Society & Everyday Life

Stress Less, Achieve More: Boosting Women’s STEM Performance
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Stress Less, Achieve More: Boosting Women’s STEM Performance

Education & Learning, Society & Everyday Life

Stress Less, Achieve More: Boosting Women’s STEM Performance

Gender gaps in STEM fields are far from resolved. High-stakes exams are part of the journey, and several studies prove that women tend to underperform. Why does this happen? How can the gap be closed? Despite accumulated evidence, efforts still need to be made to shed light on this issue. An intervention performed by Ceibal’s Behavioral Insights Lab in Uruguay showed that a stress management exercise during a high-stakes exam can enhance women's performance.

By Lucía Rosich|2024-08-27T01:25:45+00:00August 27th, 2024|Categories: Education & Learning, Society & Everyday Life|Tags: educational interventions, educational psychology, equal opportunities, exam anxiety, gender gap, nudge, RCT, STEM education, stress management|

The Making of an Expert: The Joy Factor
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The Making of an Expert: The Joy Factor

Behavioral Theory & Insights, Business & Management, Society & Everyday Life

The Making of an Expert: The Joy Factor

The pursuit of expertise has been a longstanding goal for us humans. Drawing from key research on how we build skills, we highlight the intrinsic connection between joy and the development of expertise in one’s field. By understanding joy as a vital component of expertise, we propose the concept of joyful expertise – a holistic approach to skill development. Potential contributors to joyful expertise include social connection, grit and resilience building, finding aligned environments, and the prioritization of holistic well-being.

By Shaye-Ann Hopkins|2024-03-21T02:43:32+00:00March 20th, 2024|Categories: Behavioral Theory & Insights, Business & Management, Society & Everyday Life|Tags: connection, expert, expertise, flow, happiness, joy, skill development|

How to Not Get Nudged
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How to Not Get Nudged

Behavioral Theory & Insights, Society & Everyday Life, Technology & Digital

How to Not Get Nudged

Nudging and manipulation in modern society, driven by advancements in technology and behavioral sciences, are pervasive. However, there are ways for individuals to resist and develop immunity to these persuasion tactics. By being forewarned, recognizing manipulation attempts, and undergoing debiasing interventions, individuals can better protect themselves. Additionally, they can avoid vulnerable moments, utilize avoidant resistance, and listen to their intuition. While escaping all influences is impossible, individuals can still choose their influencers and free their minds from undue manipulation.

By Patrick Fagan|2023-08-08T08:51:16+00:00August 7th, 2023|Categories: Behavioral Theory & Insights, Society & Everyday Life, Technology & Digital|Tags: behavioral science, bias, decision making, nudge, nudging, persuasion|

How to Depolarize Ourselves: Communication and Understanding Across Cultures
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How to Depolarize Ourselves: Communication and Understanding Across Cultures

Cross-Cultural Perspectives, Government & Civic Behavior, Society & Everyday Life

How to Depolarize Ourselves: Communication and Understanding Across Cultures

The world is becoming increasingly polarized, as is seen through evidence of “us” versus “them” mindsets. Divisions have evolved into partisanship across groups, highlighting the need to understand how we differ culturally and across groups, why we are becoming more polarized, and how we can begin to reduce the impact of these divides. Cross-cultural and other models provide insight into how individuals differ across groups, and how we can reconnect with those around us.

By Shaye-Ann Hopkins|2023-03-07T01:43:56+00:00March 7th, 2023|Categories: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, Government & Civic Behavior, Society & Everyday Life|Tags: communication, connection, cross-cultural psychology, identity, polarization, social psychology, trust|

Enjoyable Emotions for Self-Improvement and Behavior Change
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Enjoyable Emotions for Self-Improvement and Behavior Change

Behavioral Theory & Insights, Morality & Prosocial Behavior, Society & Everyday Life

Enjoyable Emotions for Self-Improvement and Behavior Change

Enjoyable emotions such as gratitude, pride, inspiration, or nostalgia can motivate people to behave in positive ways triggering positive appraisals of events or situations. These appraisals might translate into positive behaviors, such as cooperation, adaptiveness, or even persistence toward a goal. This article discusses the benefits of enjoyable emotions and how their power can be leveraged to promote behavior change.

By Cláudia Simão|2023-02-28T01:23:16+00:00February 28th, 2023|Categories: Behavioral Theory & Insights, Morality & Prosocial Behavior, Society & Everyday Life|Tags: behavior change, emotions, motivation|

Can Behavioural Insights Help Us Improve Our Relationship With Ourselves?
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Can Behavioural Insights Help Us Improve Our Relationship With Ourselves?

Health & Medicine, Society & Everyday Life

Can Behavioural Insights Help Us Improve Our Relationship With Ourselves?

While it’s true that self-confidence partially comes from the feeling that the people around us approve of us (something we can’t control), what we can control is how much emphasis we place on others’ opinions. Several of the thoughts that undermine - if not entirely diminish - our self-confidence come from systematic errors in judgement. Despite being commonly applied to economic decision-making, behavioural insights may explain how we, at times harshly and irrationally, judge ourselves.

By Sharon Rosenrauch|2022-11-01T02:03:14+00:00November 1st, 2022|Categories: Health & Medicine, Society & Everyday Life|Tags: chunking, confirmation bias, exposure, heuristics, information avoidance, internal narrative, selective attention, social proof|

Personalised Persuasion: How Predictable Are You?
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Personalised Persuasion: How Predictable Are You?

Behavioral Theory & Insights, Society & Everyday Life, Technology & Digital

Personalised Persuasion: How Predictable Are You?

When it comes to nudging, it’s very much a case of ‘different strokes for different folks'. A free donut might entice some people to take a vaccine; for others, it might make them even more skeptical. Fortunately, a combination of digital footprints and ‘thin slicing’ psychology means that nudges can now be targeted to the right people in the right way.

By Patrick Fagan|2022-04-25T06:05:52+00:00April 22nd, 2022|Categories: Behavioral Theory & Insights, Society & Everyday Life, Technology & Digital|Tags: consumer behavior, morality, nudge, personality, persuasion, social psychology|

How the Metaverse Is Designed to Hijack Your Circuits
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How the Metaverse Is Designed to Hijack Your Circuits

Society & Everyday Life, Technology & Digital

How the Metaverse Is Designed to Hijack Your Circuits

The most successful products of the digital revolution, principally those with social media components, have mirrored and exaggerated our ancient mental response mechanisms. With the coming metaverse and ‘web3’, psycho junk food supernormal stimuli may be about to take the exploitation of our Stone Age minds to a frightening next level.

By Eaon Pritchard|2022-03-31T01:36:33+00:00March 30th, 2022|Categories: Society & Everyday Life, Technology & Digital|Tags: behavioral science, evolutionary psychology, internet, technology|

Getting It Done – The Behavioral Way
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Getting It Done – The Behavioral Way

Behavioral Theory & Insights, Society & Everyday Life, Work & Employment

Getting It Done – The Behavioral Way

Many people struggle to finish big projects. According to a 2020 survey, almost half of teleworkers had trouble getting motivated. Behavioral science can help! Here are some tips for accomplishing those daunting tasks.

By Alain Samson|2022-02-17T05:23:27+00:00October 19th, 2021|Categories: Behavioral Theory & Insights, Society & Everyday Life, Work & Employment|Tags: behavior change, goal pursuit, goals, habit, incentives, nudge, planning, pre-commitment, social influence|

Budget Depreciation: When Budgeting Early Increases Spending
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Budget Depreciation: When Budgeting Early Increases Spending

Finance & Investing, Society & Everyday Life

Budget Depreciation: When Budgeting Early Increases Spending

Budgeting in advance is a good practice to control spending. Research reported in this article, however, shows that budgeting too early for a specific purchase may increase spending. This is due to what the authors term 'budget depreciation', a process in which consumers adapt to the reference point set by the budget, lower their pain-of-payment from the budgeted amount, and increase their willingness-to-spend.

By Think Forward Initiative|2022-02-17T05:32:39+00:00December 1st, 2020|Categories: Finance & Investing, Society & Everyday Life|Tags: behavioral finance, financial planning, personal finance, saving, spending|