285. Bringing Behavioral Economics to the Spanish-Speaking Community with Carlos Hoyos

In this episode of the Brainy Business podcast, host Melina Palmer interviews Carlos Hoyos, a behavioral scientist and content creator from Latin America. They discuss the challenges of creating content in a non-English language and the importance of making behavioral science accessible to a wider audience. Hoyos shares his approach to creating content, including his YouTube channel, Behavioral Pills, and his e-learning platform, which offers one-hour sessions on various behavioral science frameworks. The conversation highlights the need for more diverse voices in the behavioral science community and the opportunities for growth and learning in different regions around the world. Show Notes: [00:42] Welcome Carlos Hoyos, Senior Behavioral Designer at BeWay, and Co-Founder at Kestudio. [02:19] Behavioral science is important everywhere.  [03:42] Carlos shares about himself, his background, and the work he does in behavioral science.  [05:35] In recent years he has dedicated his whole career to developing his knowledge in terms of behavioral science and design and specifically to find ways to apply it in business.  [07:15] Carlos was named Content Person of the Year by Habit Weekly. (Merle van den Akker – last week’s guest – and I were both finalists as well – congrats Carlos!)  [10:15] There are many companies now that are investing in behavioral science in Latin America.  [13:12] He sees himself as a content curator because he shares what other good professionals are doing.  [14:46] People love to talk about human behavior. It really connects to people.  [16:36] He found that there is so much information out there in English. Instead of being just one more, he decided to focus on Spanish because there is so little in Spanish right now.  [19:32] Daring to do the thing no one else has done yet is what helps people to stand out.  [22:20] Carlos shares some of the work he is doing with BBVA. They have merged behavioral science into day-to-day decision-making.  [24:53] One project they worked on at BBVA was with credit cards. People weren’t interested in applying for the credit cards because of a lack of trust – they wanted to change that.  [27:34] Experimentation and testing are a must in their projects.  [29:20] In 2022, they did more than 130 experiments in different areas of the business and that actually represented an extra income of around 45 million euros in the year.  [30:46] There are so many little things where behavioral science can make a very big impact in any type of business all around the world.  [32:20] There is plenty of opportunity and room for growth in behavioral science – in the US and around the world.  [35:16] The stress on the brain when you are trying to hurry and rush leads to problems that have to be fixed down the line.  [37:23] Experimenting and testing every decision you want to make will help you make better decisions now and for the future.  [38:42] If you torture the data long enough it will confess to anything.  [41:34] Carlo’s Behavioral Pills are one-hour e-learning sessions where he explains things concepts he considers basic for a behavioral scientist to know.  [43:33] Melina’s closing thoughts [45:03] Don’t be scared of being first. There are lots of people like you who have done this in their own way or their own language.  Thanks for listening. Don’t forget to subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Android. If you like what you heard, please leave a review on iTunes and share what you liked about the show.  I hope you love everything recommended via The Brainy Business! Everything was independently reviewed and selected by me, Melina Palmer. So you know, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you decide to shop from the links on this page (via Amazon or others), The Brainy Business may collect a share of sales or other compensation. Let’s connect: [email protected] The Brainy Business® on Facebook The Brainy Business on Twitter The Brainy Business on Instagram The Brainy Business on LinkedIn Melina on LinkedIn The Brainy Business on Youtube Join the BE Thoughtful Revolution – our free behavioral economics community, and keep the conversation going! Learn and Support The Brainy Business: Check out and get your copies of Melina’s Books.  Get the Books Mentioned on (or related to) this Episode: Outsmart Your Brain, by Dan Willingham Good Habits, Bad Habits, by Wendy Wood Predictably Irrational, by Dan Ariely Evolutionary Ideas, by Sam Tatam Friction, by Roger Dooley Connect with Carlos:  Carlos Website Carlos on LinkedIn Carlos on YouTube Top Recommended Next Episode: How To Set Up Your Own Experiments (ep 63) Already Heard That One? Try These:  Saving Peru’s Environment One Nudge At A Time with BE OEFA (ep 195) Habit Weekly: A Discussion With Creator Samuel Salzer (ep 284) Dan Ariely Interview: Discussing Shapa, the Numberless Scale (ep 101) Nudges and Choice Architecture (ep 35) How To Change, an interview Dr. Katy Milkman (ep 151) Evolutionary Ideas with Sam Tatam, Ogilvy’s Global Head of Behavioural Science (ep 204) Herding (ep 264) Priming (ep 252) Where CX and Behavioral Science Meet, with Jennifer Clinehens (ep 141) The Speed and Economics of Trust, with Stephen M.R. Covey (ep 148) Friction, with Roger Dooley (ep 274) Sludge: What It Is and How to Reduce It (ep 179) Using Behavioral Science to Tackle Addiction with Richard Chataway (ep 134) Reciprocity (ep 238) Framing (ep 16) Other Important Links:  Brainy Bites - Melina’s LinkedIn Newsletter Behavioral Pills Website