MINDSPACE _ Influencing behaviour through public policy

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here and interesting website  http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publications/mindspace

and also a usefull pdf http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/MINDSPACE.pdf

Whether we like it or not, we are continually buffeted by a myriad of influences that

shape our behaviour. Some of them are obvious, but many go largely unnoticed.

There

were

many gentle effects on behaviour at yo

ur lunch in the canteen. Here

are just a few:



Social influence and norms.

You joined your friends, of course. You also

stood with them by the lifts and waited

–

but if they headed for the stairs

you‟d probably have followed (or they would have followed y

ou, if you led).



Salience and priming.

The food you chose and how much you took was

substantially shaped by what happened in the canteen. The smell primed

your hunger, but so too did the size of your plate and the fact that you had

a tray. Larger plates

ca

n

make us take larger portions, and trays

substantially increase the total of volume of food we take. And perhaps

there is slightly more chance that you would have chosen the vegetarian

option if it had come first.



Commitment and reciprocity.

One of the fa

ctors that kept you and your

colleagues at the lift was that you had already psychologically committed to

“Want to grab some lunch?” as

k a couple of colleagues as they walk past

your desk.

“Sure,”

you say, as you save the Healthy and Green document you‟re

working on and join them as they head to the lifts. The lifts are busy, and

you think about walking over to the stairs

-

but you‟re alr

eady standing

there, so you just wait.

Down in the canteen you pick up your tray and join the line. It smells good.

You smile to the man behind the counter and he puts the beef stew on a hot

plate and hands it to you. You move along past the vegetarian opt

ion, and

add a heap of potatoes and carrots to your plate. Putting your plate back on

the tray, you pause briefly at the salad bar before adding a bowl of pudding

to your tray. As you head to the till, you glance at the bit of space left on

your tray and a

dd a can of drink.

“Here you go,” your colleague says, as he puts some cutlery and a glass on

your tray and you join the queue together. “Damn, I left my card upstairs

.”

“Here, use mine,” you say.

Finally, you make your way towards an empty table. You sp

ot the Perm

Sec. It would be great to ask her about that new job. She‟s at a table for

four with just one other person, but somehow you just walk on by and join

your colleagues. “I‟ll catch her another day,” you mumble to yourself.

12

D

iscussion document

–

not a statement of government policy

the idea. A related effect is how readily you paid for your colleague once

he had shown you the kindness of getting your cutlery.



Incentives and choi

ce environment.

The psychological barrier of joining

the four

-

person table with your boss was too great

–

despite the potential

gains, you were worried about making a fool of yourself. In other words,

you were loss

-

averse, and stuck with the familiar compa

ny of your friends.

But if the table had eight places or more, with just the two occupied, you

might have joined her. The physical environment often subtly shapes our

behaviour and the ways in we interact with others.

Many of these influences are now well

understood. Others have been

demonstrated in experiments, but their impact in everyday contexts is still unclear.

For example, we tend to like people more if they give us a hot drink rather than a

cold drink

–

did the warm plate make us feel more positivel

y about the person who

gave us our lunch?

There is much more that we need to find out, but we do know enough to set out the

main effects on behaviour and to show how they can help policymakers in practice.

This report does not just explain theory; it offe

rs tools for government.

this stuff is usefull to know.....then ask yourself are people being genuine or are they trying to Influence my behaviour/opinnion /belief

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so you are well versed in "influencing"  people ?

LaBrat said:

just to be clear - social norms do NOT refer to actual behaviours carried out this way or that by respective members of one's  peer group   they are learned patterns of expectations about how such behaviour SHOULD be conducted   they refer to ideals, not actual practices   this point is often lost on first year sociology students - or psychology afficianados who confuse social roles for biological individuals, as does occur in the medical profession's attempt to medicate 'schizophrenia' rather than try to learn to see where the schism is in SOCIETY that constantly churns out a steady stream of stigmatized 'scapegoats', for one (r. d laing's) excellent example of a role-based personality, learned, through social interaction within a particular cultural framework of values (ALSO not 'things' but socially condoned expectation patterns - the 'shoulds', not the 'ares')   in other words, there things do not exist by themselves - we occupy them   ONE members kid MIGHT go one way with the crowd - if THAT is what they were reared to do   another might just make up his own mind for himself, based on the norms and values he or she will have already absorbed long before kindergarden   just as grown-up members do!