How the science of human behavior is beginning to reshape the US government

theconversation.com

7 pointsAmorymeltzer4 comments

Aren't a lot of psychological studies coming under scrutiny for lack of reproducibility, and now the government is using them in policy design ? This is more than a little unsettling.

Did you read the article? They're basically A/B testing their notifications and forms. It's nearly costless and they quickly scrap what doesn't work.

From the article " As the evidence for the SBST’s programs continues to accumulate, the hope is that behavioral insights become as central in policymakers' thinking as economic ones, helping us build effective policies from the ground up."

My concern is where the behavioral insights are coming from, if they are coming from stringent reproducible tests, that's great. But many recent articles about psychological studies suggest there is crisis in that field, and so called insights need to taken with some salt, especially if the goal is to create national policy.

Url changed from http://qz.com/545515/the-science-of-human-behavior-is-reshap..., which points to this.

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