FROM moving the biscuit tin to the top shelf to filling the fridge with fruit and vegetables, most people have at some stage tried steps to tackle their unhealthy eating habits.
Now an expert from Worcester University will explain how subtle changes to people’s lives and workplace could be incorporated to influence them psychologically to make the right choices.
Senior lecturer in psychology, Dr Felix Why, will give a free talk about the psychological research he has been collaborating on with colleagues from the Universitas Negeri Semarang in Indonesia around so-called ‘nudge behaviour’. The research has been carried out both in Indonesia, where there is a high obesity rate, and in the UK.
Dr Why said: “Nudging doesn’t involve banning things. It’s changing the choice architecture to make things easier. It doesn’t involve financial incentives to make it cheaper, it’s not about removing choice. From this talk you will learn that you get exposed to the persuasiveness of nudge, how pervasive it is in society and the varieties of nudging techniques available.”
The session, ‘Nudge Behaviour – Psychological Research Strategies for Healthy Dietary Choices and Behaviour Change’ takes place at The Hive on November 1 at 6.30pm. It will look at some of the techniques used in the latest research, and in other studies, and how this could be used in people’s everyday lives, particularly in the workplace.
Nudge behaviour strategies can be wide ranging, but fall into three types – behavioural, cognitive and emotional.
A behavioural example would be making healthy food more convenient, such as fruit slices rather than a whole fruit. Cognitive nudges tap into thinking, such as ‘one of your five-a-day’ stickers on packaging for fruit or vegetables.
Emotional nudging involves associating positive emotions with the behaviour that you want to nudge people to do, for example displaying posters showing people smiling while eating fruits.
For the past few years, Dr Why and his Indonesian counterparts have been using nudge techniques to see how it alters people’s eating and drinking choices. While many studies have been carried out in the western world, Dr Why said this study aimed to provide a more global perspective on the issue.
For more information or to book tickets visit https://e-services.worcestershire.gov.uk/LibraryEvents/EventDetails.aspx?id=6229
