I am currently working on a project that is exploring changing practices and...
Simple(r), the Future of Government, by Cass R. Sunstein New York: Simon & Schuster, 2013, x + 260 pp, $26.00 hardback, ISBN 978-1-4767-2659-5 This review has been written by Kayleigh van Oorschot of the Netherlands School of Public Administration. Kayleigh is on our Project Steering Committee and is also a co-author of the excellent report ‘Choice Architecture’ Cass Sunstein’s […]
The idea of psychological capital is becoming an important concept in our work. Here is our first attempt at developing a reasonably comprehensible definition of the term: Psychological Capital phrase (sometimes referred to through the abbreviation PsyCap). The idea of psychological capital is a relatively new term. The term is most closely associated with the […]
On 7th November Rhys Jones participated in the Sheffield Salon debate, ‘Nanny, Nudger or Therapist.’ The debate went well, and Rhys’ powers of rhetoric were put to very good use.
[Photograph Source: 123RF] We tend to assume that nudge, and the broader set of behaviour changing policies it is associated with, is a predominantly Western phenomena. The countries where we think the behavioural sciences have had the greatest impact on public policy constitute a familiar list: the UK, France, the USA, Australia, Denmark, Canada, the […]
Professor Rhys Jones recently gave a TV interview to S4C Prynhawn Da show in which he discussed behaviour change and the Welsh Language.
By Rachel Lilley Why is there suffering? Was the question asked by Gottama the Buddha over 2500 years ago. His subject of inquiry? His own mind. His methodology? Using his mind to pay attention – to itself. The Buddha’s greatest discovery, as one of the early brain scientists, was that he could liberate himself from […]
While working in the complex field of behaviour change studies we have encountered a lot of misunderstanding about apparently shared terms (including the notion of behaviour change itself). We believe that it is useful, where possible, to develop a transparent language for behaviour change studies. In this spirit we have decided to build a (wiki) […]
In early July the passage of the Human Transplantation (Wales) Bill through the National Assembly made Wales the first nation in the UK to adopt a presumed (or deemed) consent system for organ donation. On September 1 First Minister Carwyn Jones performed the official sealing of the Bill, which will now come into effect on […]
Mark Whitehead, Rhys Jones and Jessica Pykett. In this post we introduce the idea of the Psychological State and explore some of the implications of modern governments’ engagements with the insights of behavioural economics and psychology. This post provides some political, philosophical and historical context for our forthcoming posts on contemporary manifestations of the Psychological […]
Jessica Pykett and Mark Whitehead recently presented at a special panel that was convened at the Annual International Conference of the Royal Geographical Society in London.