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Rethinking behaviour change interventions in policymaking

Nature Human Behaviour volume 9, pages 1765–1767 (2025)Cite this article

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Behaviour change interventions that are unsuccessful may often be limited by structural constraints. Accumulating evidence across contexts helps to diagnose these barriers. Policymakers should combine structural and behavioural insights to enact systemic reforms to better address environmental and societal challenges.

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Fig. 1: A comparison of success-focused and holistic interpretations for behavioural intervention outcomes as a function of the magnitude of underlying structural constraints.

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Acknowledgements

We thank T. Marteau for comments on an earlier draft.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

    Wilhelm Hofmann

  2. German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), partner site Bochum-Marburg, Marburg, Germany

    Wilhelm Hofmann

  3. Institute for Planetary Health Behavior, Health Communication, University of Erfurt, Erfurt, Germany

    Cornelia Betsch

  4. Health Communication Working Group, Implementation Research, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany

    Cornelia Betsch

  5. Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Robert Böhm

  6. Department of Banking and Finance, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

    Robert Böhm

  7. Department of Social Health & Organizational Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands

    Denise de Ridder

  8. Department of Applied Economics (Political Economy), University of Malaga, Malaga, Spain

    Stefan Drews

  9. Department of Health Sciences, Fulda University of Applied Sciences, Fulda, Germany

    Benjamin Ewert

  10. Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany

    Ralph Hertwig & Jutta Mata

  11. Centre of Preventive Medicine and Digital Health, Division of Public Health, Social and Preventive Medicine, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany

    Falko F. Sniehotta

  12. Health Psychology, School of Social Sciences, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany

    Jutta Mata

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  1. Wilhelm Hofmann
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wilhelm Hofmann.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Human Behaviour thanks Nicholas Chater for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Hofmann, W., Betsch, C., Böhm, R. et al. Rethinking behaviour change interventions in policymaking. Nat Hum Behav 9, 1765–1767 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02284-5

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