The Science Of Healthcare Engagement: Sarah O'Farrell
Art drawn by versusthemachines
People talk a lot about behavioral science being an irrational science and actually, that’s a term that I don’t really like. When we look at a lot of the key teachings from behavioral science, the fact that we have a social norm bias or a present bias—these all make perfect sense as behavioral insights when you think about our evolutionary history. They might seem irrational in a modern world, but when we were spending millions of years evolving in adaptive environments—on the savanna, in forests, in small communities—these biases helped us to survive.
Intro
Sarah has almost 10 years of experience developing chain strategies and digital patient engagement and adherence, lifestyle change, global and public health, and positive organizational psychology. She has worked and partnered with clients and organizations such as Ogilvy, Bupa, Oxitec, GlaxoSmithKline, the Bartlett School of Architecture, and the UK Department for International Development. In her areas of subject matter expertise are behavioral economics and cognitive and affective science. Sarah is especially interested in how our effective experiences, for example, moods, emotions, feelings of empowerment influence cognitive processes, biases, and behaviors. Sarah holds a Master of Science Degree in Marketing from University College Dublin and a Master of Science and Social Cognition from UCL. She currently works as the Lead Inventor for ?WhatIf! Innovation.
For reference, this episode was recorded last year before Sarah began working at ?WhatIf! Innovation.