Amy Bucher, PhD is the Vice President of Behavior Change Design at Mad*Pow and the author of “Engaged” a new book on how to apply behavioral science to the design and development of products. At Mad*Pow, she designs motivating interventions to help people live healthier and happier lives and, in her spare time, knocks 150 books off her reading list every year. (OMG!) Amy was recently recognized as one of 10 behavioral scientists you should know in Forbes magazine. While we did spend a bit of time on the article and her work at Mad*Pow, most of our conversation focused on the book. We talked about motivation and the incredible power that idiosyncratic messaging can have on customers when used properly by marketing and sales. We also discussed participatory design, trust, and how important it is for product developers and marketers to demonstrate trust. She also offered her thoughts on how designers need to do a better job of integrating behavioral science into their products. Some are doing it, but there are lots of opportunities for improvement Amy offered some ideas on this. Lastly, we want to note that Amy wrote that one of the most important reminders for the corporate world: Almost everything a designer makes has behavior change built into it. The smart designers will be thinking about that as they design their products (or enhancements). We hope you enjoy this conversation with Amy as much as we did and hope that this week, you find your groove. © 2020 Behavioral Grooves Links Amy Bucher, PhD: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amybucher/ “Engaged”: https://amzn.to/3BkG1mb  “Super Better” by Jane McGonigal: https://amzn.to/2YwILOY  “Atomic Habits” by James Clear: https://amzn.to/3ad9Nxn  Forbes Article: “Top Behavioral Scientists You Should Know”: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alineholzwarth/2020/10/29/10-behavioral-scientists-you-should-know/?sh=72ddbe3c42e0 Pattern Health: https://pattern.health/ Ran Kivetz, PhD “Idiosyncratic Fit”: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/publications/idiosyncratic-fit-heuristic-effort-advantage-determinant-consumer Peppers & Rogers 1:1 Marketing: https://hbr.org/1999/01/is-your-company-ready-for-one-to-one-marketing McDonald’s milkshake innovation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Stc0beAxavY Adam Hansen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adhansen/ Bent Handle Snow Shovel: https://www.acehardware.com/departments/lawn-and-garden/snow-removal-and-equipment/snow-shovels-and-pushers/7200439   Musical Links R.E.M. “Losing My Religion”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwtdhWltSIg Michael Stipe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Stipe Britney Spears: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-u5WLJ9Yk4 Robyn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcNo07Xp8aQ The Doves “There Goes The Fear”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SneuvKIkM3A Pulp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuTMWgOduFM Manchester Orchestra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ui9umU0C2g Depeche Mode “Personal Jesus”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1xrNaTO1bI

Ryan McShane is the President and CEO of HR Evolution, a consultancy that designs systems that support employee alignment to organizational purpose through HR best practices, organizational development initiatives, and professional development solutions. We discussed a variety of HR related topics including psychological safety, emotional intelligence, and what can be done when it comes to improving the mindset of leaders. Ryan stressed that WIIFM (what’s in it for me) is central to the impetus to change at all levels of the organization. Plus, he offered a particularly cool insight: Change comes about when the pain of staying the same is higher than doing something different. We also discussed how the social contract between the employer and the employee has changed dramatically. And we got to hear Ryan’s rationale for being so optimistic about a future where employers need to put forth extra effort to attract and retain the best and brightest workers. It got us thinking: could the growing gig economy actually offer more value to the employees than the employers? Lastly, we appreciated Ryan’s approach to working through the pandemic and the reminder that intimidation and scare tactics have no place in today’s workplace. Frederick Taylor’s vision of work should be a thing of the past. Period. We hope you enjoy our conversation with this very bright behavioral science practitioner, and as always, let us know what you think! © 2020 Behavioral Grooves   Links Ryan McShane: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-mcshane-743382a/ Ryan’s email: rmcshane@hrevolutionllc.com HR Evolution: https://hrevolutionllc.com/ Zappos: https://www.zappos.com/ US Census Bureau Pulse Surveys: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/household-pulse-survey/data.html Schumann Resonance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schumann_resonances#:~:text=The%20Schumann%20resonances%20(SR)%20are,Earth's%20surface%20and%20the%20ionosphere.   Fredrick Taylor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Winslow_Taylor Muir Woods: https://www.nps.gov/muwo/index.htm   Musical Links Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xTHMDrRUKo Grateful Dead “Ripple”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yJmBC7cMTM Nirvana “About a Girl”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_24pJQUj7zg Radio Head “Hail to the Thief”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MdwaUtW_D4  Smashing Pumpkins: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smashing_Pumpkins  432 Hertz Music (Musik): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dg1_DXazvKI JS Bach “Brandenburg Concerto No. 3”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdsyNwUoON0 Linda Diaz “Green Tea Ice Cream”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ursri8GmlW4 “Sunny Side of the Street”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn3soYbSpS4 Fabiano de Nascimento: https://www.npr.org/2020/07/02/885766987/fabiano-do-nascimento-tiny-desk-home-concert Depeche Mode: http://www.depechemode.com/ Nine Inch Nails: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Inch_Nails Trent Reznor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trent_Reznor

Cornelia Walther has spent most of her professional career with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Program (WFP). She was the head of communications in large-scale emergencies in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Caribbean. She earned her PhD in Law and is a certified yoga instructor and her current work is a remarkable amalgam of her studies and her life’s journey. In recent years, she developed POZE as a way of exploring the world to help uncover deeper levels of happiness. (POZE is an opening spiral that can stand for, among a few things, to Pause for a moment, Observe what’s going on around you, Zoom in on yourself, and Experience what is going on in the world.) These are wise and weighty thoughts and we thoroughly enjoyed our conversation with her. We also discussed how we are all interconnected – that your world and my world may be very different, yet we share connections if we only give ourselves the chance to experience them. The hope is that we recognize this connectedness – both at a personal level and at a larger global level – and bring greater meaning and happiness to our lives through this connectedness. One of our favorite lines from our discussion with Cornelia was this: “So driven was I by the craving for some thing or another, that I omitted to savor the beauty of now.”  We all need to take a moment, pause, and savor the beauty of now. © 2020 Behavioral Grooves   Links Cornelia Walther: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corneliawalther/?originalSubdomain=ht POZE: https://www.springernature.com/gp/researchers/the-source/blog/blogposts-communicating-research/sdg-interview-cornelia-walther-sustainability-holistic-perspect/17463138 Gary Latham, PhD, Episode 147: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/gary-latham-phd-goal-setting-prompts-priming-and-skepticism/ Creole Language: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creole_language Brad Shuck, PhD, Episode 91: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/brad-shuck-being-ignored-is-worse-than-having-a-stapler-thrown-at-you/ Development, Humanitarian Aid and Social Welfare. Social Change from the Inside Out (May 2020): https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9783030426095#aboutBook Humanitarian Work, Social Change, and Human behavior. Compassion for Change (June 2020):https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9783030458775 Development and Connection in times of Covid. Corona’s Call for Conscious Choices (October 2020): https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-53641-1 Social Change from the Inside Out. From Fixation to Foundation. From Competition to Change: https://rdcu.be/b9GrF From Individual wellbeing to collective welfare: https://rb.gy/xsuauh Musical Links Pink “So What”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJfFZqTlWrQ Verdi, “Aida”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3w4I-KElxQ Dvorak, “Symphony of the New World”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_1N6_O254g   Beatles, “Don’t Let Me Down”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCtzkaL2t_Y&list=PLf9cCqxaRfcMcL5yU9UZDdNJwkDNbh3ce Depeche Mode, “People Are People”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1FVmBHbPNg Mariza, “Quem Me Dera”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sze5rpbklM Ayub Ogada, “Kothbiro”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L48PCisRZ7s Giberto Gil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECtYYiHbIcQ Fabiano do Nascimento, “Nana”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4iukkBmDGg Tim Sparks, “Klezmer Medley”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkiCFzWTYRg  

Kevin Vallier, PhD is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Bowling Green State University, where he directs their Philosophy, Politics, Economics, and Law programs. Kevin’s interests span a wide spectrum including political philosophy, ethics, philosophy of religion, politics, and economics. He is the author of peer-reviewed book chapters and journal articles, and his recent books include Must Politics Be War? Restoring Our Trust in the Open Society (Oxford UP 2019) and, his newest book, Trust in a Polarized Age (Oxford UP 2020). We focused our discussion on Kevin’s philosophical viewpoint of political issues, traversing the axes of polarization and trust. We spent some time discussing how focusing on progress and process might be good short-term balms for our broken nation. We also asked him about potential solutions to our current situation in the United States and his answers might surprise you. Kevin offered approaches that only a political philosopher might have, and we enjoyed his unique perspective. His best tip for healing our nation’s divides (in the short term) might be as simple as joining a church or non-political non-profit organization to help your community. We hope you enjoy our conversation with Kevin Vallier. © 2020 Behavioral Grooves   Links Kevin Vallier, PhD: kevinvallier@gmail.com  Revolving Door: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolving_door_(politics) Ranked Choice Voting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranked_voting Trump/Obama Valedictorian Speech: https://time.com/5302250/obama-quote-graduation-speech/ Robert Cialdini, PhD: https://www.influenceatwork.com/robert-cialdini-phd/biography/ Ideas42: https://www.ideas42.org/ Coleman’s Boat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGaz0xKG060 Robber’s Cave Experiment: https://www.simplypsychology.org/robbers-cave.html Nudge.It North: https://www.nudgeitnorth.com/ Musical Links Dolly Parton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2RBS_U0GoQ Chet Atkins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6cXqM21KbE Alison Kraus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To1_nOjlLBQ Maynard Ferguson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNbsnBZOwqE Sufjan Stevens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOvSy3yepd8 Gregorian chant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuK59jQ5bwU Valaam chant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMtyTXDc9Fw Byzantine notation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_music Organum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGZJ8XQJcmk “Be Thou My Vision”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OUqRUAbl4w

[NOTE: This episode was originally published as a Weekly Grooves podcast. We wanted to share it with our Behavioral Grooves listeners and we hope you enjoy it.] We were inspired by a recent article on CNBC’s website by Cory Steig, called “ ’Psychological safety’ at work improves productivity–here are 4 ways to get it, according to a Harvard expert.” The piece reviews some research on psychology safety that Kurt and I have been focused on for years. Psychological safety is a concept that was identified by Harvard Professor Amy Edmondson from work in the 1990’s. Professor Edmondson defines psychological safety as “a workplace where one feels that one’s voice is welcome with bad news, questions, concerns, half-baked ideas and even mistakes.”  One way we experience this is when we feel that the team has my back through both good and bad.  Kurt and Tim believe that psychological safety is both undervalued and under-implemented in companies today and we hope listeners can apply some of the key points in this brief discussion to their workplace. ©2020 Weekly Grooves / ©2020 Behavioral Grooves   Links Kurt Nelson, PhD: Kurt@LanternGroup.com Tim Houlihan: Tim@BehaviorAlchemy.com   Psychological Safety at work improves productivity:  https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/05/why-psychological-safety-is-important-at-work-and-how-to-create-it.html How Making a Mistake in the Interview Could Land You the Job: https://www.vault.com/blogs/interviewing/how-making-a-mistake-in-the-interview-could-land-you-the-job Re:Work – Google shares much of the insights that they learned from Project Aristotle and how to implement those ideals:  https://rework.withgoogle.com/print/guides/5721312655835136/ Forbes article by Shane Snow that overviews Psychological Safety and describes what it is and is not – nice summary that helps clarify key aspects of this concept:  https://www.forbes.com/sites/shanesnow/2020/05/04/how-psychological-safety-actually-works/#51e147dbf864 How to foster psychological safety in virtual meetings: https://hbr.org/2020/08/how-to-foster-psychological-safety-in-virtual-meetings Elliot Aronson, PhD Coffee Study: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratfall_effect

Bill von Hippel, PhD is an evolutionary psychologist from Alaska who has lived in Australia for more than 20 years. Bill teaches at the University of Queensland and his body of research is so wide we struggled to focus our conversation. We spoke with him about his research into the ways in which our species’ behaviors have evolved over millions of years into the behaviors we see in our present-day lives. His insights are clever, thoughtful, and thought-provoking. We talked about reciprocity, collectivism, and most importantly, how being cooperative and social propelled our species forward well beyond anything else in the animal kingdom. We discussed Bill’s latest book, “The Social Leap.” It’s a groundbreaking thesis that applies evolutionary science to help us understand how major challenges from our past have shaped some of the most fundamental aspects of our being. One of the book’s key lessons is for us to remember that it is our collaboration, our collective abilities as a species, that sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. This unique capability for humans to cooperate is an important reminder these days and Bill articulated the evolution of collaboration and competition in memorable terms. We talked about the futility of not trusting your friends and the likely risk of getting lots of false positives from motivated thinking. And we discussed how social context matters when it comes to happiness. Bill explained how we choose our contexts wisely, and we do so to compare ourselves favorably to those around us. In this way, we tend to avoid comparisons with those we wouldn’t compare well to. Lastly, Bill shared an evolutionary perspective that really struck us. He noted that, as we age, we are likely to increase our reliance on stereotypes and that can lead to prejudice. As Bill suggested, to stop ourselves from this unnecessary psychological deterioration, we should slow down our judgments and ask if we’re feeling this way because of that person’s group membership or gender or whatever. Stop, pause, and give it some consideration. Bill was recommended to us by Roy Baumeister and we’re grateful for the introduction as well as Bill’s generous conversation. We hope you enjoy our conversation with Bill and that you go out and find your groove this week. © 2020 Behavioral Grooves   Links Bill Von Hippel, PhD: https://psychology.uq.edu.au/profile/3034/bill-von-hippel University of Queensland: https://www.uq.edu.au/ “The Social Leap”: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-social-leap-william-von-hippel?variant=32207123873826 Peter Singer, PhD: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Singer Homo Erectus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_erectus Michael Tomasello, PhD: https://psychandneuro.duke.edu/people/michael-tomasello Seth Stephens-Davidowitz “Everybody Lies”: http://sethsd.com/everybodylies Dan Ariely on comparison: https://theconversation.com/the-decoy-effect-how-you-are-influenced-to-choose-without-really-knowing-it-111259 Ed Diener on “Wealth and happiness across the world”: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20565185/ Embouchure: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embouchure#:~:text=Embouchure%20(English%3A%20%2F%CB%88%C9%92,mouthpiece%20of%20a%20brass%20instrument.   Musical Links Lynyrd Skynyrd: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxIWDmmqZzY Boston: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc78RnDRQ_4 Israel Kaʻanoʻi Kamakawiwoʻole “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_DKWlrA24k Mozart: Sonata in C, K. 545, Allegro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xeAsc6m35w Keith Moon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5Up-qHTJdY Rush “Tom Sawyer”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrhnhXHVSQg Neal Peart: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWRMOJQDiLU Max Weinberg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zylXeuWPk9o Led Zeppelin “Stairway to Heaven”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbhCPt6PZIU Bob Dylan “Like a Rolling Stone”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Xz7WfVYxok Al Kooper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZGN7T70rgY Max Weinberg Experience: https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/ct-ott-max-weinberg-springsteen-0413-story.html

World Kindness Day is November 13th and has been celebrated in many countries around the world since 1998. World Kindness Day was developed to promote good deeds in communities and focus on how kindness binds us together. Around the world are efforts to encourage “random acts of kindness” for others and acting in a more kind way. We decided to look at kindness in general through a behavioral science lens.  Webster’s definition of “kind” is “of a sympathetic or helpful nature; being gentle.” In other words, kindness is basically doing something nice for someone. A Mother Jones article about World Kindness day, by Daniel King, states, “Don’t worry, kindness is not niceness,” so we looked at how the University of Santa Clara differentiates between KIND and NICE. They used an example of how holding the door for others can be described as either “nice” or “kind.”  If the underlying motivation is to create a favorable impression for the purpose of asking for a favor later, then the action can be considered NICE due to its pleasing effect. On the other hand, if the motivation is to spare the other person from extra effort or inconvenience, then the action can be considered KIND (as well as nice) if it pleases the other person. We encourage each and every one of you around the world today to show some act of kindness to a loved one, friend or stranger. And we hope you enjoy this episode. © 2020 Behavioral Grooves   Links Science Made Fun: Celebrating World Kindness Day: https://sciencemadefun.net/blog/world-kindness-day/    World Kindness Day: https://worldkindness.org/be-involved/ Mother Jones: Kindness Day is Actually a Day: https://www.motherjones.com/recharge/2020/10/world-kindness-day/ World Kindness Day in Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Kindness_Day Psychology Today: The Importance of Kindness: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/pieces-mind/201712/the-importance-kindness Time: Random Acts of Kindness make Marriage Better: https://time.com/4674982/kindness-compassion-marriage/ Rewards of Kindness  Hui, B. P. H., Ng, J. C. K., Berzaghi, E., Cunningham-Amos, L. A., & Kogan, A. (2020). Rewards of kindness? A meta-analysis of the link between prosociality and well-being. Psychological Bulletin.: https://doi.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fbul0000298 Psychology Today: Random Acts of Kindness Matter to Your Well Being: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/emotional-nourishment/201711/why-random-acts-kindness-matter-your-well-being Being Kind, Not Nice: https://www.scu.edu/the-big-q/being-nice-vs-being-kind/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CNice%E2%80%9D%20is%20defined%20as%20%E2%80%9C,way%20they%20treat%20each%20other.

[NOTE: This episode was originally published under our sister-podcast, Weekly Grooves. We are republishing it here to share relevant behavioral science information. We hope you enjoy it.] We saw an article in The Atlantic that caught our attention because of its hook into behavioral science: our willingness to believe disinformation. In this week’s episode, we talk about the underlying behavioral science into why we humans are so susceptible to information that is not accurate. What can we do? We can use the OODA loop to interrupt our too-quick decision to simply accept suspicious content: Observe – Orient – Decide – Act. The OODA loop, in a very simplistic manner uses these four elements in this way: to take in and observe the context in which you’re seeing this information; orient yourself with the source in a critical way; make a decision by asking, “if this is from someone I might not trust, would I still believe it?”; and take action by deleting content created to DIS-inform you.   And since our podcast is relatively new, we are very interested in knowing how you think we’re doing. Please leave us a review or drop us a line. @THoulihan or @WhatMotivates Disinformation: “False information, which is intended to mislead, especially propaganda issued by a government organization to a rival power or the media.” Misinformation: “False or inaccurate information, especially that which is deliberately intended to deceive.” Conspiracy Theory: “A belief that some covert but influential organization is responsible for a circumstance or event.” © 2020 Weekly Grooves / © 2020 Behavioral Grooves   Links “The Billion Dollar Disinformation Campaign to Reelect the President,” by McKay Coppins in The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/03/the-2020-disinformation-war/605530/ The Donation of Constantine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donation_of_Constantine The National Enquirer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Enquirer The Daily Mail: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daily_Mail The Messenger Effect: https://www.nber.org/papers/w25632.pdf OODA Loop: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OODA_loop Leveraging the OODA Loop with Digital Analytics to Counter Disinformation, by Jami Carroll (2019): https://search.proquest.com/openview/0a78c42e27ef89dab1bd4969bd6d0974/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=396497 Viktor Frankl: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Frankl FactCheck.org: https://www.factcheck.org/ Snopes: https://www.snopes.com/about-snopes/ Gallup Polls Believing in the Media: https://news.gallup.com/poll/267047/americans-trust-mass-media-edges-down.aspx

CORRECTION: In this episode, we incorrectly state that Michael Hallsworth started the BIT North American team.  In fact, the BIT North America team was founded in 2015 by Elspeth Kirkman. Under Elspeth’s leadership, the team delivered over 100 trials to cities across the US before she returned to the UK in 2018, which was when Michael Hallsworth came to Brooklyn to manage the group. We regret the error and thank Elizabeth Linos, PhD for calling attention to it. In their book, “Behavioral Insights,” Michael Hallsworth and Elspeth Kirkman took time to think through the critical steps in the design and execution of a behavioral intervention. It’s a framework that could be applied to any significant behavior change you might consider and it comes from a book that Kurt and Tim consider among the best of 2020. Michael Hallsworth is the Managing Director of the North American Behavioral Insights Team and has helped develop frameworks such as MINDSPACE and EAST. He is a thoughtful researcher with outstanding work to his credit; at the same time, he’s quick to point out when his research ideas don’t play out as he expected them to. Elspeth Kirkman helped open the North American BIT unit but is now back in London, where she is responsible for BIT’s work on health, education, and local government. We first featured Elspeth for her work on frameworks and models in Episode 166 and we're so happy to see that she and Michael co-authored what we consider one of the best behavioral science books of 2020. Their book, “Behavioral Insights,” was commissioned and published by MIT Press for their Essential Knowledge Series. The book very explicitly outlines HOW to design and implement a behavior change initiative. Their 10-step model carefully lays out this process and we were extremely happy to see that the first 7 steps are all about design. We discussed ethics and transparency in the way interventions are implemented. These considerations are central to much of the work that they do, especially when it comes to the development of governmental policies. We also discussed rationality and who gets to decide what is rational and what isn’t. This was a particularly powerful concept since we know that humans do a great job defending their actions. To what degree is it rational or rationalizing? Regrettably, due to time constraints, we were not able to chat about music. We’ll save it for next time. Right now, we hope you enjoy our conversation with Elspeth and Michael. © 2020 Behavioral Grooves   Links Michael Hallsworth: @mhallsworth Elspeth Kirkman: @karminker “Behavioral Insights”: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/behavioral-insights Menorca Island: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menorca Gerd Gigerenzer: https://www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/staff/gerd-gigerenzer Dan Ariely, “Predictably Irrational”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictably_Irrational Common Biases and Heuristics: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XHpBr0VFcaT8wIUpr-9zMIb79dFMgOVFRxIZRybiftI/edit?usp=sharing Eugen Dimant, Episode 169: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/eugen-dimant-phd-what-to-do-about-bad-apples/ NYC Cab Driver Study (Loewenstein, Thaler, Babcock and Camerer): https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/sds/docs/loewenstein/NYCCabdrivers.pdf Behavioral Grooves Episode 41 on Hallsworth: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/michael-hallsworth-from-mindspace-to-east/ Behavioral Grooves 100th Episode: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/the-100th-episode-celebration-in-philadelphia/ Behavioral Grooves Episode 166 on Kirkman: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/elspeth-kirkman-best-models-for-identifying-a-problem/   Nudge.It North: https://www.nudgeitnorth.com/learn Kurt Nelson, PhD: @whatmotivates Tim Houlihan: @THoulihan

[NOTE: This episode was originally published under our sister-podcast, Weekly Grooves. In our effort to share relevant behavioral science information, we are republishing it here. We hope you enjoy it.] Listeners, especially in the United States, are already aware of the debacle from the Iowa Caucuses and how the Iowa Democratic party used a new app to help streamline the caucus results. You’re probably also aware that the processes and technologies failed, and results were not available for days afterwards. The delay has caused a plethora of online conspiracy theories and that’s our topic for this week. In the absence of good data, we make it up. Some of the richest conspiracy theories Kurt and Tim found include: 1.) The Democratic party didn’t like the results that they were seeing, so they were changing them. 2.) The Russians or the Chinese had hacked the app and were messing with us. 3.) The Republicans had hacked the app and were trying to rig the election. 4.) Hillary Clinton had helped build the app and was using it to get back at Sanders. And our all-time favorite conspiracy theory (5.) involves the Illuminati and how they were controlling the outcome.  With all this swirling around, Kurt and Tim discuss why it’s humans to engage in conspiracy theories and some of their psychological underpinnings, the personality types that are most prone to believing a conspiracy theory, and what we can do to inoculate ourselves from this sort of thinking. We are reason-seeking machines and are more likely to ask “why” before we fully understand “what” happened. Join us for a quick review of why we experience conspiracy theories in the first place and what we can do about them. © 2020 Weekly Grooves / © 2020 Behavioral Grooves Kurt Nelson, PhD: @WhatMotivates Tim Houlihan: @THoulihan Links Online conspiracy theories flourish after Iowa caucus fiasco:  https://apnews.com/8ae0e5172130f81265172fbd3e65094a The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories, 2017, Douglas, Sutton and Cichocka:  https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0963721417718261 The psychology of conspiracy theories: Why do people believe them, John Grohol PsyD: https://psychcentral.com/blog/the-psychology-of-conspiracy-theories-why-do-people-believe-them/ Closed Belief System: https://issuepedia.org/Closed_belief_system Conspiracy theories: the science behind belief in secret plots, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2013/sep/05/conspiracy-theories-science-belief-secret-plots Fundamental Attribution Error: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_attribution_error Hanlon’s Razor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor Illuminati: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170809-the-accidental-invention-of-the-illuminati-conspiracy Lantian, A., Muller, D., Nurra, C., Douglas, K. (2017). “‘I know things they don’t know!’: The role of need for uniqueness in belief in conspiracy theories,” Social Psychology, 48, 160-173 Mercier, H. & Sperber, D., “Why do humans reason? Arguments for an argumentative theory” BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN SCIENCES (2011) 34, 57–111 doi:10.1017/S0140525X10000968 Motivated Reasoning: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivated_reasoning Oliver, Eric on “Big Brains” Episode 25: https://news.uchicago.edu/podcasts/big-brains/science-conspiracy-theories-and-political-polarization-eric-oliver Pareidolia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia Pattern Recognition: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern_recognition_(psychology) Pattern Recognition: The Science Behind Conspiracy Theories, Steven Novella: https://www.thegreatcoursesdaily.com/why-do-we-give-into-conspiracy-thinking/ Project Mogul: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Mogul Resulting (Annie Duke): https://www.annieduke.com/how-to-make-the-right-decisions-even-when-you-dont-have-all-the-facts/