Giving Compass' Take:

• ideas42 shares five behavior insights gleaned in 2018 that are creating an impact and are ripe for further implementation. 

• How can funders help local government adopt effective nudges like these? 

• Learn how behavior design teams can create nudges for city governments. 

A significant part of our work at ideas42 is learning, constantly, about people—how they make decisions and how their actions are impacted by the world around them. Through a deeper understanding about our often-quirky tendencies, we can more effectively design solutions that can positively impact the lives of millions of people.

In this process, each year we glean a few more insights about behavior through designing, refining, and rigorously testing new solutions to social problems. As 2018 draws to a close, we’re looking back at some of the most impactful behavioral insights of our year—insights that are impactful not only because we learned more about how people act in real-life contexts, but because of their potential for benefiting more people in the future.

We (and others, we hope) will continue to use and improve upon the following behavioral insights to make the world’s programs, policies, systems, and products better reflect the way we as humans actually behave—and in turn make the world...

  1. ... more just: Reminding people to attend their court date can prevent unnecessary warrants.
  2. …more financially resilient: One-time, actionable interventions are good for financial health.
  3. …more sustainable: A 7-cent tax prompted many people to ditch plastic bags at checkout.
  4. …more generous: People tend to donate more money to charity when they set goals.
  5. …with more social good: A decade of behavioral innovation adds up

Read the full article about behavioral insights from 2018 at ideas42.