See on Scoop.it – Bounded Rationality and Beyond
Paul Dolan argues that there are two broad approaches to behavioural change: changing minds and changing contexts. He argues that while the former approach relies more heavily on conscious and reasoned processes, the latter predominantly deals with the subconscious, automated system of the human brain and attempts to facilitate change by altering the ‘environmental context’ in which people make decisions. In particular, he notes that the latter approach (i.e. changing contexts) has received relatively little attention in the past and that, by focusing on altering people’s choice environment, ‘mindspace’ represents a promising framework for improving the public’s financial capabilities. In explaining the rationale behind the development and application of the mindspace framework, he states: ‘new models of behaviour change are needed in general, and in consumer finance in particular, as existing theories and methods leave a substantial proportion of the variance in behaviour, beyond the effect of rational (conscious) intentions, to be explained’