All over the world, organizations are working toward sustainability. Whether it’s reducing energy usage or promoting recycling, sustainability is ultimately about people and behavior. In many cases, organizations try to reach their sustainability goals with plans and programs based on the belief that people are rational decision makers who’ll change their behavior when they get the facts. Unfortunately, most of these programs are destined to fail because our intuitive beliefs about what motivates behavior are often wrong.

Social science is the science of behavior. It gives us the tools to be successful in engaging people and changing their behavior.