Episode 45 Get Out the Vote: How Behavioral
Science Can Boost Voter Turnout
In this special episode, we discuss how behavioral science can be used to encourage voter registration and
turnaround. We cover well known ideas like social proof including some of the most relevant nuances and how
it’s often misused by campaigns for good. We also turn to lesser known research by Christopher Bryan
on how we label behavior can have a significant effect on whether it occurs.
Episode Highlights
Robert Cialdini’s experiment showing that if you emphasize the scale of an unwanted behavior it often backfires
Sparkman and Walton study showing that you can positively tap into social proof by emphasizing the growth of a behavior
Study by Christopher Bryan on how describing someone using a noun rather than a verb can increase the effectiveness of your communications
Resources & Useful Links
Want to dig deeper into the concepts covered in this episode? Check out the links below to learn more about
negative and dynamic social proof, the power of nouns, and more.
Keep Listening
Ep30 - Optimism Bias with Tali Sharot
How consumer behavior has the tendency to overestimate the likelihood of positive events and underestimate the likelihood of negative events
Ep31 - Costco: Loyalty Cards, Ski Trips, and the Sunk Cost Effect
How consumer behavior can be decided by loyalty programes and the theory of sunken cost
