A bias too far

How behavioural science is becoming a victim of its own popularity

Not so long ago most of the stuff published on behavioural economics and behavioural science had a limited audience of practitioners and academics. It may have been a bit dry (the majority were scientific papers), but then again, the readership was generally after facts and findings, rather than fancy pictures. More recently, when you come across a reference to behavioural science, chances are it will be something like this.

That looks like it could be a good thing. A topic that, for a long time, was only of interest to specialists, is now gaining the attention of a wider public. Efforts to educate, especially in a scientific field that is deeply relevant to how we act and interact with each other, has to be applauded.

But it is not so clear whether the popularization of behavioural science in this way is actually serving that educational purpose all that well.

Popularity pitfalls

A first problem is the way the information is framed. Putting an attention-grabbing title over a scientific paper may not have that great an effect on citations and downloads. But articles in the popular media tend to have headlines that emphasize the more spectacular aspects of the content. There is a more than passing parallel here with medical research findings. Anything that (apparently) dramatically increases the risk of cancer is a good bet to attract eyeballs, notably for the British tabloid the Daily Mail. The behavioural science equivalent is the cognitive bias — invariably wheeled out as something that makes us all incredibly irrational. Biases screw up decisions, convince us the world us falling apart, impact trading decisions, prevent us from being rational, or will drive the future of marketing. Hyperbole is rife, and nuance is scarce.

A second problem is that behavioural science is still evolving: insights get refined, or sometimes contradicted and relegated. But that doesn’t stop findings being widely reported (especially if they fit a popular narrative, hello confirmation bias!), before they have been replicated.

For example, a 2014 article by Alain Cohn et al provides evidence for the idea that bank employees (and only they) act…