Population influence: Lessons from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Introduction

Influencing the general public is a hotly debated topic in the policy. In any form of government reforms and agendas have to be 'sold' to the public. The government has traditionally been done through information dissemination through the media and done so quite effectively. An example can be of course selling wars or military interventions to the public. When the intent, however, is misinformation on a large scale, it becomes 'propaganda'. Despite its negative connotations, it is surely been present in democracies, as much as in dictatorships.

A few years ago we have seen a move towards 'Nudging' individuals also called the Nudge Theory. This was popularized by Book by Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler in their book 'Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness'. An example of this could be the wording on a referendum to discourage a certain outcome or perhaps limiting choices for the consumers on the type of fuel available and so on. A similar and related idea is off using 'peer pressure' and even shame to change habits. An example of this can be smoking lounges, which are often outside in the cold or in one corner of the airport. To my humble observation, both of these have been implemented immensely, perhaps more so in Scandinavia.

When thinking through this, as a thought experiment, I began thinking about how we can view Mass influence through the lens of cognitive-behavioral therapy. O surely believe there is a better way to change the behavior as well as the beliefs of the population. For this, let's take an example of encouraging the 'recycling' of electronics by the general public, and see how to encourage this from a CBT perspective.

Situational:

To encourage electronics recycling one has to ensure that the surroundings and situations are such for the general public, that it is made easy. Of course one cannot expect the public to dump TVs and Laptops, with hard disks and data in their dust bins. There must be a dedicated depot in different cities or even a dedicated pick-up service around cities and towns to ensure there is little fear around identity theft. It may even be possible to send your TV for recycling through an amazon style pick up service. It's best when you can dump your old electronics from where you buy them.

Behavioural:

A behavioral incentive for encouraging recycling can be through creating financial incentives around it. Perhaps by building a marketplace. giving tax breaks or discounts on newer electronics. A small competitive incentive, maybe through a competitive app that shows how much you have dumped in relation to your neighbors or social network may also be helpful. We all love to compete after all and gamification helps.

Dump Depots can also have "photo spots" so one can also take a photo of themselves while delivering their electronics for recycling and share on social media. It may sound a bit pompous and sanctimonious, but it works.

Cognitive:

One of the most effective ways to change beliefs and thoughts about a particular topic is by changing what we associate that topic with. We can use ideas from cognitive restructuring and reappraisal so that 'dumping electronics' becomes 'changing the world' or the 'chore of driving' becomes the "adventure to save lives" and so on. It can also be a 'national or global duty'. This can be encouraged through the top brass of politicians, celebrity adverts/social media. However, to create effective change, the practice must be taught in schools so that the next generation grows up knowing and believing the importance of electronics recycling.

Education:

Which brings me to the most basic point. Educating people. Giving them as much information as to the initiative, what it means for the environment, how they can help etc. the information can be available on a single webpage and easily accessible. A small helpline or Facebook chatbot can help those looking for the closest depot or have questions regarding identity theft or partner firms in some incentive scheme. Municipalities and local business can do their part as well.

Conclusion:

So there you have it. Using this simple CBT idea, the government can finally implement any policy, convince their public and influence their behavior. Ideas I have discussed from CBT are in no order and they all link into each other, therefore each piece affects the other. Education supports behavior, behavior supports cognition and so on. Ultimately, of course, the idea is to change people's thoughts, behaviors as well as their beliefs about electronics or any other issue.

Now that the genie is out of the bottle, we must hope it's only used for good.

Umair Usman is a Rapid Transformational Therapy Practitioner, a businessperson, and a blogger. You can know more about him at https://buff.ly/2zmc9rj . To book a free consultancy session, please fill the form https://tinyurl.com/y6n2vv8w