Cognitive Policy Works

Last week, forty-six people gathered in Seattle to learn about How to Bring About Large-Scale Behavior Change. In this workshop we set about designing campaigns for social change armed with knowledge from the cognitive and behavioral sciences. Participants explored the emotional foundations of morality and experienced the nuances of human decision-making. Armed with this knowledge, [...]

As I prepare for the workshop next week on How to Bring About Large-Scale Behavior Change, it occurs to me that people might want to know why I believe it is finally possible to intentionally design campaigns that result in significant behavioral change. Here are five things I’ve discovered that lead me to the conclusion [...]

One of the most confounding challenges facing the sustainability movement is how to bring about a massive shift in human behavior. This master class explores a variety of powerful insights from cognitive science for developing successful social change strategies. You’ll learn how meaning arises in the workings of the human brain, why emotions are absolutely vital for engaging people in a process of persistent change, and what the root causes are that have driven societal institutions to the edge of ecological collapse.