The World Bank on Mind, Behaviour and Society

This article critically analyses the use of psychological and behaviouralknowledge in development policy and practice with reference to theWorldDevelopment Report 2015. It examines the main proposition of the WDR2015, highlighting the behavioural change framework and policy techniquespromoted in the report. The shifts that have taken place in development policyare reviewed from a governmentality perspective which offers a critical viewon the psychological and behavioural focus in contemporary developmentpolicy. The article focuses specifically on the behavioural techniques theWDR 2015 promotes to show how a certain kind of subjectivity is advancedwhich not only homogenizes and problematizes non-Western knowledgesystems, subjectivities and agency, but also justifies the economization ofsocial life through development.