Behavioral scientists working in peace and conflict grapple with questions of how prejudice becomes violence, how exclusion begets extremism, and how capable we are of change. The answers are far from simple, but not out of reach.
There are things we need to deliberately and consciously slow down for our own sanity and for our own productivity. If we don’t ask the question about what those things are, we might get things terribly, terribly wrong.
To help build peace in Colombia, we gave the people most affected by the conflict—victims and ex-combatants—a platform to share their stories with other Colombians across the country. Hearing those stories transformed how people understood their former enemies.
Psychologies, especially as represented in lists of biases, point out problems. Developing a pattern language would point us to solutions.
We’re excited to invite you to join a new book club we’re hosting this summer titled “Techno-Visions.”
BS (behavioral science) without creativity—indeed BS without a tiny little whiff of BS (meaning bullshit)—is actually suboptimal.
As we determine where to allocate effort and money, when to keep going and when to give up, different production functions call for different strategies. Yet, we rarely consider what production functions can tell us about our progress.
The summer book list is a chance to peruse a collection of the most compelling behavioral science books published so far this year.
The common constraint for all life is the ability to find and use energy, yet we take it for granted, says Michael Muthukrishna. In his new book, he makes the case that energy should be central in how we understand ourselves and how we design our world.
Michael Muthukrishna wants to integrate the science of human beings, from genes to culture to our environments, into ‘a theory of everyone.’ Doing so, he says, is key to advancing social and behavioral science.
