Behavioral sciences and government: A match made in the White House
On Tuesday, September 15, 2015, social and behavioral sciences received a resounding nod from the White House when President Obama signed an executive order encouraging their agency-wide inclusion in both creating and implementing public policies, to better understand and serve the American people.
This renewed emphasis on behavioral science comes after President Obama’s Social and Behavioral Sciences Team (SBST) spent one year carrying out evidence-based improvements of various government activities; from prompting more employees to save for retirement, to raising college enrollment rates for low-income students through personalized text messages. Having now made the SBST a permanent part of White House infrastructure, the White House strongly encourages all other government agencies to follow suit in using social and behavioral science for optimizing public policy.