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The i-frame and the s-frame : how focusing on the individual-level solutions has led behavioral public policy astray
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Chater, Nick and Loewenstein, George (2022) The i-frame and the s-frame : how focusing on the individual-level solutions has led behavioral public policy astray. Behavioral and Brain Sciences . doi:10.1017/S0140525X22002023 ISSN 0140-525X. (In Press)
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WRAP-i-frame-s-frame-how-focusing-individual-level-solutions-led-behavioral-public-policy-astray-22.pdf - Accepted Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (799Kb) | Preview |
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X22002023
Abstract
An influential line of thinking in behavioral science, to which the two authors have long subscribed, is that many of society's most pressing problems can be addressed cheaply and effectively at the level of the individual, without modifying the system in which the individual operates. We now believe this was a mistake, along with, we suspect, many colleagues in both the academic and policy communities. Results from such interventions have been disappointingly modest. But more importantly, they have guided many (though by no means all) behavioral scientists to frame policy problems in individual, not systemic, terms: to adopt what we call the “i-frame,” rather than the “s-frame.” The difference may be more consequential than i-frame advocates have realized, by deflecting attention and support away from s-frame policies. Indeed, highlighting the i-frame is a long-established objective of corporate opponents of concerted systemic action such as regulation and taxation. We illustrate our argument briefly for six policy problems, and in depth with the examples of climate change, obesity, retirement savings, and pollution from plastic waste. We argue that the most important way in which behavioral scientists can contributed to public policy is by employing their skills to develop and implement value-creating system-level change.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School | ||||||||
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Policy sciences -- Psychological aspects, Economics -- Psychological aspects, Political planning -- Psychological aspects | ||||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Behavioral and Brain Sciences | ||||||||
| Publisher: | Cambridge University Press | ||||||||
| ISSN: | 0140-525X | ||||||||
| Official Date: | 2022 | ||||||||
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| DOI: | 10.1017/S0140525X22002023 | ||||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
| Publication Status: | In Press | ||||||||
| Reuse Statement (publisher, data, author rights): | This article has been published in a revised form in Behavioral and Brain Sciences [http://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X22002023. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © copyright holder. | ||||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
| Copyright Holders: | Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press | ||||||||
| Date of first compliant deposit: | 24 August 2022 | ||||||||
| Date of first compliant Open Access: | 9 September 2022 | ||||||||
| RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: |
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