Module Code:

PS919

Module Name:

Behaviour Change: Nudging and Persuasion

Module Credits (CATS):

10 (ESRC-only), 15

Module Convener

?

Module Teachers

?, Thomas Hills

Module Aims

PS919 will provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to effect behaviour change in real-world contexts. It complements the other modules (especially “Psychological Models of Choice”) through showing how principles of behavioural science can be applied outside the laboratory to real-world problems and situations.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Identify the key areas where behavioural science either has been, or potentially could be, applied to behaviour change
  
  
• Develop and test simple behavioural change interventions
  
  
  
• Understand the practical considerations underpinning implementation and testing.

Assessed by:

• Class tests and poster presentation
  
  
  
• Project and class tests
  
  
  
• Class tests, project, and poster presentation

Module Work Load

Module Length

10 weeks

Lectures

9 lectures of 2 hours each

Seminars

4 seminars of 2 hours each

Attendance

Attendance at lectures and seminars is compulsory

Module Assessment - 10 CAT version (ESRC-only)

Assessed work:

Project – involves proposing a behaviour change and producing a 3000-word report on this

Weighting:

50%

Exams:

5 Class Tests – short- and medium-length answers, each test counting for 10% of final grade

Weighting:

50%

Module Assessment - 15 CAT version

Assessed work:

Project – involves proposing a behaviour change and producing a 3000-word report on this

Poster presentation – based on project work

Weighting:

50%

25%

Exams:

5 Class Tests – short- and medium-length answers, each test counting for 5% of final grade

Weighting:

25%

Module Programme

Topics covered on the course will likely include:

• Introduction to Behavioural Science
• Nudging and Incentives
• Social Norms
• Risk Perception and risk communication
• Negotiations
• Behavioural change without nudging
• Nudge Theory in Organisational Settings
• Nudging and the Inferential Self
• Limits of nudging

Module Reading List

Thaler, R. H., & Sunstein, C. R. (2008). Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Benartzi, S., Beshears, J., Milkman, K. L., Sunstein, C. R., Thaler, R. H., Shankar, M., . . . Galing, S. (2017). Should governments invest more in nudging? Psychological Science, 28(8), 1041-1055.

Cialdini, R. B. (2007). Influence: The psychology of persuasion. New York: Collins

Malhotra, D., & Bazerman, M. H. (2008). Negotiation genius: How to overcome obstacles and achieve brilliant results at the bargaining table and beyond. Bantam.