The Behavioral Design Podcast

Aarthi Rao leads behavioral insights at Cityblock Health , as their Vice President of Behavioral Insights and Strategic Engagement Innovation. Aarthi also founded the Design and Innovation Lab at CVS Health . Aarthi has successfully merged human-centered practices, such as design thinking, with behavioral science at Cityblock. She is a strong advocate for merging qualitative and quantitative metho...

Steph Habif is known for a range of health behavior research and strategy, and for leading behavioral science at Tandem Diabetes . Today we chat with Steph about what she’s doing at Tandem to design for diabetic patients, working at the intersection of behavioral science and human-computer interaction. We also went over what Steph called behavioral science's branding problem. Do you know someo...

Welcome to the latest Product Deep Dive! 🗓️ In this bonus series of the Behavioral Design Podcast, we take a closer look at the all-so-famous, yet simple, calendar. Previous guests, Laurie Santos, Linda Babcock & Ashley Whillans all spoke to us about time, so we decided it was "time" (get it) to discuss it in more detail! Tune in to learn more about our love/hate relationship with th...

In this episode, we speak with Linda Babcock, Professor of Economics and former dean at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). She’s also the founder and faculty director of the Program for Research and Outreach on Gender Equity in Society (PROGRESS) , also at CMU. Linda has a new book, The No Club: Putting a Stop to Women's Dead-End Work . During our conversation, we speak with Linda about why and...

In this episode, we speak with Mitesh Patel , a leading expert on the use of nudges, gamification, and wearables to improve health. Mitesh founded and led the Penn Medicine Nudge Unit and is currently the Chief Clinical Transformation Officer at Ascension. During our converstation, Mitesh discusses examples of behavioral design in the wild and how they can be used to encourage people to engage in...

Welcome to the latest Product Deep Dive! 🚗 In this fun bonus series of the Behavioral Design Podcast, we take a closer look at products discussed in past episodes of the show. In this episode, we are discussing the product "Autonomous Vehicles", following up on our conversation with Nick Chater from last week. Tune in to learn more about how we would re-design Autonomous Vehicles, our o...

In this episode, we're thrilled to host Nick Chater , an esteemed Professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick Business School. Nick is a leading figure in his field, focusing his research on the cognitive and social foundations of rationality. He is the co-founder and Director of the research consultancy Decision Technology Ltd, and has written engaging books like " The Language Game: How...

In this episode we are delighted to welcome Paul Bloom , a distinguished developmental psychologist and Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto. Paul has authored seven books, including Aginst Empathy and his most recent, Psych: The Story of the Human Mind. He is one of the leading thinkers in psychology and has dedicated his career to exploring how people, both children and adults, m...

Welcome to the latest Product Deep Dive! 🎤 In this fun bonus series of the Behavioral Design Podcast, we take a closer look at products discussed in past episodes of the show. In this episode, we are discussing the product "Conferences", following up on our conversation with Dave Pizarro from last week. Tune in to learn more about how we would re-design conferences, what they have in co...

In this episode of the Behavioral Design Podcast, we are delighted to speak with Dave Pizarro, esteemed professor at Cornell and Chief Science Officer at BE Works. Dave's extensive experience offers a unique perspective on the applications of behavioral science in both academic and industry settings. Join us as we engage in a thought-provoking conversation with Dave about his research on moral vie...

Welcome to the latest Product Deep Dive! 🤿 In this new series of the Behavioral Design Podcast, we take a closer look at products discussed in past episodes of the show. In this episode, we are discussing the product "toothbrush", following up on our conversation with Heather Cole-Lewis from last week. Tune in to learn more about how we would re-design a toothbrush, and what we can lear...

In the latest episode of the Behavioral Design Podcast, we are thrilled to have Heather Cole-Lewis , a renowned Behavioral Epidemiologist and Health Equity Clinical Scientist at Google. Heather is best known for her groundbreaking Big E, little e framework in the realm of digital health interventions. Join us as we dive into an engaging discussion with Heather about the intricacies of engagement i...

Welcome to the latest Product Deep Dive! 🤿 In this new series of the Behavioral Design Podcast, we take a closer look at products discussed in past episodes of the show. In this episode, we are discussing the product of "personality tests", following up on our enlightening conversation with Sanjay Srivastava. Aline and Samuel explore their own experience with these tests, their practica...

In this episode, we have a fascinating conversation with Sanjay Srivastava , widely regarded as one of the world's leading personality experts. We explore various aspects of personality, from the famous Harry Potter house sorting to the intriguing curly fry problem. We delve into the impact of friction on user experience and outcomes, intentional and unintentional, and the potential of interve...

Welcome to The Behavioral Design Podcast's newest series, Product Deep Dives! 🎉 In this series, we take a closer look at products discussed in past episodes of the show. In this episode, we are discussing the product of "co-living spaces" having been discussed with our guest, Laurie Santos, on an earlier episode. Aline and Samuel take a deeper look at the behavioral science of co-living spaces an...

In this episode, we speak with Laurie Santos, Professor at Yale. In addition to her research on primate decision-making, Laurie is an expert on the science of well-being. Her teachings on the psychology of the good life are some of the most popular of all time at Yale and on Coursera. She also has a free curriculum for high schools, and she even has her own podcast.  We chatted with Laurie ab...

We're finally back! 🎉 In this season 3 preview episode, we sit down and nerd out about all things Behavioral Science and AI, the state of the field and what we look forward to in the upcoming season.  Thanks to you, our listeners, for patiently waiting for us to return and for supporting this podcast! We really appreciate it 😊🙏 Relevant links AI Edition of Habit Weekly Behavioral Data Scie...

We've reached the end of season 2 - yay! 🎉 In this finale, we sit down and nerd out about all things behavioral as an intervention to help Aline overcome her recent existential crisis. We explore what we have learned about human behavior in 2021, whether being happy is important, ethical challenges in the field, how we can create a bigger impact, and, our course, we complete a final round of over...

In this episode, we speak with Irrational Labs' Lindsay Juarez about big questions in behavioral science, how to reduce misinformation on TikTok, and the importance of communities. Lindsay is Director at Irrational Labs, working on understanding and improving people's ability to take the daily behaviors that lead to happier, healthier, and wealthier lives. She was previously Senior Behavioral Rese...

In this episode, we speak with Ingrid Melvær Paulin about all things digital health behavior, Gamification, and the right behavior change metrics. Ingrid is Director of Behavioral Insights at UnitedHealth Group. She applied behavioral science across vast areas of digital health behavior change, including previously being Director of Behavioral Insights at Rally Health and holding Senior Behavioral...

In this episode, we speak with Eric J. Johnson about all things choice architecture and choice engines. Eric is professor at Columbia Business School at Columbia University and Director of the Center for Decision Sciences. His recently published book The Elements of Choice is a fascinating exploration of decision-making research revealing how choices are designed—and why it’s so important to under...

In this episode, we speak with the fantastic research duo Gabrielle Adams and Leidy Klotz about their work on the science of less: subtraction. Their research on the science of problem-solving has identified this fascinating bias against subtraction. In other words, when we solve problems, we tend to favor adding things over subtracting things, even when subtraction offers a better solution. We ha...

In this episode, we speak with Liz Fosslien about how to make work better using nudges (and feelings!).  Liz is the co-author and illustrator of the Wall Street Journal best-selling book No Hard Feelings and she's an expert on how to make work better. As the Head of Content at Humu, she uses behavioral science to help leaders and their teams make meaningful improvements. She's also a master i...

In this episode, we speak with none other than Dan Ariely . We assume most of our listeners are already familiar with Dan's work , and we cover plenty of ground in this fun and enlightening episode. You can expect to learn about why Dan began receiving death threats from COVID deniers, strategies for overcoming vaccination hesitancy, the promise of psychedelics for treating mental health, and less...

In this episode, we speak with Jay Van Bavel about all things identity. Jay is Professor at NYU and Director of the Social Identity & Morality Lab. His book "The Power of Us," co-authored with Dominic Packer, was just released on September 7th. It's a fascinating read that looks into how we can understand and harness our shared identities for personal and collective success. In this episode, w...