Behavioral science is a broad field of psychology which deals with the informational and relational trends of animals, specifically humans. Informational deals with how animals process stimuli from their environment, and how they make decisions based on these stimuli. The relational aspect encompasses how social-group animals make relationships with other members of their group.

Behavioral science is intricately connected to biopsychology and behavioral_science, which connect the actions and decisions of animals to structures within their neural systems through various means. Behavioral science is focused on humans, in contrast to the previously mentioned fields.

Israeli-America Daniel Kahneman is responsible for one of the recent breakthroughs in behavioral science. In 2002 he won a Nobel Prize for formulating and exploring the "prospect theory" along with Amos Tversky. The theory states that humans make decisions using heuristics, or mental shortcuts which lead the decision-makers to ignore some information while focusing on other information. This went against the prevailing notion that people are "rational actors" who make decision based on logic, and on the final outcome. Kahneman and Tversky boiled their theory down to a mathematical formula, which has since seen use in economic sectors, and been reflected in marketing strategies.

Modern consumer marketing is driven by the behavioral science. Aspects such as the influence of color on the desirability of an item or the mood of a customer, or the placement of certain items within a supermarket, are targeted to hit a specific trend in the informational aspect of human behavioral science. Consumer marketing uses this in conjunction with one of the seminal pieces of behavior psychology, "Maslow's hierarchy of needs," which Abraham Maslow proposed in 1943. The needs listed are "Physiological, Safety, Belonging, Esteem, and Self-Actualization." Something like a sports car, marketed as a symbol of rank, is sold by forcing consumers to consider their rank in social group, tapping in to the relational aspect of behavioral science, and to fill the 'Esteem' need in Maslow's hierarchy.

Behavioral sciences are also in use by governments. In 2015, President Obama signed an executive order, addressing federal agencies and instructing them to consult with behavioral scientists to serve the public welfare in the United States. Similarly, in the United Kingdom, an organization called the Behavioral Insights Team(BIT) was established to influence government interactions with citizens. In a 2012 study, the BIT revealed that sending an "informal" letter to people who were behind on their car taxes, as well as including a photograph of their car, resulted in a palpable increase of tax payments.

Another application of behavioral science is in the medical sphere, specifically in the psychological formation of children and adolescents. The discipline seeks to diagnose mood disorders in children, though it can be difficult to decipher whether a child's behavior is symptomatic of an issue, or simply due to normal growth factors.

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