Psychology and Behavior

Behavioral Economists Can Make You a Healthier Consumer and Smarter Marketer

Video What’s behind the decisions we make, especially when it comes to eating well and losing weight? Can companies motivate employees to make healthier decisions? Leslie John discusses "interventions" to help people make better decisions when it comes to their health.

Video duration:2:49

Ever wonder what’s behind the decisions we make, especially when it comes to eating well and losing weight? Or how companies can incentivize employees to make healthier decisions? Professor Leslie John discusses how people make decisions and how she helps devise interventions to help people make better decisions when it comes to their health.

If people made purely rational decisions, life might be much easier for marketers in selling products and services. But few of us are that rational. Instead, our decisions are based on illogical biases such as loss aversion and over optimism that drive our thinking. The emerging field of behavioral science, specifically, behavioral economics, tries to understand consumers as they actually behave and promote changes in their decision making around those biases. Harvard Business School Associate Professor Leslie John explains principles behind behavioral economics in this short video.

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