Blog

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

Reframing Mental Models of Cybersecurity

by Alex Blau & Michael Stern

Imagine you’re a software developer, building an application that secures sensitive data for a company with 100,000 employees. You build a piece of secure technology that’s nearly impossible to hack remotely and pat yourself on the back. The software is uploaded and installed on each computer, and now the organization is safe from internet intruders! […]

Designing Better Retirement in Mexico

by David Munguía Gómez

Saving for retirement can feel like giving money to a stranger. Forgoing money in the present to benefit the person we will eventually become—our “future self”—is often a difficult and ungratifying experience. Because of this and other behavioral barriers like the ones we uncovered in Mexico, it should come as no surprise that most people […]

Examining Assumptions About Family Planning Use

by ideas42

What does taking steps to use family planning look like to you? Perhaps you think of visiting your doctor’s office. Depending on where you’re from, you may have a flashback to a lecture from high school health class. Or maybe you think of the first time you nervously bought condoms at a gas station, corner […]

More in Common Than You Think: Innovators from Diverse Fields Address Global Challenges

by Piyush Tantia

This post originally appeared on The Rockefeller Foundation’s blog. At first glance, an artist seeking to break stereotypes about hip-hop culture by analyzing rap lyrics may not have much in common with a researcher preparing mental health workers to support developing countries after a disaster. And maybe it’s not immediately obvious what a cartoonist crafting […]

Learning Behavioral Design, Part 1: What Happens When Nobody’s Watching?

by Vivien Caetano, Katy Davis and Erin Sherman

In the Learning Behavioral Design series, we share lessons from ideas42 projects that aim to teach practitioners how to apply our behavioral design methodology to their day-to-day work. At the launch of ideas42 and JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s new immersive consumer finance initiative, guest speaker Tom Tosuksri wanted to answer one big question that was […]

Influencing Human Behavior to Help Build Resilience and More Inclusive Economies

by Claudia Juech, The Rockefeller Foundation

This post originally appeared on The Rockefeller Foundation’s blog. Think of a topic you believe to be both incredibly interesting and highly relevant to improving the lives of millions of people. Got one? Now, imagine a group of leading thinkers, creators, and doers from all corners of the world who are all engaged in that […]

Tackling America’s College Completion Crisis with Behavioral Science

The American higher education system is facing a completion crisis. While most U.S. high school graduates now enroll in college, many don’t complete their degree. The latest data shows that less than 60% of full time students finish four-year degrees within six years. This figure drops to 30% for two-year degree completion within three years. […]

Improving Community Health with Behavioral Science: A Request For Problems

by ideas42

When choosing which foods to eat, what factors influence your decision? Taste? Whether or not it’s healthy? Or how easy it is to get? For most people today, convenience seems to play an outsized role in which foods they choose. While it sounds great on the surface, this shift away from taste to convenience has […]

Three Myths About the Underbanked, Part Three: Affordable Financial Management Is In Reach

by Katy Davis & Nicki Cohen

Why we’re wrong about lower income consumers, a three-part series Products and services that help low- and moderate-income (LMI) consumers manage their day-to-day finances and improve their long-term financial health are a clear need that hasn’t yet been solved by mainstream or alternative financial providers. Why haven’t the needs of LMI consumers been met by […]

5 Behavioral Science Tips for Integrating Health Services So People Actually Use Them

by ideas42

This post originally appeared on the IntraHealth VITAL blog.  In Senegal, over a third of postpartum women who want to delay or avoid additional pregnancy do not use a modern method of contraception. This is despite the fact that most Senegalese women know about family planning and have access to services. To reach these women, […]