The MINDSPACE Report: An Overview
By Patrick Faucher
In a previous post, we provided an introduction to nudging — the practice of applying principles from the fields of cognitive psychology and behavioural economics to influence behavior. The UK’s Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) is among those leading the charge. A 2010 discussion document commissioned by the Cabinet Office sparked the creation of the BIT. That document, entitled MINDSPACE: Influencing behavior through public policy, serves as an excellent reference tool for understanding some of the most powerful factors affecting human behavior.
What follows is a brief overview of the MINDSPACE report and its relevance to the field of knowledge translation. I won’t even try to summarize the report — there’s simply too much good stuff in there. Instead, I’ll try to identify a key takeaway from each of the nine influences on our behaviour highlighted in the framework in an effort to encourage you to read the full discussion document.
MESSENGER
We are heavily influenced by who communicates information (p.19)
Key Takeaway for KT
You can increase the influence of your message by using messengers who:
- Are perceived as an authority by your audience,
- Are similar (demographically or behaviourally) to your audience members, and
- Are in your audience’s peer group.
Also important is whether your messenger is convincing and believable. For example, if your target audience mistrusts the medical system, you may opt to feature a testimonial from a fellow patient rather than a doctor.
INCENTIVES
Our responses are shaped by predictable mental shortcuts (such as strongly avoiding losses) (p.19)
Key Takeaway for KT
We perceive the difference between small probabilities, such as the change from 5% to 10% to be of more significance than between larger probabilities, such as the change from 50% to 55%. This is more of a mental shortcut than an incentive, but it is an important one to consider when thinking about how you go about informing patients of their level of risk related to their health issue.
NORMS
We are strongly influenced by what others do (p.21)
Key Takeaway for KT
Perhaps the most relevant insight for our purpose is the importance of relating a social norm to your target audience. For example, if you want people to wash their hands in a hospital, don’t have a sign that says “51% of visitors washed their hands” — instead, have it read “most of the previous visitors to this room washed their hands.” The latter creates a more pressing sense of social influence.
Bonus takeaway: The authors stress the importance of not framing a normative message in such a way that it infers that an undesired behavior is prevalent, as it may encourage further undesired behaviour.
DEFAULTS
We ‘go with the flow’ of pre-set options (p.22)
Key Takeaway for KT
This one’s simple. People are inherently (and predictably) lazy. Set them up for success by making their optimal choice the default option, preferably requiring no action. For example, changing from an opt-in process to an opt-out one.
SALIENCE
Our attention is drawn to what is novel and seems relevant to us (p.23)
Key Takeaway for KT
The importance of simplicity cannot be overstated. We attend to things that relate to our personal experience. So, for example, instead of highlighting how many research dollars you’ve attracted, you might put the number into context in terms of how much money you’ve raised per person affected by the disease you’re studying.
PRIMING
Our acts are often influenced by subconscious cues (p.24)
Key Takeaway for KT
While priming effects are real and robust, the authors note it is “perhaps the least understood of the MINDSPACE effects” because we can’t always identify what words, sights or smells we are most primed by, and when. One example of a priming effect you may have heard before is that we tend to eat more when food is presented in a larger container.
The authors of the report encourage you not only to consider how you might prime someone with words to affect their performance or with smells to keep a place clean, they also encourage choice architects to asses how their organization may be unintentionally priming people in undesirable ways.
AFFECT
Our emotional associations can powerfully shape our actions (p.25)
Key Takeaway for KT
Humans are ruled by our emotions. Researchers in Ghana found that provoking disgust was more effective at encouraging people to wash their hands than highlighting the benefits of soap. The authors note, and I must stress, the importance of empowering people with solutions when you choose to appeal to their negative emotions. Otherwise, you risk simply increasing their anxiety without giving them a course of action to remedy that feeling.
COMMITMENTS
We seek to be consistent with our public promises, and reciprocate acts (p.26)
Key Takeaway for KT
Commitments are a potential powerful tool in the realm of personal health. The authors suggest that “commitments usually become more effective as the costs for failure increase”. Making one’s commitments public, such as on social media, or simply even signing a contract, can increase one’s likelihood of following through with a plan — potentially applicable tactics for anything from weight loss regimens to increasing adherence rates of diabetes monitoring.
EGO
We act in ways that make us feel better about ourselves (p.27)
Key Takeaway for KT
Want to get someone to do something? Since people strive to be consistent in their actions, try facilitating small and easy changes in their behavior. It’ll then be easier to encourage them to adopt subsequent changes. The authors note that this approach “challenges the common belief that we should first seek to change attitudes in order to change behavior”.
On their own, these effects can be leveraged to achieve gains in your knowledge translation or implementation projects. Combined together as part of a cohesive strategy, they represent an underutilized yet powerful asset in the KT toolbox.
So next time you’re working on a KT project, ask yourself: are you in the right MINDSPACE?
About the Author
Patrick Faucher is the Creative & Strategic Services Lead at CHI. A communications strategist with over 10 years experience, he specializes in creating content engineered to build awareness, understanding, engagement, and adoption through an approach rooted in design thinking (rapid prototyping) and behavioural insights (nudging).
