Paper Details

TRB 91st Annual Meeting (January 22-26, 2012)

Event Number:	711
Event Title:	Innovations in Activity and Travel Behavior
Event Date:	Jan 25 2012 8:30AM- 10:15AM
Event Location:	Hilton, International Center
Event Description:
Event Agenda:

Behavioral Insights Model BIM: An Overarching Framework for Applying Behavioral Insights in Transport Policy Analysis (12-0314)

The behavioral changes that people exhibit in response to policy measures often differ from what policymakers expected ex ante, and behavioral changes are difficult to realize. However, information about behavioral mechanisms and insights clarifying behavioral responses to policy measures are currently dispersed. This paper is the result of an attempt to gather these insights together, starting with mechanisms deriving from social psychology and behavioral economics. An overarching framework is presented, consisting of three clusters of behavioral mechanisms. This framework can be of assistance in shaping evidence-based policy measures that make optimally efficient use of the available means, as well as helping to explain why certain policy measures have had the intended effect while others failed to reach their full potential. At the framework’s theoretical base lies the insight that behavior can originate from both conscious and subconscious decisions. The three clusters consist of numerous behavioral mechanisms on the individual, social, and physical levels. The framework was discussed in a session by experts with backgrounds in social psychology, behavioral economics, and transport policy analysis, who reviewed the framework’s validity, coherence and completeness. This resulted in a set of five additional mechanisms that can be used in shaping policy measures and in explaining their behavioral effects. The extended framework, BIM (Behavioral Insights Model), was subsequently applied in a test case workshop involving practitioners from the field of transport policy, who concluded that the BIM was useful for working systematically, and helpful in developing policy measures. The paper concludes with a discussion of the BIM’s completeness and applicability.

Authors
     Berveling, Jaco , Netherlands Institute for Transport Policy Analysis
     van de Riet, Odette A. W. T., Netherlands Institute for Transport Policy Analysis