Our waste disposal behaviors are not the behaviors that we give the most attention. Many of these behaviors are automatic, which may lead to errors. However, we can also learn from our waste disposal behaviors to improve our healthy behaviors….
Author: Niels Vink
Niels Vink (1975) is a behavioral economist and sports enthusiast. He has Master degrees in Social Psychology (Leiden University) and Industrial Design Engineering (Delft University of Technology) and holds a PhD in Consumer Behavior. He lives and works in Haarlem.
We all have to pay our bills sooner or later as well as our fines and taxes. We can’t avoid that, it’s one of the certainties of life. However, we can change how we feel about paying our fines and…
I recently noticed that I add phone numbers to my contact list very often, but I never delete any phone numbers. The most important reason seems to be the amount of effort that it takes to delete phone numbers. This…
Starting an healthy behavior contains three steps. Just figure out (1) what healthy behaviors are possible, (2) which of those possible healthy behaviors are most beneficial to you, and (3) simply start with this new healthy behavior. However, as you…
A lot of traffic lights, elevator buttons and others things in our daily lives don’t actually work. They are not even connected to a system. These items do however have an important function. A function I experienced first hand when…
When reading the news, I can hardly believe the selfishness that it reports. CEO’s getting big bonusses while employees are getting fired. Stores getting robbed at gunpoint. Athletes competing on doping. But it also reports incidents of amazing selflessness. People…
You may have noticed that you pick the first available option in some situations, but not in others. The decisions you make depend on the situation. In some situations you have to make a decision fast. In other situations you…
We put blame on others more often than is warranted. We blame others when our children get hurt, when we lose a sports game, and when we show poor performance at work. However, these situations may cause us to miss…
I recently noticed that I delete my promotion e-mails instead of just unsubscribing. Why? Is deleting these messages easiest? Does unsubscribing take a lot of effort? Or do I feel some anticipated regret? Such anticipated regret may affect many decisions…
I have recently ran two traffic lights, but it would have been three if I had the chance. Yes, it rained, but was that really the reason? Goal-keepers and police officers may suffer from this same psychological principle. What do…