NEWS
psy 02_11 p084_95 news_Layout 1 18/01/2011 13:48 Page 84
Nudging us to better health The first output from the government’s new Behavioural Insight Team (BIT), already nicknamed the ‘Nudge Unit’ by the media, was published on the last day of 2010 – a discussion paper on applying psychological principles to improve public health. The paper notes how health and lifestyle issues, including loneliness, are the major contributor to half of all UK deaths. ‘Strong-armed regulation is not the answer to rebalancing our diets, changing our desire to drink too much alcohol on a Friday night, or making our lives more active,’ it says, arguing instead that people can be encouraged to live more
healthily using cheaper and more effective ‘Nudge-style’ interventions, which emphasise prevention rather than cure. This general philosophy, referred to as ‘libertarian paternalism’ by the authors of Nudge, was enshrined in the coalition government’s agreement statement published last May: ‘Our government will be a much smarter one, shunning the bureaucratic levers of the past and finding intelligent ways to encourage, support and enable people to make better choices for themselves.’ The bulk of the new discussion paper is made up of case studies of this new
psychological approach as applied to smoking, organ donation, teenage pregnancy, alcohol, diet and weight, diabetes, food hygiene, physical activity and social care (see box opposite). For example, in relation to organ donation, the BIT is working with the DVLA to include a compulsory question about registering as an organ donor on the form for applying for, or renewing, a driving licence. Previously this question could be skipped, but now people must answer, even if only to say that they don’t want to decide now – an approach known as ‘prompted choice’. In relation to smoking, the
team is working with the high-street chemist Boots to exploit the principle of loss aversion by having smokers sign a contract in which they agree to pay a fine if tests show they have smoked. ‘It is clear to us from our work with the Department of Health, health professionals and businesses that there is a great deal of energy and enthusiasm for the new health agenda,’ the paper concludes. ‘If we can combine the insights from behavioural science with this enthusiasm and professional expertise, the benefits are likely to be very
New Year Honours for psychologists
Professor Sue Cox
Professor Paul Gilbert
84
Three British Psychological Society members were appointed OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the New Year Honours list: Professor Sue Cox, Professor Paul Gilbert, and Dr Jeune Guishard-Pine. Congratulations to them all. Professor Cox is Dean of Lancaster University Management School and received her honour for services to social science. Cox has overseen the expansion of the school over the last five years. ‘I am very proud and honoured to be awarded the OBE, especially as it was for services to social science,’ she said. ‘The important areas of social and management science are core strengths of Lancaster University, crucial for the UK economy and something which I believe strongly that we should be promoting.’ Professor Cox told The Psychologist: ‘I am very proud of my work as Dean of Lancaster University Management School and the opportunity to work in such a dynamic and successful University. I am currently working internationally to develop the University’s reputation.’ She added that she has had lots of support from other psychologists throughout her career. Professor Gilbert is a consultant clinical psychologist for Derbyshire Mental Health
Services NHS Trust, holds a chair in clinical psychology at the University of Derby and is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society. He received his honour for services to mental health care. He told us he’s delighted with the news although conscious that ‘there are many psychologists equally if not more deserving of recognition’. Gilbert’s first degree was in economics, and after switching to clinical psychology he pursued an evolutionary functional analytic approach to clinical problems. ‘This gave rise to our work on social hierarchies and the roles of feelings of inferiority, defeat and entrapment in mood disorders, social anxiety and psychosis,’ he said. ‘From there we worked on the roles of shame and self-criticism, noting that these permeated many mental health problems. In the last 15 years we have been working on the psychological interventions for shame and selfcriticism which led to our work on attachment, affiliation and compassion-focused therapy (CFT).’ Gilbert is planning a randomly controlled trial of the CFT approach. Another focus is to continue building the Compassionate Mind Foundation (www.compassionatemind.co.uk), which he founded: ‘We are trying to fund
vol 24 no 2
february 2011