Behavioural Insights Projects

In line with the Government of Canada's National Adaptation Strategy, this project seeks to further understanding of Canadians’ awareness and adoption of measures intended to mitigate wildfire risk toward the end of supporting and empowering more widespread action. The study is a survey with an embedded randomized controlled trial component. The survey component of the study aims to address questions such as: 1. What are the barriers to more widespread adoption of wildland fire risk reduction…

Institution: Impact and Innovation Hub (IIU)- Impact Canada

Team: Impact and Innovation Unit (IIU)

We seek to increase voluntary appearances for people with outstanding Warrants to Arrest (WTA) through reminder phone calls from Māori Wardens and Police. This Auckland-based project follows a proof-of-concept trial in the Eastern District, in which Māori Wardens made phone calls to people with outstanding WTAs and we compared voluntary appearance rates for those who were reached via phone to those who were not. While this trial in the Eastern District showed indicative evidence that phone…

Institution: Ara Poutama (Department of Corrections)

Team: Behavioural Science Aotearoa

Current psychological research has focused a great deal of studying susceptibility to misinformation across a single domain (e.g. COVID-19, Climate Change, etc...). It's not well understood if susceptibility is dependent on the content and context of misinformation. To address this, our team will investigate which predictors of susceptibility are consistent across topic areas.

Institution: Privy Council Office

Team: Impact and Innovation Unit (IIU)

In the study, the effectiveness of four reminder messages was evaluated through an online laboratory experiment involving 2,963 participants. The content of these messages was designed based on evidence from behavioural sciences, and their effect was contrasted with that of a simple, brief, and direct message (control message). The impact of the reminders was measured through four outcome variables: the action participants declared they would take after receiving the message, understanding and…

Institution: Servicio Nacional del Consumidor (SERNAC)

As rewards increasingly become an instrument used by policymakers, it is important to find a reward mechanism that does not crowd out intrinsic motivation, is long lasting, and has positive spillover effects on third parties. A policy innovation introduced by the Municipality of Santa Fe (Argentina) allowed us to evaluate different mechanisms for rewarding tax compliance – participation in a lottery (financial motive), public recognition (moral channel), and provision of a visible and durable…

Institution: Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)

Team: IDB Behavioral Economics Group

The Ontario Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) is responsible for paying Ontario Public Service (OPS) employees on a bi-weekly basis. The Pay and Benefits Service Centre inboxes receive a large volume of documents. Pay and Benefits transactions are processed according to Pay Processing Deadlines and Pay and Benefits Service Priorities. Each month, OPS employees are required to confirm their attendance in the OPS Human Resources system (WIN System) for the previous month, and managers are…

Institution: Ontario Public Service (OPS)

Team: Ontario Behavioural Insights Unit

An ever-increasing number of AI ethicists can enumerate the most prominent risks; yet startlingly few psychologists, or other experts in behavioral science, are working on the project of aligning AI outcomes with fundamental ethical and safety principles. This knowledge gap is striking given the extraordinary investments being channeled into the technology’s ability to master and influence human behavior. In neglecting more than a century of relevant behavioral research, the ethical AI…

Institution: Other

Team: Research-to-Policy Collaboration

- There is need for organ donors. - According to public opinion polls, approximately 84% of Canadians support organ and tissue donation but only 43% report to have registered.[1,2] - In British Columbia, Canada, Internal operational data indicates that, between 2016 and 2017, 24,303 organ donation registrations took place through Service BC centres. This number dropped to 14,860 in 2019. - Considering these circumstances, Service BC has partnered with the BC Behavioural Insights Group to develop…

Institution: British Columbia Behavioural Insights Group (BC BIG)

Team: British Columbia Behavioural Insights Group (BC BIG)

A campaign was launched to encourage young people to get the catch-up vaccination against Human Papillomavirus (HPV). The campaign succeeded in promoting discussion and increased awareness of HPV as well as persuading young people to get vaccinated. Why this experiment was conducted: provide boys and girls with a vaccine they might not have received In 2022 and 2023, boys were invited for the first time and girls were invited again to get vaccinated against the Human Papillomavirus (HPV). HPV…

Institution: Dutch National Immunisation Programme

BETA partnered with AFSA on two projects to determine how to best communicate about the consequences of bankruptcy. In the first project, over 6,500 Australians completed one of six educational tools online that explain the consequences of bankruptcy and then assessed their levels of understanding. A pop-quiz and video were most effective, improving people’s understanding by 27 percentage points above the group that saw no educational tool. In the second project, we introduced five additional…

Institution: Prime Minister and Cabinet (PMC)

Team: Behavioural Economics Team of the Australian Government (BETA)