Behavioral Grooves Podcast

Cristina Bicchieri, PhD is the S. J. Patterson Harvie Professor of Social Thought and Comparative Ethics, a Professor of Philosophy and Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, a Professor of Legal Studies at the Wharton School, the Head of the Behavioral Ethics Lab, the Director of the Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Program, and is the Faculty Director of the Master of Behavioral and De...

In this grooving episode, Kurt and Tim discuss Temporal Discounting and it’s closely related cousins. Temporal discounting is where we tend to value events in the near term more than similar events that are off in the distance. Another way to say it is that we discount – or reduce – our perceived value of events scheduled far off in the future. (The “timing” element is what gives it the name “temp...

Aline Holzwarth is the head of Behavioral Science at Pattern Health in Durham, North Carolina and a writer who supplies work to Behavioral Scientist and Forbes and has well as her blog on Medium. And she is also Principal of Dan Ariely’s Center for Advanced Hindsight, where she is responsible for directing the strategy, operations and communications for the Duke University research center. Our con...

Brad Shuck, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership, Evaluation and Organizational Development at the University of Louisville. He is also the Program Director of the Center for Human Resource and Organizational Development. Brad has been researching employee engagement for many years and is a featured speaker at conferences on employee engagement around the world...

Eugen Dimant, PhD is an Associate Professor of Practice in Behavioral and Decision Sciences, which is part of the new Center for Social Norms and Behavioral Dynamics under Cristina Bicchieri, Ph. D.’s leadership at the University of Pennsylvania. Much of his work is focused on how social norms are formed and impact our lives. We talked about how social norms drive individual behaviors in different...

Wendy Wood, PhD is a social psychologist whose research addresses the ways that habits guide behavior. She researches and teaches at USC both in psychology and in the business school and is a world-renowned expert on breaking old habits and creating new ones. Her book, “Good Habits, Bad Habits” is a New York Times bestseller and delivers a terrifically readable and scholarly approach to habits. In...

Deborah Small, PhD is a professor of marketing in the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research crosses the intersections of psychology and economics, examining fundamental processes that underlie human decision making. In recent years, her work has focused on both altruistic and self-interested motivations for philanthropic behavior. She has examined impediments to effective...

Rodd Wagner is a Forbes columnist and bestselling author of books on leadership, employee engagement and collaboration. Rodd’s books have been published in 10 languages and his articles have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, USA Today, ABC News, as well as Globe and Mail in Canada. One of his books was even parodied in Dilbert. In our conversation, we disc...

Annie Duke is an author, corporate speaker, and consultant in the decision-making space. Her most recent book, Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts, quickly became a national bestseller and landed on the Behavioral Grooves Top 10 list for 2018!  Prior to her career as a professional poker player, Annie was awarded a National Science Foundation Fellowship to...

Ali Fenwick, PhD is a Professor of Organizational Behavior at Hult International Business School in London and Dubai. He specializes in applying behavioural traits and behavioral interventions for business improvement, government policy design, communication effectiveness and, among other things, psychographic profiling. According to Ali, “Bulk buying is caused by various psychological and environ...

James Brewer is the Director of Marketing Platforms and Global Customer Operations for Eli Lilly and Company.  Over the years, Kurt and Tim have worked with James on applying behavioral science insights to his work, and many of his colleagues’ work, at Eli Lilly. James is an avid behavioral science practitioner and also a friend. We started our discussion with James about how his views have shifte...

Christian Hunt is the founder of Human Risk, a Behavioral Science consulting and training firm specializing in risk, compliance, conduct & culture. Previously, Christian was the head of Behavioral Science at UBS and Chief Operating Officer of the Prudential Regulation Authority.  He is an expert on risk and how people perceive risk.  We wanted to talk to Christian about how we perceive risk and wh...

Barry Ritholtz is the CIO of Ritholtz Wealth Management and the host of the Bloomberg podcast Masters in Business, where he talks almost as much about markets, investing and business as he does about the behavioral science behind WHY we do what we do. Our first conversation appears in the ever-popular Episode 47. This week, we discussed the financial implications of the financial crisis resulting...

Liz Fosslien was our guest on Episode 56 and we asked her back to kick off our series on the behavioral aspects of how life is changing with quarantines, sheltering in place and working from home. Liz is the Head of Content at HUMU, a firm that combines people science and machine learning to create breakthroughs on a wide variety of people-centric measurements. Liz is also the co-author and illust...

This is an episode originally produced for Weekly Grooves. We hope you enjoy! Coronavirus and the disease it’s created – Covid-19 – is alive and well and getting stronger every day. How bad is it? It’s difficult to say with any certainty in part because it’s constantly changing and it’s very complex. However, when presented with ambiguous information, our minds draw conclusions based on our biases...

Chiara Varazzani, PhD is the Principal Advisor at the Behavioral Insights Unit in the Victorian Government's Department of Premier and Cabinet in Australia. Chiara is Italian born, French-educated, and employed in Australia, adding her to the list of Italian-born behavioral scientists we’ve had on our show (Cristina Bicchieri, Francesco Gina, and Silvia Saccardo, in case you’re counting). She blew...

John Fuisz is co-founder of Veriphix and a marketer who believes in building great brands. He does so with a sophisticated system that, on the surface, appears simple and direct; however, it’s built on his astute observations of consumer behavior, the clever use of data, and most importantly, it’s related to Annie Duke’s use of bets to measure future behaviors. We wanted to talk to John because hi...

Author and economist Andrew Wagner’s new book, The Economics of Online Gaming, shares how economic decisions get made by players of online games. We discuss how reputations and player behaviors impact success in the game. For instance, a very positive reputation could lead other players to work with you, but it also could lead them to take advantage of you. Andrew discovered, in this game, that wh...

In this special edition, bestselling author and Forbes contributor, Rodd Wagner, organized a question-and-answer session with Kurt and Tim in front of a live audience to discuss whether behavioral sciences could be applied to corporate environments in ways that allow leaders to manipulate their employees. And, if so, where does that land on the ethical spectrum? Rodd has grown increasingly intrigu...

As a new product and innovation professional, Adam Hansen has always believed in the power of possibility – accepting new approaches, questioning conventional wisdom, and being open to anything. This impulse led him to a career in developing new products for innovative companies such as Mars, Melaleuca and American Harvest, before joining the innovation firm, Ideas To Go, in 2001. Now as a facilit...

For this episode, we’re republishing a terrific conversation we had with economist and author, Caroline Webb, PhD (in episode 33). We loved her book, How to Have a Good Day, and still do, and we loved talking to her about her work both as an economist and as a musician. On top of that, Caroline is just one of those people that is great to hang out with. Caroline was educated at Oxford, Cambridge,...

In this grooving session, Kurt and Tim share how to conduct a behavioral diagnosis. A behavioral diagnosis is a tool we use to uncover the underlying drivers of behavior inside an organization to bring about meaningful change, all with the use of applied behavioral science. Kurt and Tim have been conducting behavioral diagnoses for many years and have found that leaders often don’t understand why...

Kurt and Tim are producing a new podcast called Weekly Grooves, launching January 31, 2020. Weekly Grooves is the weekly podcast that offers insights into the headlines through a behavioral lens. Kurt and Tim will be applying their more than 40 years of combined experience in behavioral work to give the headlines more relevance and meaning. We are going to put more meat in your sauce! Check it on...

Stephen Martin and Joe Marks, PhD dive deep into one of the most important eye-openers about communication in our world today: the importance of WHO delivers the message. Their book, “Messengers: Who We Listen To, Who We Don’t, and Why,” is a major revamp on the claim made by Marshall McLuhan in 1964 that, “The Medium IS the Message.” While Steve and Joe are hard-pressed to say McLuhan’s refrain i...

Melina Palmer is the host of The Brainy Business podcast and she has dedicated her career to seeking answers to these questions for herself and her clients. Melina uses behavioral economics to help everyone from global corporations to entrepreneurs understand the psychology of why people buy, unlocking the secrets of small changes that make a big difference via her podcast, public speaking, and co...