Behavioral Scientist

11/07/2024

We speak with Nobel Prize winner Simon Johnson about the relationship between technological progress and prosperity, including how societies have made these choices in the past and what our decisions about the current wave of AI could mean for our future.

11/06/2024

Special offer for new subscribers: Receive a copy of the award-winning print edition, Brain Meets World, or receive a Behavioral Scientist t-shirt or hat when you join at the Print + Digital + Events or Investor level.

Unlimited Access—and a Gift for Joining* Special offer for new subscribers: Receive a copy of the award-winning print edition, Brain Meets World, or receive a Behavioral Scientist t-shirt or hat when you joinat the Print + Digital + Events or Investor level.* Digital + Events $8/month or $80/year ...

11/05/2024

Are We Too Impatient to Be Intelligent? — By Rory Sutherland

"There are things we need to deliberately and consciously slow down for our own sanity and for our own productivity. If we don’t ask the question about what those things are, we might get things terribly, terribly wrong."

There are things we need to deliberately and consciously slow down for our own sanity and for our own productivity. If we don't ask the question about what those things are, we might get things terribly, terribly wrong.

11/05/2024

"If cynicism were a pill, its warning label would list depression, heart disease, and isolation. In other words, it’d be a poison. So why do so many of us swallow it? One reason is that many people think cynicism comes with another, more positive side effect: intelligence." — Jamil Zaki, Hope for Skeptics

Cynicism and skepticism are often confused for each other, but they couldn’t be more different.

11/05/2024

"Civic motivations can be shaky. But they don’t have to be. With a little foresight and a tool like the Civic Action Time Capsule, we can preserve them for the moments that matter. We encourage you to add your reflections to the capsule."

Did you vote today? Send yourself a nudge to vote in future elections by participating in the time capsule 👇

Recognizing that civic engagement tends to fizzle over time, we developed the Civic Action Time Capsule, a tool that enables people to capture and share their civic motivation at its peak with their future selves.

11/02/2024

How to Make Voting a Habit? Listen to Your Past Self — "In my own message, I captured the feeling of taking my toddler with me to vote for the first time. Those words served as a useful reminder to turn that experience into a budding tradition."

Recognizing that civic engagement tends to fizzle over time, we developed the Civic Action Time Capsule, a tool that enables people to capture and share their civic motivation at its peak with their future selves.

10/29/2024

How to Make Voting a Habit? Listen to Your Past Self — New from ideas42's Omar Parbhoo on the Civic Action Time Capsule, a tool that enables people to capture and share their civic motivation at its peak with their future selves.

Recognizing that civic engagement tends to fizzle over time, we developed the Civic Action Time Capsule, a tool that enables people to capture and share their civic motivation at its peak with their future selves.

10/17/2024

When Everything Falls Apart, Can Communities Come Together? — Communities that are more interconnected before a disaster strikes are better equipped to survive and rebuild in its aftermath.

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

10/09/2024

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

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

10/09/2024

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.

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.

10/09/2024

"Cynicism and skepticism are often confused for each other, but they couldn’t be more different." — Instead of Being Cynical, Try Becoming Skeptical by Jamil Zaki

Cynicism and skepticism are often confused for each other, but they couldn’t be more different.

09/30/2024

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

09/25/2024

"There are things in life where the value is precisely in the inefficiency, in the time spent, in the pain endured, in the effort you have to invest." — Rory Sutherland

There are things we need to deliberately and consciously slow down for our own sanity and for our own productivity. If we don't ask the question about what those things are, we might get things terribly, terribly wrong.

09/23/2024

"How do you make the extreme group feel . . . that they’re still part of the broader society, while at the same time making it clear that you do not support their level of violence?"

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.

09/23/2024

"What would’ve happened if you hadn’t given the brief to a load of engineering firms who immediately focused on speed, time, distance, capacity? What if you’d given the brief to Disney instead?" — Rory Sutherland

There are things we need to deliberately and consciously slow down for our own sanity and for our own productivity. If we don't ask the question about what those things are, we might get things terribly, terribly wrong.

09/22/2024

"I spoke with eight of the local and international experts who have worked on conflicts in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and the U.S. and U.K. These are behavioral scientists who have convinced members of al-Qaeda to have their brains scanned in an fMRI machine, consulted with decision-makers on the ground in South Sudan in the years leading up to independence, and provided a platform for former guerrilla combatants and their victims to share their stories together."

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.

09/22/2024

Rory Sutherland argues there’s a pervasive tendency to get rid of the human component, in order to turn everything into an engineering problem. But what happens when we eliminate human psychology from our design challenges and focus only on things like speed, distance, and capacity?

There are things we need to deliberately and consciously slow down for our own sanity and for our own productivity. If we don't ask the question about what those things are, we might get things terribly, terribly wrong.

09/19/2024

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.