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The MIT Press Essential Knowledge
Behavioral Insights
The definitive introduction to the behavioral insights approach, which applies evidence about human behavior to practical problems.Our behavior is strongly influenced by factors that lie outside our conscious awareness, although we tend to underestimate the power of this "automatic" side of our behavior. As a result, governments make ineffective policies, businesses create bad products, and individuals make unrealistic plans. In contrast, the behavioral insights approach applies evidence about actual human behavior--rather than assumptions about it--to practical problems. This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, written by two leading experts in the field, offers an accessible introduction to behavioral insights, describing core features, origins, and practical examples.
Since 2010, these insights have opened up new ways of addressing some of the biggest challenges faced by societies, changing the way that governments, businesses, and nonprofits work in the process. This book shows how the approach is grounded in a concern with practical problems, the use of evidence about human behavior to address those problems, and experimentation to evaluate the impact of the solutions. It gives an overview of the approach's origins in psychology and behavioral economics, its early adoption by the UK's pioneering "nudge unit," and its recent expansion into new areas. The book also provides examples from across different policy areas and guidance on how to run a behavioral insights project. Finally, the book outlines the limitations and ethical implications of the approach, and what the future holds for this fast-moving area.
Since 2010, these insights have opened up new ways of addressing some of the biggest challenges faced by societies, changing the way that governments, businesses, and nonprofits work in the process. This book shows how the approach is grounded in a concern with practical problems, the use of evidence about human behavior to address those problems, and experimentation to evaluate the impact of the solutions. It gives an overview of the approach's origins in psychology and behavioral economics, its early adoption by the UK's pioneering "nudge unit," and its recent expansion into new areas. The book also provides examples from across different policy areas and guidance on how to run a behavioral insights project. Finally, the book outlines the limitations and ethical implications of the approach, and what the future holds for this fast-moving area.
248 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 1, 2020
About the author
Michael Hallsworth
3 books14 followersMichael Hallsworth is a leading figure in applying behavioral science to real-world challenges. For the last 20 years he has been an official and an advisor for governments around the world, and co-founded a 250-person consultancy business.
Michael has a PhD in behavioral economics from Imperial College London and has held positions at Princeton University, Columbia University, and the University of Pennsylvania.
Michael has a PhD in behavioral economics from Imperial College London and has held positions at Princeton University, Columbia University, and the University of Pennsylvania.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
December 31, 2020
I am so glad I read this book. It is an elegant, concise overview of behavioral design that anyone working in the field should own. The precision of the language caused me to have several "ah-ha" moments as concepts shifted into a slightly new meaning. I feel excited to apply my altered lens to my work.
If you do work with human centered design or behavior change, read this book.
If you do work with human centered design or behavior change, read this book.
December 3, 2025
يشرح الكاتبان كيف يمكن استخدام مبادئ علم السلوك لفهم طريقة اتخاذ الناس والمؤسسات لقراراتهم. والكتاب ينطلق من فكرة ان البشر لا يتصرفون دائما بعقلانية، بل يتأثرون بالسياق والعادات والافتراضات، لذلك فان تغييرات بسيطة في طريقة تقديم الاختيارات يمكن ان تغير السلوك المرتقب بشكل ملفت للنظر، مما يؤدي الى تحسين قرارات الافراد والرفع من فعالية ادائهم
September 20, 2020
Probably the best book about applying behavioral science in a long time. Short but still covers the topic extensively.
February 17, 2021
Two things stayed with me after reading Behavioral Insights by Michael Hallsworth and Elspeth Kirkman. These were the two extremes, namely that it drew in the past reminding us that "while many of the ideas have old origins the way they are now being combined and applied is something new" ,and also the future with "the idea of a behavioural solution or approach should become meaningless, since the principles will have become absorbed into standard ways of working." It's a book that seamlessly combines history, literature and foundation knowledge of and practice of behavioural science and it's a great read.
"Many of us have stopped and asked ourselves, "Why did I just do that?""
The book opens with self-reflection, that our behaviour is often influenced by factors that lie outside our conscious awareness and we as well as governments and organisations underestimate the importance of our "automatic" behaviour. However, despite this the use of behavioural insights has exploded over the last ten years and this book addresses the questions surrounding the subject by presenting the history, current practice and future of the discipline. This is done over six concise chapters covering; the core features of the approach, the history, examples in practice, how to apply the insights with a ten step guide, questions and criticisms surrounding the area and looking to the future.
The style of the book is very appealing with full page inserts where key ideas have been pulled out and highlighted for the reader. This is a great for focus on the chapters main points and a nice quick-find tool when returning to the book for reference. We are reminded that the practice of behavioural insights has been adopted by governments, institutions and businesses across the globe as it offers a challenge to received wisdom about how decisions are made from its window into the realisation that much of our behaviour is non-conscious, habitual and driven by environmental cues or the way we have choices presented to us.
"The headline is this: if we do not understand our behavior accurately, then we are unlikely to adopt the best personal plans or public policies to achieve our goals."
The fact is people often do not remember correctly what they have done and predict inaccurately what they are going to to do and this has huge implications for self-reporting. The behavioural insights approach brings evidence of how behaviour is shaped by the interaction of conscious deliberation with nonconscious processes.
Now if you are familiar with behavioural science, none of this is new to you and the aim of the Essential Knowledge series is to give foundational knowledge written by leading thinkers giving expert overviews of their subject for nonspecialists. But what this book does offer to those more knowledgeable in the area is a beautifully concise summary of the history of the development of the subject and, ten years after the term was coined, an excellent chapter speculating on the future of behavioural insights, and that rather than talking about "behavioural public policy" we'll just be saying "public policy" but be doing this in a better way.
"Many of us have stopped and asked ourselves, "Why did I just do that?""
The book opens with self-reflection, that our behaviour is often influenced by factors that lie outside our conscious awareness and we as well as governments and organisations underestimate the importance of our "automatic" behaviour. However, despite this the use of behavioural insights has exploded over the last ten years and this book addresses the questions surrounding the subject by presenting the history, current practice and future of the discipline. This is done over six concise chapters covering; the core features of the approach, the history, examples in practice, how to apply the insights with a ten step guide, questions and criticisms surrounding the area and looking to the future.
The style of the book is very appealing with full page inserts where key ideas have been pulled out and highlighted for the reader. This is a great for focus on the chapters main points and a nice quick-find tool when returning to the book for reference. We are reminded that the practice of behavioural insights has been adopted by governments, institutions and businesses across the globe as it offers a challenge to received wisdom about how decisions are made from its window into the realisation that much of our behaviour is non-conscious, habitual and driven by environmental cues or the way we have choices presented to us.
"The headline is this: if we do not understand our behavior accurately, then we are unlikely to adopt the best personal plans or public policies to achieve our goals."
The fact is people often do not remember correctly what they have done and predict inaccurately what they are going to to do and this has huge implications for self-reporting. The behavioural insights approach brings evidence of how behaviour is shaped by the interaction of conscious deliberation with nonconscious processes.
Now if you are familiar with behavioural science, none of this is new to you and the aim of the Essential Knowledge series is to give foundational knowledge written by leading thinkers giving expert overviews of their subject for nonspecialists. But what this book does offer to those more knowledgeable in the area is a beautifully concise summary of the history of the development of the subject and, ten years after the term was coined, an excellent chapter speculating on the future of behavioural insights, and that rather than talking about "behavioural public policy" we'll just be saying "public policy" but be doing this in a better way.
January 31, 2021
I read in English but this review is in Bahasa Indonesia
Membaca buku ini karena unggahan dari Advis Lab, sebuah penyedia jasa konsultansi yang bergerak di bidang Behavioral Economics.
The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series memang sebuah serial kecil-kecil yang dirancang agar menyediakan sebuah ide agar lebih mudah dicerna. Tebalnya tidak sampai 200 halaman dengan bab yang pendek-pendek sehingga membuat pembaca nyaman untuk menikmatinya--mau itu cepat ataupun lambat sekalipun.
Dalam buku Behavioral Insights terdiri dari 6 bab. Di mulai dengan cukup runut mulai dari apa itu Behavioral Insights hingga apa yang bisa kita dapatkan jika secara disiplin menggunakan Behavorial Science sebagai pendekatan untuk membuat keputusan. Kali ini, Michael Hallsworth mengutarakan bahwa Behavioral Insgihts bisa diaplikasikan dalam membuat kebijakan publik.
Semakin ke belakang, bahasan menjadi semakin rinci tapi tidak terlalu membuat pusing. Hallsworth berkali-kali juga mengutip tulisan Thaler dalam Nudge serta Kahneman dalam Thinking, Fast and Slow. Membuatku untuk ingin membacanya (faktanya, aku belum selesai membaca Thinking, Fast and slow). Meskipun begitu, tulisan Hallsworth masih bisa dinikmati.
The behavioral insights approach uses evidence of the conscious and nonconscious drivers of human behavior to address practical issue.
Membaca buku ini karena unggahan dari Advis Lab, sebuah penyedia jasa konsultansi yang bergerak di bidang Behavioral Economics.
The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series memang sebuah serial kecil-kecil yang dirancang agar menyediakan sebuah ide agar lebih mudah dicerna. Tebalnya tidak sampai 200 halaman dengan bab yang pendek-pendek sehingga membuat pembaca nyaman untuk menikmatinya--mau itu cepat ataupun lambat sekalipun.
Dalam buku Behavioral Insights terdiri dari 6 bab. Di mulai dengan cukup runut mulai dari apa itu Behavioral Insights hingga apa yang bisa kita dapatkan jika secara disiplin menggunakan Behavorial Science sebagai pendekatan untuk membuat keputusan. Kali ini, Michael Hallsworth mengutarakan bahwa Behavioral Insgihts bisa diaplikasikan dalam membuat kebijakan publik.
Semakin ke belakang, bahasan menjadi semakin rinci tapi tidak terlalu membuat pusing. Hallsworth berkali-kali juga mengutip tulisan Thaler dalam Nudge serta Kahneman dalam Thinking, Fast and Slow. Membuatku untuk ingin membacanya (faktanya, aku belum selesai membaca Thinking, Fast and slow). Meskipun begitu, tulisan Hallsworth masih bisa dinikmati.
Behavioral economics has an empirical focus on how people actually behave, rather than on how rational choice theories predict they should be.
December 12, 2020
"Availability heuristic. The tendency to infer that things that spring to mind are more important or more likely to happen." As the book explains.
Exactly my (and probably many others') situation - has been working for decades already on embedding insights into new innovations, products and services. We often forget that the related researches & studies and also practical applications are not that widespread actually, the whole area is still in a very early stage.
So the book provides an excellent overview about where we are now, in a smooth, concise and practical manner. Structured intro and many further references to start with. Would definitely recommend to anyone as a first book or to those not sure whether "behavioural insights" are of interest for them or not. :)
Exactly my (and probably many others') situation - has been working for decades already on embedding insights into new innovations, products and services. We often forget that the related researches & studies and also practical applications are not that widespread actually, the whole area is still in a very early stage.
So the book provides an excellent overview about where we are now, in a smooth, concise and practical manner. Structured intro and many further references to start with. Would definitely recommend to anyone as a first book or to those not sure whether "behavioural insights" are of interest for them or not. :)
October 12, 2020
It’s a new subject for me I like it’s perspective and I think it’s need more insight researches to get more accurate intervention to the human behavior within a lot of programs and politics.
https://www.who.int/departments/scien...
WHO have an insights discerption of that field.
Hope I’ll get chance to read more books in the same simplicity and practical application.
https://www.who.int/departments/scien...
WHO have an insights discerption of that field.
Hope I’ll get chance to read more books in the same simplicity and practical application.
January 11, 2026
مش كل تصرفات البشر وقراراتهم مبنية علي أسس منطقية
كثير من قراراتنا مبنية علي أساس من العادة والمسايرة الاجتماعية
وكثير من الأسس الأخري البعيدة تماما عن العقل والتفكير المنطقي
يقرم الكتاب علي تجارب بحثية نتائجها دالة
حيث يقوم علي تجارب اتخذ فيها البشر أو قرارات أهمها القرارات الاستهلاكية بناء علي أسباب يعيدة تماما عن التفكير المنطقي
جزء كبير من هذه التجارب تم للبحث في القرارات الاستهلاكية لخدمة الشركات التجارية
كثير من قراراتنا مبنية علي أساس من العادة والمسايرة الاجتماعية
وكثير من الأسس الأخري البعيدة تماما عن العقل والتفكير المنطقي
يقرم الكتاب علي تجارب بحثية نتائجها دالة
حيث يقوم علي تجارب اتخذ فيها البشر أو قرارات أهمها القرارات الاستهلاكية بناء علي أسباب يعيدة تماما عن التفكير المنطقي
جزء كبير من هذه التجارب تم للبحث في القرارات الاستهلاكية لخدمة الشركات التجارية
March 4, 2021
This is a good academic book on the topic. I was expecting more practical examples and applications in the book which are again mostly academic.
The book presents well the history/evolution of the topic, what's currently happening (along with the criticism and counters) and future scope of work.
If you're looking for academic study, this is a good one else you can find better books on the topic.
The book presents well the history/evolution of the topic, what's currently happening (along with the criticism and counters) and future scope of work.
If you're looking for academic study, this is a good one else you can find better books on the topic.
June 18, 2023
This is like the textbook version of "Nudge" by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein. It provides all the background and technical details that only readers in the field could absorb with great fascination. Even the title itself "Behavioral Insights" instead of the more commonly known term "Behavioral Economics" reflects its academic view of this topic.
September 22, 2023
Behavioral insights an approach that applies evidence of the conscious and nonconscious drivers of human behavior to practical issues and evaluates the results, wherever possible. This technique is used in Human Resources and psychology to improve behavior or worker safety
October 26, 2020
Good introduction with historical and ethical contexts. A bit too partial to the author's experience, could've explored more voices in the field.
December 31, 2020
A very decent primer on these topics.
January 23, 2021
Good introduction to the field. Surface level.
April 29, 2021
A genuinely good primer into behavioral insights; the generaly theory, execution steps, and even criticisms. It didn't give me anything more than that, but I have nothing bad to say about it!
Read
September 16, 2021Concise and thorough explanations about how human mind works in reality. Educating, invigorating and remarkable.
September 27, 2024
A decent enough introduction to an important experimental social science field. Not a sparkling read. Not a fascinating one. But useful for the uninitiated.
April 4, 2026
Snappy little book filled with good stuff on the behavioral sciences. There's not much you won't find elsewhere, but this is a very accessible and easy read for anyone who is reasonably new to BS.
December 27, 2021
A great short read for non-behavioural scientists to get an idea of what behavioural insights are and how they can be applied in the real world.
June 9, 2022
Great framework for applying behavioural insights, with useful examples under each step. Overall there are a small number of amazing case studies surrounded by a lot of self-congratulations for the author and the BIT. I felt the final chapter on the future of behavioural insights was missing context on application of machine learning rather than scratching the surface. Great suggestions for how calibrate approach so to minimise “manipulation” criticisms
August 19, 2023
Could I work in this one day?
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews