Unlocking Behaviour Change

Jamie vs AI in creative persuasive messaging Part 2 AI's turn

Robert has challenged Jamie to create campaign messaging that encourages active travel (e.g. cycling to work) . . . The catch is he’s also asked the AI to do the same thi

Jamie vs AI in creative persuasive messaging: Part 1 Jamie goes first

Robert challenges Jamie to create an ad campaign that encourages active travel (e.g. cycling to work) . . . The catch is he’s also asked the AI to do the same thing. Join

Can we tell when people are lying to us?

As UK Celebrity Traitors nears its finale, Robert and Jamie discuss the psychology of lying and deception – and just as importantly, how good are we at detecting lies? A

Communication for behaviour change

Robert has been to China with Susan (Michie) to launch the Chinese translation of the Behaviour Change Wheel book. Robert waxes lyrical about what a wonderful time he had

Can we make economic theory more accurate if we base it on behavioural science?

In the previous episode, Robert castigated economics and economists' concept of 'utility' as fundamentally flawed, leading to models whose predictions keep being wrong. T

Economists have it all wrong: How we should be looking at 'utility'

Robert has a bone to pick with economic theory . . . In fact, he wants to pick its bones clean and start over with a much better theory for everyone! Join the duo as they

The good and the bad consequences of classifying things differently!

Derisory amounts of money paid for a piece of work called an 'honorarium' seem ok when if they were a 'fee', it would be insulting! Robert and Jamie discuss how we react

Classifying the world - how we do it and what are the consequences?

Robert and Jamie discuss the crucial question of how we classify and label things: one of the most basic things that we do in our mental and social world. But in an infin

'Stats beat experience every time (almost)'

Robert and Jamie pay tribute to Dolly Parton - and Jamie plugs his video on her which can be found here - and then discuss how our intuitions about probability can be ser

How do we understand and use probability in decision-making?

Robert and Jamie discuss various ways in which we understand probability, including a tendency to 'overchunk' probabilities ('possible', 'likely'), and how these can lead

Why every behavioural scientist should understand 'Bayesian' probability

Robert makes the bold claim that 'probability' underlies all knowledge and that behavioural scientist should always be thinking about knowledge and claims we make in term

The Odyssey, AI and the human condition

Robert and Jamie discuss the ubiquitous phenomenon, illustrated by one of the episodes in The Odyssey, that the first priority of our motivational system is not necessari

How does COM-B compare to the Theory of Planned Behaviour? Part 2 - What COM-B adds

In the second half of a two-parter, Robert explains the limitations of the Theory of Planned Behaviour and how the COM-B model addresses these. The Theory of Planned Beha

How does COM-B compare to the Theory of Planned Behaviour? Part 1 - Understanding the TPB

The COM-B model of behaviour was put forward in 2011 as a comprehensive model of behaviour, capturing influences that lay within individuals (capability and motivation) a

Decision fail number 5 of 5: 'I didn't ask'

Last but not least in our miniseries on decision fails we have 'I didn't ask'. Even when we think we know it all, we should often ask for another opinion or perspective.

Decision fail number 4 of 5: 'I didn't imagine'

In the mini-series on decision fails - common things that we fail to do that result in mistakes when making decisions - this episode covers our failures of imagination. R

Decision fail number 3 of 5: 'I didn't think'

Continuing on the ‘Top 5 Decision Fails’, Robert and Jamie discuss: ‘I didn’t think’. Why don’t leaders appear to think through the consequences of starting wars? When wi

Decision fail number 2 of 5: 'I didn't check'

In this mini-series on the top five decision fails, Robert and Jamie discuss five important things we fail to do, or do properly, that lead to mistakes in decision-making

Decisions fails number 1 of 5: 'I didn't look'

In this new mini-series, Robert and Jamie go through candidates for the five biggest decision-making mistakes and how to avoid them - maybe. The first one is ‘I didn’t lo

Changing the behaviour of family and friends

The Behaviour Change Wheel is geared towards behaviour change interventions that might be delivered by governments, comms agencies, service providers, companies or teams