Behavioral Science – Page 6

August 17, 2016October 12, 2016

What Could Be the Relationship Between Design, Behavioral Sciences and Innovation?

One concept that I describe in my recent book, Inside Nudging: Implementing Behavioral Science Initiatives, draws from Roberto Verganti. He uses the term, “Design-Driven Innovation.” I re-coin the concept as “Meaning-Driven Innovation” to ease the explanation a bit. The concept is that in order to innovate under such a framework, one needs to change the relationship between the product or service and the end user. In this framework, the designer must address the question, “what does the product or service mean to the end user?”

In my book, I describe how colleagues and I created an app to help retirees plan for their retirement journey with guidance from a financial advisor. This effort involved equipping financial advisors with some software tools (informed by the behavioral sciences) that they could use with retirees to help the retirees discover blindspots, form priorities and deal with cognitive/emotional difficulties, and reflect on risks more thoroughly. The upshot of our design approach was to try to change the relationship between the advisor and retiree. We wanted the advisor to mean more to the retiree than just a person involved with fees, funds, and fiduciary responsibility. We wanted advisors to evolve to become trusted financial and life advisors. See a figure from my book below:

The meta meaning that we played to one was about connection, creating a new connection between the advisor and retiree. There are other meta meanings to describe relationships with products and services though. For example, there can be products that help to transform people. Or there can be products whose design and meaning are to protect. Or products can be designed to make a person feel more in control.

In summary, one possible relationship between behavioral science, design, and innovation is about changing the meaning between products/services and people through use of behavioral science principles (whether these principles come from psychology, behavioral economics, or the like).

This post has been cross-posted as an answer to a question posed on Quora.

August 1, 2016August 18, 2016

Wilde Agency Interview With Steve Shu: Nudging, Behavioral GRIT & The Effort It Takes

The Wilde Agency graciously interviewed me regarding behavioral economics and
perspectives from my new book, Inside Nudging: Implementing Behavioral Science Initiatives. The interview is on the Wilde Agency blog. Special thanks to Joseph Sanchez @Wilde_Agency for facilitating the interview and getting everything to come together.

July 22, 2016August 18, 2016

I’ve finally released Inside Nudging: Implementing Behavioral Science Initiatives

Inside Nudging is written for management professionals and scientists to feed their thinking and discussions about implementing behavioral science initiatives (which includes behavioral economics and finance) in business settings. Situations include the incubation of innovation centers, behavioral science overlay capabilities, and advancement of existing organizations. Companies need to develop grit – the ability and fortitude to succeed. The book introduces the Behavioral GRIT™ framework and covers key takeaways in leading an organization that implements behavioral science. Behavioral GRIT™ stands for the business functions related to Goals, Research, Innovation, and Testing.

The chapters are complemented by an appendix which covers ideas to introduce behavioral science initiatives. I argue that first a company needs to identify its goals and identify what type of predominant organization model it wants to pursue. There are five predominant organizational models I’ve seen. I also offer that a company should consider a number of implementation elements that may play a role during execution. Example elements include an advisory board and a behavioral science officer.

Note that the purpose of this book is not to teach people about behavioral science; there are many other books out there for those purposes. That said, Inside Nudging introduces some behavioral science concepts to provide context and help develop a common language between management professionals and scientists.

I see the application of behavioral science as still being in the early adoption phase. Many companies will benefit if they take time to develop the right approach. I hope Inside Nudging helps you with your journey.

Steve Shu

Praise for Inside Nudging

May 2, 2016March 28, 2019

PhD Seminar on Nudging and the Field: Birdseye’s View from a Practitioner-Researcher

Presenter: Steve Shu

Seminar Purpose: To introduce PhD students in Behavioral Decision Making to key considerations and processes for pursuing field research projects with corporations.

Seminar Agenda (3 hours):

Part 1: Academic Realm – What do researchers care about and what strategies do they use to proceed with research?

Qualitative review of academic researcher needs
Discussion of research platforms
Open discussion on field versus lab research

Part 2: Company Realm – What strategies can companies use to develop the right level of commitment and fortitude for behavioral science initiatives?

What it takes to get behavioral science initiatives implemented
Behavioral GRIT™ concept for planning
Role of information, choice, and process architecture during planning
Role of mass and personalized concepts during planning
Blindspots

Part 3: Field Research Case Examples – How might one both succeed and avoid trouble?

Case 1: Lens on the business development process and pitching research ideas to corporate hosts and collaboration partners
Case 2: Lens on a large enterprise host, aligning goals, working implementation details, and leveraging opportunities
Case 3: Lens on the digital world and a venture-backed host

October 23, 2015August 18, 2016

A Perspective on How Behavioral Economists Think We Should Deal With Reason and Emotion in Decision Making

I thought I would re-post an answer to a question I was asked to answer on Quora, as it illustrates a conceptual flavor of how knowledge of behavioral economics can be applied to help navigate behavioral obstacles and opportunities.

The question:

How do behavioral economists think we should deal with reason and emotion in our decisions?

My answer:

The balancing act is tricky, and I think context and desired outcomes matter. For example:

A thirty-year old might have problems saving for retirement because they think of savings as being for stranger. The solution might be to increase emotional connection between the thirty-year old and their future self so that the right behavior of saving can be achieved.
A person might be emotionally attached to their home, and as a result, they might try to sell their home at too high of a price. It might be better if they can loosen their emotional attachment and feelings of endowment. Getting 3rd-party perspectives might be helpful to the seller in terms of distancing themselves so they can set a reasonable market price.
Sometimes it’s hard to control emotions and desire, and people may try to precommit to a state so that proper decisions are more likely to be made in spite of the situation. I have heard of behavioral economists pouring salt over desserts at dinner (after they’ve had a few bites to get the taste) so they are less inclined to eat the whole thing.

The main takeaways are that there are essentially “two minds” at work, and they work in concert in different ways. Sometimes you need emotion. Sometimes you want less of it. Sometimes you can’t really change your emotions so you need self-control devices and external perspectives. Other times you need to try to slow down thinking. There are many different approaches to applying behavioral economics concepts.

January 1, 2010February 8, 2018

Other Resources for Inside Nudging

These are other miscellaneous resources that may be of interest to readers of Inside Nudging.