the social side of behavioural economics

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Contact: [email protected]

@gravityideasGravity Ideas

Perspective Taking Experiment

Did you see 6 dots? Yes No





The Benefits of Frequently Replicated Experiments

Testing subtle variations to understand different cognitive mechanismsTask Completions

Average Participant Response Time





Decrease in the number correct answers

Increase in participants response timePaper: Dana Samson & Ian Apperly: Seeing it their way

3 Important Observations

AutomaticUncontrolledMental

The participants automatically took on the other perspectiveThe participants did not deliberately mean to take on the other perspective.Variations of the experiment reveal the effects mental roots of the mechanism

2 Useful Variations

Controlling for spatial concernsFamiliarity & similarity effects

Key Insight

There is mechanism within our cognition that automatically simulates the inferred mental representations of other people, even when it is not in our best interest to do so

Evidence of how deeply hardwired our brains are to be social

Is this Surprising?

Behavioural ContagionEmotional ContagionMental Contagion

?For a long time thought to be more deliberate, effortful act.

Doubted because of big insights around egocentric intrusionMore deliberate, controlled, focusedBetter ability to take on the others perspectiveThe dangerous story it told

Our Language Doesnt Help Either

Try and see it from her perspectiveYou need to get into his shoes to understand

Challenging our Assumptions

Altercentric IntrusionMental ContagionAutomatic, non-deliberate simulating of other peoples mental representations

Uniquely Human

Behavioural ContagionEmotional ContagionMental ContagionPaper: Laurie Santos: Exploring the evolutionary origins of overimitation

From the Field: Eyes on You

In weeks with eyes on the list, staff paid 2.76 times as much for their drinks as in weeks with flowers.Alternative 2 different messages to coffee/tea-drinking employees over the course of 10 weeks.

On the first week of the experiment (which you can see at the bottom of the figure), two wide-open eyes stare at the coffee or tea drinkers, whose average contribution was 70 pence per liter of milk. On week 2, the poster shows flowers and average contributions drop to about 15 pence. The trend continues. On average, the users of the kitchen contributed almost three times as much in eye weeks as they did in flower weeks. http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/3/41218

Beyond Performance?

Taking on others perspectives effects our performance of tasks, but does it influence the contents of our minds in lasting ways? Yes!

Performance yes, but what about contents?

Over-immitationJudging Other PeopleBehavioural EconomicsPrioritizing Others Inferred Values

Cognitive ScientistsSocial PsychologistsNeuro EconomistsNeural DecodingCultural PsychologistsFollowing the Perceived Herd

What About Everyday Decision Making?

Food we buy?News we watch?Apps we download?Clothes we wear?

Mobile App Downloads

Network Data 5x better than Demographic Data Call NetworkBluetoothPhysical ProxSocial MediaBiggest predictor that you will start using an app is if the people around you are using that appThe value we attach to things seems to be deeply influenced by the inferred value that those around are attaching to those things.Paper: Wei Pan & Sandy Pentland: Composite Social Network for Predicting Mobile App Installation

Consider 2 Assumptions

We automatically take on the be the inferred mental representations of other peopleThese representations have a strong influence on our judgements, what we value and our decision making

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How is this Important from a Business Perspective

?

Taking a Step Back

Fundamental Assumptions

Build a more realistic understanding of client, employee and our own behaviourBetter StrategyBetter Design

Better CommunicationsBetter ResearchWorking from false assumptions about people is bad for business, politics and scholarship.

Behavioural Insights

Our role is to turn human understanding into business advantage

Cases where more challenging our assumptions have lead to practical business value?

Cases where behavioural insights that challenge traditional assumptions and had big value?

Human are MaximizersBusiness Value:

Loss AversionChoice ParadoxHuman are often act like SatificersAssumption Shift:Communication FramingStructuring Incentives

More choice is always betterToo much choice leads to overload

week 1 activity = reward for AB and Cs week 2 > week 1 activity = reward for APeer-to-peer outcomes:Transparency (performance visibility)Stimulates conversation about the topicExercise very top of mindCooperation (dont let the team down)Formation of groups, making behaviour sticky

Examples of Peer-to-peer Incentive Structures:

Individual + 2 peer complete weekly goals = individual receives team reward

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Individual asks or answers a question the team is rewarded

SESAME CREDIT+-+-+-Changes in your rating effect the rating of your close peers

Communication Design

Framing communication in away that implies what the majority of others in particular social context are doing

What is perceived as socially normal

Communication DesignImplied Social Norms

We are very good at picking up signals of what is socially normal behaviour in a particular environment


People are much more likely to throw car flyers on the ground if there are flyers/litter on the ground around them


Communication DesignExplicit Communication of Social Norms

Sent out a variety of letters to try get UK tax payers to make their payments

The local norm letters pointed out that the great majority of people in the recipients local area had paid on timethe debt norm pointed out that most people with a debt like theirs had already paid


Financial MessageEnvironmental MessageFuture-shock MessageNeighbourhood Norm Message


Conformity goes both ways!Bad savers, save more Good savers, save Less

Trying to get around the conformity issue

Addition: Efficient neighbours comparison

Addition: Visual positive feedback

Addition: Dollar amount saved

Communicating behaviour of top performers

Raises An Important Broader QuestionDo we unknowingly communicate social norms that run in the opposite direction to the behaviour we are trying to change?Yes!

The Big Mistake!

The Big Mistake! Social Norm Miss-use

Many past visitors have removed petrified wood from the Park, changing the natural state of the Petrified forest[no message]Please dont remove the petrified wood from the Park, in order to preserve the natural state of the Petrified Forest7% Theft3% Theft1.7% Theft

Real World Examples of The Big Mistake

Many of your colleagues have been caught and punished for selling work VisasNumber of people who have missed their appointment today: 12

Poster in UK immigration offices

Sign in Doctors waiting areasFeminism Campaign in the Uk Female company board members 10%, this must change!

David Halpern (BIT) Big mistakes in the wild

6 Key Take OutsAsk yourself how social learning might exist around your product or service and how to manage it effectivelyDevelop a more social view of client behaviour by challenging your existing assumptionsIncentivize adoption indirectly through peer-to-peer interactionUnderstand the social environments that matter to your clients, and what the existing norms there areLeverage off existing social norms when trying to guide behaviour in a certain directionBe aware of the big mistake in your communicationsContact: [email protected]


Next: Can Social Learning Explain Consciousness?Contact: [email protected]


TaskPaul is looking at Linda and Linda is looking at Patrick. Paul is married but Patrick is not. Is a person who is married looking at a person who is not married?

Yes/No/Cannot be determinedContact: [email protected]



Yes/No/Cannot be determinedContact: [email protected]



Paul (married) Linda Patrick (not married)Contact: [email protected]


Further Reading: Contact: [email protected]


Additional books: Gravity Library (bottom of website home page)