Betsy Levy Paluck Named 2017 MacArthur Fellow
Betsy Levy Paluck, a psychologist at Princeton University, was named a 2017 MacArthur Fellow.
Evan Nesterak
Evan Nesterak is the editor-in-chief of Behavioral Scientist. He co-founded Behavioral Scientist as an independent and nonprofit publication in 2017. In 2022, he led the publication of Behavioral Scientist's second print edition, Brain Meets World, which was awarded five awards for editorial and design.
In addition to his work at Behavioral Scientist, he has also served as an editorial consultant and researcher, working with a number of authors on their book projects—including Dan Heath, Ethan Kross, Jamil Zaki, and Leidy Klotz.
Previously, he helped lead a multiyear project with the U.S. Soccer Federation to better understand the psychological development of elite players in their Development Academy. Before that, he researched character development as a member of Angela Duckworth's Lab at the University of Pennsylvania. He he also helped the Mayor's office in Philadelphia form a behavioral science advisory group.
Evan also worked: on the Maine Conservation Corps, as a youth soccer coach, at a local organic canning company, as a night security guard at one of the largest stock shows and rodeos in the world, and as a caretaker of a remote property in a village in the Czech Republic.
Evan was born in New Jersey and grew up in Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, and Colorado. Since 2019, he has called Prague, Czech Republic home.
Richard Thaler Wins Nobel Prize in Economics
Richard Thaler, an economist at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, is this year’s recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics.
Charlottesville’s Battle for Human Nature
On Saturday, I woke up to white vans carrying white supremacists through my neighborhood.
All the (Pseudo)Science That’s Fit to Print
“Behind the ears, and directly above the Mastoid Process, is located a brain organ by the name of Vitativeness.”
Haven’t Finished Your Taxes? Planning Prompts Help Turn Intention into Action
With Tax day less than two weeks away, my guess is that you fall into one of two camps.
Replicating the Replicators: Is Psychology in Crisis or Not?
Science recently published a critique of the findings of the Reproducibility Project: Psychology.
The Paradoxes of Creativity: Sensitive Rockers, Mindful Daydreamers, and Celebrated Outcasts
In their new book, Wired to Create, psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman and author Carolyn Gregoire explore the contradictions of creativity. Creativity is never one thing or another, they find. It isn’t clean, it’s messy.
The Edge of Belief: Maria Konnikova on the Art of the Con
Her journey into the world of confidence men and women takes the reader to the edge of reality, belief, and trust.
The Behavioral Insights Team 5 Years On: A Conversation with Owain Service
Today, nearly 200 randomized control trials later and with their findings permeating virtually all areas of public policy, the creation of the BIT and the wedding of behavioral science and public policy might seem like forgone conclusions.
How Do We Solve the Last Mile?
Some of society’s stickiest problems aren’t a failure of intention, importance, or value. They’re the result of a failure to understand human behavior at the last mile—the final stage where desires and plans must turn into action.