Concurrents – Environmental Psychology: Healthy Nudges => Healthy People

Nudges have been a particularly hot topic since Richard Thaler of the University of Chicago won a Nobel Prize, in part, for studying them. By nudges, we mean environmental or default cues that lead people to choose a healthier, more positive choice, compared to a negative one.

And nudges toward health are being actively managed, in architecture, interior design and elsewhere, according to Dr. Cristina Banks, Director of Interdisciplinary Center for Healthy Workplaces at the University of California Berkeley. In August, Banks discussed nudges during her invited presentation at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association (β€œHow to Increase Wellness Program Adoption and Employee Participation Using Principles of Psychology”).

Nudges were comprehensively reviewed in an article by Binyamin Appelbaum focusing on Thaler’s Nobel Prize (New York Times, β€œNobel in Economics Is Awarded to Richard Thaler”): β€œBritain’s former prime minister David Cameron described the inspiration [nudging] as a β€˜very simple, very conservative thought –go with the grain of human nature.’Some nudges are relatively minor. The British government found that people were more likely to pay automobile registration fees if billing letters included a picture of the vehicle.

Other nudges are far-reaching. Observing that inertia limited participation in beneficial programs, like retirement savings plans or school lunch programs, Professor Thaler proposed that governments and employers should make participation the default option. People are free to opt out, but inertia is on the side of the preferred outcome.”

After an extensive literature review focused on identifying factors that differentiate effective and ineffective wellness programs, Banks and her colleagues developed β€œa β€˜fit’ model that matches wellness program β€˜success requirements’with organizational facilitators and constraints (barriers to success). β€œTo increase employee participation, we created a methodology for attracting and retaining employee interest in wellness programs that focuses on intrinsic motivation factors” (quote from the abstract for Bank’s presentation). During her session, Banks talked about using architectural and interior design nudges to encourage health-enhancing behaviors, as well as several other topics.

Architectural and interior design nudges toward healthy behaviors identified by Banks and her team include factors that boost walking both inside and outside workplaces. Natural elements in interior hallways can encourage walking, for example, as can desirable destinations, such as coffee bars featuring particularly tasty brews. Social gatherings at different times and places, meditation groups, stairway use, and opportunities to exercise (alone or with others) also support mental and physical wellbeing and can be encouraged via design, for example.

At their website (https://healthyworkplaces.berkeley.edu/about-us), the Interdisciplinary Center for Healthy Workplaces at the University of California Berkeley describes themselves as β€œRe-inventing our workplaces by integrating and applying interdisciplinary sciences to achieve worker health and psychological well-being.”

Sally Augustin, PhD,a cognitive scientist, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com), a monthly subscription newsletter and free daily blog, where recent and classic research in the social, design, and physical sciences that can inform designers’ work are presented in straightforward language. Readers learn about the latest research findings immediately, before they’re available elsewhere. Sally, who is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is also the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She is a principal at Design With Science (www.designwithscience.com) and can be reached at sallyaugustin@designwithscience.com.