Changing behaviour for a better deal? Not as easy as it sounds

There are many areas of life – e.g. utility providers – where we could be getting a better deal by making what seems to be an easy switch. Behavioural scientist Nathalie Spencer of The RSA asks why we don’t do it more often.

In a first post she explains what makes us inert and stick with often bad or suboptimal choices.

“The tendency to stick to the status quo, lack of urgency, present bias, and social norms come together in a perfect storm resulting in a lack of appetite to switch utility providers.”

Her second post explains how switching providers and changing behaviour can be encouraged, by taking aspects of our human nature into consideration.