Behaviour Change

People often display a range of unhelpful behaviours. How can we “nudge” people to help them adopt more beneficial behaviours? What are the roadblocks and the best ways of bypassing these roadblocks? What is the most efficient way of eliciting helpful actions?

Some of the work in the lab has investigated to what degree people can be nudged to be better prepared for natural disasters such as wildfires and floods. Other work has investigated how best we can persuade people to undergo screening for colon cancer. More recently we have investigated gambling and what predicts problem gambling behaviour.

Selected Journal Articles

• Howe, PDL, Vargas-Saenz, A, Hulbert, CA, & Boldero, JM (2019). Predictors of gambling and problem gambling in Victoria, Australia. PLOS ONE, 14(1), e0209277. [PDF]
• Howe, PDL, Boldero, JM, McNeil, IM, Vargas-Saenz, A, & Handmer, J (2018). Increasing preparedness for wildfires by informing residents of their community’s social norms. Natural Hazards Review, 19(2). [PDF]