“Make It Easy” – it’s not just a Staples advertising gimmick, but a key design principle from behavioral economics. How can we make sure people sign up for 401(k) savings accounts? Make it easy by setting a default plan. How can we get people to eat right? Make it easier by designing an intuitive food […]
Have you ever meant to do something so important or so forgettable that you created a reminder for yourself, only to find that you still failed to follow through? Maybe you wrote a note reminding yourself to pick up the dry cleaning on the way home from work, but you completely forgot after a busy […]
At what point can we say that we understand another person’s behavior? “Before you abuse, criticize and accuse,” singer Joe South told us, “Walk a mile in my shoes.” If we walked a mile in the shoes of every client that our three BETA test sites serve, we would need to cover approximately 3,797 miles. […]
Part of diagnosing a behavioral problem is realizing that you don’t always know where to look for the “symptoms.” In medical diagnosis, symptoms are at least limited to the physical human body. Human behavior, on the other hand, is shaped by a complex blend of contextual details and internal neuro-cognitive processes into which we have […]
ideas42 recently hosted a webinar about our Request for Problems in postsecondary education. The RFP process is the first step towards a great opportunity to partner with ideas42 in solving behavioral problems in the postsecondary space. For the recording of the webinar and a list of frequently asked questions, please see below. PSE Webinar FAQ
Sometimes it’s good to make mistakes. As soul singer Joss Stone says, “I’ve got a right to be wrong. My mistakes will make me strong.” In behavioral diagnosis, as in life, being wrong is sometimes helpful – especially when it stimulates new insights on the problem. One of our favorite strategies to test hypotheses in […]
To teenagers, choosing whether to study for next week’s history test instead of hanging out with friends is hard enough. As they transition to postsecondary education after high school or later in life, these types of choices grow in number and importance. Consequently, even the best laid plans for higher education can go awry. This […]
The last time you visited the doctor with an illness, what did your physician do? After taking vital signs, your doctor probably examined you, asked questions about your symptoms, possibly asked about your diet, lifestyle or recent events, and perhaps scheduled follow-up tests. This combination of data and contextual details allowed your doctor to make […]
According to a recent study, school-age girls in South Africa are 3 times as likely to be HIV positive as boys the same age. What is the cause of this disparity? From anecdotal accounts, interviews and our study of the context, we learned about three societal constructs that may offer clues to the answer: These […]
While defining the problem is the first step towards a solution, crafting the right problem statement is inherently difficult. As we mentioned in our last post, a well-crafted problem statement should not be defined too broadly, too narrowly or with hidden presumptions. Here’s how we refined the problem statements at each of our three pilot […]
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