics and nudging is that our choices are strongly influenced by context - yet there has been little systematic exploration of the broader environment in which decisions are made.

Stepping back from the immediate choice context can help understand how the environment can make or break behaviour change interventions. The original piece is written from a policy perspective, but with some adaptations the process also works for private sector behaviour change!

https://www.squarepeginsight.com/post/context-is-king-so-why-has-nudging-ignored-it-so-much

If context is king, why has nudging ignored it so much? The key idea of nudging is that our choices are influenced by context yet there has been little exploration of the choice environment.

Behaviour change is hard so the second issue of Squared Away is focused on learning from failures in nudging, understanding the impact of the context and assessing the effectiveness of behavioural interventions.

Read more and sign up so you don't miss them! 👇

https://shoutout.wix.com/so/4cNSwE8sa?languageTag=en #/main

Squared Away #2: When and why do nudges fail? Behaviour change is hard. This second issue of Squared Away is all about learning from failures in nudging, understanding the impact of the context and assessing the effectiveness of behavioural interventions. Quite fittingly, you may have noticed that my own public commitment nudge did not quite wo...

If you're interested in learning which nudge/intervention types are common in different areas, this article summarises 2 recent evidence reviews! TL;DR - it's complicated and it depends 😅
https://www.squarepeginsight.com/post/which-tools-for-the-job-a-snapshot-of-nudges-across-different-domains

Which tools for the job? A snapshot of nudges across different domains In this article we'll take a look at two evidence reviews that give us snapshots across domains and nudge types.

Failed interventions are more common than most people think yet the behaviour change movement has largely focused on successes - understandably, because talking about failures might undermine the credibility of our field and profession. Yet failing forward is essential if we want to make progress, so this article takes a look at the 8 ways in which behaviour change can fail. 👇

https://www.squarepeginsight.com/post/all-that-glitters-is-not-gold-8-ways-behaviour-change-can-fail

All that glitters is not gold - 8 ways behaviour change can fail The behaviour change movement has focused on successes for the sake of credibility - yet we need to examine our failures to make progress.

A nice read on how omission, availability, optimism, confirmation and natural risk biases influence vaccination behaviour!
https://www.behive-consulting.com/post/5-cognitive-biases-contributing-to-covid-19-vaccine-hesitancy

Learn about how to use temptation bundling, piggybacking and the WOOP framework to change your behaviour this year 👇
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/01/health/new-years-resolutions-wellness/index.html

The science of how to stick to New Year's resolutions and truly change your habits If you want your resolutions to stick this year, try bundling a new activity with a habit you already enjoy. Science offers many other tricks to help a successful behavior change.

Even though nudges have been around for a decade, there is still debate around
how they work and where they might be used most effectively. In this post, I review a proposed matrix classifying nudges based on their proposed mechanisms and in which circumstances they are likely to work best.

https://buff.ly/2XkbXVj

A peek under the bonnet - when and where are nudges effective? Can we categorise nudges based on their proposed mechanisms & the circumstances work best in?

Professor Richard Thaler is known to sign his books with "Nudge for good". But are nudges always good and sludges bad? In this post we take a look at the relationship between these two concepts. Could nudge be a double-edged sword?

I stumbled across this article published last month by LSE Fellow Stuart Mills where he boldly critiques the existing definitions as leaving "much to be desired" and the relationship between nudges and sludges as unclear. My curiosity got the better of me - nothing interesting is ever completely one sided!

https://www.squarepeginsight.com/post/are-nudges-always-good-and-sludges-always-evil

Are nudges always good and sludges always evil? Could nudge be a double-edged sword? A look at the relationship between nudge and sludge.

The first ever Squared Away newsletter finally went out yesterday! It's a bumper issue with double the papers on a weighty topic. Throughout January we'll be covering different aspects of nudges and nudging:

1. Definitions: How can or should we differentiate between nudges?
2. Boundaries: Where and when does nudging work best? How and when do nudges fail
3. Ethics: Is there a right way to nudge? How do we know what people actually want?
4. Cultural context: How does the cultural context influence nudging?

We are also curious to hear other people's thoughts on the papers - they are summaries of original research, not our viewpoints necessarily and the papers we review are chosen based on what piques our interests so if you know of a different/better/newer angle, please let us know!

You can see the newsletter here and sign up at the bottom of the page - we hope you'll join us for this exploration of the scientific literature!
https://shoutout.wix.com/so/a7NOUdIk0?languageTag=en

Squared Away #1: A deep dive into nudging (part 1) Welcome to Squared Away! My goal for starting this newsletter was to create an accountability system for myself. Going through my library of scientific papers was something I really wanted to do but never actually got around to doing (a prime example of an intention-action gap) so I designed a behav...

Although well-known, System 1/2 theory is not the only perspective on decision making - there are several differing views in the behavioural science community, each with slightly different assumptions about human nature.

If you want to read more on the history of the field 👇
https://www.squarepeginsight.com/post/the-many-flavours-of-decision-making-psychology

The many flavours and layers of decision-making psychology There is more to decision making psychology than System 1/2.

Want to learn more about behavioural science? Sign up to get free insights delivered in your inbox every Friday! Read more 👇
https://www.squarepeginsight.com/squared-away

🎄 Merry Christmas from me & my two muses🎄

Dogs they are the ultimate applied behavioural scientists and my working spaniels continuously teach me a lot about behaviour change. At its core, modern dog training is close to nudging: helping dogs make good choices while preserving as much freedom as possible.

Read more:
https://www.squarepeginsight.com/post/merry-christmas-from-me-and-my-two-favourite-behavioural-scientists

Merry Christmas from me and my two favourite behavioural scientists! Dogs they are the ultimate applied behavioural scientists and my working spaniels continuously teach me a lot about behaviour change. At its core, modern dog training is close to nudging: helping dogs make good choices while preserving as much freedom as possible. Their job is to observe humans 24/7...

We are launching a new series of behavioural science learning in 2021 ranging from theoretical topics to advice on practical applications as well as squaring up some misconceptions, misunderstandings and myths.
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With so many things to talk about, we need your help - tell us what kinds of things you would most like to hear about!

Vote and sign up to be the first to hear when we launch: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf2fkoCjLNR4k-XowWk8-geKQsvkUHCPW9uzLnBOV1BqYaUAA/viewform

Square Peg Insight updated their business hours.

Square Peg Insight updated their website address.

I got a new laptop and discovered that I have 2000+ scientific articles saved in various folders. I wish I could say I’ve read all of them... but no, I just have a knowledge hoarding issue. I look for one paper online and accidentally download 10 "to read someday".

That one day never arrives because reading that particular article wasn’t urgent. I really WANT to but intentions are difficult to implement so we need decision crutches and support systems - in my case, more like the ratchet of a public commitment!
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So, ahead of NY resolution time, I’m launching a weekly newsletter with insights from 3 papers or book chapters every week from 01/01/2021. The selection will vary - some weeks will be like a box of Christmas chocolates, and others will have a theme so that we also leverage variable rewards...
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I’d like to invite as many people as possible as my accountability buddies to help me square away my backlog and deepen their behavioural science knowledge.
(T&Cs with more BehSci tricks in the link).
https://www.squarepeginsight.com/squared-away