How to Remedy “Better-than-Average” Effects
Believing that you are better than others has powerful implications. But do you actually know that you’re better?
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Research Lead: Nudges Work on Thaler Too, Psychology’s Racial Blindspot, Overestimating How Much Your Political Rivals Hate You, and More
The Research Lead is a monthly digest connecting you to noteworthy academic and applied research from around the behavioral sciences. Here are our picks for June 2020.
Record Numbers of Americans Recognize Racism as a Problem. What Could the Solution Be Like?
We do not have to wait to fully understand the racism problem before we begin to think about what an authentically inclusive solution could look like.
What We're Reading
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Is Remote Work Here To Stay?
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NPR: Planet Money -
The Dudes Who Won’t Wear Masks
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The Atlantic -
How Do the Police Actually Spend Their Time?
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The New York Times -
Peer-Reviewed Scientific Journals Don’t Really Do Their Job
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Wired -
How the Pandemic Should Shake up Economics
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Project Syndicate
Featured
Why Economics Needs More Black Women
The co-founders of an organization to get more Black women into economics explain how we all lose without their perspectives.
Secondhand Smoke, Moral Sanctions, and How We Should Respond to COVID-19
We are reluctant to tell people how to live their lives, except insofar as individual decisions affect the lives of others. We can learn a valuable lesson for the present moment from the examples of smoking and drunk driving.
Finding Opportunities to Apply Behavioral Science for Good in the Private Sector
How can the private sector harness behavioral science to help their customers, employees, and society? It starts with helping them find the right opportunities.
How to Sustain Your Activism Against Police Brutality Beyond this Moment
A more nuanced understanding of empathy could help convert a short-term reaction into long-term change.
The Threat of Boredom Is a Call to Action
We typically try to avoid boredom. But in trying to outrun boredom, we risk failing to heed its call.
How Racism Shapes My Habits
Behavioral scientists love to talk about habits—creating more of the good ones, overcoming the bad. But the context is usually self-improvement, not self-preservation. Here’s a different perspective on habits.
Selected Links: Police Violence, Protests, and Racial Injustice
Selected articles that help shed light on the behavioral features of the police violence and protests occurring across the United States and around the world.
Black Lives Matter: Now What?
If you find yourself asking what you can do to spark change and help prevent the next George Floyd murder, my advice is: start engaging in positive deviance.
