A Review of the MINDSPACE Framework for Nudging Health Promotion During Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted the link between individual behavior and public health, along with the importance of evidence-based efforts to promote prosocial individual behavior. Insights from behavioral science can inform the design of effective behavior change techniques, or nudges, to influence individual behavior. The MINDSPACE framework organizes 9 behavioral science principles that can be used to guide policy design: Messenger, Incentives, Norms, Defaults, Salience, Priming, Affect, Commitments, and Ego. Using MINDSPACE as an organizing framework, this article provides a review of the literature on nudges to influence prosocial behaviors relevant during a pandemic: handwashing, avoidance of social gatherings, self-isolation and social distancing, and sharing public health messages. Additionally, empirical evidence on the use of nudges during the first several months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 is summarized. Recommendations regarding the use of nudges to achieve public health policy goals during pandemics are provided. Organizational leaders, policymakers, and practitioners can use nudges to promote public health when mandates are not politically feasible or enforceable.