Imaginary of Behavioral Governing : From Nudges to Algorithms

Abstract

The US public health crisis in Flint, Michigan, that started in 2016 after the city’s water supply was contaminated with lead has become an example not only of the incompetency and irresponsibility of public authorities, problems with the country’s aging infrastructure, and environmental racism, but also of effective civic activism. Flint is less known as a site where the Social and Behavioral Sciences Team under the Obama administration tried to bring in insights from behavioral science to address some aspects of the crisis. The team directed by Maya Shankar planned to use subtle forms of peer pressure to encourage handwashing and to remind people to change water filters distributed by the local community. They also sought to deploy new strategies of framing information to deal with misinformation about the quality of water (Stillman 2017). These simple interventions were inspired by scientific knowledge of how people process information based on cognitive and social psychology. The Social and Behavioral Sciences Team was dismantled after President Obama left the White House in early 2017 and its behavioral science interventions were not introduced in Flint. Nonetheless, they remain a good illustration of how behavioral experts think about addressing societal challenges.