Dr Tiina Likki is a Senior Advisor at the Behavioural Insights Team in London where she focuses on labour market and welfare policy. Prior to joining the BIT, she completed a PhD in social psychology at the University of Lausanne where her research focused on public attitudes towards the welfare state in Europe. She also helped set up Tänk, a think tank that aims to introduce to an evidence-based, behavioural science approach to public policy in Finland.
Tell us about your work: how does decision making psychology fit in it?
I’m a social psychologist by training and work for the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT). BIT is a former UK government unit, now a social purpose company that applies behavioural science to policy-making. My current focus is on employment and health and, therefore, I spend a lot of time looking at how the government could better support people getting back to work, or to stay in their current jobs. As a social purpose company, we cover a range of policy areas including education, financial and consumer behaviour, crime, international development, and energy and sustainability. Helping people and societies achieve good outcomes in these areas often boils down to supporting people in ways that allow them to make the right decisions.
Why you decided to go into industry instead of continuing in academia?
Towards the end of my PhD, I became increasingly passionate about the popularisation of science and evidence-based policy. I felt that findings from social psychology and behavioural science were incredibly important and that they should be more widely available for everyone to use. Some academics such as Richard Thaler and Carol Dweck do a great job of sharing their findings through accessible books, but many never make it from journal pages to policy-makers’ reading lists. In my current capacity, I am able to share and apply this vast scientific knowledge to deal with issues that affect large parts of the population. At BIT I have the benefit of being able to run randomized controlled trials and maintain close ties with academics, so I feel like I’m getting the best of both worlds.
What do you enjoy the most in your current role?
I enjoy how the role requires me to look at things from many different perspectives – those of the user, the client, the academic and the civil servant. This requires developing different skillsets in parallel, which can be challenging, but also very rewarding. I get incredibly excited when I get to apply the latest evidence to real issues. For example, I have been reading a lot on mental contrasting and implementation intentions which describe how to set effective goals, maintain the motivation to pursue them, and ensure you take the necessary steps to achieve your goal. I have been using this literature to develop coaching methods for people who are unemployed. I recently came across an article on the same methods in the Harvard Business Review. It is fascinating that the same theories can be applied to both jobseekers who have been out of work for a long time, and to high-level professionals looking to advance in their careers.
Do you see any challenges to the wider adoption of decision making psychology in your field?
I feel that there is an increasing openness among policy-makers globally to make behaviourally informed policy. The huge interest created by the recent BX2015 conference was a really positive sign. In the UK, having the support of past and present senior civil servants, such as Jeremy Heywood and Gus O’Donnell, has really helped a wider audience to see the value in behavioural insights. In my experience there is a real interest among civil servants to learn more, and the number of senior decision makers who have read books like Thinking Fast and Slow and Nudge has grown steadily.
How do you see the relationship between academic researchers and practitioners?
This is a relationship where everyone stands to win from engaging genuinely with each other. Practitioners can gain some truly useful tools and ideas, as well as support in evaluation, while academics can gain an understanding of where their research will have the biggest demand and impact. There is certainly room for more academic institutions to run workshops inviting representatives from policy and industry to share their challenges. Similarly, students could learn a great deal from hands on projects that allow them to apply the behavioural theories they have learned.
What advice would you give to young researchers who might be interested in a career in your field?
If you are about to start academic work in this area (as a student or researcher), see if there are ways to partner with another organisation for field work or results sharing. This will give you a taste of running more applied projects and will help determine whether you enjoy it or whether you prefer to stay in a more traditional academic setting. If you enjoy the experience and decide to move into industry or policy, your applied research experience will give you a strong head start.
:InDecision: 