7.12.2011

Nudge nudge, think think

To give some context, David Cameron has established the world’s first Behavioural Insights Team within government.  Led by psychologist David Halpern this small group, based in the Cabinet Office, is advocating ways to change people’s behaviour and actions - not through regulation or lecturing but by giving people a ‘nudge’ in the right direction.  The overall, subtle message is ‘change your ways, not because we tell you to but because you’ll fit in with accepted norms’. 

Nudge theory has been the topic of a best-selling book, Radio 4 documentaries and has its own blog in the States (http://nudges.org/).

To give one example of how it works, let’s look the government’s aim to increase tax take.  If people are told they must pay their taxes and are bad if they don’t, experience shows it makes little difference to tax avoidance rates.  However, flip the message to ‘ordinary decent people pay their taxes - why don’t you join them?’ and real inroads start to be made.  It’s all about appealing to people’s sense of belonging and what’s right.

Or take healthcare, the debate around organ donation and changing from an ‘opt in’ system to ‘opt out’.  In countries with an ‘opt out’ system – consent is presumed unless you state otherwise – donation rates soar because people feel that donating is accepted practice; opting out goes against the status quo.  Some countries have close to 100% organ donation rates.  We have 17%.

The idea of changing people’s behaviour can seem a bit Big Brother and that’s one reason why the Behavioural Insights Team has been controversial; others just doubt the validity of nudge theory and its applicability to real life.  Yet people have been trying to influence others’ behaviour in one way or another since the dawn of time.  

Of course, many PR campaigns seek to influence not just thought or perceptions, but behaviour too.  Whether it’s persuading businesses where to buy products or services from, or getting staff to follow a course of action, nudging has implications for what we do.  If we can show target audiences that taking a particular action is ‘normal’, we can help deliver demonstrable, meaningful change for clients.