Tag: behaviour change

Young man thinking surrounded by mechanical gears and idea bubbles

Can behavioural policy build sustainable competencies? New evidence says yes

June 4, 2026

Boosts are behavioural interventions that improve decisions by teaching people simple skills. In sustainability, the main barrier is often not willingness, but know-how. Drawing on new evidence, Yavor Paunov argues that boosts can build lasting competences, helping people make sustainable choices even after the policy intervention itself is removed. … More Can behavioural policy build sustainable competencies? New evidence says yes

Doing Behavioural Science More Collaboratively: Lessons from a Field Experiment

March 23, 2026

What happens when policy interventions are rolled out without engaging with those affected the most? Solutions that look good on paper but fail in practice. Collaboration is not just an ethical ideal, but a practical necessity for creating interventions that work in the real world. … More Doing Behavioural Science More Collaboratively: Lessons from a Field Experiment

Can a digital nudge clean up the streets? How Behavioural Science helped reduce littering in the UK

November 14, 2025

Littering is one of those persistent public problems that often feels unsolvable. Campaigns urging people to “do the right thing” rarely lead to lasting behaviour change, and enforcement is costly. A behaviourally-informed digital intervention is tested and shown to shift public habits more effectively. … More Can a digital nudge clean up the streets? How Behavioural Science helped reduce littering in the UK

When and how behavior change can accelerate system change (and vice versa): Mapping reciprocal processes for climate change mitigation

July 23, 2025

System change and individual behavior change are often conceptualized as mutually exclusive strategies for climate change mitigation – but what if this duality is misguided? Denise de Ridder and Sander Thomaes map four pathways illustrating that system change is effective when it promotes behavior change and vice versa. … More When and how behavior change can accelerate system change (and vice versa): Mapping reciprocal processes for climate change mitigation

Yes we can! Collective action framing increases support for hard climate policies

June 20, 2025

What if climate communication could enhance support for unpopular but necessary policies? Valerie Dewaelheyns and colleagues show that collective action framing can increase public acceptance of climate adaptation policies and strengthen citizens’ belief in society’s collective power to tackle climate change. … More Yes we can! Collective action framing increases support for hard climate policies

Internal air conditioning unit

From AC to me: Can social norms encourage personal cooling in Chinese offices?

June 10, 2025

As global temperatures rise, so does our reliance on air conditioning (AC), which accounts for 7% of global electricity use in 2022. But what if the solution to sustainable cooling is not just about better AC technology to cool the entire space, but about changing our behaviour to cooling ourselves? Maggie Yang explores how social … More From AC to me: Can social norms encourage personal cooling in Chinese offices?

Why New Year’s resolutions matter: The psychology behind the tradition

December 31, 2024

Ivo Vlaev, Professor of Behavioural Science, University of Warwick New Year’s resolutions represent more than just a fleeting tradition; they offer a powerful opportunity for self-reflection and intentional growth. Rooted in six fundamental psychological needs shared by all humans, resolutions serve as a catalyst for meaningful change. Here’s why they matter and how they can … More Why New Year’s resolutions matter: The psychology behind the tradition

Scaling up flying less

May 3, 2023

This blog post discusses strategic debates within the academic flying less movement: a loosely coordinated group of scholars that aim to reduce the role of aviation in the research sector. This movement draws our attention to a range of critiques about scale and efficacy when it comes to forwarding new, climate-informed behavioral norms. In this case, the debate often begins and ends with a discussion of the role of individuals taking spirited, and somewhat symbolic, stands against air travel. However, the scalar thinking of the movement proves to be more complicated than this critique of individual action presumes. We discuss how individual and collective actions relate to environmental politics and policy, and encourage an all-of-the-above approach to climate action. … More Scaling up flying less

Nudge acceptance in Developing Countries: Ethical (or Unnecessary) Litmus Test?

September 8, 2020

It is tempting to justify contrasting standards with regard to public acceptance of nudges between developed and developing country contexts. This is a slippery slope that has, in the past, led to harmful interventions. As behavioural tools become more widely used there is a need to re-examine these issues. Public acceptance may seem like a difficult litmus test in some countries, but failure may simply indicate that policymakers are trying to change too much, too fast. Creating demand for behaviour change is an important first step. … More Nudge acceptance in Developing Countries: Ethical (or Unnecessary) Litmus Test?