Kicking out bias
positive outcomes. In this way, people can “better achieve what they want and need”.
“Evidence shows that people often make decisions intuitively, effortlessly and with little conscious awareness,” Dr Umar Taj, one of the co-founders of the WBS Nudgeathon, explained in a behavioural science masterclass on the first day of the two-day Abu Dhabi assembly. “These decisions encompass a wide variety of biases and rules-of-thumb with practical and often severe implications.” Instead, the key to making good decisions, he told Nudgeathon participants at the Abu Dhabi Energy Center, is to introduce insights from behavioural science that can help us understand our biases and design environments to circumvent them to achieve
Although there had already been online sessions discussing objectives (Nudgeathon is a three-month programme overall), this opening creative workshop in Abu Dhabi was really the moment when the problem was “brought to life”, according to Dr Taj.
A number of exercises from the world of theatre were used to energise the group and get them talking with one another on a more personal level, whilst having fun along the way. The participants were then split into four teams, each made up of representatives from the Abu Dhabi Youth Council, representatives from commercial banking and the central bank, a digital designer, and a behavioural scientist from the New York University campus in Abu Dhabi.
A behavioural insights workbook was provided to each team to guide them in their discussions and to steer their journey towards developing ‘nudges’ to solve specific problems of financial management. The behavioural scientists took responsibility for ensuring that each challenge was met before the team attempted the next stage of the workbook. “It’s remarkable how simple ideas, polished by different perspectives, were built up during the event, and turned into powerful interventions
that could tackle the overall issue,” said Mohamed Al Messabi, a representative from the Abu Dhabi Youth Council “I’m definitely not going to fall into the trap again of using the first solution that comes to mind,” said another participant. Dr Taj said: “Nudgeathon provides a safe, burden-free and fresh space for multiple problem owners to come together, share their perspectives, understand each other’s perspectives, develop a shared understanding of the problem and finally work together to find solutions to the complex problem.”
Built on a strong scientific heritage, behavioural science draws on insights and methods from psychology, economics and neuroscience. But it was the performing arts that kick-started the event as the 24 participants brainstormed and role-played a burning issue facing Abu Dhabi: that, in an Arab Emirate which values affluent lifestyles, many of its young people are perhaps spending too much money on consumer products such as fashion and cars without giving enough thought to their financial wellbeing in older age. This is despite a strong cultural sense of responsibility for family and partners.
“It's remarkable how simple ideas, polished by different perspectives, were built up during the event and turned into powerful interventions that could tackle the overall issue.” Mohamed Al Messabi A representative from the Abu Dhabi Youth Council
Evidence shows that people often make decisions intuitively, effortlessly and with little conscious awareness.” Dr Umar Taj
Nudgeathon explained
Behavioural science is an established approach to understanding human behavioural change. Fundamentally, it recognises that people often make decisions intuitively and with little conscious awareness. Moreover, people are highly resistant to change and unless prompted otherwise will choose the path of least resistance. A major challenge for behavioural science, therefore, is to identify the circumstances under which people can be encouraged to make choices that are better for them and/or for society. We propose a technique called Nudgeathon. Nudgeathon is a two-stage crowdsourcing interaction in which decision groups draw on insights and methods from ‘nudge theory’, a concept introduced by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein in a highly influential book in 2008. This is augmented by design thinking and drama theory to devise implementable solutions to major behavioural policy problems. By leveraging the combined power of diversity, expert knowledge, ‘insider’ knowledge, and open group interaction, we create new ideas and stress test them.
Nudgeathon is a powerful tool for qualitative research as well as problem solving. In the realm of problem solving, it can be used in activities as minor as the design of an online form or a menu, or as complex as a city’s transport infrastructure.
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