Behaviour Change Science

Behaviour Change Science (BCS) is an interdisciplinary field concerned with understanding, explaining, and influencing human behaviour in real-world contexts. While contemporary discussions of behaviour change are often dominated by behavioural economics—particularly ideas such as nudge theory, fast and slow thinking, and heuristics and biases—this represents a relatively narrow view of human behaviour.

Behavioural economics has made important contributions by highlighting predictable patterns in individual decision-making. However, it has also been criticised for over-emphasising cognitive shortcuts at the individual level, while insufficiently integrating the wider social, cultural, contextual, and systemic factors that shape behaviour. Humans are not isolated decision-makers; they are complex social animals whose behaviours are inherently multifaceted and embedded within social, ecological, political, and economic systems.

A broader and more robust conception of Behaviour Change Science draws on evidence-based insights from across the natural sciences, neuroscience, ecology, evolutionary theory, social sciences, humanities, anthropology, sociology, psychology, economics, political science, computer science, and the digital humanities. This interdisciplinary perspective recognises that behaviour emerges from the interaction between individuals, their social relationships, cultural norms, material environments, and institutional structures.

Crucially, influencing behaviour for meaningful and sustained change is complex. Social, cultural, contextual, and situational factors interact in nuanced ways, meaning that simple information provision or awareness-raising is rarely sufficient. Understanding and predicting behaviour requires scientific insight into how information is processed in the brain, how decisions are made under real-world constraints, how habits and identities are formed, and how change spreads across social networks.

Despite this, much psychological and behavioural research has historically sampled a narrow subset of global populations and then generalised findings to all of humanity. This has led to models of behaviour change that overlook diversity, power, inequality, and context—and which can be ineffective or even counterproductive when applied uncritically.

These limitations are particularly evident in fields such as conservation and environmental action. To date, relatively little behavioural science research has been meaningfully integrated into conservation science, policy, or practice. Many campaigns remain rooted in outdated models of science communication that assume awareness will automatically lead to action. As a result, the impact of campaigns is often limited to increasing knowledge, with little evidence of sustained behavioural change. In some cases, interventions may even undermine motivation, reinforce undesirable norms, or create unintended consequences.

Behaviour Change Science offers a way forward by shifting the focus from simply informing people to enabling change—designing interventions that align with how people actually think, feel, relate, and act within systems. It provides tools to translate research into practice, improve policy design, and create interventions that are not only evidence-based, but socially and contextually grounded.

In short, Behaviour Change Science moves beyond awareness-raising to address the deeper drivers of behaviour—recognising that lasting change requires working with complexity, not against it.