Article archive / October 1, 2015
Originally published: . Volume 6, No. 10. Source pages: 5.
Pres Obama Signs Executive Order to Use and Recruit More Behavioral Scientists for Programs
On September 15, President Obama signed an Executive Order directing departments and agencies to increase their use of behavioral science in achieving goals. This continues President Obama’s interest in psychological science reported in various ways: that he is a consumer of information coming from cognitive and behavioral psychologists such as Robert Cialdini (Influence) and Daniel Kahneman (Thinking, Fast and Slow).
The Order directs the administrative agencies to identify policies, programs, and operations where applying behavioral science insights may yield substantial improvements in public welfare, program outcomes, and program cost effectiveness. The order says to develop strategies for applying behavioral science insights to programs and, where possible, rigorously test and evaluate the impact of these insights. Also, the order says to recruit behavioral science experts to join the Federal Government as necessary to achieve the goals of this directive; and strengthen agency relationships with the research community to better use empirical findings from the behavioral sciences.
The order asks agencies to identify opportunities to help qualifying individuals, families, communities, and businesses access public programs and benefits by, as appropriate, streamlining processes and improving how information is presented to consumers, borrowers, program beneficiaries, and others. The President asks for agencies to review elements of their policies and programs that are designed to encourage or make it easier for Americans to take specific actions, such as saving for retirement or completing education programs.
In a 2013 news report by the Association for Psychological Science authors noted that the Philip Rubin, assistant director for social, behavioral and economic sciences in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, reported that the administration welcomed behavioral and social scientists into policy development. In 2013 an event was sponsored by American Psychological Society and various government groups and helped leaders in a team- building effort.
Some inspiration for this movement comes form the British Behavioural Insights Team, commissioned by British Prime Minister David Cameron in 2010. Cameron’s team was charged with testing, through randomized control trials, the effectiveness of programs such as tax compliance, energy conservation, charitable giving, health programs, and prevention.
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