Behavioral Grooves Podcast

Bill von Hippel, PhD is an evolutionary psychologist from Alaska who has lived in Australia for more than 20 years. Bill teaches at the University of Queensland and his body of research is so wide we struggled to focus our conversation. We spoke with him about his research into the ways in which our species’ behaviors have evolved over millions of years into the behaviors we see in our present-day lives. His insights are clever, thoughtful, and thought-provoking. We talked about reciprocity, collectivism, and most importantly, how being cooperative and social propelled our species forward well beyond anything else in the animal kingdom. We discussed Bill’s latest book, “The Social Leap.” It’s a groundbreaking thesis that applies evolutionary science to help us understand how major challenges from our past have shaped some of the most fundamental aspects of our being. One of the book’s key lessons is for us to remember that it is our collaboration, our collective abilities as a species, that sets us apart from

World Kindness Day is November 13th and has been celebrated in many countries around the world since 1998. World Kindness Day was developed to promote good deeds in communities and focus on how kindness binds us together. Around the world are efforts to encourage “random acts of kindness” for others and acting in a more kind way. We decided to look at kindness in general through a behavioral science lens.  Webster’s definition of “kind” is “of a sympathetic or helpful nature; being gentle.” In other words, kindness is basically doing something nice for someone. A Mother Jones article about World Kindness day, by Daniel King, states, “Don’t worry, kindness is not niceness,” so we looked at how the University of Santa Clara differentiates between KIND and NICE. They used an example of how holding the door for others can be described as either “nice” or “kind.”  If the underlying motivation is to create a favorable impression for the purpose of asking for a favor later, then the action can be considered NICE due

[NOTE: This episode was originally published under our sister-podcast, Weekly Grooves. We are republishing it here to share relevant behavioral science information. We hope you enjoy it.] We saw an article in The Atlantic that caught our attention because of its hook into behavioral science: our willingness to believe disinformation. In this week’s episode, we talk about the underlying behavioral science into why we humans are so susceptible to information that is not accurate. What can we do? We can use the OODA loop to interrupt our too-quick decision to simply accept suspicious content: Observe – Orient – Decide – Act. The OODA loop, in a very simplistic manner uses these four elements in this way: to take in and observe the context in which you’re seeing this information; orient yourself with the source in a critical way; make a decision by asking, “if this is from someone I might not trust, would I still believe it?”; and take action by deleting content created to DIS-inform you.   And since our podcast

CORRECTION: In this episode, we incorrectly state that Michael Hallsworth started the BIT North American team.  In fact, the BIT North America team was founded in 2015 by Elspeth Kirkman. Under Elspeth’s leadership, the team delivered over 100 trials to cities across the US before she returned to the UK in 2018, which was when Michael Hallsworth came to Brooklyn to manage the group. We regret the error and thank Elizabeth Linos, PhD for calling attention to it. In their book, “Behavioral Insights,” Michael Hallsworth and Elspeth Kirkman took time to think through the critical steps in the design and execution of a behavioral intervention. It’s a framework that could be applied to any significant behavior change you might consider and it comes from a book that Kurt and Tim consider among the best of 2020. Michael Hallsworth is the Managing Director of the North American Behavioral Insights Team and has helped develop frameworks such as MINDSPACE and EAST. He is a thoughtful researcher with outstanding work to

[NOTE: This episode was originally published under our sister-podcast, Weekly Grooves. In our effort to share relevant behavioral science information, we are republishing it here. We hope you enjoy it.] Listeners, especially in the United States, are already aware of the debacle from the Iowa Caucuses and how the Iowa Democratic party used a new app to help streamline the caucus results. You’re probably also aware that the processes and technologies failed, and results were not available for days afterwards. The delay has caused a plethora of online conspiracy theories and that’s our topic for this week. In the absence of good data, we make it up. Some of the richest conspiracy theories Kurt and Tim found include: 1.) The Democratic party didn’t like the results that they were seeing, so they were changing them. 2.) The Russians or the Chinese had hacked the app and were messing with us. 3.) The Republicans had hacked the app and were trying to rig the election. 4.) Hillary Clinton had helped build the app an

Jez Groom and April Vellacott, our guests in this episode, are co-authors of “Ripple - The Big Effects of Small Behavior Changes in Business.” It’s a practical, application-focused romp that uses a behavioral science lens to solve all sorts of real-world problems. Jez Groom is the founder of Cowry Consulting and has established himself as one of the world's leading practitioners in the field. Jez has played instrumental roles in projects like Babies in the Borough – which we featured in Episode 167 – that used murals of babies faces to fight crime, to changing handwashing behavior in a slaughterhouse in Santiago, to using bright pink walls to reduce unsafe behavior on a high-rise construction site in London. He is also an Honorary Research Fellow at the Department of Psychology at City University, London. April Vellacott is the Behavioral Consulting Lead at Cowry. Aside from being a dedicated and experienced practitioner, she holds degrees in Psychology and Behavior Change. Owning the heavy lifting for the bo

[NOTE: This episode was originally published under our sister-podcast, Weekly Grooves. In our effort to share relevant behavioral science information, we are republishing it here. We hope you enjoy it.] Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Noah Weiland of The New York Times wrote an article titled, “Study Finds ‘Single Largest Driver’ of Coronavirus Misinformation: Trump.”  The article is based on research from the Cornell Alliance for Science that analyzed over 38 million articles around the world on the pandemic. They found that “Mentions of Trump made up nearly 38% of the overall “misinformation conversation,” making the president the largest driver of the “infodemic.” Of the 38 million articles on the pandemic, 1.1 million of them “disseminated, amplified or reported on misinformation related to the pandemic.”  The study found 11 topics of misinformation that were prevalent in these articles – ranging from the pandemic being a hoax facilitated by the Democrats to the virus being a deep state or bioweapon of China to t

The presidential election is going full tilt in the United States and we want to emphasize the importance of acting on your constitutional rights if you are eligible to vote here. However, Kurt and Tim’s Behavioral Grooves is in the running for Best Podcast and Best YouTube on Samuel Salzer’s Habit Weekly Annual Awards. We’d love it if you’d take this opportunity to cast a vote in our direction. Thank you!   Voting for Habit Weekly: https://samuelsalzer1.typeform.com/to/vDs1cWlD Voting in US Presidential Election: https://www.usa.gov/election

Jessica Mayhew, PhD teaches Biological Anthropology as well as Primate Culture & Cognition at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. She got our attention when her comments about how primates play together are related to the way humans play. Not that that in and of itself is a big surprise, but the way we play and the context we play in are – of course – highly influential in how we play. She reminded us about the important role reciprocity has in the animal kingdom, just as it does among humans. She talked about context and environment and she gave us a couple of key examples. She noted how primate communities that value cooperation with their juveniles end up with adults that cooperate. And the opposite is true as well. Highly competitive groups foster more competitive behaviors in their juveniles. Kinda gets you thinking about human communities, right? Jessica inspires us with her interdisciplinary focus and the way she’s always looking for ways to cross into new fields. That’s why we

Kwame Christian, Esq. is the author of “Nobody Will Play With Me: How to Use Compassionate Curiosity to Find Confidence in Conflict.” He is the host of two podcasts, “Negotiate Anything” and “Ask With Confidence.” He is a professor at The Ohio State University Law School and is the director of the American Negotiation Institute. Kwame’s educational background combines an undergraduate degree in psychology, a masters in public policy, and a juris doctor. Yup – a classic underachiever. (NOT) Kurt and Tim got to talk to Kwame about the behavioral science hidden in his practical techniques. For instance, we discussed how to be more effective in negotiations by managing our emotions and how to reframe our negotiations as opportunities. He went on to say that negotiations are really “the art of discovery.” We also discussed the decades-old myth of the win-win negotiation – you guessed right: it’s a myth! Kwame also dropped more sound-bite bombs in our conversation than any other guest. There are tons and tons of ta

Matt Johnson, PhD and Prince Ghuman are the authors of “Blindsight: the mostly hidden ways marketing shapes our brains.” We caught up with them to discuss the book, basketball, ethics, and old school hip hop. Matt is a professor at Hult International Business School and he likes to explore the intersections of neuroscience, psychology, and consumerism in his graduate and undergraduate classes. Prince is also at Hult International Business School where he teaches marketing. He is also the founder of PopNeuro, a firm that helps companies to ethically apply neuroscience to their marketing strategies. In our conversation, Matt and Prince introduced us to a new term in neuromarketing they call mid liminal. Not subliminal, but mid liminal. We also talked about the natural partnership between neuroscience and marketing and we covered one of our favorite linguistic games – the Kiki and Bouba studies. Most importantly, we discussed their views on the ethical application of neuromarketing. We also want to note that Pri

Annie Duke first guested on Behavioral Grooves on Episode 31, which was released on September 30, 2018. For some reason, the three of us hit it off and we’ve had the pleasure of each other’s company for several more episodes (more than any other guest). She even asked Kurt and Tim to provide some feedback on an early draft of her latest book. With that background, Kurt and Tim sat down with Annie to talk about the new book (hitting the store shelves on October 13, 2020), the key themes in it, and the decision tools a reader can put to use in their own life. We love it and we hope you get a copy of “How To Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Choices.” “How To Decide” is really the first of its kind as a book that offers decision tools that the reader can try out through Annie’s guided narrative and exercises. Better decision making can lead to all sorts of improvements in your life, including more happiness, and our guest is all about people living happier lives. As much as we love books describing the neur

Andy Luttrell, PhD is an assistant professor of psychological science at Ball State University and the podcaster/host of Opinion Science, one of Kurt and Tim’s favorites. Andy’s research centers on people’s opinions, including when and how attitudes change. More importantly, Andy is curious about what happens when people moralize their attitudes and how moral arguments can sometimes be compelling and sometimes backfire. Our conversation focused on these areas and we loved the research Andy presented. We were particularly interested in hearing about how people who based their positions on careful analysis tend to be the ones who open enough to be persuaded with the right argument. So our willingness to be open to a fresh idea is in part based on how strong or weak the arguments were in coming to our own conclusions. We found the research fascinating that indicates that people with weak arguments are harder to persuade to new ideas. That was a head-scratcher. Our discussion also covered some thoughtful position

Eli Finkel, PhD is a social psychology professor who studies interpersonal attraction, marriage, and how our social relationships influence our goal achievement. He is the author of the bestselling book The All-Or-Nothing Marriage: How the Best Marriages Work and is a professor at Northwestern University, where he has appointments in the psychology department and the Kellogg School of Management. In his role as director of Northwestern’s Relationships and Motivation Lab (RAMLAB), he has published over150 scientific papers and is a contributor to the Op-Ed page of The New York Times. Eli got our attention because his book points to some very important tips about how to make the best of a relationship during a global pandemic. We thought it would be good to check in with him. He also shared a historical perspective on marriage that is instrumental in understanding how marriage got to where it is today and why marriage is so much more complicated, for some people, than it has ever been. Thanks for listening. If

[NOTE: You may or may not know that Kurt and Tim host a sibling podcast called Weekly Grooves. We thought this was such an important topic that we wanted to share it with the Behavioral Grooves community.] We got a call recently from Eugen Dimant, a friend of ours who is an associate professor in behavioral and decision sciences at the University of Pennsylvania, about how the University of Michigan was trying to let students know that they should only gather in groups of 25 of less. Eugen suggested we tee it up as a topical issue for Weekly Grooves and we readily agreed. It led to a discussion about what colleges are doing to regulate student activites to contain the coronavirus, the punishments involved in breaking those regulations, the environment in which students make deicisons on how to behave, and the importance of proper communication. Also, in this episode we include some of the conversation we had with Eugen, which is a departure from our standard approach and we hope you enjoy it. Eugen’s insights

Eric Oliver, PhD is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. Although the majority of his work is squarely in the realm of how we view our political systems and make political decisions, some of his work echoes moral psychology and sociology, and we find it fascinating. And, frankly, some of it is just downright fun to talk about. Eric’s observations come from more than 20 years of research, dozens of peer-reviewed papers, and he is the author of 5 books on political science. We specifically talked about how liberals and conservatives name their children, the rise of intuitionism, having dinner with a sports star rather than a rock star, and of course, he spoke in-depth about conspiracy theories. Most importantly, he walked us through some key aspects of how to have a conversation with someone who is on the opposite side of the conspiracy-theory belief system and, interestingly enough, it begins with empathy. Listen to the entire episode to hear all his insights and research anecdotes. T

Roy Baumeister, PhD is a world-renowned researcher known for his work on the subjects of willpower, self-control, and self-esteem and how they relate to human morality and success. Most recently, he is the author of The Power of Bad, with John Tierney, which explores how powerful bad experiences can be and how life is better when we seek out the good. We discussed a bit of the new book as well as some of his highly researched topics. Roy’s peer-reviewed papers have been cited more than 200,000 times and he’s published more than 30 books. As one might imagine, our conversation was packed with insights into how we feel, think and act based on the complex ways we view and experience the world. We felt like we were starting a master class when we hit the record button and we love sharing this conversation with you. Suffice it to say, we thoroughly enjoyed our conversation with this pioneer and we hope you do too. © 2020 Behavioral Grooves   Links Roy Baumeister, PhD: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Baumeister G

Susan Hunt Stevens is the Founder and CEO of WeSpire, a technology platform that helps achieve the company’s goals through better employee engagement. WeSpire delivers applications at scale including sustainability, diversity and inclusion; moreover, they enable employees to be recognized for shaping a welcoming community both inside and outside the firm. We talked to Susan about her observations on the value of building diverse teams, the creation of the psychologically safe workplace, and most importantly, the ethical application of behavioral science. She shared seven simple questions, created by Amy Edmonson, PhD at Harvard, to identify the levels of psychological safety within her client organizations. We encourage you to consider them for yourself. If you make a mistake on this team, it is often held against you. Members of this team are able to bring up problems and tough issues. People on this team sometimes reject others for being different. It is safe to take a risk on this team. It is difficult to

[NOTE: Republished in its entirety from original episode #104 on December 15, 2019.] Eugen Dimant, PhD is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Master of Behavioral and Decision Sciences Department and a Senior Research Fellow at the Identity and Conflict Lab, Political Science Department – both at the University of Pennsylvania. His research is rooted in economics and sits at the crossroads of experimental behavioral economics, behavioral ethics, crime, and corruption, with much of his recent work focusing on the ways “bad apples” (people will malintent) can be thwarted. This is also manifest in his research on behavioral contagion of pro- and anti-social behavior among individuals and groups. Because we met up with him presenting a paper at NoBeC, a social norms conference, we also discussed the role of social norms in pro- and anti-social behaviors. We are inspired by Eugen’s work with social nudges and what can be done to minimize the impact of people who are out to corrupt systems and communities. And, we had

Nicole Fisher, DrPH is the president of Health and Human Rights Strategies and is a regular contributor to Forbes magazine on social justice issues. Her piece in Forbes about “The Psychology of Protests” is an excellent analysis of why people take to the streets. Nicole earned a Master’s in Public Health from the University of Chicago, then her Doctorate of Public Health from Chapel Hill, and she was also an Economics Fellow at George Mason University. We felt we could go wide and deep on our conversation with her and that’s exactly what happened. In our discussion, we talked about the need for grace and understanding, a concept called peer permission, the psychology of protests (from a piece that was written prior to George Floyd’s murder and the global outpouring of peaceful dissent throughout the world), and how the heart of the matter with a pandemic is public health. In the Grooving Session, Kurt and Tim also discussed the Peace Prayer of St. Francis and recommended, in the Bonus Track, to consider sidli