Using Psychology to Make Better Policy
This document will show how psychological insights can be applied to political decision making at both the individual and policy development level.
02 March 2020
BPS BriefingBy Policy Team
Politics does not happen in a vacuum.
People ultimately remain at the heart of policy-making. Understanding people, how they work, and what pressures they work under is of paramount importance if we want to ensure that our political system remains fit for purpose.
Questions of identity and connection have a tremendous impact on the way in which people react to policy, there is a clear need to understand people in order to develop better policy outcomes.
People are units of policy-making and policymakers are human too.
An understanding of policy that is underpinned by psychology opens up the possibility of new, evidence-based tools and frameworks that can lead to more effective decision-making by policy-makers.
It will introduce the British Psychological Society's wider programme of work on psychologically-informed policy-making.