WRAP Behavioural Heuristics

Whistlejacket is a Brand, Design and Communications Agency from London UK. The commissioned me to create illustrations and iconography, and build an interactive digital handbook for the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP). The purpose of this handbook was to summarise the use of human behavioural heuristics to encourage sustainable behaviours.

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Chunking. Behaviours are more likely to be enacted, and information is more digestible and memorable, when presented in small chunks.

Spacial discounting. Greater weight is given to events that occur close to home than to those further away, in part because they are more personally relevant.

Social proof. We are more likely to do a behaviour when we see evidence that others are doing it, which conveys that it is acceptable.

Hawthorne effect. We change our behaviour if we know we are being observed.

Rewards and incentives. Rewards and incentives encourage behaviour change by promising something positive in exchange (these need not be financial and could include the promise of emotional payoff).

Cognitive dissonance. When behaviour is inconsistent with our attitudes and beliefs, we rationalise our behaviour or change our attitudes in some way.

Fundamental attribution error. We believe our own strengths to be internally driven, whilst our weaknesses are externally driven.

Default and status quo biases. We go with the flow of pre-set options, as these indicate what is normal and it is easier than switching.

Social norms (descriptive and injunctive). We behave in ways that we think aligns with others (descriptive social norm) and that others would approve of (injunctive social norm).

Full slide of Halo effect. When people have one positive characteristic, we assume that the rest of their characteristics are positive too.

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