The Behavioral Design Podcast

In this episode, we speak with Laurie Santos, Professor at Yale. In addition to her research on primate decision-making, Laurie is an expert on the science of well-being. Her teachings on the psychology of the good life are some of the most popular of all time at Yale and on Coursera. She also has a free curriculum for high schools, and she even has her own podcast. 

We chatted with Laurie about shared living spaces and the importance of being social (even when we don’t feel like being social!). We also compare happiness with psychological richness, and the pros and cons of self-monitoring. And as a special bonus, you get to hear Laurie’s expert rendition of a primate’s pant-hoot.

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The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizarro. 

Get in touch via [email protected]

We're finally back! 🎉 In this season 3 preview episode, we sit down and nerd out about all things Behavioral Science and AI, the state of the field and what we look forward to in the upcoming season. 

Thanks to you, our listeners, for patiently waiting for us to return and for supporting this podcast! We really appreciate it 😊🙏

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AI tools discussed

Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀

The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro. 

Get in touch via [email protected]

We've reached the end of season 2 - yay! 🎉 In this finale, we sit down and nerd out about all things behavioral as an intervention to help Aline overcome her recent existential crisis. We explore what we have learned about human behavior in 2021, whether being happy is important, ethical challenges in the field, how we can create a bigger impact, and, our course, we complete a final round of overrated vs. underrated.

Thanks to you, our listeners for supporting us this year! We really appreciate it 😊🙏

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Effective Altruism

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The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro. 

In this episode, we speak with Irrational Labs' Lindsay Juarez about big questions in behavioral science, how to reduce misinformation on TikTok, and the importance of communities.

Lindsay is Director at Irrational Labs, working on understanding and improving people's ability to take the daily behaviors that lead to happier, healthier, and wealthier lives. She was previously Senior Behavioral Researcher roles at the Center for Advanced Hindsight and has long experience helping companies use data and behavioral science insights to create and test more effective products and processes to drive behavior change.

We had a fun conversation with Lindsay about everything existential in behavioral science, including the real impact of our field and how necessary are experiments, really? She also shares insights from a recent project aimed at reducing misinformation on TikTok. Enjoy!

Relevant links about Lindsay

Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 and by giving us a review on Apple Podcast. Thanks!

The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro. 

In this episode, we speak with Ingrid Melvær Paulin about all things digital health behavior, Gamification, and the right behavior change metrics.

Ingrid is Director of Behavioral Insights at UnitedHealth Group. She applied behavioral science across vast areas of digital health behavior change, including previously being Director of Behavioral Insights at Rally Health and holding Senior Behavioral Researcher roles at the Center for Advanced Hindsight and Irrational Labs. She's also an amazing skier.

We had a fun conversation with Ingrid about everything digital health behavior and beyond, including the importance of focusing on the right behaviors, ways Gamification can backfire, her famous spreadsheet of BS companies around the world, and much more. Enjoy!

Relevant links about Ingrid

Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 and by giving us a review on Apple Podcast. Thanks!

The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro. 

In this episode, we speak with Eric J. Johnson about all things choice architecture and choice engines.

Eric is professor at Columbia Business School at Columbia University and Director of the Center for Decision Sciences. His recently published book The Elements of Choice is a fascinating exploration of decision-making research revealing how choices are designed—and why it’s so important to understand their inner workings.

We had a fun conversation with Eric about everything choice architecture and beyond, including how to provide the right amount of options, the attributes of a good choice engine, and that there's no neutral choice architecture – the environment is always influencing our decisions one way or another. We also ask Eric to redesign popular digital products, including Tinder, Netflix, and Amazon. 

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Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 and by giving us a review on Apple Podcast. Thanks!

The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro. 

In this episode, we speak with the fantastic research duo Gabrielle Adams and Leidy Klotz about their work on the science of less: subtraction.

Their research on the science of problem-solving has identified this fascinating bias against subtraction. In other words, when we solve problems, we tend to favor adding things over subtracting things, even when subtraction offers a better solution. We have a massive subtraction blindspot.

We had a great discussion, exploring all aspects of subtraction, from their research to tips for how teams and individuals can overcome it and why "jeggings" are severely underrated. Enjoy!

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Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 and by giving us a review on Apple Podcast. Thanks!

The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro. 

In this episode, we speak with Liz Fosslien about how to make work better using nudges (and feelings!). 

Liz is the co-author and illustrator of the Wall Street Journal best-selling book No Hard Feelings and she's an expert on how to make work better. As the Head of Content at Humu, she uses behavioral science to help leaders and their teams make meaningful improvements. She's also a master illustrator and we'd be surprised if you haven't seen her "sprinkles of insights" across your social media feeds.

We have a wonderful discussion, exploring how to make work life better, managing #WFH, why we might benefit from being less passionate about work and how the nudge engine at Humu helps people work together better. 

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Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 and by giving us a review on Apple Podcast. Thanks!

The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro. 

In this episode, we speak with none other than Dan Ariely.

We assume most of our listeners are already familiar with Dan's work, and we cover plenty of ground in this fun and enlightening episode. You can expect to learn about why Dan began receiving death threats from COVID deniers, strategies for overcoming vaccination hesitancy, the promise of psychedelics for treating mental health, and lessons from Dan's personal journey. We also talk about couscous! 

Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 and by giving us a review on Apple Podcast. Thanks!

The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro. 

In this episode, we speak with Jay Van Bavel about all things identity.

Jay is Professor at NYU and Director of the Social Identity & Morality Lab. His book "The Power of Us," co-authored with Dominic Packer, was just released on September 7th. It's a fascinating read that looks into how we can understand and harness our shared identities for personal and collective success.

In this episode, we have a fun conversation with Jay about everything identity, including why we contain multitudes and how the social needs of belonging, uniqueness and status impact our identity. We also discuss how identity can be a double-edged sword, both able to spark unity and (sometimes) create division, and why bumper stickers are overrated.

Relevant links

Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 and by giving us a review on Apple Podcast. Thanks!

The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro.