Behavioural Science Explained

Behavioural targeting (BT) is a technique used in online advertising to monitor users' browsing behaviour in order to provide them with individually targeted advertising. BT uses information about user behaviour such as website visits, search queries, and videos watched to predict consumer interests.

Levis.com was an early adopter of BT, using cookies and web beacons to gather this data from their customers. The effectiveness of such campaigns is “unbelievable,” according to Klaviyo's Devin Bhatia. This simple approach has resulted in a 40%+ open rate, up to 10% click rate, and 30-50% of the revenue of standard email campaigns

There are three main approaches to BT: affinity-based, predictive and re-targeting. Whilst BT can be very effective, it is heavily reliant on data, and this can be problematic. In addition, it has limited use for mass advertising

European law mandates that companies obtain informed consent before using tracking technologies for BT.

However, the effectiveness of informed consent is debatable due to information asymmetry and the prevalence of biases like myopia and status quo bias.

This has led to calls for stronger protection measures, such as data minimisation, transparency regulations and stricter rules around the handling of sensitive data

We discuss Imposter Syndrome through 4 papers which investigate and deep dive into the subject.

●"Imposter phenomenon and self-handicapping: Links with parenting styles and self-confidence": This source examines the link between the impostor phenomenon (IP) and self-handicapping (SH), both of which are connected to low self-confidence. The study's findings indicate that paternal overprotection is a strong predictor of IP, while maternal care is associated with lower SH scores.

●"Imposter syndrome among Russian students: The link between perfectionism and psychological distress": This source explores the relationship between perfectionism and imposter syndrome, finding that imposter syndrome mediates the link between perfectionistic discrepancy (focusing on one's inadequacies) and psychological distress (anxiety and depression). The study suggests that imposter syndrome is a potential intervention point to mitigate depression caused by perfectionism.

●"Rewriting the Narrative on Imposter Syndrome": This source offers a personal narrative about imposter syndrome, highlighting its impact on professional life. The author presents strategies for reframing imposter syndrome, including reframing fear of failure as opportunities for success, focusing on strengths, accepting imperfection, and embracing authenticity

Prospect theory is a descriptive model of decision-making under risk and uncertainty that suggests individuals evaluate outcomes based on perceived gains and losses relative to a reference point, rather than absolute outcomes. The theory proposes a value function that is concave for gains (risk aversion) and convex for losses (risk seeking), with a steeper slope for losses than for gains, reflecting loss aversion.The sources highlight several key learnings:

●Individuals' risk attitudes vary depending on whether they perceive themselves to be in the domain of gains or losses. eg, someone may be risk-averse when considering potential gains but risk-seeking when facing potential losses.

●Observational evidence alone is often insufficient to differentiate prospect theory from alternative models, such as disappointment aversion.411 More rigorous testing methods, such as carefully designed experiments, may be needed to provide robust support for prospect theory.

●Prospect theory has multiple variants and calibrations, making it challenging to determine which specific components of the theory are being tested and supported by evidence. This complexity requires careful consideration of the internal structure of the theory and the potential for heterogeneity across individuals.

We examine the concept of choice overload, which refers to the negative consequences that can arise when individuals are presented with too many options. These sources explore how choice overload influences individuals' motivations, specifically their perceptions of a decision's value and their self-efficacy in making a good choice. The studies use various methods, including laboratory experiments and field studies, to investigate the effects of choice set size on satisfaction, regret, and other decision-related outcomes. One key focus is on the role of regulatory focus theory, which suggests that people can be either prevention focused (seeking to avoid negative outcomes) or promotion focused (seeking to achieve positive outcomes). The researchers propose that the impact of choice overload may be moderated by these regulatory foci, with prevention-focused individuals potentially experiencing more negative consequences when faced with a large choice set. The findings suggest that individuals selecting from many options may perceive the decision as more important but feel less capable of making a good choice, potentially leading to negative downstream consequences.

We examine the Dunning-Kruger effect, a cognitive bias where individuals with low competence in a given area overestimate their abilities. The first text, a scientific paper, critiques the typical methods for testing the Dunning-Kruger effect, arguing that the observed results are largely due to statistical artefacts, particularly the "better-than-average" effect and regression to the mean. They propose alternative, more robust statistical methods to test the effect. The second text, a letter to the editor of a medical journal, further explores the limitations of self-assessment, highlighting the influence of factors like social desirability and motivational biases. The final text is a research article that examines the Dunning-Kruger effect in the context of young adults, exploring how it relates to personality traits such as narcissism and general self-efficacy, and decision-making styles.

We discuss the Behavioural Science concept, Mere Exposure Effect, a phenomenon where repeated exposure to a stimulus, even without conscious awareness, increases our preference for that stimulus. We cover The Decision Lab article about the effect in a business context and explain how it can be applied to marketing and product design. The second source, a research paper by Andy Martinez, examines the effect in relation to emotional facial stimuli, challenging purely affective interpretations of the effect and highlighting the role of cognition. The final source by R.B. Zajonc, explores the effect as an unmediated process, proposing that repeated exposure to a stimulus, even without conscious recognition, can be viewed as a form of classical conditioning where the absence of aversive consequences acts as an unconditioned stimulus, leading to the development of positive affect. The author argues for the independence of affect and cognition and discusses supporting neuroanatomical evidence

We discuss the concept of reciprocity norms and their impact on social behaviour. The first text examines the role of reciprocity in functionalist theory, arguing that functionalism implicitly relies on reciprocity and that its rejection of the concept of “survivvals” obscures the significance of unequal exchanges. The second text discusses the influence of reciprocity norms on information-sharing in online consumption communities, finding that the reciprocity norm is strengthened by factors like member support, enjoyment, and community informativeness, and is moderated by individual characteristics like self-efficacy. The final text presents a theoretical model of the emergence of cooperative social norms in a society of rational agents, which is based on the idea that individuals uphold cooperative norms to maintain reputations for trustworthiness, which are essential for engaging in mutually beneficial transactions. This model is supported by empirical evidence from an international micro-data set on family behaviour.

We discuss the concept of temporal discounting, which refers to the tendency for individuals to devalue rewards as the time delay to their receipt increases. The first source explores the connection between temporal discounting and the control of saccadic eye movements, suggesting that the brain considers both the value of a reward and the time required to obtain it when making decisions about how to move the eyes. The second source investigates how power influences temporal discounting, finding that individuals with a greater sense of power tend to discount future rewards less, potentially due to increased optimism about their ability to achieve future goals. The third source explores the impact of search habits on temporal discounting, suggesting that individuals who are accustomed to searching for rewards are more likely to discount delayed rewards more steeply. The fourth source focuses on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), finding that individuals with combined-type ADHD, particularly those with hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms, exhibit steeper temporal discounting, particularly when reward magnitudes are small. The final source examines the contrast effect in temporal and probabilistic discounting, demonstrating that people's perceptions of time and probability can be influenced by the context in which they are presented with choices.

We explore the social cognitive theory of organizational management and its core element, self-efficacy. The authors argue that traditional motivational and behavioural approaches to management have limitations and advocate for a broader perspective that incorporates the cognitive processes that individuals use to regulate their behaviour. They highlight the crucial role of self-efficacy, or one's belief in their ability to succeed, in influencing individual performance and choice of environments. We explore the use experimental studies to demonstrate how self-efficacy beliefs, along with factors such as goal setting and conceptions of ability, impact organizational outcomes. The articles emphasize that self-efficacy is not simply a personal attribute, but can be influenced by various factors, including mastery experiences, modelling, social comparison, and verbal persuasion.

We discuss the concept of commitment devices, which are mechanisms individuals use to restrict their future choices and promote self-control. The first source explores the theoretical foundations for commitment devices, focusing on models of time-inconsistent preferences and how these preferences lead to a demand for commitment. It further investigates the effectiveness of different types of commitments, including soft commitments that rely on social pressure or personal rules, and hard commitments that involve financial penalties or physical constraints. The second source delves into the application of commitment devices in the context of climate policy. The authors conduct an experiment to understand how different policy interventions, such as reducing uncertainty about climate change, introducing costly commitment devices like renewable energy investment, or altering ethical frameworks with a veil of ignorance, influence individual behaviour and resource conservation. The final source focuses on the use of commitment devices in online behaviour change support systems, specifically on smartphone and social media usage. We discuss an experiment to assess the efficacy of soft commitment devices, like app limits, in reducing phone use and examine the impact of financial incentives, social support, and individual self-control on the effectiveness of these devices.