Another Obama program that may or may not survive in the new Administration.
A recent (January 23, 2017) issue of The New Yorker contains an article (“Good Behavior“) that describes the final days of an Obama initiative to use behavioral science in the service of improving government performance.
The article focuses on the Flint water crisis, and mentions several other projects that have used this approach.
The story is a hopeful one, in the sense that there are possibilities for doing good with the proper application of what is called “choice architecture.” There is also a warning here, that such an approach is value-neutral, so can be used in a negative way, as well. Trump, Hitler, and Stalin are all cited as people who have used “the behavioral arts” to influence public opinion.
George Lakoff has lectured and written on this subject for many years, pointing out many of the same themes that are mentioned in this article.
Language matters; it reveals our values and it helps shape them, for better or for worse.
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