Scalable effective interventions - Michaéla Schippers, Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford

The ‘science of wise interventions’ makes a compelling case for precise psychological interventions that can produce significant benefits and contribute to solving major societal problems (Walton, 2014; Walton & Wilson, 2018). Examples of such interventions are growth mindset, social belonging and life crafting i.e. reflecting on and set goals for important areas of life, aligning these with values and wishes.

this video was originally posted to Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdGZ-SvPMhg

Despite decades of research into such beneficial interventions, few have reached the general public. In the current presentation I will discuss results of an intervention developed by me and implemented at the Rotterdam School of Management: the life crafting challenge. This intervention was related to a 22% increase in study success and a 22% decrease in drop-out rates (Schippers et al, 2020). The effect was stronger for male and ethnic minority students, closing the performance gaps (Schippers et al, 2015). Moreover, the effect was long lasting: after four years the GPA of students participating in the intervention was higher than the GPA of students not participating. I will discuss possible reasons why few institutions make use of such interventions and why ineffective interventions (e.g., ‘scared straight’) keep being used. Also, I present research that I am currently setting up, using the overview effect combined with a ‘letter to the future’ as ways to engage student with wicked societal problems.

On Follow the Science: https://followthescience.nl/psychology-in-practice/14-scalable-effective-interventions