Behavior Design for Sustainability

Many, if not all, of our environmental problems—from climate change, to habitat destruction to overconsumption of natural resources—are the result of human behavior. If we want to solve or mitigate these problems, we must first understand what is truly driving these behaviors. Most policies and programs to address environmental issues have focused on legal or economic tools such as prohibiting certain forms of pollution or giving subsidies for renewable energy. In this course, we will examine an alternative framework for motivating environmentally friendly behavior: psychological and social barriers and motivations. Although this class will mainly cover environmental issues, the psychological tools we will discuss are used in other domains as well, including development, health, and other pro-social causes, so will be useful to students interested in a range of applications. While you will gain an understanding of the theories underpinning behavioral science, the main objective of this course is to learn how to facilitate highly practical application of behavioral insights, i.e. how to apply behavioral insights to plan and implement effective, evidence-based behavior change campaigns, programs and policies.

Schedule
2:00pm-3:50pm on Tuesday, Thursday (Oct 17, 2019 to Dec 13, 2019)
Location
Morse B106
Instructors