Biggest Challenges For A Senior Behavioral Designer At A Behavioral Design Firm
Marisa's biggest challenge as a Senior Behavioral Designer is clarifying the limitations of behavioral science, differentiating between solvable "I-frame" individual problems and unsolvable "S-frame" systemic issues like climate change policy. The field often faces pressure to solve systemic problems "instead of doing the hard work of changing…regulation," leading to a crucial need to emphasize behavioral science's role as a "complimentary feature" to policy, not a replacement.
Behavioral Science, Policy Impact, Systemic vs. Individual Problems, Ethical Considerations in Behavioral Design, Communication and Collaboration
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Marisa Nowicki
Senior Behavioral Designer
Behavioral Design Firm
University of North Texas
Carnegie Mellon University: Masters in Public Policy and Management (MSPPM), 2019
Medical, Sciences & Related, Psychology
Climate, Environment, Sustainability & Waste Management, Nonprofit, Foundations & Grantmaking
Consulting
Honors Student, Scholarship Recipient, Took Out Loans, Greek Life Member, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. Helping people understand the limits of behavioral science in solving systemic issues. Behavioral science is effective for addressing individual-level problems (I-frame problems), but it's not a substitute for addressing systemic issues (S-frame problems) such as climate change policy. It is important to understand the difference and not misapply behavioral science to issues beyond its scope.
2. The ethical responsibility of behavioral scientists. It is crucial to avoid shifting the blame for systemic issues from corporations and policymakers to individuals. Behavioral scientists should focus on what they can effectively influence—individual behaviors—and work in conjunction with policymakers to create effective and ethical solutions.
3. The need for behavioral science to be integrated into policy-making. Ideally, behavioral science principles should be incorporated into the design of policies to enhance their effectiveness. This would ensure that policies are not only well-designed but also account for the psychological factors influencing people's behavior, leading to better outcomes and preventing the misapplication of behavioral science solutions to systemic problems that are outside its scope.
Transcript
What is your biggest challenge in your current role? I'm going to expand that to say my field in general.
I think the biggest problem is helping people understand what we can solve and what we cannot solve with behavioral science. Within the field, we have what we call S-frame problems and I-frame problems. S-frame problems are systemic problems, and I-frame problems are individual problems.
I'll give you an example with climate change. Systemic problems are related to the way we run our recycling system in the United States or the way we regulate pollution. Individual problems, on the other hand, are about whether people know how to recycle and what to recycle when they go to the waste station. Or, when we ask people to reduce food waste, are they buying the appropriate amount of food, consuming it at home, and not wasting it?
As behavioral scientists, we don't solve these big, S-frame systemic problems. We're also not a substitute for them, and that can be really hard in the literature, especially for policymakers. Instead of doing the hard work of changing how we regulate pollution, they might come to behavioral scientists to help solve individual problems. This essentially pushes the responsibility for these big societal issues onto individuals.
This isn't right; it isn't effective. It shifts the blame from corporations and policymakers onto everyday people. A lot of the challenging work in our field is walking that line and explaining that what we do can be incredibly impactful and helpful, but we're not a panacea. We are not a substitute for policies that need to be in place or for systemic work that needs to be done.
In fact, we should really be a complementary feature. Ideally, when policies are created, behavioral science should be embedded within them to help people act on them, to help everyday people be a part of the solution. The biggest challenge is really explaining what we do and being satisfied with understanding that we are accumulating many small wins across a wide array of people, but we are not changing the system itself.