Change! Yes, but how?

Neuroscientist Samah Karaki tells us why we find it hard to do things differently, and how governments can help.

Why do people find it difficult to change their behaviour, for example switching from cars to low-carbon transport?

We resist change for the very efficient reason which is that we are actually busy. We already have a huge cognitive load, so many things going in our brain at the same time. We have a tendency to overweight short term costs and benefits over long term ones. Thats called hyperbolic discounting.

What solution does neuroscience have to offer?

When you want to replace one behaviour with another, the most efficient way is to add difficulties to the behaviour you want to stop, and to facilitate the behaviour that you want to adopt.

How does that strategy translate into the mobility debate?

When it comes to mobility, instead of talking about individual psychological reasons, we should focus on creating public transit infrastructure, and ask ourselves: is it accessible, convenient, high quality, reliable? How far do people live from employment or schools, and what types of areas do they live in? Once this is achieved, you increase the hassle for those still using their private cars.

So you make it easier for people to make the right choice?

The idea is to make change really implicit, so people don’t have to add a choice and engage any more cognitive load.