New study from our team shows how measuring “thresholds for change” can improve social change interventions
Researchers from our team (Tanase, Algesheimer, Mariani) have shown that it is possible to measure how much social support individuals need before they adopt a new behaviour — their personal "threshold for change".
In a study published in Nature Human Behaviour, our team members combined behavioural science and complexity science to estimate these thresholds from survey-based choice experiments on energy policies and messaging apps. They then used simulations on real social networks to test whether this information could improve strategies for spreading behavioural change. The results show that interventions work best when they combine information about individuals’ readiness to change with data on social network structure. The findings could help design more effective interventions in areas such as climate action, public health, and social policy.
Full paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-026-02417-4
Research briefing: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-026-02418-3
Press release: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1120041