Behavioural science isn’t a bag of tricks – it’s a rigorous design discipline
“Can you just give us a few nudges we can use?”
I sometimes get asked this by clients.
It often happens mid-meeting, sometimes with genuine curiosity, other times with a hint of pressure, like they’re expecting me to produce behaviour change on demand – like a human vending machine. While I can absolutely brainstorm ideas on the spot (and it’s fun to do so), something about that request always bothers me. It bothers me because it misses the point. It flattens behavioural science into tactics and reduces it to a set of ‘silver bullets’, stripped of their context, craft, and complexity.
Behavioural science isn’t a magic trick. It’s not about cherry-picking nudges from a menu. It’s a structured, evidence-based, and iterative process for understanding human behaviour in context, identifying the real drivers at play, and designing interventions that are both creative and grounded in theory. When done well, behavioural design brings clarity and structure to the messy, multi-layered challenges that make up today’s world – challenges that rarely respond to shortcuts or surface-level solutions.
The problem with the “just give me nudges” mindset
The allure of nudges is understandable – they’re simple, often low-cost, and backed by behavioural insights. But when clients ask for nudges without a deep understanding of the problem, they’re essentially asking for medication without a diagnosis.
What this approach overlooks is that behavioural interventions need to be rooted in research and be responsive to the context in which they are applied. The value of behavioural design isn’t in generating ideas – it’s in knowing which ideas will work here, now, for these people, and why.
That’s why I think of behavioural design as equal parts science and art (also why I tend to use “behavioural design” over “behavioural science”). The science gives us the tools to interrogate, measure, and validate. The art gives us the space to ideate, prototype, and adapt.
Behavioural design as a rigorous design process
This perspective is increasingly reflected in the academic literature, which has begun to push back against the over-simplification of behavioural science as a toolkit of nudges.
A landmark 2024 review by Nielsen, Cash, and Daalhuizen maps out behavioural design as a five-phase methodology: problem framing, behavioural mapping, intervention development, iterative testing, and scaling. They show that successful behavioural design balances evidence-based insights with creative design practices, and fails when either is missing. Behavioural science, in this framing, is not just a bag of cognitive biases – it’s a “complex design space” requiring deep, structured work.
Similarly, Datta and Mullainathan (2014) call for a shift away from “boutique nudges” toward a systematic behavioural design cycle that begins with diagnosis and ends with scaled impact. Their four-step process – define, diagnose, design, test – mirrors what many practitioners do intuitively: map the landscape, identify the behavioural barriers, co-create thoughtful interventions, and test rigorously.
Aunger and Curtis (2016) offer a related model called Behaviour Centred Design, reinforcing that behavioural science must be applied systematically. Their approach emphasises both theory-informed diagnosis and creative ideation, followed by evaluation and adaptation – again, showing the dance between research and innovation.
What all of these models have in common is a clear message: behavioural science is a methodology, not a menu.
Real change requires more than clever ideas
In my own work, I’ve seen how the most effective interventions emerge not from a brainstorming sprint, but from deep immersion in the problem space. From speaking to the people we’re designing for and involving them in the process. From understanding systemic and contextual barriers. From testing and iterating. From creatively translating theory into something tangible, memorable, and doable.
The results can be ‘simple nudges’, but often it’s much more layered. It might involve systems mapping, choice architecture, rituals, storytelling, gamification mechanics, or subtle reframing of identity and norms. It’s about crafting an environment where the desired behaviour makes sense, feels right, and sustains over time – not just a one-off behavioural blip.
Think beyond just nudges
We need to hold the line against its reduction to quick wins and surface-level interventions.
Because the real power of behavioural science lies in its depth, not its shortcuts. In its ability to bring method to complexity. In its capacity to create interventions that are not only effective, but ethical, engaging, and embedded in the real world.