02 July 2020
A lively discussion recently took place between Matthew Taylor CBE (chief executive of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts), John Amaechi OBE,(CEO of APS and member of the Psychological Government steering group), and Kathryn Scott (Director of Policy for the BPS).
The event was chaired by Saskia Perriard-Abdoh, BPS policy adviser.
The panel explored how policy failures can often be linked to an inherent flaw or missed opportunity within the design of the policy itself, a lack of understanding of environmental, social and financial contexts or the failure of understanding and including the very people affected by these decisions which can in turn lead to feelings of inequality, disenfranchisement, stigma and populism.
Special consideration was also given to how embedding psychological frameworks and approaches could be used to mitigate and ideally avoid the unintended consequences that can arise from policy decisions that don’t connect with the people they affect.
This lecture is part of our ongoing Psychological Government Programme.
You can keep track of ongoing developments or join conversation on twitter with #PsychGov or by email at [email protected].
You can also read the reflections of Kathryn Scott and Saskia Perriard-Abdoh in their recent blog entitled "Same storm, separate boats?"