Blog

Thoughts and insights from our work applying behavioral science to social problems.

Celebrating Women in Health Behavior Change

by Karina Lorenzana

This International Women’s Day, ideas42 stands with women around the world working to create positive health behavior change for themselves, their families and their communities. Volunteer health workers going door-to-door to promote antenatal care and family planning, midwives working around the clock to ensure safe childbirth, and new mothers bringing their children to immunization visits […]

Nudge to Action: Behavioural Science for Sustainability

by UN Environment

This post originally appeared on UN Environment’s blog. In Kibera, Africa’s second-largest informal settlement, located in Kenya, researchers were puzzling over the low uptake of a water purification solution. This was a place where water-borne diseases were rampant and sometimes lethal, so why didn’t more residents buy this simple, cheap answer to a chronic health […]

Boost Savings in Chile: We’re Banking on Behavioral Science

by David Munguía Gómez

Many of us are aware of the usefulness of “rainy day” savings—what we set aside for emergencies and other unforeseen expenses that creep up on us all. Those savings are in addition to those we accumulate to accomplish larger goals we may have like buying a house or planning for retirement. But understanding the importance […]

CBT 2.0: A Behavioral Approach to Reducing Recidivism Among Youth

by Hannah Furstenberg-Beckman

Youth violence is one of the most pressing social problems facing cities across the United States. Unfortunately, once youth become involved with the criminal justice system, they can get caught cycling in and out of custody, sometimes for the rest of their lives. In the state of Illinois, for example, almost 60 percent of youth […]

Behavioral Insights for Health Innovation Spotlight Series: Tackling the Rising Obesity Rate

by Jaclyn Lefkowitz & Jess Leifer

First Lady Michelle Obama put it this way: “The physical and emotional health of an entire generation and the economic health and security of our nation is at stake.” Her statement speaks to one of the most significant health challenges our nation is facing—more than a third of American children and teens are overweight or […]

Walking the Walk: Can ideas42 Team Members Truly Disconnect?

by Dan Connolly

Happy New Year! We hope you were able to take some time off at the end of 2016, and that your 2017 is off to a good, fresh start. At ideas42, our team puts in hard work applying behavioral science to social problems throughout the year, so we close our offices between Christmas Eve and […]

Helping Government Engage New Yorkers: Applying Insights from Behavioral Science

by Jon Hayes, Natalie Dabney & Rachel Rosenberg

It is a critical, yet seemingly simple function of city government: connect residents to the programs designed to serve them. Cities invest countless resources to inform the public of valuable programs and encourage residents to use them. Yet mysteriously, those who would most benefit from these programs often neglect to take advantage of them. For […]

A New Approach for Reducing Intimate Partner Violence

by Vivien Caetano, Hannah Spring, & Lydia Trupe

Globally, one in three women report experiencing violence at the hands of an intimate partner. In some countries, like Ethiopia, over 60% of women experience intimate partner violence (IPV). Each of these instances devastates the lives of women and their families for generations. Over the past few years, we’ve studied intimate partner violence through a […]

Stressed At Work? Don’t Blame Yourself (Too Much)

by Dan Connolly

Picture this: it’s Thursday evening, and the end of a long week is in sight. After two back-to-back meetings, you open your e-mail and find a dozen more messages since the afternoon. You sigh – after you go home, have dinner, or spend some time with family or friends, there will be another hour or […]

The Problem with Your Computer’s Security Warnings

by Alex Alhadeff & Alex Blau

As more and more tasks in our lives move online—from work to shopping to paying bills to streaming sports games or TV—online security becomes that much more critical. Yet when an all-too-familiar red and yellow warning pops up (“Warning! Visiting this site may harm your computer!”), do you close the site or take the risk […]