Having to do a business internship for school at the age of 17 is a real challenge when you already know that you want to study psychology. Luckily, Laura told us about her career aspirations beforehand, so that we were able to adjust to her interests and didn’t take the wrong route with her.

Therefore, the journey with the marketing and sales team went in the direction of sales psychology and applied behavioral research. After all, we all like to be hobby psychologists when the need arises.

Laura’s workspace in Miro

In addition to comprehensive background material, we walked her through some questions leading to the reflection on behavioral design and sustainable nudges. In the second step, Laura had the opportunity to become creative herself. Comparable to a guided workshop, which our customers also regularly request.
The key questions were:
At which points is your school/are your classmates not positioned sustainably?
How would you describe the observed behavior in detail?

Laura’s main topics were general waste separation, handling returnable bottles (bottles with refundable deposit), and the potential waste of resources when handling paper and especially printouts. She also came to the conclusion that the mindset and awareness – especially of the younger students – could still be expanded.

Which behavior would you find desirable in terms of sustainability?

Laura advocated that the handling of waste should be more conscious. “That means students/teachers should not throw their mixed rubbish in one and the same bin, but actively and continuously separate the garbage.” We were impressed by her intuitive systemic approach – she didn’t just look at the waste separation from the consumer’s point of view but also took into account the work of the cleaners responsible for the final collection and disposal.
Her idea:

  • three-piece bin complex in attractive colors with explanatory symbols
  • supplemented with entertaining elements such as a basketball hoop or colorful footprints as a signage system
  • prominent and ubiquitous line-up to enable targeted disposal at any time and to increase the social pressure a little so that it is separated correctly.

When dealing with the returnable bottles, she was particularly annoyed that there is an existing system in place that is apparently not being used sufficiently and that it is morally questionable that the 25-cent deposit is not being used. Her idea for solving the dilemma is a central collection of returnable bottles with a subsequent return by and deposit donation to the senior’s class budget. Of course, other charitable purposes would also be conceivable, but the handling of the return and payment would then have to be refined.

Another pain was the high paper consumption in schools. According to Laura’s thoughts, awareness building, double-sided printing, recycled paper, and the acceptance of digital alternatives already help.

Her considerations on the subject of mindset and awareness also followed the point of information and enlightenment or securing understanding. “All students and teachers should understand what environmental protection is and how to live sustainably. You should be aware of the climate situation we are currently in and always take a look at yourself and start with yourself,” was her urgent appeal after two days of intensive discussion with Sustainable Nudges.
Project days or weeks, excursions, lecturing, where this topic is brought closer to the students, as well as the subliminal integration of the topic into lessons to make the complex topic approachable in a playful way – of course adapted to the respective age group – would be her suggested solution.

How does a student evaluate “Nudges” for herself?

That was our final question. Because our enthusiasm for nudges in the sense of a sustainable change in behavior on all sides aside, it’s all about influencing, and we were enormously interested in what a 17-year-old schoolgirl as a representative of the last generation had to say about it:

“I find nudges fascinating because I didn’t know that nudging is practiced almost everywhere, and people are hardly aware of it. For me, nudges are a good way of influencing behavior. I think that it is almost only through nudges that people’s typical behavior can be positively changed gently and subconsciously.
But as soon as nudges ensure that behavior is not influenced in a positive way for the future, health or safety, but rather that you are duped as a person, which only benefits others personally, they are manipulative and wrong.”

Phew, we have nothing to add to that! Except: Thanks for your cooperation, Laura! We had a great time, and please come back when you graduate. Our team of business psychologists looks forward to your support.

Disclaimer: We are happy to support student internships in our Hamburg office. However, placements are limited. Before you go into the trouble of applying, please give us a call to inquire in good time whether there is still a place available in the current year.

The Mensch

The avatar of Indeed Innovation not wired to an individual colleague but expressing our brand’s unique vision on design, circularity, and the future. Also used when several colleagues worked on this particular content piece :-)
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