The Nonlinear Library EA - The Role of Behavioural Science in Effective Altruism by Emily Grundy
Nov 22, 2023
09:41
Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: The Role of Behavioural Science in Effective Altruism, published by Emily Grundy on November 22, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.
At EAGx Australia 2022, I spoke about the role of behavioural science in effective altruism. You can now watch
the recording on Youtube. In the talk, I introduce the concept of behavioural science, discuss how it relates to effective altruism, and highlight some common mistakes we make when trying to change behaviour for societal good.
Want to skim a post instead of consuming a 30-minute video? I don't blame you, here's the basics of my talk…
Imagine a world…
Imagine a world where…
We know what the most effective charities are. We've got a list of all the charities that exist, we've got detailed information about each one, and we've ranked them on various criteria that we care about. There's no more uncertainty, GiveWell is out of business, and we know where to funnel our charitable donations.
We have perfected our biosecurity risk standards. We understand all the potential risks. We know how we can prevent things like lab leaks from occurring. We've even developed safety protocols outlining everything we need to do.
We just understand sentience. Turns out the hard problem of consciousness wasn't actually that hard to solve. We understand which beings are sentient - which beings feel pleasure and pain - and we know why.
Sounds pretty great, right? In this world, we seem to have achieved monumental strides.
Yet, perhaps this wouldn't be that exciting: these strides say nothing about the impact we're having.
Why?
We may understand what the most effective charities are, but what happens if no one donates to them?
We may develop biosecurity risk standards and protocols, but what does that mean if people don't comply with them?
We may know which beings are sentient, but what impact does that have if we don't change our treatment of those beings?
These examples demonstrate that we can have knowledge, understanding, and even action, but if we don't understand how to change behaviour - we might not have the impact that we want.
What is behavioural science?
Behavioural science is the scientific study of human behaviour. Why do people do the things they do? Why do they make the decisions that they do? What needs to change in order for them to do differently?
Behavioural science considers many influences: conscious thoughts, habits, motivations, the social context, and more. It borrows from several disciplines, including economics, psychology, and sociology.
What is the role of behavioural science in effective altruism?
Here is a (very) basic theory of change for effective altruism.
We know how to do the most good. We act on that knowledge. And, as a result, we hopefully have an impact.
Examples of things we can do at the knowledge stage include understanding which charities are most effective, creating problem profiles, and predicting what existential risks are most consequential or likely. At the action stage, we could donate to those charities, make career changes based on what we think is most impactful, or actually work to prevent existential risks.
How does behavioural science come into this? It focuses on the action stage and it asks, 'How?'. How do we get people to donate to effective charities? How do we encourage others to make career changes, or work to prevent existential risks? Behavioural science can inform how we act, or how we get others to act, in order to enhance our impact.
Note that there are different audiences we can target when we're thinking about behaviour change. Some audience 'levels' include:
Individuals / the population level: This often involves behaviours that many people can engage in. For instance, donating to charity or reducing animal-product consumption.
Critical actors: This includes people who possess specif...
At EAGx Australia 2022, I spoke about the role of behavioural science in effective altruism. You can now watch
the recording on Youtube. In the talk, I introduce the concept of behavioural science, discuss how it relates to effective altruism, and highlight some common mistakes we make when trying to change behaviour for societal good.
Want to skim a post instead of consuming a 30-minute video? I don't blame you, here's the basics of my talk…
Imagine a world…
Imagine a world where…
We know what the most effective charities are. We've got a list of all the charities that exist, we've got detailed information about each one, and we've ranked them on various criteria that we care about. There's no more uncertainty, GiveWell is out of business, and we know where to funnel our charitable donations.
We have perfected our biosecurity risk standards. We understand all the potential risks. We know how we can prevent things like lab leaks from occurring. We've even developed safety protocols outlining everything we need to do.
We just understand sentience. Turns out the hard problem of consciousness wasn't actually that hard to solve. We understand which beings are sentient - which beings feel pleasure and pain - and we know why.
Sounds pretty great, right? In this world, we seem to have achieved monumental strides.
Yet, perhaps this wouldn't be that exciting: these strides say nothing about the impact we're having.
Why?
We may understand what the most effective charities are, but what happens if no one donates to them?
We may develop biosecurity risk standards and protocols, but what does that mean if people don't comply with them?
We may know which beings are sentient, but what impact does that have if we don't change our treatment of those beings?
These examples demonstrate that we can have knowledge, understanding, and even action, but if we don't understand how to change behaviour - we might not have the impact that we want.
What is behavioural science?
Behavioural science is the scientific study of human behaviour. Why do people do the things they do? Why do they make the decisions that they do? What needs to change in order for them to do differently?
Behavioural science considers many influences: conscious thoughts, habits, motivations, the social context, and more. It borrows from several disciplines, including economics, psychology, and sociology.
What is the role of behavioural science in effective altruism?
Here is a (very) basic theory of change for effective altruism.
We know how to do the most good. We act on that knowledge. And, as a result, we hopefully have an impact.
Examples of things we can do at the knowledge stage include understanding which charities are most effective, creating problem profiles, and predicting what existential risks are most consequential or likely. At the action stage, we could donate to those charities, make career changes based on what we think is most impactful, or actually work to prevent existential risks.
How does behavioural science come into this? It focuses on the action stage and it asks, 'How?'. How do we get people to donate to effective charities? How do we encourage others to make career changes, or work to prevent existential risks? Behavioural science can inform how we act, or how we get others to act, in order to enhance our impact.
Note that there are different audiences we can target when we're thinking about behaviour change. Some audience 'levels' include:
Individuals / the population level: This often involves behaviours that many people can engage in. For instance, donating to charity or reducing animal-product consumption.
Critical actors: This includes people who possess specif...