Opinion Science

Aviva Philipp-Muller studies why people might pass on science. She’s an Assistant Professor of marketing at the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University. We talked about her research on people’s openness to science in consumer products and how they’re marketed. She also shared her perspective on how anti-science views are an issue of persuasion.Things that come up in this episode:The public science lecture circuit in 19th-century America (Finnegan, 2016; 2021)The use of science in advertising consumer products (Philipp-Muller et al., 2023)Why people are anti-science and what we can do about it (Philipp-Muller et al., 2022)Aviva’s YouTube ChannelThe “Nights with Science” ad from 1863: https://www.ohiohistory.org/science-lectures/For a transcript of this episode, visit this episode's page at: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episodes/Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.

Aaron Barnes is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Louisville College of Business. He studies how persuasion, branding, and consumer–brand relationships differ between cultures. In our conversation, we talk about Aaron's story and some of his research on how the influence of calling a product "top-rated" versus "best-selling" depends on culture (Barnes & Shavitt, 2024). For a transcript of this episode, visit this episode's page at: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episodes/Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.

David Halpern is the President & Founding Director of the Behavioral Insights Team. It started as a "nudge unit" in the British government but has gone on to become its own company with offices around the world. We talked to David in 2021 when we were gathering interviews for our podcast series, They Thought We Were Ridiculous: The Unlikely Story of Behavioral Economics. But he had a lot of great insight on the role of behavioral science in public policy, so I wanted to share our full conversation as a standalone episode.Several years ago, David wrote a great book about the Behavioral Insights Team and what it's learned about applying behavioral science at scale. That book is: Inside the Nudge Unit: How Small Changes Can Make a Big Difference (and I really enjoyed it).For a transcript of this episode, visit this episode's page at: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episodes/Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.

Daniel Kahneman was a titan in social science. He transformed our understanding of decision-making, he taught a generation about social psychology, he won a Nobel prize. It's hard to overstate his influence. He passed away last week, and the field is mourning the loss. Along with the hosts of the podcast Behavioral Grooves, I interviewed Kahneman back in 2021, and we used that interview as a foundation of our podcast series, "They Thought We Were Ridiculous: The Unlikely Story of Behavioral Economics."I had already been considering releasing the full interview as a standalone episode of Opinion Science, and under the circumstances, it felt like sharing it now was a nice tribute to the man who had contributed so much. I hope listening to this is a comforting and warm reminder of his impact on behavioral science.This isn't a typical Opinion Science episode, though, because the interview was mostly for research and pulling soundbites. We didn't set out for it to be a polished standalone interview. As a result, we go down rabbit holes, get technical, assume shared knowledge, etc. So, I make no promises that you'll follow every moment of the interview if you're not already familiar with Kahneman's work, but it might still be a fun listen anyway.Thanks again to Danny Kahneman for reminiscing about the early days of his career with us.For a transcript of this episode, visit this episode's page at: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episodes/Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.

Andy Guess studies how social media platforms shape people’s political views. He’s an assistant professor of politics and public affairs at Princeton University. Last summer, he was part of a big team that released four papers on their analyses and experiments in social media all at the same time. The research was in collaboration with Meta, the company responsible for Facebook and Instagram. Andy and the team were able to dissect how often people on these platforms are exposed to political opinions, particularly from people whose opinions differ from their own. They were also able to conduct experiments on these platforms. By turning some of the knobs and levers, could they influence people’s engagement on these platforms and even change their political views?The four big research papers that all came out together are:Guess et al. (2023, Science): How do social media feed algorithms affect attitudes and behavior in an election campaign?Guess et al. (2023, Science): Reshares on social media amplify political news but do not detectably affect beliefs or opinionsGonzalez-Bailon et al. (2023, Science): Asymmetric ideological segregation in exposure to political news on FacebookNyhan et al. (2023, Nature): Like-minded sources on Facebook are prevalent but not polarizingFor a transcript of this episode, visit this episode's page at: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episodes/Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.

Sendhil Mullainathan, a Professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and co-founder of Ideas42, dives into pressing issues like racial bias in hiring practices. He discusses landmark findings from his research that show stark disparities in job callbacks based solely on race. The conversation also touches on the challenges of integrating AI with social sciences, highlighting the need for accurate data representation. Mullainathan advocates for innovative methodologies and interdisciplinary approaches to better understand human behavior and tackle societal issues.

Exploring the future of Behavioral Economics with innovative young researchers. Topics include analyzing poverty decisions, overcoming the planning fallacy, neuroeconomics, prospect theory, vaccine lottery impacts, and the importance of transparency in research. The podcast highlights the evolving landscape of decision-making studies in diverse settings.

Discover the evolution of Behavioral Economics from a radical idea to a mainstream concept, influencing decision-making processes and challenging traditional rationality assumptions. Explore the power of defaults in shaping behavior, especially in retirement savings, and the success of nudges in encouraging saving. Learn about the impactful role of the Behavioral Insights Team in applying behavioral economics to enhance policymaking and drive innovation in government operations.

From the clash of economists and psychologists to the birth of behavioral economics challenging traditional thinking, this podcast delves into the heated debates among prominent figures and the evolution of a new movement shaping the future. Explore the strategic naming of the field, controversies, and the interdisciplinary nature of behavioral economics.

Exploring the groundbreaking research of psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky on decision-making, Behavioral Economics, availability heuristic, heuristic biases, Prospect Theory, and the collaboration between psychology and economics in challenging traditional economic theories.