Like ripples on a pond: Behavioral spillovers and their implications for research and policy

Abstract

a b s t r a c tNo behavior sits in a vacuum, and one behavior can greatly affect what happens next. We propose a conceptual frame within which a broad range of behavioral spillovers can be accounted for when applying behavioral science to policy challenges. We consider behaviors which take place sequentially and are linked, at a conscious or unconscious level, by some underlying motive. The first behavior leads to another behavior which can either work in the same direction as the first (promoting spillover), or push back against it (permitting or purging spillover). Looking through this conceptual lens at the existing evidence, we find pervasive evidence for all kinds of spillover effects across a variety of fields and domains. As a result, behavioral scientists, especially those seeking to inform policy, should try to capture all the ripples from one behavior to the next when a pebble of intervention is thrown in the pond, and not just at the immediate behavioral splash it makes.

A cluster randomised controlled trial of an intervention based on the Health Action Process Approach for increasing fruit and vegetable consumption in Iranian adolescents

“…mothers) in such programmes. Although not tested in the present study, research on 'spill over effects' (Dolan & Galizzi, 2015) suggests that it is also possible that such programmes may encourage adolescents to engage in other health behaviours, such as doing physical activity and quitting smoking and drinking, in addition to making changes to the targeted behaviour (here, F&V consumption). Future research might, therefore, usefully measure the effects of similar interventions on a range of health behaviours.…”

Are You What You Eat? Healthy Behaviour and Risk Preferences

“…7 Subjects were recruited using the ORSEE online system (Dolan and Galizzi 2015 ) among the volunteers in the EXEC mailing list. There was no eligibility or exclusion criterion to select participants.…”

The Not so Gentle Push: Behavioral Spillovers and Policy Instruments

“…for instance, a key policy question in the environmental economics literature is whether interventions that foster cooperative norms in the conservation of a specific environmental resource have positive or negative spillovers to other pro-environmental behaviors ( [32,90]). …”

“…These policy interventions complement traditional ones based on economic incentives or regulation, and have now seen application in many fields, including to a large extent pro-social and environmental behavior ([2]; [18,86]). However, while comparisons of traditional and behavioral policy instruments exist in the literature ([53]; [36]), little is known about how treatment effects would carry forward outside the specific area they were designed for [32]. Moreover, most existing studies compare only few policy instruments within the same design, and, to our knowledge, no assessment of the relative effectiveness of a broader set of behavioral and traditional policies has yet been conducted.…”