What is Behaviour Change?

Why is falling for fake news so easy despite all the warnings? Why do we carry high-interest debt even when we have the means to pay it off? Why are there so many browser tabs open on your screen right now even though digital clutter is so stressful?

The answers to these questions – and so many other perplexities of human behaviour – are the domain of behavioural science.

Once upon a time, we believed human beings were logical creatures, capable of making good decisions and acting in our own best interests.
Today, we know better.
Thanks to breakthroughs in behavioural research, we’ve been able to peer at the inner workings of our decision-making processes – and instead of logic and reason, we’ve found a tangle of biases and cognitive pitfalls that lead to irrational and even harmful behaviours.
The good news? We have effective tools at our disposal to steer those behaviours in a more desirable direction.
At BCA, we mine insights from behavioural research to illuminate what really motivates human actions.
Then, we add rigorous data analysis and a range of creative strategies to develop behavioural and communication solutions that improve decision-making and create better outcomes for customers, employees and citizens.
"To understand why we do what we do, neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky looks at extreme context, examining actions on timescales from seconds to millions of years before they occurred. In this fascinating talk, he shares his cutting-edge research into the biology that drives our worst and best behaviours."
The biology of behaviour
Understanding something as wildly complex as human behaviour is impossible without considering our biology. The work of Stanford neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky has done a lot to illuminate the neurological and biological factors that influence how we act and make decisions. As we learn more about these interconnections, our insights can be used for positive behaviour change. In Sapolsky's words, “We’re learning more and more about the biological underpinnings of our behaviour, and that can help us produce better outcomes.”
Salience bias
Our tendency to focus on the most prominent information means we risk overlooking less salient factors when making decisions

“A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.”

– Herbert A. Simon

Download the 2019 BCA Calendar

The adoption of behavioural science by Biden is a good sign

In the impressively detailed memorandum on ‘scientific integrity’ that US President Joe Biden recently released, one provision could easily escape notice. It’s an explicit endorsement of behavioural science—and it calls for much more of it.
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Behaviour Change in the age of Covid-19

September 15, 2020

This Mail & Guardian webinar was sponsored by The Behaviour Change Agency.  Speakers included Antoine Ferrere, Global Head of Behavioural Science at Novartis, Switzerland; Matthew Battersby, Chief Behavioural Scientist at Reinsurance Group of America, United Kingdom; Aimee Wesso, Advanced Strategic Specialist at Afrocentric Group; Pat Govender, Founder and Managing Director of The Behaviour Change Agency and Dr Anam Nyembezi, Behavioural Medicine Specialist and a Senior Lecturer in the School of Public Health, University of the Western Cape.

Changes to human behaviour critical to cut pandemic risk

February 10, 2021

Researchers from The University of Western Australia say global consumption and people’s interconnectedness have created conditions for pandemics to thrive. The scientists have released a report with recommendations for policy makers to help decrease future risks.

Can we change our behaviour to prevent superbugs?

January 11, 2021

As we've seen recently, changing people’s behaviour is really difficult - even change to protect your health and those around you. At the start of 2020, could you have imagined that something as simple as going to the gym or meeting up for a coffee suddenly can’t happen because of an invisible threat to your health? Without everyone understanding why we need to stay apart and feeling motivated to protect others, trying to change people’s routines would have been next to impossible.

What Motivates COVID Rule Breakers?

December 10, 2020

As the COVID-19 pandemic lashes countries in a second (and in some cases, third) wave of infections, patience and solidarity are giving way to frustration and blame. Officials in the United States and Germany say the latest upsurge in infections in their countries is a consequence of a selfish minority that is ignoring basic social distancing rules, while Berlin’s tourism authority has launched a colorful campaign—complete with an old lady and an offensive finger—chastising visitors who refuse to wear masks.

Empathy Could Stop This Pandemic

November 18, 2020

March, as the pandemic spread its roots worldwide and public health experts began touting the benefits of social distancing, Stefan Pfattheicher, PhD, an associate professor in the department of psychology and behavioral sciences at Aarhus University in Denmark, wondered how the public could be motivated to adhere to such safety precautions.

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