Behavioral Scientist

08/16/2025

Your weekend read: Greg Power explains why attempts to improve governance fail because they’ve been based on the rational design of formal institutions rather than the behavioral logic of the individuals that work inside them.

From the archive:

Attempts to improve governance in the world’s most troubled states have failed because they’ve been based on the rational design of formal institutions rather than the behavioral logic of the individuals that work inside them.

08/09/2025

In this weekend’s read, Andrés Casas and Boaz Hameiri explore the behavioral science underlying an effort to maintain peace after decades of conflict in Colombia. Hearing stories transformed how people understood their former enemies.

From the archive:

To help build peace in Colombia, we gave the people most affected by the conflict—victims and ex-combatants—a platform to share their stories with other Colombians across the country. Hearing those stories transformed how people understood their former enemies.

08/02/2025

In this weekend’s read from the archive, Heather Graci amasses a range of voices trying to answer: How do you balance dreams of peace with the complex reality of achieving it?

Behavioral scientists working in peace and conflict grapple with questions of how prejudice becomes violence, how exclusion begets extremism, and how capable we are of change. The answers are far from simple, but not out of reach.

08/01/2025

4 great reasons to read 1984 with Behavioral Scientist this summer!

1. Read a great book
2. Find out for yourself
3. Learn from expert conversations
4. Join a great community

Find out more about this summer's book club and how to join here:

https://mailchi.mp/behavioralscientist/nr-ng-nm-4-great-reasons-to-read-1984-with-behavioral-scientist-this-summer

07/30/2025

Your Wednesday perspective from Barry Schwartz: Will the new standards for psychological research affect the questions psychologists ask and the topics they explore, and not just in a good way?

From the archive:

We should have greater confidence than before that findings we read about in journals will replicate. What’s good about this is evident. But do we pay a price for increased rigor?

07/30/2025

We are excited to invite you to our 2025 Summer Book Club. We’ll read George Orwell’s 1984—a classic novel about a future society overcome by a totalitarian regime and the citizens trying to break free.

We’ll supplement our reading with conversations with leading social and behavioral scientists, historians, authors, and more. We’ll also host group discussions and publish bonus content throughout the summer. (All of which are designed to fit within your summer schedule.)

Find out more and join today: https://behavioralscientist.org/announcing-behavioral-scientists-2025-summer-book-club-ghosts-from-the-future/

07/26/2025

Your weekend read, from the archive: Work-life balance is about making trade-offs, Brigid Schulte explains. How might we design workplaces that encourage employees to choose the right ones?

Work-life balance is about making trade-offs. How might we design workplaces that encourage employees to choose the right ones?

07/23/2025

In this Wednesday’s perspective, Andrew Hoffman, P. Devereaux Jennings, and Nicholas Poggioli argue that while important in the short term, markets and technology alone won't save us in the long term. Someday, we have to change the way we think.

From the archive:

While important in the short term, the power of the market and technology alone will not save us in the long term. In the long term, we will have to change the way we think.

07/19/2025

In this weekend’s read, the idea of parenting styles is far-reaching but built on sparse evidence. Scientists have turned their attention instead to parenting behaviors. Ariel Kalil, Susan Mayer, and Michelle Park Michelini explain:

From the archive:

The idea of parenting styles is far-reaching but built on sparse evidence. A team of scientists have turned to parenting behaviors, rather than styles, to discover what matters most for children's success.

07/16/2025

Join us this Thursday for a conversation with 2024 Nobel Prize Winner Daron Acemoglu — Technology on the Rise, Institutions on the Brink: https://behavioralscientist.org/event-2025-frontiers-conversation-series/ -acemoglu

As governments, universities, and other social institutions around the world face threats from inside and out, AI grows ever more capable, and the companies that control AI become ever more powerful. With institutions on the brink and technology on the rise, what are the greatest risks and opportunities for individuals and societies today?

07/16/2025

This Wednesday’s perspective on behavioral science, from the archive: Benjamin van Rooij and Adam Fine show how a large body of empirical work calls into question the traditional legal assumptions about how law shapes behavior.

There is now a large body of empirical work that calls into question the traditional legal assumptions about how law shapes behavior.

07/12/2025

In this weekend’s read, Heather Graci explores how a community’s survival and recovery after a disaster depend on the relationships of the people within it.

From the archive:

If communities are more interconnected before a disaster strikes, they may be better equipped to survive and rebuild in its aftermath.