The Bohol Tribune
In This Our Journey
A Column by: NESTOR MANIEBO PESTELOS
The 2015 World Development Report of the World Bank is entitled “Mind, Society, and Behavior.” From the title itself, you can see that it will depart from the usual content of World Bank reports which are rich with economic analyses and forecasts.
This 2015 World Development Report supports the view that human beings go beyond economics, calculating costs and benefits in making decisions, but rather they behave in a way that is influenced by their own set of beliefs and assumptions, dictated by culture and institutional alliances, and that we need psychology and the social sciences to fully understand and influence positively how people think and act.
The Report notes that standard economic models “often assume that people consider all possible costs and benefits from a self-interested perspective and then make a thoughtful and rational decision. “ This approach although useful … “ has a liability: it ignores the psychological and social influences on behavior. “
The Report further states: “Individuals are not calculating automatons. Rather, people are malleable and emotional actors whose decision making is influenced by contextual cues, local social networks and social norms, and shared mental models.” All these factors determine what are perceived as desirable and possible, or “thinkable “ for themselves and their unique situation.
The Report notes that new tools have emerged based on of the “full consideration of human factors” in development policy and planning but these tools “do not displace existing policy approaches based on affecting self-interested personal incentives; rather they complement and enhance them.”
Now it can be asked: what are the implications of the use of the new framework on development policy formulation, planning and implementation? Indeed these approaches as a result of the mind, society and behavior framework “ do not replace standard economics, ” the Report asserts. Rather they “enhance our understanding of the development process and the way development policies and interventions can be designed and implemented.”
Some examples of the practical application of the approaches can be cited or quoted from the Report:
Conventional financial literacy programs in low income countries have had limited effects (Xu and Zia 2012). In contrast, a recent effort in South Africa to teach financial literacy through an engaging television soap opera improved the financial choices that individuals made.
Financial messages were embedded in a soap opera about a financially reckless character. Households that watched the soap opera for two months were less likely to gamble and less likely to purchase goods through an expensive installment plan (Berg and Zia 2013).
The households felt emotionally engaged with the show’s characters, which made them more receptive to the financial messages than would be the case in standard financial literacy programs. The success of the intervention depended on “thinking socially”—our tendency to identify with and learn from others.
Note: Imagine if we can insert developmental messages in those teleseryes seen by millions not
only in the Philippines but in other countries where many Filipinos live and work.
In Ethiopia, disadvantaged individuals commonly report feelings of low psychological agency, often making comments like “we have neither a dream nor an imagination” or “we live only for today” (Bernard, Dercon, and Taffesse 2011, 1).
In 2010, randomly selected households were invited to watch an hour of inspirational videos comprising four documentaries of individuals from the region telling their personal stories about how they had improved their socioeconomic position by setting goals and working hard. Six months later, the households that had watched the inspirational videos had higher total savings and had invested more in their children’s education, on average.
Surveys revealed that the videos had increased people’s aspirations and hopes, especially for
their children’s educational future (Bernard and others 2014). The study illustrates the ability of
an intervention to change a mental model—one’s belief in what is possible in the future. (Bernard and Taffesse 2014).
Note: Calling the attention of Lutgardo Labad and his cultural troops – this validates what you
have been saying all along that cultural shows, movies and the art have a vital role to play not
only in creating awareness but in transforming behavior.
Based on research findings, the Report says that some of the new approaches cost very little to implement because they involve only modifying project design or implementation strategies, such as:
• changing the timing of cash transfers
• labeling something differently
• simplifying the steps for service take-up
• offering reminders
• activating a latent social norm, or
• reducing the salience of a stigmatized identity.
In the Philippines, some of these efforts to go beyond economics in development policy and planning work are not entirely new. Some projects have piloted or field-tested approaches that used to be derided by the economists who dominate planning hierarchies. It is time to go back to these small-scale initiatives and document them properly to be able to extract lessons and move on to demonstrating the role of psychology and the social sciences in macro development work.
The framework provided by the World Report can be applied and field-tested to understand better the possible constraints to be addressed in efforts to go beyond economics in the formulation of policies, plans and projects. Otherwise, the tremendous research and other technical work that have gone into producing the game-changing 2015 World Report will not do much to help reduce poverty and ensure sustainable human development in this our planet.
In Bohol, as in other provinces, the orientation of most projects is largely determined by external donors who fund them. The donors provide the templates for analysis, project preparation, implementation and evaluation. Hence, donors need to read the World Report and see how its findings and recommendations can be applied to the planning and project development processes which they support – and influence. ###
NMP/07 Jan 2014/6.46 p.m.
In This Our Journey
A Column by: NESTOR MANIEBO PESTELOS
The 2015 World Development Report of the World Bank is entitled “Mind, Society, and Behavior.” From the title itself, you can see that it will depart from the usual content of World Bank reports which are rich with economic analyses and forecasts.
This 2015 World Development Report supports the view that human beings go beyond economics, calculating costs and benefits in making decisions, but rather they behave in a way that is influenced by their own set of beliefs and assumptions, dictated by culture and institutional alliances, and that we need psychology and the social sciences to fully understand and influence positively how people think and act.
The Report notes that standard economic models “often assume that people consider all possible costs and benefits from a self-interested perspective and then make a thoughtful and rational decision. “ This approach although useful … “ has a liability: it ignores the psychological and social influences on behavior. “
The Report further states: “Individuals are not calculating automatons. Rather, people are malleable and emotional actors whose decision making is influenced by contextual cues, local social networks and social norms, and shared mental models.” All these factors determine what are perceived as desirable and possible, or “thinkable “ for themselves and their unique situation.
The Report notes that new tools have emerged based on of the “full consideration of human factors” in development policy and planning but these tools “do not displace existing policy approaches based on affecting self-interested personal incentives; rather they complement and enhance them.”
Now it can be asked: what are the implications of the use of the new framework on development policy formulation, planning and implementation? Indeed these approaches as a result of the mind, society and behavior framework “ do not replace standard economics, ” the Report asserts. Rather they “enhance our understanding of the development process and the way development policies and interventions can be designed and implemented.”
Some examples of the practical application of the approaches can be cited or quoted from the Report:
Conventional financial literacy programs in low income countries have had limited effects (Xu and Zia 2012). In contrast, a recent effort in South Africa to teach financial literacy through an engaging television soap opera improved the financial choices that individuals made.
Financial messages were embedded in a soap opera about a financially reckless character. Households that watched the soap opera for two months were less likely to gamble and less likely to purchase goods through an expensive installment plan (Berg and Zia 2013).
The households felt emotionally engaged with the show’s characters, which made them more receptive to the financial messages than would be the case in standard financial literacy programs. The success of the intervention depended on “thinking socially”—our tendency to identify with and learn from others.
Note: Imagine if we can insert developmental messages in those teleseryes seen by millions not
only in the Philippines but in other countries where many Filipinos live and work.
In Ethiopia, disadvantaged individuals commonly report feelings of low psychological agency, often making comments like “we have neither a dream nor an imagination” or “we live only for today” (Bernard, Dercon, and Taffesse 2011, 1).
In 2010, randomly selected households were invited to watch an hour of inspirational videos comprising four documentaries of individuals from the region telling their personal stories about how they had improved their socioeconomic position by setting goals and working hard. Six months later, the households that had watched the inspirational videos had higher total savings and had invested more in their children’s education, on average.
Surveys revealed that the videos had increased people’s aspirations and hopes, especially for
their children’s educational future (Bernard and others 2014). The study illustrates the ability of
an intervention to change a mental model—one’s belief in what is possible in the future. (Bernard and Taffesse 2014).
Note: Calling the attention of Lutgardo Labad and his cultural troops – this validates what you
have been saying all along that cultural shows, movies and the art have a vital role to play not
only in creating awareness but in transforming behavior.
Based on research findings, the Report says that some of the new approaches cost very little to implement because they involve only modifying project design or implementation strategies, such as:
• changing the timing of cash transfers
• labeling something differently
• simplifying the steps for service take-up
• offering reminders
• activating a latent social norm, or
• reducing the salience of a stigmatized identity.
In the Philippines, some of these efforts to go beyond economics in development policy and planning work are not entirely new. Some projects have piloted or field-tested approaches that used to be derided by the economists who dominate planning hierarchies. It is time to go back to these small-scale initiatives and document them properly to be able to extract lessons and move on to demonstrating the role of psychology and the social sciences in macro development work.
The framework provided by the World Report can be applied and field-tested to understand better the possible constraints to be addressed in efforts to go beyond economics in the formulation of policies, plans and projects. Otherwise, the tremendous research and other technical work that have gone into producing the game-changing 2015 World Report will not do much to help reduce poverty and ensure sustainable human development in this our planet.
In Bohol, as in other provinces, the orientation of most projects is largely determined by external donors who fund them. The donors provide the templates for analysis, project preparation, implementation and evaluation. Hence, donors need to read the World Report and see how its findings and recommendations can be applied to the planning and project development processes which they support – and influence. ###
NMP/07 Jan 2014/6.46 p.m.
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