Psychology’s favourite moral thought experiment doesn’t predict real-world behaviour Would you wilfully hurt or kill one person so as to save multiple others? That’s the dilemma at the heart of moral psychology’s favourite thought experiment and its derivatives. In the … Continue reading Judgment vs. behaviour
Your Brain Is Neither Computer Nor CEO Through the lens of popular neuroscience (and even some not-so-popular neuroscience), brains have become abstract and hypercomplex entities—mystical machines, rather than down-to-earth organs composed of flesh and blood. John von Neumann’s brain-as-computer metaphor, … Continue reading Mystical machines
Shops Aren’t for Shopping Anymore In the year 2000 at Easton Town Center in Columbus, Ohio, Abercrombie and Fitch opened the first location of its new shop, Hollister, and set Midwestern high schoolers like myself California dreaming. Designed with a … Continue reading In the palm of your hand
How our teenage years shape our personalities My four-year-old twins are similar in many ways – both are sociable, loving and cheeky – but a few contrasts are opening up. For instance, our son is more aware of time, endlessly … Continue reading The person you will become
How Employers in Poor Countries Are Using Nudges to Help Employees Save Money One of the most common ways to get people to save is through their employer. In particular, behavioral economics—that marriage of economics and psychology that has put … Continue reading The default enrollment
Hungry, Hungry Hippocampus: Why and How We Eat Anyone who’s tried (and failed) to follow a diet knows that food is more than fuel. The reasons we eat are even embedded in our language. When we’re in an unfamiliar place, … Continue reading Talking about food
Behavioral Nudges Timed to Certain Days are Effective Motivators How we relate to the passage of time is a popular area of study among academics seeking to understand human decision making — and to coax people toward better decisions. Appealing … Continue reading Milestones for action
