Behavioral Scientist’s Summer Book List 2024
The summer book list is a chance to peruse a collection of the most compelling behavioral science books published so far this year.
June 05th, 2024
culture
May 27th, 2024
Ellis Island Echoes: The Emotional Legacy of Ancestral Diversity
Why are some cultures more emotionally expressive than others? One explanation could be that overt emotion helped people overcome diverse linguistic and cultural barriers.
May 21st, 2024
Understanding Energy Is Essential to Understanding Ourselves: A Q&A with Michael Muthukrishna (Part 2)
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.
How to Cultivate Taste in the Age of Algorithms
When we turn to algorithms for recommendations instead of asking friends or going down hard-won cultural rabbit holes, what do we give up?
May 15th, 2024
Moving Behavioral Science from Alchemy to Chemistry: A Conversation with Michael Muthukrishna (Part 1)
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.
May 04th, 2022
Research Lead: A Traffic Intervention Backfires, How Love in Literature Tracks Economic Development, 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 May 2022.
August 23rd, 2021
A Failure of Fear: Why Certain Nations Flunked the COVID-19 Threat Test
Loose cultures prize individual liberty. This trait works well until society-wide threats—like COVID—arise. Here’s how loose societies can maximize liberty and safety in the face of a future crisis.
August 17th, 2020
What a New Marshmallow Test Teaches Us About Cooperation
In a new twist on an old study, researchers discover a common behavior in kids across cultures that might tell us something about how we can all cooperate better.
January 23rd, 2020
How Much Does Our Language Determine Behavior?
In his latest book, David Shariatmadari explores how the language we speak impacts the way we see the world, and our behavior in it.
September 09th, 2019
Understanding Cultural Differences Around Social Norms
Research on tight and loose cultures helps reveal why societies differ on concepts like openness and order.
