Using Behavioral Science in Government Communications to Improve Outcomes

While organizations have spent years cataloging how we behave, Behavioral Science helps us understand why we behave and offers a guide for what might inspire change. As a result, this field is rapidly growing as a way that the Government can improve mission outcomes. Techniques like Defaults or Norms in government communications can improve desired outcomes by informing decision-making.

How can behavioral science apply to help create behavioral norms for people during the COVID-19 response? How can we encourage them to social distance, wear masks, and protect the health of others while protecting themselves?

Defaults are one technique that can be common as a communications strategy to incentivize behavior. If you want to incentivize a user to opt into something, set the default for opt-in. Since people have a bias toward default, they would need to act to change something deliberately. This is a strategy that is commonly used by employers to opt 100% of employees into a 401K Plan but give them the option to opt-out. With automatic enrollment, enrollment rates have increased by 50%.

Norms are another technique to improve outcomes. Norms indicate how most people tend to act or how most people think you should act in a situation. The Behavioral Insights Team in the UK implemented norms by telling citizens that most of their peers pay their taxes. By providing this information to delinquents, they found that tax compliance behavior followed and resulted in increased Government revenue. With COVID-19, you see many strategic communications about Norms.

Strategic communications can construct norms and inform behavior. The #StayHome hashtag is one example. Government briefings, advertisements, and communications are reinforcing staying home, the use of masks, and are normalizing social distancing. Just like increasing how individuals pay taxes, the Government can inform decision making by leading a communication effort on topics like climate change, pandemic safety, sustainability, or whatever their mission is.

Behavior Science techniques harness our ability to construct norms and influence the decision-making of the public. In other words, Behavioral Science is becoming a norm – a tool in our toolbox to implement good Government.