The Behavioral Design Podcast

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 overrated vs. underrated. Thanks to you, our listeners for supporting us this year! We really appreciate it 😊🙏 Relevant links Effective Altruism About EA 8000 Hours GiveWell The Effective Altruism Behavioral Science Newsletter Research mentioned: A Psychologically Rich Life: Beyond Happiness and Meaning The Psychology of (In)Effective Altruism How Effective Altruism Can Help Psychologists Maximize Their Impact What works to increase charitable donations? A meta-review with meta-meta-analysis Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro. 

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 Researcher roles at the Center for Advanced Hindsight and has long experience helping companies use data and behavioral science insights to create and test more effective products and processes to drive behavior change. We had a fun conversation with Lindsay about everything existential in behavioral science, including the real impact of our field and how necessary are experiments, really? She also shares insights from a recent project aimed at reducing misinformation on TikTok. Enjoy! Relevant links about Lindsay Website Social Media: LinkedIn & Twitter TikTok whitepaper Tim Wilson Article Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 and by giving us a review on Apple Podcast. Thanks! The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro. 

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 Researcher roles at the Center for Advanced Hindsight and Irrational Labs. She's also an amazing skier. We had a fun conversation with Ingrid about everything digital health behavior and beyond, including the importance of focusing on the right behaviors, ways Gamification can backfire, her famous spreadsheet of BS companies around the world, and much more. Enjoy! Relevant links about Ingrid Organizations spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Vtq-3NAqGrIJA155ATXrnogr0q3Q-TFYd8IdqnpxJxQ/edit?pli=1#gid=182512263 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ingrid-melvær-paulin-27543647/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ingridmpaulin?lang=en Medium: https://medium.com/@ingrid.melvaer Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 and by giving us a review on Apple Podcast. Thanks! The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro. 

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 understand their inner workings. We had a fun conversation with Eric about everything choice architecture and beyond, including how to provide the right amount of options, the attributes of a good choice engine, and that there's no neutral choice architecture – the environment is always influencing our decisions one way or another. We also ask Eric to redesign popular digital products, including Tinder, Netflix, and Amazon.  Relevant links Eric's website Twitter Book: The Elements of Choice Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 and by giving us a review on Apple Podcast. Thanks! The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro. 

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 have a massive subtraction blindspot. We had a great discussion, exploring all aspects of subtraction, from their research to tips for how teams and individuals can overcome it and why "jeggings" are severely underrated. Enjoy! Related links: Their Nature research paper Leidy's book - Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less Gabe's website Leidy's website Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 and by giving us a review on Apple Podcast. Thanks! The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro. 

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 illustrator and we'd be surprised if you haven't seen her "sprinkles of insights" across your social media feeds. We have a wonderful discussion, exploring how to make work life better, managing #WFH, why we might benefit from being less passionate about work and how the nudge engine at Humu helps people work together better.  Related links: Liz's website Follow Liz on Instagram, LinkedIn & Twitter. Her book: No Hard Feelings  Check out Humu IKEA containers Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 and by giving us a review on Apple Podcast. Thanks! The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro. 

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 lessons from Dan's personal journey. We also talk about couscous!  Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 and by giving us a review on Apple Podcast. Thanks! The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro. 

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, we have a fun conversation with Jay about everything identity, including why we contain multitudes and how the social needs of belonging, uniqueness and status impact our identity. We also discuss how identity can be a double-edged sword, both able to spark unity and (sometimes) create division, and why bumper stickers are overrated. Relevant links Jay's website, Twitter, LinkedIn &, Instagram Book: The Power of Us  Robbers Cave Experiment Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 and by giving us a review on Apple Podcast. Thanks! The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro. 

In this episode, we speak with Ashley Whillans on time and how to spend it well ⏰. Ashley is a Professor at Harvard and author of Time Smart: How to Reclaim Your Time and Live a Happier Life. She's got a Ph.D. in Social Psychology and is an expert on time and how to spend it well. Her research investigates whether and how intangible incentives, such as experiential and time-saving rewards, affect employee motivation and well-being. She also works with organizations to help employees overcome time stress and thrive in their lives in and outside of the workplace. In this episode, we have a fun conversation with Ashley about her book, including discussing her research on people's perception of time and decision making, how to design better products and services based on these insights, and how to best decline an invitation (you're welcome). We hope you enjoy the episode! Relevant links Ashley's website, Twitter &, Instagram Missed Habit Day? No worries, here's link to the full event recording. Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 and by giving us a review on Apple Podcast. Thanks! The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro. 

In this episode, we're speaking with behavioral science superstar Katy Milkman ⭐️ Katy has one of the most impressive resumes in the field – She's a professor at UPenn, Co-founder of the Behavior Change for Good Initiative with Angela Duckworth, Host of Choiceology podcast (much more refined than ours), and Author of a new book: How to Change: The Science of Getting From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be. Some of our favorite research from Katy includes Fresh Start Effect, Temptation Bundling, Implementation Intentions, and most recently, she's pioneered the mega-study (what works to promote exercise, vaccination) In this episode, we have a fun conversation with Katy about her book, including discussing personalization, temptation bundling, and what type of interventions are most effective. We also talk about her recent study on regret lotteries in Philly + much more!  Relevant links How to Change Katy's website, Twitter &, Instagram Katy's newsletter Milkman Delivers (amazing name) Katy's Research Philly regret lottery Temptation bundling Fresh Starts Recent mega study Commitment Devices Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 and by giving us a review on Apple Podcast. Thanks! The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro. 

We're back with Season 2 - yay! We start the new season with a bang as our first guest is none other than Emily Oster. 🎉  Besides being Aline's favorite person to follow, Emily is an economics professor at Brown University and a thought-leader on data-driven parenting. She has written several best-selling books on pregnancy and parenting, all centered around a specific goal: creating a world of more relaxed pregnant women and parents. In this episode, we have a fun conversation with Emily about her latest book, The Family Firm (out today!). We learn about her fantastic 4 Fs framework, discuss salience of risk and how that impacts decision-making, learn what science communication often gets wrong, AND why Summersalt swimwear is underrated. Relevant links The Family Firm (out today!) Emily's website, Twitter &, Instagram Emily's newsletter ParentData Research Previous books Expecting Better and Cribsheet Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 and by giving us a review on Apple Podcast. Thanks! The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro. 

We've reached the end of season 1 - yay! 🎉 In this finale, we sit down and nerd out about all things behavioral as Aline is welcomed back from her baby cave. We explore the growing landscape of behavioral associations, the recent attempts to incentivize vaccine uptake, we languish on languishing, talk faulty risk perceptions, and, our course, complete a final round of overrated vs. underrated.  Relevant links Recently launched behavioral associations and groups (and their abbreviations):   GAABS - The Global Association of Applied Behavioural Scientists ABSA - Applied Behavioral Science Association UNBSG - UN Behavioural Science Group IBPPA - International Behavioural Public Policy Association Vaccination uptake Lottery-Based Incentive in Ohio and COVID-19 Vaccination Rates Going local with the COVID-19 vaccine Flourishing & languishing There’s a Name for the Blah You’re Feeling: It’s Called Languishing The Other Side of Languishing Is Flourishing. Here’s How to Get There Dan Ariely on wine Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro.

Matt Johnson is a professor, researcher, and writer specializing in the application of neuroscience and psychology to the business world and Prince Ghuman is an experienced marketer with great experience of applying neuroscience to marketing and business strategy. Together they've written the book Blindsight: The (Mostly) Hidden Ways Marketing Reshapes Our Brain. In this episode, we have a fun conversation with Matt and Prince about what the heck "Blindsight" is and what it has to do with decision-making, we dive into the ethics around using behavioral science for good (and for less obviously good “marketing” purposes) and how we can solve the thorny problem of tech addiction. Links and resources: Matt's LinkedIn & Twitter Prince's LinkedIn & Twitter  Their book: Blindsight Their certification Their blog Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro. *This episode was recorded in Q1 of 2021

Kelly Peters is the CEO and Co-founder of BEworks, and one of the leading voices in the world of Applied Behavioral Economics. Kelly has done some fantastic work in the field and she's a firm believer that when applied properly, scientific thinking has the power to transform society.  In this episode, Kelly shares her journey into behavioral economics, how BEworks approach their client work, challenges related to COVID-19, and much more. Hope you enjoy the episode! Links and resources: BEworks's website Social media: LinkedIn & Twitter BEwork's COVID-19 related projects, including their fantastic Vaccine Hesitancy report Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro. *This episode was recorded in Q1 of 2021

Maya Shankar is the Senior Director of Behavioral Economics at Google and previously served as a Senior Advisor in the Obama White House, where she founded and served as Chair of the White House's Behavioral Science Team. For good measure, she also served as the first Behavioral Science Advisor to the United Nations. Most recently, Maya launched "A Slight Change of Plans," a fantastic new podcast with Pushkin Industries. In this episode, Maya shares her journey into behavioral science and highlights along the way, including the importance of her mentors, reminiscing about her time leading the White House's Behavioral Science Team, and whether it's harder to change minds or change behaviors.  Links and resources: Maya's website Social media: LinkedIn & Twitter Maya's podcast: A Slight Change of Plans Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro.

Logan Ury is a behavioral scientist-turned dating coach and Hinge’s Director of Relationship Science. She recently published How to Not Die Alone – a fantastic book on the surprising science that will help you find love.  We speak about all things behavioral science and modern love, including how Hinge designs the app to be deleted and common cognitive biases in dating. We also talk about how Logan became the lead of Google’s behavioral science and was later able to build a successful career combining her passion for behavioral science and relationship science. Hope you love it! Links and resources: Logan's website Social media: LinkedIn, Twitter & Instagram Logan's book: How to Not Die Alone The Three Dating Tendencies Quiz Modern Love - New York Times article by Logan OKcupid Experiment Rom-Com recommendation: Hitch Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro.

Interested in learning more about how Behavioral Economics can be used in practice? Great, this episode is for you! It features a fun conversation with Melina Palmer, one of the leading experts in applied Behavioral Economics. Melina is the founder and CEO of the Brainy Business, teaches Applied BE at Texas A&M University and recently published her first book, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You.  We speak about her journey and how she built her Brainy Business podcast and community, how she supports her clients to ask better questions, important principles regarding pricing, and we talk cookies! Enjoy! 🍪 Links and resources: Melina's website, LinkedIn and Twitter Her book What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You FREE workbook: thebrainybusiness.com/habitweekly Right Questions Institute - Questionstorming Melina sings the national anthem Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro.

This episode features an insightful conversation with decision-making rockstar Annie Duke. Annie barely needs an introduction, she's the best-selling author of Thinking in Bets, and most recently, How to Decide. She has made it her pursuit to help us understand how we make decisions and provide us with concrete steps and tools for improving our decision making process.  We cover several interesting topics, including Annie's journey from academia, to professional poker, to consulting and back to research. We also cover why it's so difficult to update our beliefs, why we should hone our archer's mindset, and much more. The episode even includes a special guest. Enjoy! Links and resources: Annie's website, LinkedIn and Twitter Latest book: How to Decide Previous book: Thinking in Bets Annie's newsletter Philip Tetlock's work Research Superforecasting book Podcast Interview  Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro.

This episode features a profound conversation with world-renowned neuroscientist and psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett. Lisa is among the top 1% of most-cited scientists in the world, with over 240 peer-reviewed scientific papers contributing to her revolutionary research in psychology and neuroscience. Outside of the lab, she's a best-selling author and her popular TED talk has more than 6 million views. TLDR: Lisa is a rockstar 🤘. We cover several interesting topics, including why your brain is not for thinking, how prediction becomes reality, why most people are wrong in how they think about emotions, the best type of chocolate (spoiler: dark), and much more. Enjoy! Links and resources: Lisa's website and Twitter Latest book: Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain Previous book: How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain Some of Lisa's selected journal publications and research papers Lisa's TED Talk: You aren't at the mercy of your emotions -- your brain creates them Jim Coan describing his heart attack on his Circle of Willis Podcast  Dharmakīrti buddhism  Books referenced:  Margaret Atwood books: Cat's Eye, Oryx and Crake & The Edible Woman Stuart Firestein books: Failure: Why Science Is so Successful and Ignorance: How it drives science Support the podcast by joining Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro.

This episode features an insightful conversation with Dr. Clare Purvis, Director of Behavioral Science at Headspace. Clare is a clinical psychologist with extensive experience working in health technology, translating clinical evidence into commercially viable, engaging, and innovative digital products. We cover several interesting topics, including how Clare transitioned from academia to the start-up world, how we can building systems of behavior change in organizations, what makes a good onboarding, and how to design for mindfulness. Enjoy! Links: Clare's website and LinkedIn Clare is the founder of WELL, Women Entrepreneurs & Leaders Laboratory, which is the first professional organization for women clinicians and scientists leading the way in digital health.   Aline's previous interview with Clare Habit Weekly Pro 🚀

This episode features an insightful conversation with the fantastic Nina Mažar. Nina has been part of founding BEworks, BEAR (Behavioral Economics in Action at Rotman center), and the World Banks' behavioral science team. She is currently professor of marketing and co-director of the Susilo Institute for Ethics in the Global Economy at Boston University.  We cover several interesting topics, including how Nina got started in the field, three pieces of advice for starting a behavioral science unit, nudging for diversity and honesty, plus what to get next time you're ordering Balkan food. Enjoy! Links: Nina's website, LinkedIn and Twitter Nina's TEDx talk on honesty and intentions Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 Timestamps 00:23: Episode overview 01:41: Interview begins 02:02: Nina details her background in behavioral science 04:29: How Nina’s work in both industry and academia shaped her view on behavioral science research 08:49: Nina discusses setting up the World Bank’s behavioral science unit 11:59: Nina’s advice on setting up a behavioral science team in an organisation Get shared buy-in within the organisation Data collection capacities and well-functioning internal systems Have a legal team on board 17:01: Reflecting on studies on dishonesty and nudging people via signature at the top 22:04: Why is the “bad apple” narrative so persistent? 24:16: How can behavioral science help counter discrimination and racism? 28:22: Countering gender bias in news reporting in Sweden via transparency 32:42: Underrated vs Overrated Revealed preferences Rationalisation Replication studies Crotian cuisine Bosnian cuisine Place’s Nina has lived Origami 39:02: How Nina applies behavioral science in her own life 41:03: Concluding remarks ––––– Timestamps & shownotes compiled by Keith Broni 🏆 The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro. –––––

This episode is special. It features a conversation with the world-renowned habit researcher, Wendy Wood. Wendy has devoted the last 30 years to researching how habits work and recently published the fantastic book Good Habits, Bad Habits. The episode is packed with insights, and we cover all things habits, from the difference between habits vs. routines to the impact of reward and context on habit formation. If you're curious to understand habits better, this episode is for you! Links: Wendy's website (where you can find here book) and her Twitter Wendy's labs habit research  Habit Weekly Pro 🚀 Key points: Changing attitudes is often not enough – even when we change people's attitude, their behavior doesn't always follow. And it's the behavior we care about, what they do.  The average person rarely distinguish between habits, behavior, intentions, beliefs and attitudes. "It's all all the same, all part of me and my decision making". It's important to differentiate these things as our brains consist of different systems that helps us accomplish different things. There's a habit learning system designed specifically to pick up repetition of behaviour in a given context that generated some form of reward. We can think of reward as not money, but what makes you feel good. Habits are the context response associations that you form in memory, when you repeat a behaviour, often enough for the for it to become automatic. Additionally, routines are simply sequences of habit. We can can change people's attitudes and beliefs for short periods, but these changes can disappear once they go back to real life if we fail to change the system. We need to understand the broader influences on someone's behavior in order to design contextual cues and rewards that helps them respond in new ways long-term. Timestamps: 00:16: Episode overview 01:33: Interview starts 02:00: Wendy details her background and how she got started researching habits 03:55: Differentiating habits and behavior 06:50: Distinguishing between routines and habits 08:10: The automaticity of bias associations compared to the automaticity of habits 10:50: Can one-off trainings really be used to create new habits 13:16: Changing day-to-day environments and systems to change habits 16:28: Sam tells an anecdote about the influence of context on habits 18:30: The temporal dynamic of habit activation 20:42: Recurring contextual associations with a habit 21:27: Internal states as context cues for habits 23:52: Incentivising habits with rewards 26:54: Case study: encouraging use of an office’s stairs over an elevator 29:40: Best way to incentivise new habits 33:57: How is frequency related to establishing a new habit 35:30: The generalisation of habits 37:10: Overrated vs Underrated Having a car Experience sampling Behaviorism The clean plate club Paris The marshmallow study Sidewalks Rituals Mise en place 44:47: What bad habit has been Wendy’s greatest nemesis in her personal life 47:36: Concluding remarks ––––– Timestamps & shownotes compiled by Keith Broni 🏆 The song used is Murgatroyd by David Pizzaro.

The Behavioral Design 2021 state of the field report is out 🎉 The report provides a combination of perspectives and opinions from 20+ leaders in the field on the state of behavioral design and where we're headed. Listen in on this special episode where...

This episode features a fun conversation with the wonderful Dan Egan. Dan is the Director of Behavior Science and Investing at the innovative fin-tech company Betterment and is truly an authority on all things behavioral finance.We cover several...

This episode features a fantastic conversation with is Amy Bucher, VP of Behavior Change Design at Mad*Pow and author of Engaged: Designing for Behavior Change. The book offers a wonderful exploration of how we can incorporate behavioral design into our...

This episode features an interview with Behavioral Strategist, Author, and perhaps most importantly, co-host of this podcast – Samuel Salzer 🎉Aline puts Sam in the hot seat. The episode covers everything from behavioral science fiction, to why IKEA is...

This episode features an interview with  Aline Holzwarth the new  co-host for this podcast 🎉Aline is an applied behavioral scientist, specializing in digital health research and scientifically informed product design. She's also the head of Behavioral...

We all have our different rituals and that's what we'll explore in today's episode with the wonderful Nick Hobson.Nick has not only long studied the rituals of our everyday lives, but he also runs a successful consultancy helping organizations to better...

What the heck is Behavioral Data Science? That is what I asked myself earlier this year as I got introduced to the wonderful work by today's guest of the podcast - Ganna Pogrebna.Ganna has an extremely impressive resume. She is a decision theorist and a...

This episode is a fun two for one as it's a conversation with me and the wonderful duo, Kurt Nelson and Tim Houlihan.You're likely to recognize their voices as they host the popular Behavioral Grooves podcast where they explore the “why we do what we...

Welcome to another episode of the Behavioral Design Podcast by Habit Weekly. This episode is a treat and an early Christmas gift since it's a conversation with truly a leader in the field - Josh Wright.Josh is the Executive Director at ideas42, which...

This episode is a conversation with David Perrott focused on the fascinating world of self-applied behavioral science. This means what we can do with the tools and insights of behavioral science to better our own lives.David is the perfect person to...

This episode of the Behavioral Design podcast is a conversation with Elspeth Kirkman and Michael Hallsworth. These are truly two heavy hitters when it comes to putting behavioral science to practice.Elspeth founded BIT's North American office before...

Welcome to the Behavioral Design podcast by Habit Weekly, hosted by Samuel Salzer.This episode is a conversation with Torben Emmerling. Torben is the Founder and Managing Partner of the behavioral consultancy firm Affective Advisory and acts as...

Welcome to the Behavioral Design podcast by Habit Weekly, hosted by Samuel Salzer.This first episode is a conversation with Stephen Wendel. Steve is one of the most experienced applied behavioral practitioners in the world. He's head of behavioral...