Behavioral Scientist

05/15/2019

Making the Social Leap: A Conversation on How Our Psychology Evolved - Behavioral Scientist

Self-control in our evolutionary past was not what it is today, explains Bill von Hippel in his recent conversation with us: "Our ancestors never avoided eating tasty things. They never worried about retirement. They barely even worried about tomorrow."

How we conceive of behaviors like self-control, overconfidence, and happiness today bears little resemblance to their evolutionary origins, argues psychologist William von Hippel.

05/14/2019

Making the Social Leap: A Conversation on How Our Psychology Evolved - Behavioral Scientist

How we conceive of behaviors like self-control, overconfidence, and happiness today bears little resemblance to their evolutionary origins, argues psychologist William von Hippel.

How we conceive of behaviors like self-control, overconfidence, and happiness today bears little resemblance to their evolutionary origins, argues psychologist William von Hippel.

05/09/2019

Spreading the Wealth: The Preference to Distribute Donations - Behavioral Scientist

"One lesson that we think can be learned from these data is that fairness is a powerful psychological motive that can be leveraged in donation decisions."

Donors face a tradeoff between helping broadly and helping deeply.

05/07/2019

Spreading the Wealth: The Preference to Distribute Donations - Behavioral Scientist

As donors, we face a trade-off in trying to help effectively. We can try to maximize “depth,” or we can try to maximize “breadth.” New research from Daron Sharps and Juliana Schroeder

Donors face a tradeoff between helping broadly and helping deeply.

04/23/2019

Broadening the Nature of Behavioral Design - Behavioral Scientist

“To solve problems and suggest solutions on behalf of others is to have power. As a result, we behavioral scientists have a heightened responsibility.”

How might our sense about what we should solve, or even what qualifies as a problem worth solving, be biased by how we think about what we can solve?

04/23/2019

Is Superintelligence Impossible? | Edge.org

On our reading list: Is Superintelligence Impossible? On Possible Minds: Philosophy and AI

To arrive at the edge of the world's knowledge, seek out the most complex and sophisticated minds, put them in a room together, and have them ask each other the questions they are asking themselves.

04/22/2019

Who Cares About the Environment? - Behavioral Scientist

Who Cares About the Environment? New research reveals that the general public is largely under the (incorrect) impression that whites are more concerned than nonwhites about environmental issues. #EarthDay

New research reveals that the general public is largely under the (incorrect) impression that whites are more concerned than nonwhites about environmental issues.

04/22/2019

Nudges Alone Won't Save Nemo: Conservation in the Great Barrier Reef - Behavioral Scientist

Nudges Alone Won’t Save Nemo: Conservation in the Great Barrier Reef #EarthDay

How do you apply behavioral science to a complex environmental problem?

04/22/2019

Fight Climate Change with Behavior Change - Behavioral Scientist

When trying to curb behavior that contributes to climate change, we often target individual actions. But these approaches have too often missed the mark. #EarthDay

When trying to curb behavior that contributes to climate change, we often target individual actions. But these approaches have too often missed the mark.

04/22/2019

From the archives: Thinking Appropriately About Climate Change #EarthDay https://buff.ly/2IBwv6u

04/22/2019

No One's Perfect: How to Advocate for Climate Conservation Anyway - Behavioral Scientist

No One’s Perfect: How to Advocate for Climate Conservation Anyway #EarthDay

The advice to “conserve energy” can backfire. What’s a better way to communicate about climate change?

04/22/2019

Are You Hitting Your Limit, or Getting Stronger? The Power of Reinterpreting Mental Effort - Behavioral Scientist

ICYMI: Are You Hitting Your Limit, or Getting Stronger? The Power of Reinterpreting Mental Effort

Doing the things we know we ought to do often requires effort. So how can we interpret it in a way that will help us persevere?

04/21/2019

Legalizing Gay Marriage Reduced Homophobia

On our reading list: "Legalizing Gay Marriage Reduced Homophobia" by Tom Jacobs for Pacific Standard:

A new study finds that state laws sent a strong message about how norms were changing—and homophobia declined as a result.

04/21/2019

There's a mismatch between who causes environmental degradation and who experiences it. https://buff.ly/2FJ7KkI

04/21/2019

Who do you picture when you think on an environmentalist? New research suggestions there's a large misperception regarding who cares about the environment: https://buff.ly/2FJ7KkI

04/21/2019

Why Are Americans So Divided on Refugee Policy? https://buff.ly/2vc9jTw

04/21/2019

Why Are Americans So Divided on Refugee Policy? - Behavioral Scientist

How nations set policies on resettling refugees is often framed as a measure of their compassion. New research suggests another explanation.

How nations set policies on resettling refugees is often framed as a measure of their compassion. New research suggests another explanation.

04/21/2019

Failing benefits claims are troubling, not reassuring argues ideas42's Anthony Barrows: https://buff.ly/2UEqWe3

04/20/2019

Defaults Are Not the Same by Default - Behavioral Scientist

"When introducing defaults into complex real-world environments, choice architects thus need to be mindful that defaults are not the same by default."

A new meta-analysis reveals when and where one of behavioral science's most successful nudges works best (or not at all).

04/20/2019

Work Requirements Are (Socially) Toxic Sludge - Behavioral Scientist

"If we want to provide economic security and health insurance programs in a behaviorally informed way, work requirements are not the answer."

Work requirements for anti-poverty programs don’t encourage work. Instead, their principal effect is stripping people of the benefits they rely on to survive.

04/20/2019

How can we design better defaults? Jon Jachimowicz, Shannon Duncan, Elke U. Weber, and Eric J. Johnson suggest focusing on the following factors and questions: https://buff.ly/2v8IvUk

04/20/2019

Defaults Are Not the Same by Default - Behavioral Scientist

Applied behavioral scientists take note: Defaults Are Not the Same by Default

A new meta-analysis reveals when and where one of behavioral science's most successful nudges works best (or not at all).

04/20/2019

"To End Racial Disparities in Policing, We Must Look Beyond the Data" by Jennifer Eberhardt in The Guardian, plus more of what we're reading this weekend: https://buff.ly/2IeHrG8

04/20/2019

Dr. Richard Green, 82, Dies; Challenged Psychiatry’s View of Homosexuality

On our reading list: "Dr. Richard Green, 82, Dies; Challenged Psychiatry’s View of Homosexuality"via NYTimes

At a time when being gay was classified as a mental disorder, Dr. Green defied the advice of his colleagues and took a professional risk by arguing otherwise.

04/18/2019

#Sludge alert: Arkansas's benefits website closes for maintenance everyday 9pm to 7am making it that much more difficult for residents to get help. Yes, it is 2019 (although the copyright on the site says 2009). https://buff.ly/2UEqWe3

04/18/2019

Work Requirements Are (Socially) Toxic Sludge - Behavioral Scientist

"Attaching work requirements to benefits programs disempowers people by fueling harmful false narratives about poverty."

Work requirements for anti-poverty programs don’t encourage work. Instead, their principal effect is stripping people of the benefits they rely on to survive.

04/17/2019

Defaults Are Not the Same by Default - Behavioral Scientist

"Knowing when and why defaults work highlights the importance of actively, rather than passively, considering and applying choice-architecture tools."

A new meta-analysis reveals when and where one of behavioral science's most successful nudges works best (or not at all).

04/17/2019

Do work requirement policies create a double-standard? Yes, argues Anthony Barrows: https://buff.ly/2UEqWe3

04/17/2019

The Tragedy of "The Tragedy of the Commons"

On our reading list: The Tragedy of the Tragedy of the Commons by Matto Mildenberger for Scientific American

The man who wrote one of environmentalism’s most-cited essays was a racist, eugenicist, nativist and Islamaphobe—plus his argument was wrong

04/17/2019

Neoliberalism After Behavioral Economics - Behavioral Scientist

ICYMI: Does behavioral economics refute—or merely change—the neoliberal agenda?

Does behavioral economics refute—or merely change—the neoliberal agenda?

04/17/2019

How to Identify Talent: Five Lessons from the NFL Draft - Behavioral Scientist

It's time for the NFL Draft, which can only mean one thing: teams are about to make million dollar mistakes. How could they make better talent decisions? Cade Massey weighed in before last year's draft: How to Identify Talent: Five Lessons from the NFL Draft

If there is one consistent yet underappreciated principle for making good hires, it's that process beats technology.

04/17/2019

Defaults Are Not the Same by Default - Behavioral Scientist

A new meta-analysis reveals when and where one of behavioral science’s most successful nudges works best (or not at all).

A new meta-analysis reveals when and where one of behavioral science's most successful nudges works best (or not at all).

04/17/2019

Work Requirements Are (Socially) Toxic Sludge - Behavioral Scientist

Work requirements for anti-poverty programs don’t encourage work. Instead, their principal effect is stripping people of the benefits they rely on to survive.

Work requirements for anti-poverty programs don’t encourage work. Instead, their principal effect is stripping people of the benefits they rely on to survive.

04/16/2019

"This physicist is trying to make sense of the brain’s tangled networks" by Kelly Servick for Science Mag, plus more or what we're reading this week: https://buff.ly/2IeHrG8

04/16/2019

This week's email edition is here: Work Requirements Don’t Work, Defaults Aren't the Same By Default, and a selection of what we're reading - https://buff.ly/2UE9K8v

04/13/2019

From the archive: @Ogilvy's Rory Sutherland on the ways the marketing world demonstrates how a failure to replicate opens new windows into human behavior. https://buff.ly/2IwTsoz

04/13/2019

Have you ever been told to just "find your passion"? Easier said than done, right? Brad Stulberg, co-author of The Praise Paradox, unpacks our assumptions about passion and purpose in this week's QA with Jon Jachimowicz https://buff.ly/2UuVkan

04/13/2019

Why Your Brain Hates Slowpokes - Issue 71: Flow - Nautilus

On our reading list: Chelsea Ward investigates her self-diagnosed case of sidewalk rage in "Why Your Brain Hates Slowpokes" for @nautilus:

Not long ago I diagnosed myself with the recently identified condition of sidewalk rage. It’s most pronounced when it comes to a…

04/13/2019

Most Popular - Behavioral Scientist

Wondering what others are reading? Take a look at our most popular articles from the last few months:

2. Science What’s Wrong with Moral Foundations Theory, and How to get Moral Psychology Right Moral Foundations Theory has theoretical and empirical weaknesses argues Oliver Scott Curry. He proposes a new theory of morality.

04/13/2019

Are Plastic Bag Bans Garbage?

Plastic bag bans are everywhere. Have they been helpful? Or is it a "classic tale of unintended consequences"? NPR Planet Money's Greg Rosalsky explains.

A national movement to ban plastic bags is gaining steam, but these restrictions may actually hurt the environment more than help it.

04/13/2019

The Passion Paradox: A Conversation with Brad Stulberg - Behavioral Scientist

“Follow your interests and give things some time and space to unfold—that can lead to passion.” More on the nuances of passion and purpose in Brad Stulberg's interview with Jon Jachimowicz https://buff.ly/2UuVkan

Finding, following, or fostering your passion isn't as easy as it seems.

04/12/2019

Does encouraging people to find their passion set them up for failure or frustration? https://buff.ly/2UuVkan

04/12/2019

What a Brazilian block party, a NYC subway ad and a New Orleans “chalk walk” have in common: all address the root causes of inequality in public space. @TheUnrealCity & Larissa Begault explain why this is so impt

04/12/2019

How Better Urban Planning Can Improve Gender Equality: https://buff.ly/2UMkFvS

04/12/2019

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