Welcome to the 8th Edition of the CCBI Newsletter (29/06/2025)

As we approach the midpoint of the year and the much-anticipated summer season, we are delighted to bring you the latest insights and updates from our team and the world of behavioural science and policy. This edition is brimming with new developments engaging initiative. For example, you will find a spotlight on our ongoing projects, including a timely expert survey exploring the future of water reuse across the EU, and our recent impactful contributions to public health through the ECDC Lighthouse initiative. We also feature our new position paper promoting an integrated behavioural systems approach, which has resonated at recent international events. We hope you find this edition insightful and inspiring as you head into the warmer months. Wishing you a wonderful and relaxing summer ahead.

Vacancy at the CCBI (29/06/2025)

The CCBI is currently recruiting. We recently posted a vacancy for a behavioural expert and received short of 260 applications. This was significantly higher than the number of applications we usually get, and it may partially reflect the level of interest in this field, i.e., behavioural science in a unique research centre (the JRC), fully integrated in an international institution. We are currently screening the applications.

A new CCBI Position Paper (29/06/2025)

Our team’s position paper 'Unlocking the full potential of behavioural insights for policy' was recently presented by its lead authors at two key events: internally at the latest NETBIC (Network of Behavioural Insights Champions) meeting, and externally at the International Association for Research in Economic Psychology conference (IAREP 2025), where we organised a session on the scope, impact and potential of BI for policymaking. The CCBI position paper advocates for a behavioural systems approach—integrating BI early in policy design, ensuring scalability, and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration. Please click the 'more' button to read it.

The ECDC Lighthouse (29/06/2025)

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has launched a community of practice on social and behavioural sciences and public health: the ECDC Lighthouse. It is a meeting point for professionals working in the prevention of infectious diseases, coming together with a shared goal: using social and behavioural sciences in their public health work. The ECDC Lighthouse welcomes people who are interested, experienced, or currently involved in this area, and who work for or are affiliated with organisations and institutions in the EU/EEA. You can become a member via clicking the 'more' button below.

Behavioural Insights for Growth (29/06/2025)

We joined a panel on Behavioural Insights for Economic Growth hosted by the Ministry for Enterprises and Made in Italy and the Herbert Simon Society, alongside experts Cass Sunstein, Hersh Shefrin, and Riccardo Viale. The discussion was centred around the EU Competitiveness Compass pillars - productivity, fairness, and sustainability - and how behavioural tools can reduce red tape, shift entrepreneurial mindsets, and make public financing more appealing to firms. It highlighted the potential of behavioural insights to support economic growth efforts. Please click the 'more' button to learn more about the event,

TSI on tax compliance (29/06/2025)

Non-compliance in paying taxes affects public revenues, trust in governments and perceived levels of fairness. At the CCBI, we are contributing to a Technical Support Instrument (TSI) project funded by SG-REFORM, supporting the revenue administrations of Austria, Belgium and Portugal in strengthening tax compliance by implementation of tools and techniques based on behavioural insights. A recent output in the form of a methodological handbook provides authorities and policymakers with a process which can be used to develop, test and implement behavioural interventions that improve tax compliance.

ECHO knowledge primer on BI (29/06/2025)

Understanding human behaviour is crucial in building resilient communities. This why we, at the CCBI, are very happy to have been able to contribute - together with The World Bank, Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, and Delft University of Technology - to a knowledge page on Behavioural Insights for Disaster Resilience published by our colleagues at DG ECHO’s European Civil Protection Knowledge Network. This page offers a wealth of information showing that, by leveraging behavioural insights, we can design more effective disaster risk reduction initiatives that take into account the complex factors that influence human behaviour.

Behavioural Insights Trainings (29/06/2025)

Are you new to behavioural sciences and curious about how behavioural insights can be used in policymaking? Until the end of 2025, our team will be offering training sessions on Behavioural Insights applied to policymaking, both in person and online. These sessions are designed for beginners and will introduce the key concepts, tools, and timelines involved in using a behavioural approach in policy development. At the moment, the trainings are opened to EU Commission staff, but we are working on expanding our participant pool. Please click the 'more' button below or get in touch to learn more.

International Behavioural Public Policy Conference (29/06/2025)

Together with colleagues from Busara and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the CCBI is organising a policy session at the International Behavioural Public Policy Conference (IBPPC) happening in London from 10-12 September 2025. The session will explore and discuss methods and examples of how behavioural sciences can best be integrated into the policymaking cycle, drawing on our recent position paper. If you are attending the IBPPC, we encourage you to attend our session and say 'hi'.

Behavioural Insights for Education (29/06/2025)

Organized by the University of Milano-Bicocca and the Istituto Nazionale di Documentazione, Innovazione e Ricerca Educativa (INDIRE), we participated in the International Conference on Child-Robot Interaction to deliver a keynote on the transformative potential of generative AI in education. Our talk focused on how generative AI can help scale up behavioral interventions which, while shown to be effective in previous research, remain challenging to implement at scale. We also presented findings from our recent study which you can find in Section 2 of this Newsletter.

Interim Report on waste sorting labels (29/06/2025)

Our Interim Report on waste sorting labels, developed by Open Evidence in the context of our JRC-DG ENV collaboration, is now published! This research supports the creation of evidence-based, EU-harmonised labels to improve recycling across Europe. The report includes results from a large online survey with 16,380 participants across 21 Member States and participatory workshops engaging 245 citizens in six countries. The findings show strong consumer motivation to sort waste correctly when given clear, actionable guidance. Combining behavioural science and co-design, this work will inform future EU policy and help enhance recycling behaviours continent-wide.

Comparing transparent and covert nudges (29/06/2025)

Transparency is a central requirement for trustworthy and accountable policies and policymaking. But do behavioural interventions drawing on heuristics and biases in human decision making still work if it is pointed out to people how they work or what they are trying to achieve? This meta-analysis, led by Dr Hendrik Bruns (CCBI), finds that, yes, they do. For some nudge types, transparency may even have positive effects on choice outcomes in certain domains. Negative effects are not supported by the data. Future research is necessary – so is the propagation of these insights among policymakers. Click the 'more' button to access the paper.

Robots, Jobs, and Optimal Fertility Timing (29/06/2025)

Industrial automation is reshaping job markets and may influence life choices, including family formation. This paper, led by Claudio Costanzo (CCBI) examines how robot adoption affects timing of first births across European regions. Using a shift-share regional exposure and two-stage least squares, results show no average effect on age at first birth but reveal pronounced differences by skill: low- and high-skilled areas experience earlier fertility, while mid-skilled areas delay childbirth. These patterns mirror employment polarization from routine-biased technological change. Model simulations suggest that changes in opportunity costs - rather than uncertainty - drive these dynamics.

Water Reuse (29/06/2025)

Water scarcity is becoming a prominent issue in some European countries. Over the last 6 months we have been working, together with colleagues from the Design for Policy team and the Foresight team, on exploring the future of water reuse. We conducted a series of workshops with experts, working in the area of water, and built four scenarios depicting the possible state of water reuse policies and public acceptance rates in the EU in the year 2040. We are currently collecting survey data testing these scenarios and expect to publish a report with our findings by the end of the year.

Water Resilience (29/06/2025)

We recently published a report on the Water Resilience Experiment, which is the result of a 2-year collaboration between design for policy and behavioural insights and contributes to the European Commission’s Water Resilience Strategy. The project focused on increasing cross-DG collaboration around the water topic and reducing the policy-implementation gap. It adopted a holistic, cross-cutting, and systemic approach generating qualitative insights from governance across local, regional, national, and international levels. Workstreams included the collection of citizen stories, participatory research engaging numerous regional stakeholders, and an analysis of the media discourse on water. Click the 'more' button to read the report.

Ethics in research on AI use (29/06/2025)

In a recent controversial study, researchers from the University of Zurich secretly posted over 1,000 AI-generated comments on Reddit’s r/changemyview subreddit to test AI’s persuasive power. The AI, tailored to users’ profiles, often changed opinions and outperformed human commenters. However, the covert experiment sparked strong backlash from the Reddit community and internet researchers, who called it unethical and a serious violation of trust. The university has launched an internal review, while Reddit has expressed concern and indicated steps will be taken to address the issue. This case highlights urgent ethical questions about AI’s influence on online discourse and the need for transparent, responsible research methods in the AI era.

Income and Climate Change (29/06/2025)

On the one hand debates around man-made climate change are increasingly being politicised, on the other hand, fairness is a central requirement for a sustainable approach to climate protection. Thus, investigating the relative impact of high-income groups to carbon emissions and climate extremes bears particular relevance and risk. This paper shows how greenhouse gas emissions, attributable to the wealthiest population groups, have disproportionately influenced climate change. While not a behavioural experiment, these results have interesting behavioural, fairness and communication implications.

Behaviours and practices in socio-technical systems (29/06/2025)

This editorial introduces a special issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production focused on “Behaviours and Practices in Socio‑Technical Systems and Sustainability Transitions”. It highlights the need to integrate individual-level behavioural analysis with broader systemic perspectives to understand how personal habits, routines, and decision-making influence the transformation of complex socio-technical systems. By combining reflective, strategic, and everyday behavioural insights with multi-scale systems analysis, the issue aims to bridge gaps between micro-level practices and macro-level sustainability structures. The goal is to inform more context-sensitive interventions that support equitable and effective sustainability transitions.

Behavioural public policy: past, present, and future (29/06/2025)

This article reflects on the evolution and future prospects of Behavioural Public Policy (BPP), which applies behavioural insights to improve policy-making and implementation. Originating from the "nudge" movement in the late 2000s, BPP has grown into a multidisciplinary field with a strong empirical foundation. The authors assess its achievements and emerging directions, including new approaches like nudge+, boosts, and tools from computational social science. They highlight the increasing emphasis on agency and reasonableness, responding to ethical critiques. The article argues that BPP is well positioned to address behavioural heterogeneity while still delivering practical, low-cost, population-wide interventions.

New podcast: The evolution of EAST (29/06/2025)

A decade ago, BIT's EAST framework gave policymakers an easy-to-follow guide for applying BI. Now, BIT has updated it to reflect a decade of advancements in the field. Listen to Michael Hallsworth, BIT’s Chief Behavioural Scientist on the latest episode of The BIT Podcast as he explores how behavioural science has developed over the last 10 years, including the wins, the setbacks, and the future of the field. Please click the 'more' button to learn more about this podcast and its latest episode.

Podcast episode: Beyond Nudging (29/06/2025)

This interview with Prof Ralph Hertwig, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, is not just interesting because he re-iterates key message of the CCBI recent position paper, i.e. arguing for a systematic approach to behavioural public policy. In addition, Prof Hertwig provides a nice and engaging introduction into key concepts of behavioural science applied to policy and goes way beyond nudging. He refers to relevant policy challenges, such as misinformation, food waste reduction, and others.

Book recommendation: Wellness, by Nathan Hill (29/06/2025)

If you are looking for a summer read on behavioural sciences, and prefer fiction to essays, we wholeheartedly recommend “Wellness” (Grand Prix de la Littérature Américaine in France), by Nathan Hill. Hill offers a masterly tale of a young couple, Jack and Elisabeth, meeting in Chicago, during the ‘90s. Jack is an artist, Elisabeth studied behavioural sciences and ends up working in an Institute of Placebo Studies. Not only is it a remarkable, funny and heartbreaking novel, but by the end of it you would have seamlessly learnt a lot about double-blind experiments, control treatments, replication crisis (notably on the marshmallow experiment), disinformation and debunking of fake news. It is also very well referenced, offering a complete list of studies and academic articles that served the author throughout. In short, Hill’s compassionate satire shows the extent to which our lives (and loves) are influenced by a series of false narratives, supported by, among others, self-delusion, placebo effects and conspiracy theory.

Complete our Survey on Biodiversity (04/06/2025)

Welcome to the 7th Edition of the CCBI Newsletter (14/02/2025)

New Year, new(s)letter. Most of us paused shortly, celebrated past individual accomplishments, and defined objectives for the year to come. Do so, if you haven’t, yet. But don’t worry, this newsletter won’t be overly self-praising. It’s rather aimed at sharing relevant information. And we have quite a lot to share, building on the good work throughout 2024. We have expanded, built stronger links with Academia and EU Member States, sharpened tools for collecting behavioural evidence, renewed our internal training courses, maintained our monthly webinars, and a lot more. Thanks for taking the time to stay tuned. There is still a lot to be done, hopefully together.

New Team Members (14/02/2025)

In 2024 the CCBI welcomed two new core team members, Kaloyan Mitev, who joined us in April, and Francesca Papa, who joined us in October. We also welcomed Claudio Costanzo, who is a PhD student, and will stay with us for two years as part of the JRC’s Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP), Diane Carpentier, who is our Bluebook Trainee, and Chiara Gioia, who is a PhD student and a visiting scientist from the University of Trento.

Say ‘Hi’ to the CCBI (14/02/2025)

As with previous years, in 2025 the CCBI team members will once again attend and present at several high-profile conferences to disseminate their research. We will attend the IBPPC 2025 Conference in London, UK, the IAREP 2025 Conference in Tartu, Estonia, and ICEP 2025 Conference in Vilnius, Lithuania. These are just a few of the conferences we will be attending, please look out and reach out to us at these and other events in 2025.

MoU traineeship Programme (14/02/2025)

As mentioned in our previous Newsletter, the CCBI established Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with more than 10 leading European universities, which offer MSc programs in behavioural science. As part of our MoUs, we are delighted to provide 5- to 6-month internships for students eager to enhance their skills in conducting research on behavioural insights. We are thrilled to announce that we will be hosting two interns in the coming months, one from the Catholic University of Portugal, and one from Radboud University (the Netherlands).

Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) (14/02/2025)

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) has launched a new call for higher education institutions (HEI) or universities to participate in the Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP). The programme facilitates dual PhD projects, where HEIs/universities partner up with the JRC to jointly design, host, and supervise doctoral research across the JRC portfolios. The application deadline in 18 March, 23.59 (CET). We have already hosted a few doctoral students through the CDP. If you are interested in learning more about the programme, please click on the image.

CCBI Framework Contracts for Conducting Research (14/02/2025)

We’re excited to share that we will soon have two new Framework Contracts (FWC) available to EC colleagues interested in conducting a behavioural study or recruiting subjects for an experiment. These contracts provide a formal way to access expert services or recruit participants for your research. If you're interested in learning more about how these FWCs can support your work, feel free to get in touch!

Behavioural Insights Trainings (14/02/2025)

Are you new to behavioural sciences and curious about how behavioural insights can be used in policymaking? Throughout 2025, our team will be offering training sessions on Behavioural Insights applied to policymaking, both in person and online. These sessions are designed for beginners and will introduce you to the key concepts, tools, and timelines involved in using a behavioural approach in policy development. Click the image or get in touch to learn more.

Relaunch of NetBIC (14/02/2025)

In the fall of 2024, we relaunched our Network of Behavioural Insights Champions (NetBIC) – a community of BI enthusiasts across the European Commission. This group comes together to share insights, exchange ideas, and learn from each other's experiences in applying behavioural insights to policymaking. At our last meeting, 45 participants from 20 different EC DGs/agencies came together to discuss new ideas and provided feedback on the Network’s upcoming activities. Interested in joining the conversation? Send us an email, and we’d be happy to invite you to the next meet-up!

EU Policy Lab Pop-up (14/02/2025)

In the week of 3 February, the EU Policy Lab organised a pop-up stand at the Berlaymont. The CCBI team attended the event which resulted in many engaging and interesting exchanges with Commission colleagues from a range of different DGs. The CCBI showcased some of the team’s latest reports and ongoing projects. This was a great way to meet new potential collaborators and expand our network. We look forward to attending more similar events in the near future.

CCBI Workshop on Behavioural Insights Applied to Policymaking (14/02/2025)

In September 2024, the CCBI organised and hosted a 2-day in-person workshop on Behavioural Insights Applied to Policy in Brussels. We invited representatives from academic institutions, governmental bodies within the EU, and international organisations, who work in the sphere of behavioural science. We addressed behavioural strategies for individual and systemic behaviour change across various domains, including public health, environmental policy, and migration. The workshop highlighted the critical need for further integrating behavioural insights into policy design and implementation. We are extremely proud of organising this workshop and look forward to similar events in the future. You can read our full workshop report by clicking on this news item.

Position Paper by CCBI (14/02/2025)

We have just published a Science for Policy report which examines the transformative role of behavioural insights (BI) in EU policymaking, advocating for integrating BI early in the policy cycle to enhance policy effectiveness. It challenges the misconception that BI is limited to designing behavioural interventions with marginal impacts and demonstrates its potential to guide the development of both traditional policy instruments and behavioural interventions. The report underscores the importance of BI in identifying synergies and conflicts between policies across different areas, thereby improving policy coherence. It advocates for the use of BI in combination with systems analysis to achieve systemic changes. The policy relevance of this work lies in its timely contribution to evidence-based approaches, particularly in areas where the human dimension is key to policy success. Click the image to access the report.

Barriers to Implementing EU Green Policies (14/02/2025)

We organised a workshop to explore barriers to implementing EU green policies, with a particular focus on behavioural dimensions. The workshop brought together representatives of ministries responsible for horizontal policies of public administration from across EU Member States to collectively identify key implementation obstacles (e.g. financial, technical, political, governance). They reflected on behavioural drivers and developed hypotheses on how these drivers might contribute to tackling barriers to implementation. The workshop marked the launch of a broader project aimed at mapping the implementation journey of EU green policies in Member States, identifying relevant stakeholders and their relationships, pinpointing key leverage points, and designing behavioural interventions to improve policy outcomes. Click the image to access our report.

Understanding the Impact of Persuasion Techniques in Mis- and Disinformation (14/02/2025)

Citizens consider disinformation a threat to European democracies, and the majority believe that they have come across disinformation online. The CCBI conducted an online study with 5,121 participants from 5 EU countries (Germany, France, Ireland, Italy, Poland) to investigate the effect of persuasion techniques on agreement with false and true climate change information. We found that persuasion techniques reduced agreement with true claims, but did not consistently reduce agreement with false claims. Appealing to authority and using the black-and-white fallacy were more successful in eliciting agreement with false than correct information, and name calling as well as the use of thought-terminating clichés lowered agreement with both false and true information the most.

Harmonised Waste-sorting Labels in the EU (14/02/2025)

On 22 January 2025, the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation was published. It requires EU Member States to implement harmonised waste-sorting labels on packaging and receptacles. We recently published a report which provides behavioural insights informing the design of these labels based on (1) packaging waste statistics in the EU, (2) an analysis of mainly Member-State specific waste-sorting labels that developed in the absence of harmonisation efforts, (3) waste-related consumer attitudes, (4) insights from an online survey of professional waste stakeholders and (5) conceptual reflections on harmonised waste-sorting labels. Click on the image to access the report.

Phishing Experiment with DG DIGIT (14/02/2025)

In a large field experiment developed in collaboration DG DIGIT, CCBI examined the efficacy of anti-phishing training within the European Commission. For this purpose, we randomly manipulated the timing of invitations to train, sent out to colleagues who were also being targeted in mock phishing campaigns. We found that training increased the willingness to report suspicious emails, a small but durable effect. By contrast, training did not systematically deter individuals from clicking on suspicious links. We plan to develop (and then test) alternative training modules to enhance phishing awareness; one possibility involves training that vividly simulates the potential negative consequences of phishing.

Replacing fact checking with community – what does this mean for social media discourse? (14/02/2025)

Have a look at our article commenting on the behavioural dimension of Meta’s abandonment of independent fact checking in the US, providing scientific insights from our and other’s work. We advocate for innovative, collaborative approaches combining technological tools and human judgment to address misinformation while maintaining open, diverse dialogue in digital public spaces effectively and ethically.

Who's afraid of policy experiments? (14/02/2025)

Are voters resistant to policy experimentation? A study by Dur et al. (2025) challenges this assumption, revealing that public attitudes toward randomized policy experiments are more positive than many politicians believe. Surveying over 2,000 Dutch voters, the researchers found significant support for experimentation, particularly in areas like tax evasion and benefit fraud. Voters with neutral policy views were especially supportive, highlighting the value of experimentation in addressing uncertainty. Meanwhile, a survey of politicians revealed they overestimate voter skepticism but adjust their views when provided with information about citizen attitudes. By addressing concerns like fairness and consent, governments could foster a culture of experimentation and unlock the potential of evidence-based policymaking to address complex challenges effectively. Click the image for a link to the paper.

Mind shift, green lift (14/02/2025)

On 25 January 2025, the OECD released a new policy paper, “Mind Shift, Green Lift”, identifying six key trends on how behavioural science is shaping public policy to accelerate the green transition. Drawing on over 100 case studies, it provides policymakers with a practical roadmap to integrate behavioural science into environmental policy. The trends include embedding behavioural science throughout the policy cycle, assessing public acceptability of green reforms, enhancing citizen participation in environmental policies, strengthening resilience against climate misinformation, and increasing demand for sustainable goods and services. The launch webinar was co-funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe programme.

What makes an idea interesting? (14/02/2025)

In this episode of No Stupid Question, the podcast by research psychologist Angela Duckworth and tech and sports executive Mike Maughan, the hosts explore the intriguing question of: Why are certain ideas so captivating? What makes an idea truly interesting? A thought-provoking conversation on the factors that make some ideas stand out more than others.

The Art of Letter Writing (14/02/2025)

Research conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) found that using behavioural insights to design letters can increase response rates and reduce hospital waiting times. A case study with data from Ireland showed a 20% increase in response rates after redesigning letters to include clear calls to action, personalised language, and including an apology for the waiting time and explaining the reason why the letter was sent.

The Climate Game (14/02/2025)

Can you, as an individual, achieve a net zero transition by 2050? To answer this question, the Financial Times has created "The Climate Game", a virtual game that asks people to make simple decisions based on different scenarios to try to save the planet from climate change disasters. The data used in the game comes from published scientific research and reports by the International Energy Agency (IEA). The Climate Game is an original solution to put the reader at the centre of important decisions in a data-driven simulation. Try it out for yourself by clicking the image above.

6th Edition of the CCBI Newsletter (04/07/2024)

Welcome to the 6th edition of the Newsletter of the Competence Centre on Behavioural Insights. As you will see below, the last half-year has again been busy and we are happy to share news on a number of our activities. First, we want to highlight two initiatives in particular.

Upcoming Workshop with Member-States on Behavioural Science (03/07/2024)

On 23rd and 24th of September, we will be hosting a two-day workshop in Brussels, with interested EU Member States and representatives from international institutions, on Behavioural Insights applied to Policymaking. Behavioural Insights teams in Member State governments and other organisations guide policymakers and design new policies. Experts working within this area acquire specific competences, gain expertise in different policy areas, and experiment with novel methods and approaches. This community has significantly grown over the last few years. This makes our two day workshop an exciting opportunity to bring this community together to exchange experiences and explore areas of common interest, and possible joint or parallel work.

New Agreements with Universities around the EU (04/07/2024)

Over the last year, the CCBI has set up an agreement with EU universities wanting to give their MSc students (trained in behavioural sciences) the possibility of a 3-5 months traineeship in our centre. The “visiting studentship” provides top-level students the opportunity to get hands-on experience of our work within the EU policymaking cycle. We hosted the first visiting student in 2023, and are looking forward to welcoming two more after this summer. Currently, 10 EU universities have signed an agreement with us: KU Leuven (BE), University of Cyprus (CY), Lyon (FR), Heidelberg, Nürnberg (DE), UCD Dublin (IE), Siena, Trento (IT), Universidade Catholica Portuguesa (PT) and Radboud (NL). We are looking to expand this list, especially covering EU Countries not yet represented.

Relaunch of the CCBI website (03/07/2024)

We have re-designed and improved our website for easier access to our work, publications, and the capacity building and research tools we offer. Have a look at our redesigned page by clicking the 'more' button below.

Looking for experts in climate issues and/or biodiversity to take part in a survey (03/07/2024)

We are currently running a project on Biodiversity and Policymaking (more information below). As part of this project, we would like to conduct a survey and gather insights from behavioural scientists, working in the areas of biodiversity and/or climate issues, to assess current work and future prospects. If you are a behavioural scientist working in these or similar areas and are interested in taking part in our survey, to be launched in a few months, please click the 'more' button below to express your interest.

CCBI @ the 8th European Civil Protection Forum (03/07/2024)

The CCBI team contributed to a workshop on the “Behavioural dimension of disaster preparedness and prevention” at the 8th European Civil Protection Forum organised by DG ECHO. We highlighted the need for evidence-based guidelines to promote beneficial disaster preparedness behaviours and presented factors influencing preparedness behaviour in the “cold phase”, i.e. before a potential disaster, and factors influencing behaviour during the “hot phase”, i.e. during an emergency situation. You can find a visual summary of the workshop by clicking on the 'more' button below.

Public event: 'Let's reduce consumer food waste!' (03/07/2024)

The CCBI also took part in the final event of the European Consumer Food Waste Forum which was certainly not a waste of time. There is great demand for nuanced behavioural insights for ways to measure food waste reliably and consistently, such as in-depth analysis of different consumer segments, and understanding their motivations, opportunities, and abilities to derive the best strategies for targeted and tailored actions. Given the food waste reduction goals in the EU, these efforts are timely and essential steps toward a fairer and greener future.

CCBI @ Eu SPRI conference (03/07/2024)

The CCBI presented its ongoing work on a position paper titled 'Unlocking the Potential of Behavioural Insights for Policy: From Influencing the Individual to Shaping the System' at the Eu-SPRI conference. This paper advocates for using behavioural insights beyond serving as a plug-in tool in the policy process. It emphasises that the primary aim of behavioural insights is to understand behaviour before attempting to influence it. BI can inform not only behavioural interventions but also traditional policies such as regulations and taxes, and can also integrate a human perspective into policy development and examine policy mixes and interconnections. We aim to publish a Science for Policy JRC report this Summer!

Workshop with policy makers on AI and oversight (03/07/2024)

As a follow up to our workshop with fair AI experts (see next item below for more information), we collaborated with colleagues from the Design team within the EU Policy Lab to organize a workshop with policy-makers at the EU Commission to discuss the role of human oversight in AI-supported decision-making. This interactive half-day event included a presentation of our AI discrimination project's general findings, group discussions to unpack the concept of human oversight and its challenges, reflections on the implications for various Commission Directorates-General, and a wrap-up session to consolidate the discussions and outline next steps.

Fair decision-making: Can humans save us from biased AI? (03/07/2024)

We collaborated with colleagues from the Design team within the EU Policy Lab to organize a workshop with a multidisciplinary group of experts, including researchers and practitioners from fields such as AI, ethics, design, art, science, philosophy, and sociology, to discuss the results of our study on human oversight in AI-supported decision-making. The workshop involved collaborative speculative exercises to ideate interventions for mitigating human and algorithmic biases. Participants shared their diverse perspectives and visions, highlighting the need for a dynamic approach to fairness in AI and the importance of considering both social and technical factors to address discriminatory outcomes.

Behavioural drivers and interventions of socially responsible investment (03/07/2024)

Socially responsible investments (SRI) are becoming more relevant for European citizens. One of our projects aimed to outline and categorise the behavioural factors that influence peoples’ decision to invest in SRI products:(i) attitudinal, (ii) social, and (iii) cognitive factors. Besides, it presents scientific evidence on the behavioural interventions that can influence SRI decisions: (i) information disclosure, (ii) information framing, (iii) labels, and (iv) defaults. Based on our work , we propose that scientists investigate the impact of social information on SRI, while policymakers consider behavioural factors when designing policy interventions to make them more effective.

Behavioural Insights (BI) for the EU – a case study on embedding BI into public health policy-making (03/07/2024)

The COVID-19 pandemic has made clear that public health efforts are more likely to succeed if they actively consider social, cultural and behavioural contexts. We conducted interviews with experts working in or with public health institutes in Italy, Slovenia, Spain, and Portugal to evaluate best practices and perceived barriers to institutionalizing the application of behavioural and social science in public health decision-making. In the studied countries, limited professional access to the public health field for BI experts, low funding of public health prevention, lack of knowledge and few BI training opportunities for public health professionals were seen as the main barriers to institutionalisation of BI expertise. Advocacy by and support of international organisations, as well as collaborations with academic institutions were seen as effective facilitators in scaling expertise and impact.

Fostering Solidarity Towards Refugees: A Randomized Experiment with 27,000 Individuals on the effects of Empathy-building Interventions. (03/07/2024)

What is it like to be a refugee? Could considering this seriously, if only for a moment, encourage you to help those displaced by war or persecution? In this study we investigated the impact of sharing a specific refugee’s experience (“perspective getting”) or prompting individuals to imagine the challenges they would face if they became refugees (“perspective taking”) on individual solidarity and support for refugee protection. In a large study conducted across six EU member states we observed that, compared to a control group, both interventions led to an increase in the respondents’ willingness to offer support via social media (by close to 10%) and an increase in the approval of granting temporary working permits (by some 8%).

Behavioural insights for waste-sorting labels in the European Union (03/07/2024)

In the light of a provisional agreement of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, we are working together with experts to develop evidence-based harmonized waste sorting labels for the European Union which is a vital component of the EU's strategy to boost municipal and packaging recycling rates in the EU. We reviewed behavioural science literature to gain insights into why some waste sorting designs are more effective and appreciated. Based on evidence-based recommendations, we want to develop a harmonised labelling system that is not only efficient but also valued by everyone.

Rethinking Biodiversity Policy: The Pivotal Role of Behavioural Science (03/07/2024)

We have initiated an interdisciplinary project that unites natural scientists, behavioural scientists, and policymakers from relevant Directorates-General (DGs) in a dialogue focused on biodiversity issues and the influence of behavioural research in shaping biodiversity policymaking. Various workstreams, ranging from a literature review and surveys of behavioural and natural scientists to a media discourse analysis on biodiversity, will help structure the final workshop designed to facilitate this dialogue. A distinct characteristic of this workshop lies in its function as a case study for experimenting with methods grounded in collective intelligence for harmonising the integration of diverse interests and values across DGs.

Applying Behavioural Insights within the US Government (03/07/2024)

The Biden administration issued a “Blueprint for the Use of Social and Behavioral Science to Advance Evidence-Based Policymaking,” calling it “vitally important for creating federal policies and programs that open opportunities for everyone.” It recommends “actions for agencies across the federal government to effectively leverage social and behavioral science in improving policymaking to deliver better outcomes and opportunities for people". “These recommendations include specific actions for agencies, such as considering social and behavioral insights early in policy or program development.” This echos claims made by our CCBI team dating as far back as 2019. The Blueprint also suggests agencies should have a sufficient number of staff with social and behavioural science expertise. Similarly, in the EU Commission, an EU public competition will soon take place to recruit a number of behavioural experts

The implications of behavioural science for effective climate policy (03/07/2024)

The Climate Change Committee UK commissioned scientists from the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST) to investigate the implications of behavioural science for effective climate policy. The key takeaway messages from the project include: behavioural interventions should be context-specific by recognising the diversity of behaviours people engage in; downstream and upstream interventions are needed to build public support for measures while also removing the barriers to behaviour change; interventions should be tailored according to different population groups and should be delivered at the most appropriate time (e.g., during moments of change); and engaging the public in policy design. If you would like to read the two reports associated with this project, please click on the 'more' button below.

Addressing climate change with behavioral science: A global intervention tournament in 63 countries (03/07/2024)

Effectively mitigating climate change necessitates global behavioural shifts, yet optimal strategies remain uncertain. A global study tested 11 expert-crowdsourced interventions on 59,440 participants from 63 countries, focusing on four outcomes: beliefs, policy support, information sharing, and tree planting. Results showed interventions had small effects, mainly on non-sceptics, and varied by outcome. Beliefs improved by reducing psychological distance (2.3%), policy support by writing to future generations (2.6%), and information sharing by inducing negative emotions (12.1%). However, no intervention boosted the effortful task of tree planting, with some even reducing it. Intervention effectiveness depended on initial climate beliefs, highlighting the need for tailored approaches.

A Policy Cycle 2.0 for the European Commission. ZOE Institute for Future-Fit Economies (blog), 2024 (03/07/2024)

A publication by the ZOE Institute for Future-fit Economies proposes an updated policy cycle to enhance the European Commission's policymaking process in the face of current complex and uncertain challenges. The document emphasizes the need for a more dynamic, agile, and integrated approach to policy design, incorporating horizontal coordination, public participation, and comprehensive impact assessments. It suggests the use of the Joint Research Centre’s EU Policy Lab for cross-departmental coordination, Standing Citizen Panels for inclusive public consultation, and the integration of strategic foresight into impact assessments to consider long-term effects of policies.

Are Economists’ Preferences Psychologists’ Personality Traits? A Structural Approach (03/07/2024)

Economists are often sceptical about the extent to which market-relevant preferences and behaviours can be explained in terms of personality traits as measured by psychological scales. A recent article in the prestigious Journal of Political Economy shows how a careful modelling approach allows to explain as much as 60% of variance in risk taking and temporal discounting using just a few psychological measures. Notably three of the Big Five personality traits: extraversion, emotional stability, and, especially conscientiousness, are highly predictive of preferences over risk and time, while measures of cognitive skills are instrumental in explaining prevalence of mistakes, i.e. cases in which choices deviate from preference.

The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt (03/07/2024)

"The Anxious Generation" by Jonathan Haidt examines the decline in youth mental health, focusing on the impact of increased phone use and reduced play-based childhood. Haidt presents data on rising rates of depression, anxiety, and self-harm among adolescents since the early 2010s. He suggests that social media and technology might disrupt social and neurological development and offers his opinions on practical steps for parents, teachers, and policymakers to mitigate these effects and promote healthier childhoods.

7 Books About the Interplay of Technology and Humanity (04/07/2024)

This blog post highlights seven novels that delve into the complex relationship between humans and technology. These works explore themes of happiness, virtual reality, identity, and the impact of technology on society and individuals.

Continuation of CCBI seminar series in 2024 (08/01/2024)

Thanks to the good attendance and positive reception of the 2023 seminars, we are happy to continue the CCBI seminar series in 2024. The CCBI seminar series features monthly presentations by leaders in their respective research fields. The series covers issues concerning both behavioural insights as a policy tool and implications for specific areas of EU policy. The next seminar will be on the 25th of January. Click below for more information.

The CCBI's work to inform crucial EU initiatives in 2024 (09/01/2024)

2024 is another year where crucial decisions will be taken by many of us, both individually and collectively. The European Commission will also adopt initiatives in various fields. The role of the CCBI, within the EU Policy Lab, is to inform such initiatives – where relevant - by providing the appropriate behavioural evidence. This year, our team will keep working on a few important issues, including support for climate change policies, food waste reduction, health promotion, migration, the use of AI, and more. In what follows, we provide an overview of our on-going work and underline relevant scientific advances.

Strengthening ties with academia (08/01/2024)

The CCBI keeps maintaining strong ties with academia with two instruments, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for visiting students, and a Collaborative Doctoral Partnership with selected universities. The MoU has already been signed by seven universities, with more signing soon. The MoU offers postgraduate students, trained in behavioural sciences, a top-level work experience of 3-4 months applying behavioural insights to EU policy. The CCBI will also be hosting a second PhD student for 24 months as a full member of our team with a status of grant-holder. They will contribute to our activities, access primary data and complete their PhD thesis.

Inauguration of i-bex, the JRC platform to run behavioural studies online (08/01/2024)

The new i-bex platform designed to conduct online experiments, also with EC colleagues as participants, is up and running. You can register below, and you will soon be invited to participate in short and, hopefully, interesting studies developed by CCBI and external experts. The goal is to contribute to science but also find ways to work more effectively. Michal Krawczyk is the CCBI colleague responsible for i-bex.

Breaking barriers and building bridges: the power of Behavioural Insights for advancing gender equality (08/01/2024)

The Nobel Prize awarded to Professor Claudia Goldin, for advancing our understanding of women's labour market outcomes provides the perfect opportunity to highlight the ongoing gender equality projects within the BI team. In the CCBI, Elisa Orlandi (a doctoral student from the University of Bologna) is mainly conducting work on gender. Check out our blog post!

Sessions at the Cop28 (08/01/2024)

Our colleague Hendrik Bruns participated in two sessions at the Cop28 EU side events. One was about disinformation - Tackling disinformation on climate change; and the other was about food waste - Reducing consumer food waste, protecting the planet. Click the links below to see the recordings. Disinformation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MKZYABePHs&ab_channel=EUClimateAction Food waste: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbLcfGjXUJQ

Exploring the role of generative Artificial Intelligence on education (08/01/2024)

At the OECD's 2023 digital education conference, our colleague Vicky Charisi shared preliminary findings from a study with Andrea Blasco on the impact of Generative AI in classrooms. We conducted a randomised control trial at three high schools to explore how interaction with AI affects students' reliance on human-provided information and their performance with "Socratic" AIs, which are not delivering complete solutions. We presented preliminary results and offered insights about how to integrate generative AI tools to enhance learning.

Effects of persuasion techniques used in climate change misinformation (08/01/2024)

This project aims to investigate how effective certain persuasion techniques are in rendering falsities convincing to people. Through an experimental survey across 5 Member States, the study aims to investigate the role of these techniques in affecting individual’s agreement with correct and incorrect information about climate change. The findings will contribute to a better understanding of misinformation and the persuasion techniques involved, supporting the EU’s strategy against disinformation.

Using QR codes to access food information: a behavioural study with European consumers (08/01/2024)

This study explored the use of QR codes for accessing food information. Conducted online with 3,420 participants from Spain, Germany, and Bulgaria, it found that on average, QR codes were scanned 24% of the time, and as many as 37% of the participants never scanned any QR codes. Products with QR codes slowed decision-making and reduced consumers' knowledge about the products. This suggests that delivering food information via QR codes rather than on paper labels has a negative impact on consumers.

Impact of gender composition information on attitudes toward refugees: evidence from a survey experiment (08/01/2024)

Can correcting misperceptions affect attitudes and policy preferences? In a recently finished working paper we make (some) people realise that a large majority of displaced people from Ukraine are women. We hypothesise that this may affect their perceptions, as it is often found that many people are less concerned about female than about male migrants and refugees. Read the paper to see how it worked out.

The role of (trust in) the source of prebunks and debunks of misinformation. (08/01/2024)

This study examined the effectiveness of debunking and prebunking misinformation, and the effect of trust in the source of the intervention. 5,228 participants from 4 Member States were exposed to prebunk or debunk interventions, along with a revealed or hidden source manipulation. Both interventions were effective in changing participants' views and revealing the source did not significantly impact effectiveness. The results suggest that the European Commission and others can confidently debunk and prebunk misinformation regardless of the trust level of its recipients.

Blood donation in the EU: exploring behavioural insights for innovative interventions (08/01/2024)

This Science for Policy Report summarises the findings from social and behavioural sciences research agendas covering the blood donation field, including theoretical models and evidence on motivation that leads to blood donor intentions and behaviour. Additionally, it encompasses studies testing the effects of behavioural interventions to increase blood donations. The report also describes and reports on the current practices used in blood services across the EU 27.

Strengthening tax compliance by implementing behavioural insights for revenue administrations in Member States (08/01/2024)

The CCBI is contributing to a project funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument, managed by the European Commission Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM), to support Austria, Belgium, and Portugal in strengthening tax compliance by implementing behavioural insights. The project includes training for capacity building, quantitative and qualitative analysis of the current situation, and field trials for specific behavioural interventions tailored to the needs of the Member States.

Behavioural interventions for energy savings in labs (08/01/2024)

On November 22nd, we held a workshop to boost energy savings in scientific labs. It focused on identifying barriers and opportunities for energy savings, informing the design of pilot behavioural interventions, and exploring JRC's role in EU lab energy efficiency. Activities included assessing lab scientists' and managers' hopes, fears, and energy use knowledge alongside the behavioural potential for energy optimisation. We brainstormed barriers and solutions to energy monitoring, behaviour change and cross-lab coordination and evaluated these ideas.

How do policymakers update their beliefs? (08/01/2024)

Experiments with the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank show that policymakers are initially more optimistic and certain about development programs’ success than practitioners and researchers, even with less familiarity. Participants generally give more weight to positive results and overlook confidence intervals when presented with impact evaluations. The observed biases in responses don’t fully explain the differences in initial beliefs between the groups.

The Old Boys’ Club: Schmoozing and the Gender Gap (08/01/2024)

This study analyses the role of employees' social interactions with their managers in boosting individual professional careers. Face-to-face interactions increase the rate of promotion and explain a third of the gender gap in promotions in the corporate setting considered. In particular, the authors identify a male-to-male advantage. Men observe an increase in their pay when assigned to a male manager and a decrease in their pay when assigned to a female manager.

Is there a behavioural revolution in policy design? A new agenda and inventory of the behavioural toolbox (08/01/2024)

The article recommends redirecting behavioural public policy research towards achieving improved outcomes with simpler designs than traditional solutions. Emphasizing a shift from academic experiments to real-world analysis, it urges researchers to appreciate policymaking processes and align with insights from the literature on policy tools and design. The article also introduces a policy design doctrine derived from the behavioural paradigm and provides an updated inventory of the behavioural toolbox.

Spotting the sludge: Behavioural audits to improve public services across countries (08/01/2024)

In assisting governments to market their public services as more efficient, equitable, and user-friendly, the OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation (OPSI) is turning its eyes to the huge contribution that behavioural science can make to service design. It convened the first International Sludge Academy as a forum for the NSW Behavioural Insights Unit to share with other countries and provide coaching for its robust and mature method for ‘sludge audits’: structured behavioural assessments of a service or process.

Behavioural public strategy (08/01/2024)

This article introduces "behavioural public strategy" as a novel conceptual framework to guide policymakers in making strategic decisions that enhance public service performance. Drawing from behavioural science, it emphasizes the micro-foundations of public strategy, exploring how individual and team dynamics shape decision-making and influence organizational and network-level outcomes, bridging key research streams in public strategy, behavioural public policy, and behavioural public administration.

High replicability of newly discovered social-behavioural findings is achievable (08/01/2024)

This study by four coordinated laboratories investigated the replicability of 16 novel experimental findings using rigorous practices such as confirmatory tests, large sample sizes, preregistration, and transparency. Contrary to previous efforts, the replication success rate was 86%, surpassing expectations based on effect sizes and sample sizes. The high replication justifies confidence in rigour-enhancing methods.

Reducing single-use cutlery with green nudges: Evidence from China’s food-delivery industry (08/01/2024)

The authors explored the impact of green nudges on single-use cutlery consumption in China. Implementing changes such as defaulting to "no cutlery" and rewarding consumers with "green points" resulted in a 648% increase in no-cutlery orders. If applied nationwide, over 21.75 billion sets of single-use cutlery could be saved annually, equivalent to preventing 3.26 million metric tons of plastic waste and saving 5.44 million trees.

Podcast recommendation: “Analysis: What’s the future of nudge?” (08/01/2024)

In this episode of BBC’s podcast Analysis, Magda Osman talks to those working in the field of behavioural change and examines what has been discovered over the last fifteen years, what concerns remain around this way of doing things and what the future is for the behavioural change methods known as nudge.

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst (08/01/2024)

In "Behave", Robert M. Sapolsky delves into the intricate forces shaping human behaviour. Drawing on neuroscience, biology, and anthropology, Sapolsky explores the interplay of genes, environment, and culture. This engaging synthesis of scientific disciplines unveils the complexities of our actions, offering insights into the profound and nuanced reasons behind our behaviours at their best and worst.

Overview of on-going and forthcoming work (21/06/2023)

The CCBI reached its full capacity during the first half of 2023 and is now a team of 11 behavioural experts. We will soon present the results of a handful of ongoing projects on AI and discrimination, misperceptions of refugee flows and of temporary protection measures, education, and waste sorting labels. On top of this, we are working with DG REFORM and three Member States on improving tax compliance, and we signed three Memoranda of Understanding with Universities to host visiting students in behavioural sciences. Finally, we are testing a soon-to-be-released platform for online experiments (called i-bex). This last tool, once up and running, will greatly serve us and the policy DGs.

Strengthening ties with academia while training future behavioural experts (21/06/2023)

The CCBI will soon be hosting "visiting students" for short unpaid traineeships, from a selection of EU Universities that offer postgraduate courses in Behavioural Sciences. This is an opportunity for students to engage in extra-curricular activities, at the intersection between policy and research. Visiting students may choose to be involved in a range of different projects, and will be involved in different tasks -- literature review, study design, data analysis and report drafting. Three EU Universities already signed our Memorandum of Understanding, and five more will soon do so. We aim at having at least one University from each EU Country. For further information, please contact Emanuele Ciriolo (emanuele.ciriolo@ec.europa.eu).

Exploring behavioural insights for policymaking: join our ongoing seminar series (21/06/2023)

You are invited to attend the CCBI Seminar Series, where experts worldwide discuss groundbreaking research in behavioral science. These talks are relevant to policymakers and individuals interested in applying behavioral insights to their work and everyday life. In the past, we have explored a range of intriguing topics, from understanding and reducing the spread of online misinformation to overcoming bottlenecks for evidence adoption and examining the impact of increased bargaining power for wages on the gender wage gap. Next, on Thursday, September 21, Sebastian Krügel, Andreas Ostermaier, and Matthias Uhl will discuss when and how AI-powered algorithms can act as moral advisors to humans. For more information on our seminar series, check out the link below.

Upcoming training opportunities (21/06/2023)

Register for our upcoming course on behavioural insights for policy-making, which will take place on the 12th of October. This course is designed specifically for policy officers across DGs who want to enhance their skills in applying behavioural insights to their work. It provides a comprehensive overview of the methods, principles, and key findings from the behavioural sciences, and highlights their relevance to policy-making. Participants engage in group work, study examples, and do exercises to identify behavioural aspects of policy problems and apply behaviourally informed solutions. Behavioral science is globally recognized and has consistently improved policy outcomes and administrative efficiency. As a policy officer, it is vital to effectively understand and utilize its valuable insights. To register for the course click on the link below:

We are launching i-bex, a new Commission platform for online experiments (21/06/2023)

The CCBI obtains behavioural evidence to inform policymaking in many ways. Online experiments and surveys are one of the most cost-efficient, quick, and versatile data collection method. So far, we had to rely for this on external contractors. We are now developing our own platform for online experiments, i-bex, which will allow us to retain full control over the data collection process and further cut the cost and preparation time of our studies. We are currently fine-tuning the beta version of i-bex and, after the summer, we should be able to effectively use it to conduct online studies with the public, but also with specific subpopulations of interest (staff of EU Institutions included). For further information on i-bex, please contact Michal Krawczyk (michal.krawczyk@ec.europa.eu).

Ongoing and finished projects (21/06/2023)

We are happy to announce that our website has been updated with our latest ongoing and finished projects. Take a moment to check them out and learn about the good work we have been up to! In the meantime, here is a preview of our completed and ongoing work.

Literature review on means of food information provision other than packaging labels (21/06/2023)

This literature review explores alternative methods of providing food information and their impact on consumer behaviour. Direct access to information, such as menu and shelf labels, is more effective than digital means like QR codes. Consumers prefer visually available and easy-to-process information. Digital means can provide additional information but are not as easily accessible for informed food choices.

Environmental policy mixes have a high potential, but must be handled with care (21/06/2023)

Using a combination of nudges and monetary incentives is the most effective way to encourage green behaviour and combat climate change. Policy mixes are generally successful in promoting pro-environmental behaviour, with energy conservation benefiting the most from these interventions.

Employees’ reaction to gender pay transparency: an online experiment (21/06/2023)

The study conducted an online experiment to examine the reactions of employees towards gender pay transparency. Results show that employees were more likely to request a raise when they were aware of gender pay gaps in their workplace. This effect was stronger among female participants and those with a higher level of education.

Science Communication as a Collective Intelligence Endeavor: A Manifesto and Examples for Implementation (21/06/2023)

The challenge of science communication lies in the constantly evolving evidence and the prevalence of misinformation. To address this, a new approach called collective intelligence can be used. This is a collaborative approach, supported by technology, to enhance science communication. This approach offers four key advantages: (a) a wider knowledge base, (b) diverse scientific contributions, (c) participatory input from stakeholders, and (d) better adaptability to ongoing changes in the state of knowledge.

Education: Towards Balanced Mobility: Analysing Student Flows in Europe Using Gravity Models (21/06/2023)

This research project aims to understand the factors that influence student participation in the Erasmus Plus programme across different European countries. Using administrative data and gravity models, the study will analyse mobility flows and identify socioeconomic and demographic factors that drive or hinder participation. The findings will inform policies that promote more balanced and equal mobility opportunities across Europe.

Equality and Inclusion: Equal Employment Opportunity Statements to Increase Gender Representation in Top Leadership Positions (21/06/2023)

The study investigates the effect of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) statements on women's and men's job applications in Germany and Spain. The results show that EEO statements encourage women to apply for high-paying job positions, while men's behaviour remains unchanged except when both jobs include the statement. Careful placement of EEO statements in job advertisements could promote gender diversity and create a more equitable workforce.

Climate and Environment: Designing and testing EU harmonised waste sorting labels (21/06/2023)

This project aims to design and test harmonized waste sorting labels across the EU to reduce packaging waste and support the transition to a circular economy. The project will use desk research and participatory design methods to create a labelling system for all types of packaging, bins, and garbage bags. The resulting system will feed into the EU legislation on Packaging and Packaging Waste.

Artificial Intelligence: Preventing Algorithmic Discrimination and Promoting the Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence (21/06/2023)

This study aims to understand how AI decision support systems affect human decision-making and whether giving unbiased AI advice makes human decisions less discriminatory. We will run an online experiment with HR and banking professionals who will choose whom to hire or lend to among a pool of applicants with the help of AI. We will then follow up with a qualitative study to understand the experience of decision-makers. The study will generate evidence on the use of AI to discriminate and provide insights to prevent its misuse.

A Manifesto for Applying Behavioural Science (21/06/2023)

This paper evaluates current critiques on behavioural science, suggesting ten improvements regarding scope, methods, and values. It advocates for a revised narrative regarding the potential and function of behavioural science to overcome hurdles in integrating behavioural insights into policy-making and organisational structures.

Persuasion through Slanted Language: Evidence from the Media Coverage of Immigration (21/06/2023)

This article explores whether the language used by mass media to cover policy-relevant issues can affect readers' policy preferences, using the case of immigration and the Associated Press (AP) ban on the term "illegal immigrant". The study finds evidence that the ban led to lower support for restrictive immigration policies among readers.

Transparent communication about negative features of COVID-19 vaccines decreases acceptance but increases trust (21/06/2023)

Petersen et al. (2021) present two studies on the effect of Covid-19 vaccine communication on vaccine acceptance. They find that transparent communication about negative vaccine features harms acceptance but increases trust in health authorities. Vague reassurances about vaccine features do not increase acceptance, but instead decrease trust in health authorities and lead to greater endorsement of conspiracy theories.

Combining behavioural and reflective policy told for the environment: a scoping review of behavioural public policy literature (21/06/2023)

This paper explores the use of behavioural and non-behavioural policy tools in achieving goals in environmental policy. The difference is between tools that trigger automatic or affective reactions, and tools that rely more on reflection and deliberation on the part of their target. The authors shows that neither type of tool is better or worse than the other. Rather, they can be combined in constructive ways.

Book Recommendation: "Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity" (21/06/2023)

Foolproof is a comprehensible exploration into the psychology of misinformation. Delving into the questions of why people are drawn to conspiracy theories and why they share false information, Sander van der Linden sheds light on the underlying mechanics. Drawing on the analogy of a virus, he outlines the work of his team in developing a vaccine to misinformation. This work not only equips policymakers with a tool to combat the spread of false information but also offers invaluable insights into the nature of our beliefs and how they can be safeguarded.

European Commission and Behavioural Science: "Nudge and the Law" (21/06/2023)

‘Nudge and the Law’ takes a comprehensive look at Behavioural Insights interventions specifically from an EU policy-making and legal perspective. It covers normative and practical aspects of their implementation and provides the reader with a number of case studies across different policy areas (e.g. data protection, consumer policy, health) as well as useful lessons learned and conceptual guidance.

Podcast Recommendation: "Hidden Brain" (21/06/2023)

Hidden Brain podcast, led by host Shankar Vedantam, explores the fascinating connection between our minds and behaviours. Since 2015, the series has presented innovative research on topics such as narcissism, the psychology of terrorists, and the science behind personal and professional ‘success’. It is a must-listen for anyone interested in understanding the science behind human behavior.

For All Podcast Lovers: Behavioural Grooves (22/12/2022)

“Behavioural Grooves is the podcast that satisfies your curiosity of why we do what we do”. Created by Kurt Nelson and Tim Houlihan, this podcast aims to create a community of people who are interested in learning how to positively apply behavioural science to their work and life.

Building behavioural insights capacities: upcoming training opportunities in 2023 (22/12/2022)

The CCBI will offer the two half-days introductory course on February 13 and 14, and the crash course for directors and managers on February 15. Both courses have a long-standing history of introducing colleagues from across the European Commission on methods, principles and findings from the behavioural sciences and their relevance to policymakers. More sessions will be also available in summer and autumn. Please register here for the introductory course and here for the crash course.

We are launching a new seminar series on Behavioural Insights for Public Policy (22/12/2022)

The goal of these seminars is to learn about new ideas and research on BI in a wide range of topics. We will start with a presentation by Prof. Natalia Montinari (U. Bologna) about the persistent gender pay gap that we observe in many different settings. Other topics that will be covered by various speakers are Misinformation, Environment, Artificial Intelligence, Migration, and Education. The seminar agenda is available here.

Separate collection of municipal waste: citizens’ involvement and behavioural aspects (22/12/2022)

This study presents the main findings of a literature review about municipalities’ separate waste collection (SWC) in EU Countries. Citizens’ behaviour plays a key role in separate collection. Thus, it is important to understand the main behavioural factors of waste sorting and how it can be encouraged. Along with the literature review, various stakeholders participated in a survey to identify the factors influencing SWC. We discuss when people are motivated and able to sort their waste. This allows for a much more detailed understanding of consumer waste sorting than simply socio-demographic characteristics. We also discuss how the factors affecting SWC vary from country to country.

Social media and mental health (22/12/2022)

In the paper ‘Social media and mental health’, the authors provide an estimate of the impact of social media on students’ mental health. Using survey data on students’ wellbeing, they highlight the negative impact of the introduction of Facebook across US colleges. The main driver behind this decline in students’ mental health seems to be the increased availability of unfavourable social comparisons offered by social media.

Overview of on-going work and forthcoming one (22/12/2022)

In 2022 the CCBI has welcomed five new colleagues (Andrea, Michal, Elisa, Anita and Marion) and we are about to recruit a permanent colleague to replace René, who left in September. With more resources, we also broadened the scope of our activity, and – while continuing or completing on-going work – we started work on AI, education, energy, migration and waste. In 2023 we should finally have a full team and should be able to harvest from the good quality work delivered so far.

Perception of the COVID-19 pandemic phases and future waves (22/12/2022)

A Pulse survey on nearly 6000 respondents from Italy, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Poland, France, and Sweden took place in May 2022 to investigate the beliefs and perceptions of EU citizens on the current COVID-19 pandemic phase and its future waves. Most respondents (about 70%) believes that the COVID-19 pandemic in their own country is at “post-peak” phase. Unvaccinated respondents are more likely to believe that the COVID-19 pandemic is finished compared to vaccinated ones. They also are less likely to want to take up the vaccine in the future, compared to the already vaccinated. Finally, vaccinated individuals who think that a next wave is unlikely to happen tend to be undecided about getting a COVID-19 booster.

Applying lessons from behavioural sciences to vaccination acceptance and demand (22/12/2022)

This technical report gives an overview of a large project on vaccination acceptance and demand and illustrates its outcomes and lessons learnt. The overarching objective of the project, started in 2019 and completed in 2022, was to facilitate and execute research on vaccine confidence by identifying behavioural determinants of vaccine hesitancy across different subgroups of the population, like parents and healthcare workers, for specific categories of vaccines in several Member States of the European Union. Furthermore, the project seized the opportunity to take stock of the progress made in understanding the behavioural determinants of vaccination during the COVID-19 pandemic. This invaluable knowledge is fundamental to improved health emergency preparedness, response plans and infrastructures.

Book Recommendation: Behavioral Science in the Wild (22/12/2022)

This book addresses some of the current key issues concerning the application of behavioural insights in practice. It picks up on issues such as how to scale up interventions and generalise evidence from the lab to the field. It details some of the most prominent behavioural interventions and some of the most prominent contexts in which they are applied.

Covid-19 misinformation: Preparing for future crises (22/12/2022)

This report takes stock of the literature in behavioural sciences about COVID-19 misinformation. It covers issues such as who was most likely to believe or share COVID-19 misinformation, the consequences of being exposed to or believing COVID-19 misinformation, and which behavioural policy interventions to counter COVID-19 misinformation are effective. The report also provides a snapshot of the prevalence and spread of Covid-19 misinformation as well as its narratives. It generates insights into policies that can help foster societal resilience against misinformation beyond the specific case of COVID-19. This contributes to preparation for future crises.

What does “respect for individual sovereignty” mean? (22/12/2022)

How do we improve the life of consumers or citizen while respecting their individual sovereignty? What about when they make apparently bad choices? Intervention is sometime justified by saying a choice is “irrational” or is the result of a bad environment. Ferreira offers a more robust justification: when the person herself does not approve of her own choices. This means we should not only observe what people do, but also ask them what they wish they would do. Doing so would help better target boosts and nudges.

Is Front-of-pack (FoP) information provision effective for food products? (22/12/2022)

On behalf of DG SANTE, and together with JRC colleagues of the “Health in Society" Unit, in September the CCBI co-published the JRC Science for Policy report “Front-of-pack nutrition labelling schemes: a comprehensive review”. This report provides an update of the former publication regarding the effects of front-of-pack nutrition labelling (FOPNL) schemes on consumers' understanding, food purchases, diet and health, as well as food reformulation. The report gives account of a wealth of evidence on the impact of FoP labelling, and will be informing forthcoming decisions that the EC will be taking in this domain.

Learn more about Behavioural Science at the European Commission (22/12/2022)

Our JRC Policy Report about Applying Behavioural Science to EU Policy-Making investigates how behavioural insights can be applied to policymaking at the European level. The authors show that we do not always act rationally and explore the implications of this for policymaking. This is a very useful reference that touches upon practical issues when commissioning behavioural studies and describes the pros and cons of different evidence collection methods.

Biodiversity conservation as a promising frontier for behavioural science (22/12/2022)

‘Biodiversity conservation as a promising frontier for behavioural science’, published in 2021 in Nature: Human Behaviour, argues that behavioural sciences have a crucial role to play in the field of biodiversity given the importance of human behaviour change in reversing the biodiversity decline’s current trend. The authors suggest that identifying key stakeholders and prioritising behaviour change according to its (technical) potential (the intervention’s potential effectiveness in reducing biodiversity threats) and behaviour’s plasticity (the extent to which a behavioural intervention can change behaviour) will be key to the success of behavioural interventions in this field.

Behavioural insights and the evolving Covid-19 pandemic (27/06/2022)

Behavioural sciences – including cognitive psychology, anthropology, social psychology, behavioural economics, sociology and other areas – are an essential complement to medical and epidemiological sciences in the response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. In this paper, published in Eurosurveillance, a group of behavioural scientists working in/with national and international organizations presented a perspective highlighting several ongoing challenges, from vaccination to masking, that behavioural science research could help to address.

Strategic roundtable session on behavioural sciences applied to public health at the WHO (27/06/2022)

Our colleague René van Bavel is on secondment at the WHO and draws attention to a strategic roundtable session on behavioural sciences applied to public health, which was held as part of the Seventy-fifth World Health Assembly in May.

Symposium on "Vaccination and the pandemic: lessons from behavioural sciences" (27/06/2022)

The CCBI organized a symposium at the end of April where researchers, practitioners, and policymakers presented and discussed applications of behavioural insights to improve vaccination acceptance and demand.

JRC Science Summit - #BreakTheBias: The Science of Bias and Bias in Science and Society (27/06/2022)

The CCBI participated in the JRC Science Summit, a 3-day event in the middle of June, with over 60 scientific sessions led by JRC scientists to reflect on the future of EU Science.

The CCBI is a member of the newly- created Advisory Board of the Penn Center for Social Norms and Behavioural Dynamics (27/06/2022)

For a 3-year period (2022-2024) the CCBI will be a member of the Advisory Board of the Penn Center for Social Norms and Behavioural Dynamics (University of Pennsylvania).

A behavioural study on the effective marking of single use plastic products (27/06/2022)

You might have seen new labels on some cups, wet wipes, sanitary items, and tobacco products. These labels indicate that these single-use products contain plastics. They visually inform users about inappropriate disposal options and their consequences. The behavioural study underlying these labels was published in June 2021 and provides some interesting insights based on the behavioural sciences.

Comparing the impact of positive, negative, and graded sustainability labels on purchase decisions (27/06/2022)

This policy brief presents the results of an online experiment with EU consumers. The goal was to assess the relative effectiveness of three sustainability labelling approaches: (1) positive labels - only identifying products with the best sustainability performance, (2) negative labels - only identifying products with the worst sustainability performance, and (3) graded labels - conveying the relative sustainability of all products. Results suggest that graded labels are the most effective to steer consumer toward more sustainable purchase decisions.

Nudging for bad? The case of cookie consent banners (27/06/2022)

In this policy brief, we outline how many cookie consent banners are designed to make it difficult to reject all but the most essential cookies. This contradicts the spirit of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). This example illustrates the “dark side” of behavioural insights, which can be used to exploit consumer biases. We propose three solutions to improve the way consent is requested: setting “reject all” as the default, letting users set their preferences in their browser once and for all websites, or standardizing banners so rejecting all cookies is as easy as accepting them.

A counterintuitive ad campaign helps deal with the partisanship divide and vaccine hesitancy (27/06/2022)

How can policymakers overcome partisan polarization affecting vaccine hesitancy? A remedy for this partisan divide can exploit this polarization by giving partisan cues. A large randomized controlled trial using ads on YouTube targeted areas in the U.S. that lagged in vaccine uptake. A video compilation of Donald Trump's (rare) vaccination encouragements on conservative media (Fox News) significantly increased vaccination rates. This shows that one can leverage partisan polarization as a cost-effective way to overcome vaccine hesitancy.

This is the second edition of the Behavioural Insights newsletter. (18/01/2022)

Please forward to your colleagues so they can subscribe for the next editions!

Upcoming trainings (27/06/2022)

Crash course for Managers and Directors and Introductory Course

Why are policy innovations not implemented at scale? (27/06/2022)

Even the best ideas do not matter much unless they are scaled up. DellaVigna and colleagues track 73 randomized controlled trials conducted by the Behavioral Insights Team North America to improve communication practice in US cities. They find that only 27% of them were subsequently implemented and investigate why this is so.

Debate: Does behavioural public policy hinder systemic changes? (27/06/2022)

In a recent paper, George Loewenstein and Nick Chater claim that the behavioural turn in public policy results in portraying individuals and their “imperfect” behaviour as being at fault for what are in fact essentially systemic failures. We at the CCBI think there is no such clear difference between policies that target the system and those that target the individual. For example, behavioural insight can make tough, systemic policies more palatable (e.g., the carbon tax), or help protect consumers against systemic exploitation of their biases by firms (with dark nudges). A better understanding of people’s behaviour can only contribute to strengthening – rather than weakening – systemic policies.

Quarterly meetings of our EU Network of Behavioural Insights Champions (NetBIC) (27/06/2022)

We launched the EU Network of Behavioural Insights Champions (NetBIC) in 2021.

This is a primer of the new Behavioural Insights newsletter (18/01/2022)

Please forward to your colleagues and subscribe to receive the next editions!

Keeping on working in a challenging year (18/01/2022)

Ongoing projects, new topics, new members

Introductory course on behavioural insights (24/01/2022)

We offer an introductory course on behavioural insights on the 7th and 8th of March in the morning, and on the 16th and 17th of June in the morning. The course introduces methods, principles and findings from the behavioural sciences and their relevance to policy-makers. Behavioural insights can be used to improve the way policies are designed. We explain how to identify behavioural aspects of policy problems and apply behaviourally informed solutions to them. The course is highly interactive, with group work, examples and exercises. Please register via the platform EU Learn by clicking on the "read more" button below. Further more specialized and advanced thematic courses and workshops are planned for later in the year.

Nudges can be transparent and yet effective (17/01/2022)

Nudges seek to change behaviour without banning alternatives. However, they are sometimes seen as manipulative. Implementing nudges in a transparent way can address such reservations but is rarely considered. Transparent nudges can be as effective as their opaque counterparts and might even be viewed more favourably. Nudging transparently is a promising policy option.

The evolution of behaviourally informed policymaking in the EU (17/01/2022)

This paper, published in the Journal of European Public Policy, presents the evolution of Behavioural Insights inside the European Commission, illustrates how Behavioural Insights are introduced in the policy cycle and explores future challenges to and opportunities for mainstreaming BI at every level and stage of policymaking in the EU.

Farmers and the new green architecture of the EU common agricultural policy: a behavioural experiment (17/01/2022)

This behavioural experiment with farmers assesses the effect of two features of the new push to adopt environmentally friendly practices within the EU common agricultural policy. Adoption of such practices can be made mandatory, or budgets can be shifted to encourage voluntary adoption. Results highlight trade-offs between mandatory and voluntary schemes to increase agriculture’s environmental and climate performance.

(Mis-)perception of inequality: Measures, determinants and consequences. (17/01/2022)

Despite being considered by many to be harmful for society, inequality has been rising in the past decades. How this is experienced may differ from the objective levels of inequality. We systematically revisit common measures of perceived inequality. Individuals’ experience and exposure to local inequality have profound impact on their perceptions and how they would like to redistribute wealth in society.

The heterogeneity revolution in behavioural sciences (18/01/2022)

Behavioural insights are based on sound science, but some behavioural findings are not robust across different environments. We need more effort to understand how the context will affect a policy’s effectiveness. This is the aim of the “heterogeneity revolution”. Broader, more diverse samples are needed, and researchers must underline limitations in the domains of applicability of their findings.

The effectiveness of nudging: A meta-analysis of choice architecture interventions across behavioral domains. (18/01/2022)

In this review article, the authors examine more than 450 behavioral interventions and offer an original taxonomy of the techniques they use. They can be classified as giving better information to aid decision, changing the choice structure to influence choice, and helping individuals overcome harmful biases in decision making. Changing the process by which a decision is reached obtains the largest changes in behavior, but other technique also reliably obtain significant effects.

Benefits of megastudies for testing behavioural interventions (18/01/2022)

This article discusses “megastudies”, which assess many behavioral interventions within the same context. They are an economical way to test many interventions, even those that have low chances of success a-priori. They also ease comparisons across interventions. However, there is a “winners’ curse” whereby the most successful intervention might have “won” only by chance. Furthermore, issues remain in generalizing from the context of the megastudy to other contexts.