Behavioral science consulting, tested in the field
Behavioral science consulting takes what research knows about how people actually decide (their biases, habits, defaults and social norms) and applies it to a real business or policy problem, then tests the fix against how people behave. The Center for Behavioral Decisions is a behavioral science consulting firm, founded in 2018, doing this work for startups, companies, public institutions and NGOs in eleven countries on five continents.
What behavioral science consulting is
Most strategy assumes people respond to information and incentives the way a spreadsheet says they should. They usually don’t. A customer abandons a sign-up flow that is one step too long, an employee keeps the old process because it is the default, and a well-written policy changes nothing because nobody sees peers following it.
A behavioral science consultant diagnoses which of those forces is at work, redesigns the decision environment around it (what we call choice architecture), and measures whether behavior actually changed. The deliverable is a behavior that moved and the evidence that it moved, not a slide deck of recommendations.
The field draws on behavioral economics, cognitive and social psychology, and decision science. The same work is sometimes called behavioral insights, behavioral design or nudging.
Problems we are brought in for
People sign up, then stop using the product.
The new values are on the wall, and behavior in the room is unchanged.
Messages inform people but don’t move them to act.
Routine decisions stall in approvals and new tools go unused.
People know what they should do with money, and don’t do it.
Five practices cover this work: Product & Service Design, Culture & Organization, Strategic Communication, Digital Transformation, Financial Literacy.
How an engagement runs
Diagnose the decision
Map how the decision is actually made, not how the process chart says it is, and find where behavior departs from intent. We name the barriers with the COM-B model: capability, opportunity or motivation.
Design the intervention
Redesign defaults, friction, framing, timing and social cues around the barrier, using frameworks such as EAST (make it Easy, Attractive, Social, Timely). Where it helps, our AI-powered Behavioral Digital Twins pre-test options before they reach a real person.
Test it against the current path
Run the change on something small and compare it with the old way, ideally as a field experiment or randomized controlled trial, with the success measure agreed before it starts.
Scale what holds
Extend the pattern once the numbers hold, wire it into systems and routines so it lasts without constant push, and train your team to keep testing.
Engagement formats
Decision Audit
An evidence-based read on one decision, workflow or funnel, and what to fix first.
Behavioral Sprint
Design, prototype and test a single intervention against how people actually behave.
Embedded Partner
An on-call behavioral science team that builds your experimentation capability.
Academy Workshop
Applied behavioral science in your team’s hands, through BD Academy.
Every engagement starts with a conversation and a fixed quote. See all engagement packages →
Who we are
The Center for Behavioral Decisions was founded in 2018 by Dr. Aram Ghazaryan to close the gap between what behavioral science knows and what organizations actually do. It has three divisions: Consulting; Research & Development, which builds AI-powered Behavioral Digital Twins and Adaptive Behavioral Interventions; and BD Academy, which trains practitioners. Two specialist units, BeHR and BeRecruit, apply the same science to people, organization and hiring.
We publish what we know openly too: BD Insights, the free 1001-term Behavioral Science Dictionary, and free behavioral tools. More about CBD →
Questions about behavioral science consulting
What does a behavioral science consultant do?
They find the behavioral reason a decision goes wrong, such as a default, a source of friction, a bias or a social norm, then redesign the environment so the better choice becomes the easier one, and measure whether behavior changed.
How is behavioral science consulting different from management consulting?
Management consulting usually changes strategy, structure or incentives and assumes people respond rationally. Behavioral science consulting starts from how people actually decide, designs for that, and tests the change in the field before it is scaled.
What is the difference between behavioral science and behavioral economics?
Behavioral economics is the part of behavioral science that studies economic decisions, such as spending, saving, pricing and risk. Behavioral science is broader and includes psychology, sociology and decision science. Consulting work draws on all of them.
How do you measure whether an intervention worked?
We agree the behavior and the metric before anything changes, such as activation rate, cycle time or uptake. Then we test the new design against the current one, ideally with a control group. Our standard is simple: if we can’t measure it, we don’t claim it.
How long does a behavioral science engagement take?
A Decision Audit takes two to three weeks and a Behavioral Sprint four to six. Product and service projects typically run 12 to 20 weeks, and culture transformations 12 to 24 months. Every engagement starts with a conversation and a fixed quote.
Is nudging manipulative?
It can be, which is why we hold to influence people would thank us for. We design choices that serve the person making them, respect their autonomy, and audit for dark patterns rather than build them.
Which sectors and clients do you work with?
Startups, companies, public institutions and NGOs in eleven countries on five continents, with particular depth in HealthTech, EdTech, FinTech, design and SaaS. Our BeHR unit focuses on people and organization work, and BeRecruit on behavioral recruitment.
How do we start working with the Center for Behavioral Decisions?
Book a call and tell us the decision you want to get right, or take the two-minute Behavioral Maturity Assessment for a recommendation on where to begin.
Have a decision worth getting right?
Tell us about it. We’ll tell you what the science says and how we’d test it.