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Applying behavioural insights to
policy making: Health and
nutrition Michael Hallsworth
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About the team
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What are Behavioural Insights?
Behavioural Insights
Psychology
Anthropology
Economics
Public Policy
Understanding how people behave in practice so
that we can design policy better
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Behavioural insights adds another dimension
Behavioural Insights
1. Regulation
2. Incentives
3. Information
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Two different ways of applying behavioural
insights
High-level policy
(goals, rules, structures, funding, “terms of the debate”)
Opportunistic delivery
(timing, wording, design, friction costs, trial and error)
Incre
menta
l
change
“Ste
p c
hange”
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High-level policy: Obesity
We need a new policy narrative for obesity.
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Three statements about obesity
1. Consuming food is often a “mindless” response to our
environment.
2. The past thirty years have seen a massive increase in
the supply of calories and our exposure to these
calories.
3. Physical activity brings a variety of health benefits.
However, it is mainly an increase in calorie intake, not a
decline in physical activity levels, that has caused the
obesity problem. Increasing activity alone is unlikely to
be the solution.
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Mindless eating: We eat what is in front of us
7,7
4,6 5,6
3,1
6,5
3,8
6,1
3,5
Close and Visible Close and not-visible
Far and visible Far and not visible
Actual Number of Sweets Consumed
Estimated Number of Sweets Consumed
Wansink, B., Painter, J. E., & Lee, Y. K. (2006). The office candy dish: proximity's influence on
estimated and actual consumption. International Journal of Obesity, 30(5), 871-875.
Food that is closer and more visible to us is more likely to be eaten.
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Mindless eating: We underestimate the
calories in a “healthy” meal
870
1085 1170
779
Actual calories Perceived calories Actual calories Perceived calories
Adapted from Chandon, P. (2013). How package design and packaged-based marketing claims
lead to overeating. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 35(1), 7-31.
“Unhealthy” meal “Healthy” meal
+ 25% -33%
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Portion sizes have increased greatly in the last 30 years.
Levitsky, D. A., & Pacanowski, C. R. (2011). Free will and the obesity epidemic. Public Health Nutrition, 15(1), 126
Calorie supply: Portion sizes
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Some policy options
1. Portion size reduction
2. Reformulation
3. Substitution
4. Education
• I will not shop when I am
hungry
• I will fill half my plate with fruit
or vegetables
• I will eat meals from smaller
plates
• I will not store snacks at eye
level in my refrigerator or
cupboard
Supply of calories
Consumer choices
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Test and adapt policies
Define the
outcome
Understand
the context
Build your
intervention
Test, learn,
adapt
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Conclusion
• People tend to think they have more control over their eating than
they do.
• This leads to unsuccessful attempts to control eating based on
willpower.
• The psychology of eating suggests that portion size reduction and
food reformulation may be particularly effective.
• Education can be effective, but only if it reflects the habitual,
contextual, automatic nature of eating.
• We should test and iterate policy interventions, often in a low-cost
way – BIT can give examples of how to do this.
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Michael Hallsworth [email protected]
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