The Secret Power of Rituals | Michael Norton
What separates a ritual from a habit? Join Kurt and Tim this week as they delve into the intriguing world of rituals and habits…
The Science of Influence: Nudges in Action | Silvia Saccardo
Dive deep into the realm of behavioral science with Kurt and Tim this week as they explore the scalability of behavioral nudges and interventions…
Unlock Workplace Happiness | Gonzalo Camiña Ceballos
Curious about how prioritizing happiness can transform leadership and workplace dynamics? Well, look no further than this week’s discussion with Gonzalo Camiña Ceballos, CEO…
Tuned In or Tuned Out? | Nuala Walsh
So many voices, who do we listen to? The loudest, most senior or most popular voice? Our lives are rife with pivotal moments yet…
The Burnout Breakthrough | Kandi Wiens
March always feels like one of those months where you hit a slump. Work is back in full force, there are no holidays in…
Turning Anxiety into Assurance | Dr. Julia DiGangi
We’re back to our regularly scheduled program this week and full of energy – or should we say Energy Rising? Join Kurt and Tim…
Grooving On: Starting a Movement
In their final wrap-up, Kurt and Tim reflect on their recent series “They Thought We Were Ridiculous” and the insightful conversations they shared with…
Grooving On: Side Projects
Join Kurt and Tim as they exhale a collective sigh of relief and take a moment to reflect on the completion of their monumental…
…Ridiculous Ep. 5: The Future
Exploring the future of Behavioral Economics, we talked to three young researchers who are pushing the field further. A new generation of researchers is…
…Ridiculous Ep. 4: Behavioral Economics Goes Mainstream
Eventually, Behavioral Economics emerged as an influential perspective. It’s become mainstream in Economics, and it’s helped inform programs and policies that affect real people…
…Ridiculous Ep. 3: Children of Unlikely Parents
Behavioral Economics was using psychology to understand economics, but what did economists and psychologists think about their unexpected marriage? Slowly, this fledgling field weathered…
…Ridiculous Ep. 2: Importing Psychology
The notion of merging psychology with economics initially faced staunch skepticism, with errors perceived as random rather than systematic. However, everything changed when psychologists…
…Ridiculous Ep. 1: Beyond Anomalies
For decades, neoclassical economists clung to the belief that humans are rational decision-makers, but a daring group of social scientists dared to question this…
Make Great Decisions | Elspeth Kirkman
Feeling indecisive? Ever wondered what it takes to master the art of decision-making? Join us on a thrilling journey with Elspeth Kirkman, the brilliant…
Trailer: They Thought We Were Ridiculous
Anticipation mounts as the countdown begins! Prepare to immerse yourself in the riveting saga of They Thought We Were Ridiculous, set to premiere and…
Unlocking Intimacy: The Power of Questions | Topaz Adizes
Could asking a question be the key to deepening your relationship? In this special Valentine’s Day episode, Kurt and Tim dive into the intricacies…
The Key to Boosting Retirement Savings | John Beshears
Ever wonder how to boost your retirement savings? Could it be that the subtle art of behavioral economics holds the answer? This week, Tim…
Decoding Behavior Change | Bri Williams [Republish]
It’s time for a throwback episode! Dive into the land down under of behavioral sciences with Bri Williams, a trailblazer in applying behavioral principles…
Mapping Out Our Minds | Linnea Gandhi
Set sail into the uncharted waters of behavioral science with Kurt and Tim on a captivating journey led by PhD candidate Linnea Gandhi. Together,…
Adapt, Recover, Grow: Mastering Resilience | Dr. Jonathan DePierro
What is resilience, and how can we cultivate it in our lives? In this episode, delve into the fascinating world of resilience with an…
Cracking the Communication Code | Ben Guttmann
Kurt and Tim kick off the new year with communications expert Ben Guttmann in an episode on simplifying messages. Ben’s seemingly simple lessons pack…
Groove Through 2023: A Year in Review with Kurt and Tim
Happy New Year from Kurt and Tim! As we reflect on the past year, join us in revisiting some of the most impactful and…
Grooving with Knowledge: Kurt and Tim’s Best Behavioral Science Books of 2023
Continuing their pursuit of knowledge, Kurt and Tim explore the impactful books that have shaped their perspectives in 2023. They unwrap the highlights of…
Balancing Work Friction and Fatigue | Huggy Rao
Have you or someone you know fallen victim to the detrimental effects of Jargon Monoxide? If so, there might be compensation waiting for you….
The Eight Superpowers of Confidence | Lisa Sun
Step into a captivating conversation as Tim and Kurt engage with Lisa Sun, the author of Gravitas. Lisa introduces the intriguing concept that each…
Rethinking Behavioral Science | Adam Mastroianni
While Tim finds himself confined to a plane, Kurt engages in a captivating one-on-one session with researcher Adam Mastroianni. Together, they delve into the…
Navigating Societal Rifts | Michèle Lamont
Tensions around the dinner table? Trouble finding common ground with friends and family? Renowned sociologist Michèle Lamont joins Tim and Kurt to unravel why…
Evolving Minds and Attention Spans | Gloria Mark PhD
Ever feel your attention… drifting? Want to get better at being present? Join Kurt and Tim as they delve into the world of shrinking…
The Power of Brevity | Todd Rogers
Does everybody skim? Todd Rogers, co-author of “Writing for Busy Readers” joins Kurt and Tim to discuss just that. In this insightful episode, Todd…
Unlocking the Power of Effective Communication | Matt Abrahams
Communication is a vital skill we all use, but do we truly understand its profound impact on our lives? Join Kurt and Tim as…
Grooving on Knowing Thyself: Why Figuring Out Who I Am is Easier Than You Thought.
“Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Are you tired of that ditty? We are. How are you…
Why You Never Feel Good Enough As A Perfectionist | Thomas Curran
Conscientiousness, perseverance and meticulousness are all words associated with perfectionism. But perfectionism comes from a deeper sense of inadequacy, of not feeling good enough….
Want to Know How Priming Works? It Starts With Your Conscious, Not Your Unconscious | John Bargh
“The primary source of unconscious priming…is your conscious experience.” Our consciousness is where we bring everything together, where we integrate and form a rich…
Rory Sutherland: The Opposite of a Good Idea is a Good Idea [Republish]
Rory Sutherland is a British advertising executive who became fascinated with behavioral science. Between his TED talks, books and articles, he has become one…
How Good People Fight Bias | Dolly Chugh [Republish]
Psychology and neuroscience have proven that our minds do things on autopilot. These shortcuts (or heuristics) are laden with unconscious biases, which are juxtaposed…
Why You Can’t Find a Cab When It’s Raining – Groove Track
Groove Track | Why can’t you find a cab in the rain? We take a deep dive exploring the 1997 study “LABOR SUPPLY OF…
How Collaboration is Growing Behavioral Science: Learnings from BX Arabia
BX Arabia is a regional behavioral insights conference that started in 2018 to emphasize the application of behavioral science in the Global South. Kurt…
How To Turn Your Creative Dreams Into Reality | Jeff Madoff
If you have a creative vision, how do you focus your skills on making it happen? Can you turn your dream into a career?…
How To Create New Goals That Will Really Motivate You in 2022
It’s the time of year for setting New Year’s resolutions. But how can you set goals that you will actually achieve? Will you look…
The Behavioral Science Books We Just Couldn’t Put Down in 2021 With Louise Ward
What a year for books 2021 has been! It seems like authors, editors and publishers have all been working overtime this year to bring…
More Than Just A Checklist: How to Effectively Apply Behavioral Science | Torben Emmerling
Applying Behavioral Science insights at work takes more than just another checklist or document, it’s about creating an environment that enables people to make…
Our Love Of Music And The Influence Of The Pandemic With Mark Thorley
Where and how we listened to music shifted during the pandemic. But the music industry itself had to quickly adapt in 2020 to how…
Please Help Us by Voting for Behavioral Grooves – it takes 10 seconds
Habit Weekly, a wonderful organization founded by Samuel Salzer, is asking people to weigh in on their favorite podcast by casting a vote at…
Trust: The Four Key Steps to Genuinely Build It | Sandra Sucher
In 2021, people started to trust business organizations more than governments, NGOs or the media, according to global research by the Edelman Trust Baraometer….
Focus More on HOW to Think, and Less on WHAT to Think | Dr. Howard Rankin PhD
If we are open minded, we challenge our beliefs and accept that our thinking can, at times, be misguided. After all, our thoughts are…
Need a Laugh to Get Through Your Workday? Dan Hill
Need some respite from the work day grind? Join the fun on this episode for a light-hearted take on workplace humor. Dan Hill delivers…
Feeling Fearful: Why People Seek Out Conspiracy Theories | Eric Oliver
What makes us more likely to believe in conspiracy theories? Can our religious beliefs or political affiliations determine whether we’re less likely to believe…
Why We Are More Vulnerable To Harmful Conspiracy Theories Than We Think | Andy Norman
Misinformation is like a virus, spreading quickly and propagating in a way that doesn’t benefit its host. Andy Noman describes harmful ideas as acting…
Conspiracy Theories: How To Talk to A Science Denier | Lee McIntyre
How do you respond to someone who says “the earth is flat” or “Covid is a hoax”? Before we can try and reason with…
Conspiracy Theories: Hidden Brain‘s Shankar Vedantam | The Delusion of Nations
Host of Hidden Brain podcast, Shankar Vedantam talks with us about the powers: both useful and harmful, of our delusional thinking. Nations are an…
Halloween Special: Grooving on Scary Biases
Listen to Kurt and Tim’s spooky Halloween Special about some common biases that can seem a bit scary. But don’t fear, the scariest thing…
Why Does Rude Behavior Really Bother Us So Much? | Trevor Foulk PhD
Rudeness is contagious, in a similar way to a virus. When experiencing a rude encounter, our brain perceives it like a threat. And once…
Helping People To Assemble Better Decisions | Eric J. Johnson
How do we make decisions? What factors influence the final outcome? Do default settings change our preferences? Every decision we make; from choosing something…
Anxiety at Work: Why We Feel It and How To Manage It | Chester Elton
Anxiety in the workplace has always been present, even pre-pandemic but rates of anxiety, particularly among young employees, have worsened since 2020. So what…
The 5 Healthy Brain Habits Of A Neuroscientist | Dr Daniel Almeida
What life habits keep our brain healthy? How does our mind respond to trauma? And why does the way we talk about suicide and…
Money Does Boost Happiness, But Not The Way We Think It Does | Daniel Crosby
The clearest indicators of our financial solvency are based on the behaviors we exhibit with our investments. Dr. Daniel Crosby PhD is a psychologist,…
Why You Don‘t Need to be Powerful to be Influential | Vanessa Bohns
To be influential you do not require power, but wielding your influence is powerful. Vanessa Bohns, social psychologist and professor of organizational behavior at…
Leading Human™: How to Avoid Burnout and Create a Positive Organization
Employee burnout, The Great Resignation, Office Covid Regulations; these are all major concerns for leaders in the workplace right now. But how can managers…
Kwame Christian: On Compassionate Curiosity, Social Justice Conversations, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch [Republish Episode 178]
[NOTE: This episode is republished from #178 in October 2020.] Kwame Christian, Esq. is the author of “Nobody Will Play With Me: How to…
Vaccinating the World: How Behavioral Science Helps. With Michael Coleman
How can behavioral science aid the mammoth task of vaccination the world against Covid? What common barriers cause vaccine hesitancy in populations around the…
Can People Learn to be Better at Thinking? With Richard E. Nisbett
Few psychologists in the world have contributed more to scientific discovery than our guest Richard E. Nisbett. He joins us to discuss his latest…
Do We Control Situations or Do Situations Control Us? With John Bargh
Can we control our unconscious behavior? How much does the situation we’re in control us? Can we prime people to behave a certain way?…
Stanford Prison Experiment, 50 Years On: What Have We Really Learnt? With Dr Philip Zimbardo
The Stanford Prison Experiment has been the topic of movies, newspaper articles, textbooks and TV shows. Extensively published controversy has surrounded the social psychology…
[INTERVIEW] Are You More Honest with Google or Your friends? With Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
The truth is we divulge more information to Google that we do to our friends, our family or even our doctors. Our social media…
[GROOVING SESSION] Are You More Honest with Google or Your friends? With Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
This follow-up episode is a free-flowing Grooving Session where Tim and Kurt chat about their discussion with Seth Stephens-Davidowitz (Episode 246). You’re more than…
[INTERVIEW] Does Money Really Make You Happy? The Research with Johannes Haushofer
What link is there between happiness and income? Does winning the lottery make you happier? What does the research say about poverty and our…
[GROOVING SESSION] Does Money Really Make You Happy? The Research with Johannes Haushofer
Kurt and Tim discuss the links between poverty and mental health, how higher income is linked to better well-being, and the idea of a…
[INTERVIEW] Smart Behavioral Economics Secrets Every Marketer Needs with Melina Palmer
What does your customer want but can’t tell you? What effective marketing techniques use behavioral economics? If only you had a way of understanding…
[GROOVING SESSION] Smart Behavioral Economics Secrets Every Marketer Needs with Melina Palmer
How can your organization improve its marketing messaging using proven behavioral science techniques? As part of our series on Marketing & Employee Engagement this…
[INTERVIEW] Why Good, Honest Employees Really Do Steal With Kelly Paxton
Do honest people steal? Our guest, Kelly Paxton investigates and researches low level crimes such as book-keeping fraud; also known as Pink Collar Crime….
[GROOVING SESSION] Why Good, Honest Employees Really Do Steal With Kelly Paxton
Continuing our series on Marketing and Employee Engagement this month, we were joined by Kelly Paxton on our latest interview episode: Why Good, Honest…
Who Makes You Feel Grateful? Tell Them! With Chester Elton
When did a colleague last thank you for your work? Managers generally underappreciate their employees, but more importantly, they tend to undervalue the benefits…
[INTERVIEW] Attention: How to Capture It and Keep It with Ben Parr
What is the science behind capturing people’s attention? And what do you do after you have someone’s attention; what is your intention? Is our…
[GROOVING SESSION] Attention: How to Capture It and Keep It with Ben Parr
Continuing our series on Marketing and Employee Engagement this month, we were joined on our latest interview episode (#237) by Ben Parr, author of…
[INTERVIEW] Make Choice Rewarding: Behavioral Insights in Marketing with Matthew Willcox
Welcome to our series of episodes on Marketing and Employee Engagement. We’ll be sharing insights into how to apply behavioral science in business. And…
[GROOVING SESSION] Make Choice Rewarding: Behavioral Insights in Marketing with Matthew Willcox
We’re doing things a little differently this month on Behavioral Grooves. Instead of discussing Matthew Willcox’s interview in our Grooving Session at the end…
Get More from Reading your Favorite Books with Pique founder Bec Weeks
On this episode of Behavioral Grooves we chat with the founder of the engaging new app PIQUE. Bec Weeks is a behavioral scientist turned…
The Power of Unity: Robert Cialdini Expands His Best Selling Book Influence
The GodFather of Influence, Robert Cialdini joins us again on Behavioral Grooves to share his motivation for expanding his bestselling book Influence: The Psychology…
Behind NOISE and Beyond The Book: Linnea Gandhi Shares her New Course on Noise
Linnea Gandhi is one of our favorite people to talk with and we had the pleasure of welcoming Linnea back to Behavioral Grooves recently….
Why Is Noise Worse Than Bias? Olivier Sibony Explains
NOISE is set to be the next behavioral science bestseller. Daniel Kahneman, Cass Sunstein and Olivier Sibony describe noise as the unwanted variabilities in…
How Behavioral Science Can Impact Nonprofits: The Inspiring Story at Save The Children
Allison Zelkowitz seized the opportunity to use behavioral science at Save The Children to make a big impact on global projects. By building a…
How Delusions Can Actually Be Useful: Shankar Vedantam Reveals How
In this episode, we are delighted to welcome Shankar Vedantam, host of the wildly popular podcast, Hidden Brain and esteemed author of the new…
Donating Our Money Is Irrational, So Why Do We Do It? Tim Kachuriak Explains Our Motivations
Tim Kachuriak is the founder and Chief Innovation and Optimization Officer for NextAfter, a fundraising research lab and consulting firm that works with businesses,…
How Do You Become Influential? Jon Levy Reveals His Surprising Secrets
Our guest, Jon Levy, is arguably one of the most influential behavioral scientists in the world. Over 10 years ago, Jon founded The Influencers…
Why Music Makes You Feel Better with Pablo Ripollés and Ernest Mas Herrero
In this episode we are thrilled to be discussing our two favorite topics: human behavior and music. We learn that music, more than any…
Share, Like, Comment: Sandra Matz PhD Exposes The Truth Behind your Digital Footprint
Our guest this week, Sandra Matz PhD exposes the truth behind our online presence. In our conversation, Sandra reveals that with simple analytics, the…
3 Ways to have a Positive Chat About Vaccine Hesitancy with Friends and Family
Research is showing that there are four broad groups of people who are the most vaccine hesitant: African Americans Latinos Women between the ages…
How a Compelling Story Packs a Persuasive Punch with Melanie Green
Dr. Melanie Green is a professor at Ohio State University. She joined us on the podcast to explain how the power of a compelling…
Secrets of Subtraction: Donut Holes, Lego and Bruce Springsteen with Leidy Klotz
Leidy Klotz is the Copenhaver Associate Professor of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Virginia. His research fills in underexplored overlaps…
Observing the Non-Obvious: How to Spot Trends Around You with Rohit Bhargava
Rohit Bhargava is on a mission to help everyone in the world become a non-obvious thinker. In this episode, he talks with us about…
Why It’s Astoundingly Easy, But Not Better, to Be Tribal with Tim Ash
Tim Ash is a very interesting guy. He is both an authority on evolutionary psychology and digital marketing, which puts him in pretty rarified…
Scrutinizing Hype: Powerful lessons from The Hype Handbook with Michael F. Schein
Michael F. Schein is a hype specialist and the author of The Hype Handbook: 12 Indispensable Secrets from the World’s Greatest Propagandists, Self-Promoters, Cult…
A Thousand Thanks: A Lifetime of Experiments and Gratitude with AJ Jacobs
AJ Jacobs is an author, journalist, lecturer, and human guinea pig. He has written four New York Times bestsellers, including The Year of Living Biblically, that…
Linda Thunstrom: Are Thoughts and Prayers Empty Gestures to Suffering Disaster Victims?
Linda Thunstrom, PhD is a Swedish economist working as an assistant professor of economics at the University of Wyoming. (That’s in Laramie, Wyoming, not…
GAABS and Improving the Future for Every Applied Behavioral Scientist
GAABS is an organization that was recently founded to act as an accrediting body for applied behavioral scientists. GAABS is The Global Association of…
Dessa: The Attention Shepherd on the Curious Act of Being Deeply Human
Dessa is a singer, rapper, writer, speaker, science and philosophy connoisseur, podcast host, and ice cream flavor inventor. (Her flavor is Dessa’s Existential Crunch…
Jonathan Mann: Is it Possible to Design an Experience?
Can you design an experience for someone else? Jonathan Mann, the Vice President of User Experience at Renaissance Learning says, “Umm, not really.” Prior…
Why We Need Robots with Kind Faces with Bertram Malle
Bertram Malle, PhD teaches social cognitive science and social psychology at Brown University, he’s the author of dozens of articles and has focused his…
The Myth of the “Relationship Spark” with Logan Ury (featuring a guest appearance by Christina Gravert, PhD)
Logan Ury studied psychology at Harvard, was a TED Fellow, then became a behavioral scientist at Google, where she ran Google’s behavioral science team…
How Shellye Archambeau Flies Like an Eagle
Shellye Archambeau is the author of “Unapologetically Ambitious: Take Risks, Break Barriers, and Create Success on Your Own Terms.” It’s part memoir, part inspiration,…
On Fake Memories and Whistleblowers with Nuala Walsh
Nuala Walsh is a strategic adviser with MindEquity, working with organizations to create reputation, commercial and cultural change. She is a global leader, an…
How Chaning Jang Works Around Not Being WEIRD
Chaning Jang is the CSO of the Busara Center for Behavioral Economics and has helped lead the organization since 2013. He is responsible for…
The Counterintuitive Persuasion of The Catalyst with Jonah Berger
Jonah Berger is a marketing professor in the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the internationally best-selling author Contagious and Invisible Influence….
Time is Money – How Do You Value It?
Recently, NPR’s Planet Money penned an article about how much our time is worth based on some research that was sponsored by the rideshare…
How Decision Making is Critical for Back Country Skiers and Sex
Have you ever been caught in an avalanche or spoken to someone who survived? In this episode, you’ll hear what living through an avalanche…
The Role of the Unconscious in Everyday Behaviors with Joel Weinberger
Joel Weinberger is a Professor of Psychology at the Derner Institute at Adelphi University with Postdoctoral training in motivation at Harvard University. He is…
Successful New Year’s Resolutions in 4 Quick Tips
If you’re like the rest of us, your new year’s resolutions don’t last beyond St. Valentine’s Day. That’s okay – it’s normal. The trouble…
Living Happier By Making the World Better with Max Bazerman
Max Bazerman is the Jesse Isidor Strauss Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and is the author of “Better, Not Perfect.” It…
Reflecting on the Best Podcast Insights from 2020
This is THE episode to listen to if you have missed the last 90 episodes. We can all agree that 2020 has been one…
The 10 Best Behavioral Science Books for 2020
Pretty much everyone around the world agrees that 2020 was a challenging year and we’re glad it’s all but over. However, 2020 was a…
How to Deal With Anxiety Over COVID Vaccines
Are the new COVID-19 vaccines are safe? It will probably take time to know for sure; however, this week Kurt and Tim discuss the…
Amy Bucher on Participatory Design, Trust and Engaging Your Audience
Amy Bucher, PhD is the Vice President of Behavior Change Design at Mad*Pow and the author of “Engaged,” a new book on how to…
Evolving HR Using Behavioral Science with Ryan McShane
Ryan McShane is the President and CEO of HR Evolution, a consultancy that designs systems that support employee alignment to organizational purpose through HR…
Cornelia Walther on POZE: Pause, Observe, Zoom in, and Experience
Cornelia Walther has spent most of her professional career with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Program (WFP). She was…
Kevin Vallier: What to Do About Polarization
Kevin Vallier, PhD is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Bowling Green State University, where he directs their Philosophy, Politics, Economics, and Law programs….
Improve Productivity by Making Your Workforce Psychologically Safe
[NOTE: This episode was originally published as a Weekly Grooves podcast. We wanted to share it with our Behavioral Grooves listeners and we hope…
Bill von Hippel on The Social Leap, Context, and Max Weinberg
Bill von Hippel, PhD is an evolutionary psychologist from Alaska who has lived in Australia for more than 20 years. Bill teaches at the…
World Kindness Day Through a Behavioral Lens
World Kindness Day is November 13th and has been celebrated in many countries around the world since 1998. World Kindness Day was developed to…
How Do We Deal with Disinformation?
[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…
Elspeth Kirkman and Michael Hallsworth on Designing Behavioral Interventions
CORRECTION: In this episode, we incorrectly state that Michael Hallsworth started the BIT North American team. In fact, the BIT North America team was…
Iowa Caucus Conspiracy Theories – How to Inoculate Yourself
[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…
Rippling with Jez Groom and April Vellacott
Jez Groom and April Vellacott, our guests in this episode, are co-authors of “Ripple – The Big Effects of Small Behavior Changes in Business.”…
Grooving: The Single Largest Driver of Misinformation
[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…
Vote Now (for Behavioral Grooves)
The presidential election is going full tilt in the United States and we want to emphasize the importance of acting on your constitutional rights…
Play, Reciprocity and Context: The Keys to Happy Communities with Jessica Mayhew
Jessica Mayhew, PhD teaches Biological Anthropology as well as Primate Culture & Cognition at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. She got our attention…
Kwame Christian: On Compassionate Curiosity, Social Justice Conversations, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Kwame Christian, Esq. is the author of “Nobody Will Play With Me: How to Use Compassionate Curiosity to Find Confidence in Conflict.” He is…
Matt Johnson & Prince Ghuman on Mid-Liminal Marketing and the Ethics of Applied Neuroscience
Matt Johnson, PhD and Prince Ghuman are the authors of “Blindsight: the mostly hidden ways marketing shapes our brains.” We caught up with them…
Annie Duke on How to Decide
Annie Duke first guested on Behavioral Grooves on Episode 31, which was released on September 30, 2018. For some reason, the three of us…
Andy Luttrell: Pro’s and Con’s of Persuasion When Issues are Moralized
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…
Secrets to a Successful Marriage with Eli Finkel
Eli Finkel, PhD is a social psychology professor who studies interpersonal attraction, marriage, and how our social relationships influence our goal achievement. He is…
Grooving: Colleges and the Coronavirus
[NOTE: You may or may not know that Kurt and Tim host a sibling podcast called Weekly Grooves. We thought this was such an…
How to Talk to Your Friends About Their Conspiracy Theories with Eric Oliver
Eric Oliver, PhD is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. Although the majority of his work is squarely in the…
Self Control, Belonging, and Why Your Most Dedicated Employees Are the Ones To Watch Out For with Roy Baumeister
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…
Seven Questions to Assess the Psychological Safety of Your Teams with Susan Hunt Stevens
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…
Eugen Dimant, PhD: What To Do About Bad Apples
[NOTE: Republished in its entirety from original episode #104 on December 15, 2019.] Eugen Dimant, PhD is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Master of…
The Stages of Grief, Pandemics and the Psychology of Protests with Nicole Fisher
Nicole Fisher, DrPH is the president of Health and Human Rights Strategies and is a regular contributor to Forbes magazine on social justice issues….
How Babies’ Faces on Shop Doors Can Reduce Crime: With Tara Austin
Tara Austin is a strategist and was recently the Chief Strategy Officer for Kindred in London. Many of us know her for her public…
Elspeth Kirkman: Best Models for Identifying a Problem
Elspeth Kirkman is responsible for BIT’s work on health, education, and local government. Prior to this role, she oversaw the establishment and growth of…
Shlomi Ron: Visual Storying Telling In a Time of Crisis
Shlomi Ron is the CEO of the Visual Storytelling Institute. He co-founded the institute after 20 years of digital marketing with some of the…
Steve Wendel, PhD: Designing for Behavior Change
Stephen Wendel, PhD is an applied behavioral scientist who studies how digital products can help people take action more effectively. He currently serves as…
Robert Cialdini, PhD: Littering, Egoism and Aretha Franklin
[NOTE: This episode is republished from #50 in January 2019.] Robert Cialdini, PhD is counted among the greatest psychological researchers alive today and his published…
Grooving: On the Principle of Scarcity
[NOTE: This episode is republished from #74 in June 2019.] This episode is a discussion on the principle of scarcity. Kurt and Tim attempt…
Katy Milkman, PhD: Using Behavior Change for Good
[NOTE: This is a republished episode from #99 in November 2019.] Katy Milkman is no ordinary behavioral scientist. She’s a Professor of Operations, Information…
Grooving: On Goals and Goal Setting
[NOTE: This episode is republished from #92 in October 2019.] Goals are often misunderstood. Goals are much more than just objectives that are handed…
Covid-19 Crisis: Caroline Webb, Senior Advisor at McKinsey, on The Value of Where We Place Our Attention and Amplifying Certainty
Caroline Webb, a Senior Advisor at McKinsey, is an executive coach, author, and speaker specializing in insights from behavioral science to improve our lives…
Covid-19 Crisis: Margaret Robinson Rutherford, PhD on Perfectly Hidden Depression
Margaret Robinson Rutherford, PhD, is a clinical psychologist in private practice with more than twenty-five years of experience treating individuals and couples for depression,…
Grooving: Where Will You Live if You WFH?
We saw an article in the Wall Street Journal titled “When Workers Can Live Anywhere, Many Ask: Why Do I Live Here?” and it…
Covid-19 Crisis: Elizabeth Gilbert, PhD on Adaptability, Imaginal Exposure and Lists
Elizabeth Gilbert, PhD is the Head of Research at PsychologyCompass, a content platform that uses insights from psychology and neuroscience to teach people how…
John Bargh: Dante, Coffee and the Unconscious Mind
John Bargh, PhD is a Professor of Psychology and Management at Yale University. His name may be familiar because of the replication crisis, but…
Covid-19 Crisis: Howard Friedman, PhD on The Value of Human Life
Howard Friedman is a data scientist, health economist, and writer with decades of experience in both the private and public sectors, as well as…
Grooving: Protests Sparked by the Death of George Floyd in Minneapolis
On May 25, 2020, a white Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd, an unarmed black man, by holding him down with a knee on…
Covid-19 Crisis: Chris Pfeiffer on Tips for Adjusting Sales Comp Plans
Chris Pfeiffer is a Senior Business Analyst at Tegra Analytics. Chris specializes in salesforce effectiveness in the life science industry, which includes incentive compensation,…
Dan Hill, PhD: On the Facial Coding of Trump, Hendrix, Prince, Gretzky and the Beatles
Dan Hill, PhD is an internationally recognized expert on the role of emotions in politics, business, sports, and popular culture. He pioneered the use…
Covid-19 Crisis: Claire Bidwell Smith on Grief During the Crisis
Claire Bidwell Smith is a licensed therapist specializing in grief and the author of three books of nonfiction, most recently ANXIETY: The Missing Stage…
Covid-19 Crisis: Kristen Berman on Remote Work, Quaranteams and Marinades
Kristen Berman is the co-founder of Irrational Labs and co-founder and principal at Common Cents Lab, a non-profit behavioral consulting company, with Dan Ariely….
Covid-19 Crisis: Stephen Curtis on Neuroplasticity and Creating the Ideal
Stephen Curtis, PhD is a Clinical Psychologist with a doctorate in Neuroscience Experimental Psychology. He specializes in Performance Psychology with professional and college athletes,…
Gary Latham, PhD: Goal Setting, Prompts, Priming, and Skepticism
Gary Latham, PhD is the Secretary of State Professor of Organizational Behaviour at the Rotman School of Management in the University of Toronto. His…
Covid-19 Crisis: Mariel Beasley on Increasing Short Term Savings During the Crisis
Mariel Beasley is the Co-Director of the Common Cents Lab at the Center for Advanced Hindsight at Duke University. She works on applications of…
Samuel Salzer: Benefits and Perils of Streaks
Samuel Salzer is a leading behavioral strategist and habit expert, having worked with organizations across Europe, Australia, and North America. Among other things, he’s…
Covid-19 Crisis: Kaveh Yazdifard on Uniting Innovators from Tehran
Kaveh Yazdifard is the Chief Innovation Officer at Sahab Pardaz located in Tehran, Iran. He is also the Director of Urban Innovation for the…
Covid-19 Crisis: Gretchen Chapman, PhD on The Psychology of Vaccinations
Gretchen Chapman, PhD researches how we make decisions about vaccines. She is a Professor in the Social & Decision Sciences department at Carnegie Mellon…
Covid-19 Crisis: Jules Nolan on The Kids are Alright – Insights on Coping Through the Crisis
Jules Nolan, PhD is a psychologist, speaker, and author. She is the president of the Minnesota School Psychology Association and chairwoman for the Human…
Thanks For No Memories During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Our inspiration this week comes from an article written by Shayla Love for Vice titled, “You’ll probably forget what it was like to live…
Covid-19 Crisis: Greg Davies, PhD on the Fetish of Optimization
Greg Davies, PhD is a specialist in applied behavioral finance, decision science, impact investing, and financial wellbeing. He founded the banking world’s first behavioral…
Iris Tzafrir: A Kind Word
Iris Tzafrir is an inspirational and influential cross-functional leader in strategy and business development, deal-making, value actualization, and merger integration. She grew up in…
Covid-19 Crisis: Anurag Vaish on Risk is a Feeling, Not a Number
Anurag Vaish is the co-founder and director of The FinalMile in Mumbai, India. In building the company’s practice of Behavior Architecture, Anurag led the…
Artem Petakov: Our Biggest Competitor is the Couch
Artem Petakov is a co-Founder of Noom, a behavioral change and weight loss product that marries both psychology and AI to help people form…
Covid-19 Crisis: Michael Boden on How Field Sales Reps Are Adapting to the Crisis
Michael Boden is the Head of U.S. Crop Protection Sales at Syngenta, a global agrochemicals and seeds firm based in Basel, Switzerland. He joined…
Covid-19 Crisis: Alessandro del Ponte on Moral Dilemmas with Economic Consequences
Alessandro del Ponte is a research fellow at the National University of Singapore working in the Behavioral Change program at the Global Asia Institute….
Stuart King: On the “What The Hell” Effect
Stuart King designs evidence-based interventions for children and adults to change their behavior and manage their weight. He has worked with the UK’s NHS…
Covid-19 Crisis: Cristina Bicchieri – Messaging Rules For Improving Social Behavior
Cristina Bicchieri, PhD is the S. J. Patterson Harvie Professor of Social Thought and Comparative Ethics, a Professor of Philosophy and Psychology at the University…
Grooving: The Impact of Temporal Discounting
In this grooving episode, Kurt and Tim discuss Temporal Discounting and it’s closely related cousins. Temporal discounting is where we tend to value events…
Covid-19 Crisis: Aline Holzwarth on Our Behavioral Immune System
Aline Holzwarth is the head of Behavioral Science at Pattern Health in Durham, North Carolina and a writer who supplies work to Behavioral Scientist…
Covid-19 Crisis: Brad Shuck, PhD on Pausing, Building Capacity and “Not Business as Usual”
Brad Shuck, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership, Evaluation and Organizational Development at the University of Louisville. He is…
Covid-19 Crisis: Eugen Dimant, PhD on the Roles of Social Norms and Good Science
Eugen Dimant, PhD is an Associate Professor of Practice in Behavioral and Decision Sciences, which is part of the new Center for Social Norms…
Covid-19 Crisis: Wendy Wood, PhD on Habits, Productivity and Being Gentle with Yourself
Wendy Wood, PhD is a social psychologist whose research addresses the ways that habits guide behavior. She researches and teaches at USC both in…
Deborah Small, PhD: Processing Probabilistic Events and Making Donations
Deborah Small, PhD is a professor of marketing in the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research crosses the intersections of psychology…
Covid-19 Crisis: Rodd Wagner on The Zen of Staying Safe
Rodd Wagner is a Forbes columnist and bestselling author of books on leadership, employee engagement and collaboration. Rodd’s books have been published in 10…
Covid-19 Crisis: Annie Duke on Hedging and the Last Disaster Syndrome
Annie Duke is an author, corporate speaker, and consultant in the decision-making space. Her most recent book, Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When…
Covid-19 Crisis: Ali Fenwick, PhD on Leveraging the Crisis for Good
Ali Fenwick, PhD is a Professor of Organizational Behavior at Hult International Business School in London and Dubai. He specializes in applying behavioural traits…
Covid-19 Crisis: James Brewer on Changing His Mind
James Brewer is the Director of Marketing Platforms and Global Customer Operations for Eli Lilly and Company. Over the years, Kurt and Tim have…
Covid-19 Crisis: Don’t Outsource Your Critical Thinking with Christian Hunt
Christian Hunt is the founder of Human Risk, a Behavioral Science consulting and training firm specializing in risk, compliance, conduct & culture. Previously, Christian…
Covid-19 Crisis: Barry Ritholtz on Keeping Perspective
Barry Ritholtz is the CIO of Ritholtz Wealth Management and the host of the Bloomberg podcast Masters in Business, where he talks almost as…
Managing Coronavirus – An Introduction to Weekly Grooves
This is an episode originally produced for Weekly Grooves. We hope you enjoy! Coronavirus and the disease it’s created – Covid-19 – is alive…
Chiara Varazzani: Behavioral Science Needs More Neuroscience
Chiara Varazzani, PhD is the Principal Advisor at the Behavioral Insights Unit in the Victorian Government’s Department of Premier and Cabinet in Australia. Chiara…
John Fuisz: Tracking Emotional Vectors
John Fuisz is co-founder of Veriphix and a marketer who believes in building great brands. He does so with a sophisticated system that, on…
Andrew Wagner: The Economics Inside Online Games
Author and economist Andrew Wagner’s new book, The Economics of Online Gaming, shares how economic decisions get made by players of online games. We…
Ethical Application of Behavioral Science in the Workplace
In this special edition, bestselling author and Forbes contributor, Rodd Wagner, organized a question-and-answer session with Kurt and Tim in front of a live audience to…
Adam Hansen: Beyond Innovation
As a new product and innovation professional, Adam Hansen has always believed in the power of possibility – accepting new approaches, questioning conventional wisdom,…
Caroline Webb: Still Having a Great Day
For this episode, we’re republishing a terrific conversation we had with economist and author, Caroline Webb, PhD (in episode 33). We loved her book, How…
Grooving: The Behavioral Diagnosis
In this grooving session, Kurt and Tim share how to conduct a behavioral diagnosis. A behavioral diagnosis is a tool we use to uncover…
Announcing Weekly Grooves
Kurt and Tim are producing a new podcast called Weekly Grooves, launching January 31, 2020. Weekly Grooves is the weekly podcast that offers insights…
Steve Martin and Joe Marks: The Messenger is the Message
Stephen Martin and Joe Marks, PhD dive deep into one of the most important eye-openers about communication in our world today: the importance of…
Melina Palmer: Using Behavioral Economics to Help Businesses
Melina Palmer is the host of The Brainy Business podcast and she has dedicated her career to seeking answers to these questions for herself…
Grooving on Our Favorite Podcast Episodes of 2019
Too often, in our estimation, people make recommendations to us with the intent to improve our life but the effect on us is the…
Rory Sutherland: The Opposite of a Good Idea is a Good Idea
Rory Sutherland is a British advertising executive who became fascinated with behavioral science. Between his TED talks, books and articles, he has become one…
Jana Gallus: The Role of Precision in Incentives
Jana Gallus, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Strategy and Behavioral Decision Making at UCLA’s Anderson School of Business and our discussion dissected the…
Reuben Kline: When Too Many Choices Might Be Just Right
The research that Reuben Kline, PhD is working on is focused on climate change mitigation. As an associate professor of political science and the…
Eugen Dimant: What to Do About Bad Apples
Eugen Dimant, PhD is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Master of Behavioral and Decision Sciences Department and a Senior Research Fellow at the Identity…
Grooving: Kiki and Bouba Minds
Imagine that these two drawings are called Kiki and Bouba in some alien language. If you had to guess which one was Kiki and…
Cristina Bicchieri: Social Norms are Bundles of Expectations
Cristina Bicchieri, PhD is the S. J. Patterson Harvie Professor of Social Thought and Comparative Ethics, a Professor of Philosophy and Psychology at the…
Grooving: 2019 Reading List
Kurt and Tim like to read about behavioral science and a variety of related fields. To help those interested in the subject, but unsure…
The 100th Episode Celebration in Philadelphia
This is Behavioral Grooves’ 100th episode! Who would have thought when we started out two years ago without a clue about HOW to produce…
Katy Milkman: Behavior Change for Good
Katy Milkman PhD is no ordinary behavioral scientist. She’s a Professor of Operations, Information and Decisions at Wharton and has a secondary faculty appointment…
Chris Nave: Educating BeSci Practitioners at UPenn
Chris Nave, PhD is the Associate Director of the Master of Behavioral and Decision Sciences Program at the University of Pennsylvania. We caught up…
Chris Brown: Avalanches and System 1 Thinking
Chris Brown is in human risk management and practice is set in backcountry snow. He grew up outside of Philadelphia and after graduating with…
Zarak Khan and Erik Johnson: Action Design Network and Beyond
Sometimes things just go better in twos and that was the case regarding our guests for this episode. Zarak Kahn is the Behavioral Innovation…
Victoria Shaffer: End of Life Decision Tools
Victoria Shaffer is a researcher and professor at the University of Missouri. Victoria focuses on applying decision psychology and behavioral economics to medical decision…
Grooving: UPenn Norms and Behavioral Change Workshop
Kurt and Tim were invited to attend the Norms and Behavioral Change (NoBeC) workshop at the University of Pennsylvania on October 17 and 18,…
Paul Hebert: 7 Deadly Incentive Sins
Paul Hebert knows incentives. He is the Vice President of Individual Performance Strategy at Creative Group, Inc. and a writer, speaker and consultant and…
Grooving: On Goals
Goals are often misunderstood. Goals are much more than just objectives that are handed down to subordinates. Rather, goals are self-determined in the best…
Brad Shuck: Being Ignored is Worse Than Having a Stapler Thrown at You
Brad Shuck, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership, Evaluation, and Organizational Development at the University of Louisville. He is…
Jim Guszcza: Data Science AND Behavioral Science, New Wine in a New Bottle
Jim Guszcza is the chief data scientist at Deloitte Analytics. His title paints a picture that he’s a total numbers geek. And that would…
Gina Merchant: Combating Misinformation
Gina Merchant, PhD is a behavioral scientist who wound her way through academia and into the corporate world for the purpose of improving the…
Annie Duke: Revisiting the Matrix
We are re-sharing our original September 2018 discussion with Annie Duke to announce the Behavioral Grooves 100th Episode on the evening of October 17,…
Announcements: Minneapolis and Philadelphia Events
Groovers, a couple of announcements for you: 1. Kurt and I are hosting a meetup immediately after Customer Focus North in Minneapolis on September 19,…
Christian Hunt: Mitigating Human Risk and The Algorithmic Mind
Christian Hunt is the founder of Human Risk, a Behavioral Science Consulting and Training firm specializing in the fields of Risk, Compliance, Conduct &…
Brian Ahearn: Influencing People Ethically
Brian Ahearn is Behavioral Grooves’ first repeat guest. (He was first featured in Episode 39: The Heart of Reciprocity.) We recently reconnected with him…
Alex Blau: The Implementation-Intention Framework
Alex Blau is a vice president at ideas42 with projects in consumer finance, design and decision-making, and international development. In our discussion, we focused on…
Steven Sisler: Seeing People as We Are
Steven Sisler may not be a household name, but he should be. Steve is a Master Level Behavioral Profiler and the lead Behavioral Analyst…
Chris Matyszczyk: Listening to Music While You Work
Our guest in this episode is a prolific writer and observer of the human condition, Chris Matyszczyk (pronounced ma-TIS-chick). We talked with Chris about…
Scott Jeffrey: On Justifiability
Because we’re taking a little break, we are republishing one of our favorite episodes: a conversation with Scott Jeffrey, PhD from Monmouth University in…
Grooving: On Behavioral Songs
Kurt and Tim groove on where behavioral science shows up in popular music. Social norms, loss aversion…all at its best. The human condition is…
Grooving on Cognitive Dissonance
We met up with Kathleen Vohs, PhD at our Behavioral Grooves Meetup in Minneapolis on the evening that her op-ed article appeared in the…
Matt Loper: Helping Patients Adhere to Medication Plans
In this episode, we spoke with Matt Loper, CEO and Co-Founder of Wellth, an app that helps people with chronic conditions improve their health…
Grooving: On Liking
In this episode, Kurt and Tim explore Robert Cialdini’s Fifth Principles of Influence: Liking. In it, we groove on the very powerful tool for…
Nurit Nobel: De-Biasing the Recruiting Process
In this episode, we spoke with Nurit Nobel, who is living in Stockholm, Sweden where she’s working on her PhD. Nurit is a co-founder…
Jonathan Mann: Integrating Behavioral Science into User Experience
The role of the User Experience (UX) designer is growing in corporations around the world. UX Designers have a great deal of influence over…
Grooving: On Scarcity
This episode is a discussion on the principle of scarcity. Kurt and Tim illuminate the power of this very fundamental effect in behavioral science…
Terry Esau: Carbon Fiber Therapist
Terry Esau is the founder of Free Bikes 4 Kids, a non-profit based in Minneapolis that collects and distributes tens of thousands of bikes…
Roger Dooley: Friction and Engagement
Roger Dooley is the author of Friction, his newest book that summarizes great examples of companies do good things to reduce friction for customers…
Alex Imas: Clawback Incentives and Tom Waits
Alex Imas is an assistant professor of economics in the Social & Decision Sciences department at Carnegie Mellon’s Dietrich College. His research dovetails perfectly…
Russell Golman: On Information Avoidance
Russell Golman is an Assistant Professor of Behavioral Economics and Decision Sciences in the Social & Decision Sciences Department at CMU. His pioneering, interdisciplinary…