Co-Director Angela Duckworth’s forthcoming book, Situated: Find the People and Places that Bring Out Your Best is now available for pre-order. The cover reveal was recently featured in People, and the book will be released on September 1st.

In Situated, Angela makes the case that where you are matters as much as who you are. Angela explores how shaping your environment can help bring out your best, drawing on research and real-word examples of high achievers who design their surroundings to make success easier. Situated features evidence-backed strategies for how to:

• Set up your personal space.

• Pick your peers.

• Attract mentors.

• Choose your culture.

Pre-order Angela's book

John List on Field Experiments in the Courtroom

BCFG co-hosted University of Chicago economist John List for a special seminar about how field experiments have shaped high-stakes legal decisions. Drawing on his experience as an expert witness, he discussed how rigorous experimental methods can be brought into legal proceedings, and the methodological challenges of designing experiments for courtroom use. This event was co-hosted by Wharton’s Decision Processes Colloquia and FiWell Research Seminars.

A Choiceology Glossary

With help from BCFG undergraduate research assistants Vidya Pandiaraju and Katarina Siggelkow, Co-Director Katy Milkman has created an interactive Choiceology glossary. Click any behavioral science concept to get a definition, find the relevant episode, and see the expert guests who covered it — many of them Team Scientists.

Spotlighted Podcasts

1. Why You’re Still Using Social Media (Even If You Want to Stop), featuring Team Scientists Cass Sunstein and Laurie Santos, The Happiness Lab

2. When Sunk Costs Take Flight, featuring Team Scientist Richard Thaler and hosted by Co-Director Katy Milkman, Choiceology

3. Coming Clean, featuring Team Scientist Leslie John, Hidden Brain

4. Are Thousands of Medical Cures Hiding in Plain Sight?, guest-hosted by Team Scientist Steve Levitt, Freakonomics

Don’t forget to follow us on social media, where we share new research, job postings, and more: LinkedIn / X / Facebook / BlueSky

Donate

If a person has (or hasn’t) previously shown a propensity for engaging in a given behavior, can that give a choice architect clues about the best nudge to use to engage them now? In new BCFG research led by UCLA PhD student Ilana Brody as well as UCLA Professor Hengchen Dai and CMU Professor Silvia Saccardo and published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, we investigated this question in the context of flu vaccination.

Across an online experiment (N=2,602) and two field experiments with two health systems (N=14,760), and a large U.S. retail pharmacy chain (N=2,980,249), we tested whether people’s past flu-shot uptake predicts what kind of intervention works best. We evaluated (1) informational nudges designed to strengthen vaccination intentions and (2) follow-through interventions designed to help people act on vaccination intentions they already have. We examined both vaccination intentions and actual flu shot uptake.

What were the key takeaways from the research?

(1) Intervention effectiveness depended on prior behavior. Follow-through interventions—designed to make it easier for people to act on existing intentions—significantly increased flu shot uptake among individuals who had been vaccinated previously. These interventions did not produce a significant increase in vaccination uptake among those who hadn’t been vaccinated in the prior year.

(2) In contrast, information interventions—providing information about the flu and the flu vaccine—primarily increased vaccination intentions among those who had not gotten the flu shot the prior year.

(3) Different people often face different barriers to action. Prior behavior can help identify whether someone needs a nudge to follow through (when an intention to act already exists) or help forming intentions in the first place (when a decision about whether to act has not yet been made).

Subscribe now

Who contributed to this project?

Ilana Brody (UCLA PhD student) led this project with excellent mentorship from BCFG Team Scientists Hengchen Dai (UCLA) and Silvia Saccardo (Carnegie Mellon). Co-authors on this project included BCFG Co-Directors Katy Milkman and Angela Duckworth (Penn), BCFG Executive Director Dena Gromet (Penn), and BCFG Team Scientist Mitesh Patel (Ascension Health).

Emily Oster on Science Communication

Over 400 people tuned in for a virtual keynote Q&A featuring Emily Oster, Brown University economist, New York Times Bestselling Author, and CEO of ParentData. Professor Oster shared practical insights on communicating about science to broad audiences—including about nuanced and controversial topics. Watch the recording.

New Books By BCFG Team Scientists

1. Eat Your Ice Cream: Six Simple Rules for a Long and Healthy Life by Ezekiel Emanuel

2. Revealing: The Underrated Power of Oversharing by Leslie John

Both Katy Milkman and Angela Duckworth Closed Out 2025 with Appearances on The Mel Robbins Podcast

BCFG Co-Director Katy Milkman shared insights from her research on how to create lasting behavior change.

BCFG Co-Director Angela Duckworth shared insights from her research on grit.

Spotlighted Press

1. People Are Panic Buying for the Winter Storm. An Expert Explains Why We Do It, featuring Team Scientist Ravi Dhar, TIME

2. Willpower Doesn’t Work. This Does., essay by Co-Director Angela Duckworth, The New York Times

3. The Upside of Professional Rejection, featuring Team Scientist Ayelet Fishbach, The Atlantic

4. Here’s How to Make Resolutions Stick, According to a Behavior Change Scientist, featuring Co-Director Katy Milkman, The Washington Post

Don’t forget to follow us on social media, where we share new research, job postings, and more: LinkedIn / X / Facebook / BlueSky

Donate to BCFG

View the Report

Donate to BCFG

Is it better to deliver health facts directly, or to begin with a question that sparks curiosity? BCFG’s research led by BCFG Team Scientist Erika Kirgios (a Wharton PhD graduate and Professor at the University of Chicago) offers new insight into this question. Our paper in Management Science investigated the effectiveness of Q&A-style messaging across two large field experiments in Ghana and Michigan (41,395 total participants) and an online ad campaign reaching more than 900,000 users.

What did these experiments test?

Across three large experiments, this research tested whether sharing health information in the form of a question, followed by an answer, would increase engagement and behavior change more than sharing the same information via direct statements.

In field experiments in Ghana and Michigan, the research team evaluated whether Q&A-style messaging could boost information seeking (for example, learning more about mask wearing), self-reported adherence to recommended health behaviors, and information sharing with others.

In a follow-up Facebook ad experiment, the research team also tested whether public health ads using the question-then-answer format would produce more cost-effective engagement (as measured by clicks to a CDC website) than ads directly stating the same facts.

What were the key takeaways from the research?

1. Q&A-style messaging can be a light-touch, low-cost way to increase health engagement, likely because beginning with a question helps spark curiosity. As compared to providing health facts directly, Q&A-style messages boosted topic-specific information seeking in Ghana and in Michigan. Q&A-style messages did not, however, increase engagement with general COVID-19 information.

2. Texts that asked a question first led to a 1.3-percentage-point (4%) increase in self-reported adherence to recommended public health behaviors in Michigan (compared to direct statements).

3. Q&A-style ads on Facebook were more cost-effective, generating 9–11% more unique clicks per dollar than direct statement ads.

Who contributed to this project?

Co-authors on this project included BCFG Co-Directors Katy Milkman and Angela Duckworth (Penn), BCFG Team Scientists Dean Karlan (Northwestern) and Susan Athey (Stanford), as well as Molly Offer-Westort (University of Chicago) and Mike Luca (Johns Hopkins).

ICYMI: Amy Finkelstein on Health Care Facts and Fallacies

BCFG co-hosted a virtual keynote event with the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics featuring MIT economist, MacArthur “Genius” Award Winner, and John Bates Clark Medalist Amy Finkelstein. The title of Amy’s talk was: “Facts and Fallacies: Rethinking US Healthcare.” Watch the recording.

Don’t miss our next virtual keynote featuring Emily Oster—Brown University economist, New York Times Bestselling Author, CEO of ParentData and one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People of 2022—on January 28 at 12 p.m. ET.

Register

TIME100 Talks featuring Katy Milkman

BCFG Co-Director Katy Milkman shared insights about the science of change as a featured panelist at the November TIME100 Talks event on Culture, Choice, and Change in New York City. Learn more about the event and the insights shared by our co-director and her fellow panelists in this Time article.

Beyond Self-Control: Angela Duckworth & Katy Milkman

October’s season finale of the Choiceology podcast (available here) focuses on self-control and features one BCFG Co-Director (Katy Milkman) interviewing the other (Angela Duckworth) about the topic. As a special bonus, Charles Schwab created a video accompaniment to this podcast, which features a film of Katy and Angela’s complete interview. On the podcast and in their filmed conversation, Katy and Angela discuss why willpower alone often falls short, and how changing your environment can support better choices.

Spotlighted Podcasts

1. Why Following Your Dreams Isn’t Enough, featuring Team Scientist Robb Willer, Hidden Brain

2. How to Spend Your Time and Money Better, featuring Team Scientist Richard Thaler, The Happiness Lab

3. Why Humblebragging Is Never a Good Idea, featuring Team Scientist Övül Sezer, Speaking of Psychology

Don’t forget to follow us on social media, where we share new research, job postings, and more: LinkedIn / X / Facebook / BlueSky

Donate

BCFG Co-Directors Angela Duckworth and Katy Milkman hosted economics Nobel Laureate Richard Thaler and his co-author Alex Imas at Penn for a lively conversation about their new book, The Winner’s Curse: Behavioral Economics Anomalies, Then and Now.

Highlights include discussions of…

• The origin of behavioral economics and why Richard started writing about “anomalies”.

• Why even experts make predictable mistakes, from CEOs to pro athletes.

• The Winner’s Curse, or why the “winning” bid is often a losing deal.

• Why we pay for gym memberships we don’t use and what that reveals about self-control.

• What’s next for behavioral science, as economists and psychologists unite to better understand decision-making.

Watch on YouTube

BCFG’s latest megastudy, published in PNAS Nexus, found that behavioral science-based email nudges can slightly increase people’s likelihood of making a monthly savings deposit. Led by BCFG Co-Director Katy Milkman, this megastudy sent savings reminders to nearly two million customers of a large U.S. bank.

What did the megastudy test?

Over two months, we tested seven different email interventions designed to encourage customers to transfer money into their savings accounts. Some interventions aimed to reach customers at key moments—such as right after a checking account deposit or at the start or end of the month. Others sent weekly reminders to save, with messages adjusted to congratulate savings if the customer had already made a savings deposit that week.

What were the key takeaways from the research?

1. Reminders effectively encouraged people to make more monthly savings deposits.

2. Our top-performing intervention sent weekly reminders to customers who had not yet made a savings deposit and congratulatory messages to those who had already saved that week. This intervention increased customers’ likelihood of making a one-time savings deposit each month by 1.32%.

3. Our findings show that even incredibly light touch interventions informed by behavioral science can change behavior. To produce a bigger benefit, ideally interventions would be delivered via more channels than email.

ICYMI: Emily Falk and Katy Milkman in Conversation

Earlier this month, BCFG Co-Director Katy Milkman interviewed Team Scientist and Penn Professor Emily Falk about her new book What We Value: The Neuroscience of Choice and Change. The conversation covered topics such as why making goals fun can boost motivation, when being in sync with others is beneficial and when it can limit creativity, as well as how learning about the brain can help people better align their choices with what they truly value.

BCFG Co-Director Angela Duckworth Honored on SPSP Heritage Wall

Congratulations to BCFG Co-Director Angela Duckworth for being selected to join the Society for Personality and Social Psychology’s distinguished Heritage Wall. This is an honor that recognizes an elite group of psychologists who have left a lasting mark on their field. We’re thrilled to see Angela’s impact recognized in this way.

In NYC on Saturday, October 4^th? Come see Katy’s Q&A at 59E59 Theaters!

Get Your Tickets: Following the 2 pm showing of “This Much I Know,” a play inspired by the book Thinking, Fast and Slow by Nobel Laureate Danny Kahneman, Katy Milkman will join Director Hayley Finn onstage at 59E59 Theaters for a Q&A about behavioral science and its role in the show.

Spotlighted Podcasts and Popular Press

1. Teamwork That Works: What Great Teams Have in Common, hosted by Co-Director Katy Milkman, Choiceology

2. Winning the Battle Against Yourself, featuring Team Scientist Emily Falk, Hidden Brain

3. Here’s What Happened When I Made My College Students Put Away Their Phones, essay by Team Scientist Ezekiel Emanuel, The New York Times

Don’t forget to follow us on social media, where we share new research, job postings, and more: LinkedIn / X / Facebook / BlueSky

Donate

Health Daily, created by Katy Milkman, Angela Duckworth, Katie Mehr, and the BCFG team, offers quick daily quizzes to teach you important facts about healthy living.

Join Health Daily

Devin Pope is the Steven G. Rothmeier Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago. His research spans a variety of topics sitting at the intersection between economics and psychology and has been published in journals such as the American Economic Review, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, Nature, Science, and Psychological Science.

BCFG: Do you have a favorite research finding from your work in the last several years about how psychological biases affect markets? If so, could you describe it and its implications?

Devin: One of my favorite papers that I have written shows how people’s car buying behavior changes depending on the weather at the time of purchase. A sunny, warm day in October in Chicago causes a lot of car buyers to choose the convertible option when buying a new car. A recent snowstorm leads people to prefer the 4-wheel drive option. A similar thing can happen when buying a house. When you buy a house in the summertime, you tend to place more value on homes that have a swimming pool or central air. When you buy a house in the wintertime, you care more about fireplaces. Our preferences are influenced by whatever is happening in the moment. This can lead to suboptimal decisions when buying durable goods like cars and houses.

BCFG: You’ve been involved in some really important research in Sweden on how offering a variety of different types of monetary incentives for vaccination can impact uptake. Could you share your key takeaways from this work to date?

Devin: Across multiple studies, we document an important finding: paying people (~$25) to get vaccinated can have large effects on behavior. Further, we don’t find evidence of unintended consequences. Of course, our work is not the final say on this important topic, but I think people should update their priors towards the value of simple monetary programs to encourage healthy behavior.

BCFG: What is a psychological bias that’s often under-discussed in economics but that you think has big consequences in everyday decision-making?

Devin: An understudied phenomenon in my opinion is how our preferences and decision making can change with important life events. Take for example having a baby. Anecdotes abound and now we are starting to see more and more research showing that having a baby can dramatically affect parents. It can cause parents to be more patient, commit less crime, become more religious, etc. Of course, the experience of having a baby will not be the same for everyone, but understanding life changes on average for new parents deserves more attention in my opinion.

Many thanks to Devin Pope for sharing his expertise with BCFG! Learn more about his research here.

BCFG Co-Presents: A Conversation on What We Value

University of Pennsylvania Professor and BCFG Team Scientist Emily Falk will join Katy Milkman at Penn for a conversation about Professor Falk’s new book, What We Value: The Neuroscience of Choice & Change.

Mark your calendars for Wednesday, September 10th from 4:00-5:30pm for this conversation followed by a light reception. If you’re in or near Philadelphia, we hope you can join us for this free, in-person event.

Malcolm Gladwell Reviews Jens Ludwig’s Unforgiving Places

In The New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell recently shared a glowing review of Team Scientist Jens Ludwig’s new book Unforgiving Places. Ludwig argues that behavioral science can help curb violent crime and shed light on its underlying causes. “As Ludwig reminds us,” Gladwell writes, “we have been trying to stop violent offenders without understanding what goes on in the mind of the violent offender.” Read the full review here.

Selected New Journal Articles from BCFG Team Scientists

1. Goal Harmony, co-authored by Ayelet Fishbach & Jiabi Wang, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

2. Generalizability of Choice Architecture Interventions, co-authored by Barnabas Szaszi, Daniel G. Goldstein, Dilip Soman & Susan Michie, Nature Reviews Psychology

3. Machine Learning Who to Nudge: Causal vs Predictive Targeting in a Field Experiment on Student Financial Aid Renewal, co-authored by Susan Athey, Niall Keleher, & Jann Spiess, Journal of Econometrics

4. Can Stereotype Reactance Prompt Women to Compete? A Field Experiment, co-authored by Sophia Pink, Jose Cervantez, Erika Kirgios, Edward H. Chang, & Katy Milkman, Organization Science

Spotlighted Podcasts

1. The Hidden Costs of Healthcare Churn, featuring Team Scientist Ezekiel Emanuel, The Indicator from Planet Money

2. How a Single Source of Information Can Seem Like Several, hosted by Co-Director Katy Milkman, Choiceology

3. You 2.0: The Passion Pill, featuring Team Scientist Jon Jachimowicz, Hidden Brain

Don’t forget to follow us on social media, where we share new research, job postings, and more: LinkedIn / X / Facebook / Bluesky

Donate

Richard’s research (and Nobel Prize) paved the way for our field (and thus BCFG) to exist, and he’s been a great friend and mentor to us. So we wanted to mark the moment. To celebrate Richard, we invited BCFG Team Scientists to share their favorite Thaler stories, thoughts, and images, which you’ll find compiled below. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this celebration, but more importantly, thank you to Richard. We’re so grateful for your contributions to BCFG, to our field and to the world!

Sincerely,
Katy and Angela

1. Thank You for Nudging Us

During the writing of Nudge, we found that we had a lot of chapters, and we sometimes weren't clear, between us, which to exclude. Dick developed a rule: If we both don't find it fun, we won't include it. That captures so much about Dick. He cares about fun; he wants his friends to have fun; he makes everything fun. In his hands, fun is a noun and a verb, and it connotes a lot. It contains warmth, energy, movement, creativity, connection, mischief, edge, generosity, and (let's say it) love.
-Prof. Cass Sunstein (Harvard University)

I still remember vividly the day, almost twenty years ago, that Richard Thaler invited me to lunch. He said he was writing a "popular" book on a concept he and Cass Sunstein had developed called "Libertarian Paternalism." I didn't say it out loud, but I thought to myself, "Dick has completely lost his mind!" I had no idea what "Libertarian Paternalism" was, but I was sure that nobody would want to read about it. I'm so glad I turned out to be dead wrong.
– Prof. Steve Levitt (University of Chicago)

Reading the spiral-bound draft of Nudge was a turning point: “This is exactly what I want to do - I just didn’t know it was allowed!” Thank you for your generous encouragement over the years — and for legitimizing our science of how people actually behave, focused on solving real-world problems.
– Prof. Todd Rogers (Harvard University)

Once not long ago, Richard was in charge of driving us to a conference center after a nice dinner (where some wine was consumed, but not enough to plausibly cause problems). Despite paying close attention to the GPS instructions, we ended up lost, arriving at a prison instead of the conference facility. This seemed very funny to us – a “nudge” from the universe about where such academic misfits *really* belonged!

Since we met when I was a confused 2nd year PhD student in 2006, Thaler has been an incredible source of inspiration, humor, and support. From dim sum in San Francisco to Zooming with NBA commissioner Adam Silver (to offer advice on nudging rowdy basketball fans) to finagling the funding and launch of a half-million dollar vaccine sweepstakes in Philadelphia, Thaler has taken me for many a wild ride (beyond that trip to a prison). I’m so grateful for the groundwork he laid for our field. Reading his books inspired me to become a behavioral scientist; I couldn’t possibly feel his impact more profoundly.
– Prof. Katy Milkman (University of Pennsylvania)

2. Thank You for Guiding Us to Break the Old Rules and Make New Ones

Richard Thaler made me a misfit! While others were writing as many papers as they could, Richard taught us to write fewer yet richer papers. While others were looking to demonstrate surprises, Richard taught us the value of demonstrating things that were ex-post obvious, but that nobody had articulated before. While others were combing through the literature to identify gaps, Richard taught us to do research about the world and not about the literature. While others wrote incredibly complex papers, Richard showed us the value of simplicity in thought and in writing. While others were chasing citations, Richard taught us that the real impact of research is on people's lives. Richard Thaler made me (and several others) misfits in modern-day academia, and for that we are deeply indebted and ever so grateful!
– Prof. Dilip Soman (University of Toronto)
P.S. Watch my Favorite Thaler response to a live interview

One of the first non-academic stories I heard about Richard Thaler was his “mechanism” for ordering collectively at a Chinese restaurant. The rules are simple: (1) order n dishes for n people; (2) anyone can add or remove a dish; (3) the algorithm converges when no one wants to make further changes. What makes Richard so remarkable is that he approaches academic problems like he approaches everyday life. This story illustrates Thaler’s signature style: find a situation where conventional wisdom doesn’t really work, and then a solution that is both creative but just a little mischievous. And along the way, turn something that’s a bit tedious into something fun!
–Prof. George Wu (University of Chicago)

When I was an Econ PhD student at the University of Chicago, I was told I was the "black sheep" of the department because I didn't fit in with the Chicago school way of thinking. When I told Richard about this in our first meeting, he told me to "take it as a compliment." I've returned to those words many times over the years of not always fitting in with the profession, so thank you Richard!
– Prof. Sally Sadoff (UCSD)

Years ago at the opening reception of the BDRM conference in London, Richard was telling me that had just delivered a draft of his memoir to his publisher. All he needed was a title. Reflecting for a moment on Richard’s joyful irreverence in his approach to economics and life, an obvious title popped into my head: “How about calling your memoir, ‘Misbehaving’?

I'm fortunate to have known Richard since my early graduate school days and he has figured into some of the most meaningful experiences of my career. When my mentor, Amos Tversky, died and the reality of his early passing was still sinking in for all of us, Richard shook his head and managed to articulate something we were all feeling: “I just don’t think of Amos as mortal.” I see Richard in similar terms—larger than life, brimming with keen insights and cheeky wit that makes him the focal point of any room he is in and enlivens any interaction—which can make it easy to miss what an utterly humane and deeply caring person he is underneath.
– Prof. Craig Fox (UCLA)

In one of my first years on the faculty, we were meeting as a group to discuss candidates to fly out for interviews. Richard pointed to one CV and complained that there were too many papers on it (which was the first time that I heard anyone take that position). In just a sentence or two with just a dash of humor, he transformed my thinking.
– Prof. Jane Risen (University of Chicago)

3. Thank You for Your Mentorship

As an advisor, he asked that I bring a list of 10 research ideas to each meeting, which he considered it his duty to try and shoot down (as he had done to other, smarter advisees before me). We called those sessions "will it float?", named after the David Letterman skit where two Hi-Ho girls drop a household item into a tank of water.
– Dean Suzanne Shu (Cornell University)

Thaler, as I like to call him, advised Katy and me against trying to solve the challenge of behavior change “for good.” One-time decisions? Sure. But getting your butt to the gym, week after week, year after year? Studying not just once but habitually? Well… He was right, of course, that enduring behavior change is hard. But we persist, and Thaler hasn’t given up on us, so we consider that a kind of “for good” victory. In all seriousness, I have not met a wiser, wittier luminary. And I look forward to seeking (and sometimes ignoring) his advice for many years to come!
– Prof. Angela Duckworth (University of Pennsylvania)

Richard has provided wisdom to so many of us for decades. In the 1980s, I recall sitting in a big auditorium, and like so many others, learning that allocating retirement funds 50-50 (a pretty strange heuristic) to stock and bonds made little sense. So many JDMers are richer today due to Richard telling us to move our funds to stock.
– Prof. Max Bazerman (Harvard University)

Thaler's work, especially his philosophy on research, has had a strong impact on mine. He has many mottos about research. One is "Don't be a wimp. Do something big!" Another is "The best research results are usually so simple that you don't need stats to appreciate them." A related motto (which I particularly like) is "There are no three-way interactions in real life." I have tried to follow these mottos in my own research, and the result is that many of my papers got rejected (lol). But I am still trying…
– Prof. Chris Hsee (CKGSB)

Of course Richard is well known for his scholarship and his quick wit. But there’s another side that I’ve been fortunate enough to get to know and that is his deep affection for his colleagues. He’s been a great mentor to me and to so many others in the field. That legacy is just as valuable as his many prizes.
– Prof. Linda Babcock (Carnegie Mellon University)

My anecdote goes back 25 years, to my job interview at UChicago. You know how Richard always makes the sharpest comment / asks the toughest question? The problem is, he’s also painfully clear. You can’t blame your poor answer on the question being obscure or esoteric. It’s always simple and direct, and you just don’t have a great answer. So his very first question to me (and keep in mind, I felt like I had just met the academic Robinson Crusoe. It was surreal to be in the same room with him) goes something like this: “We behavioral economists are applying second-grade psychology to influence economic behavior. Your research is PhD-level psychology. Can you dumb it down so we can work with it?” It was brilliant. In one sentence, he managed to flatter me, challenge me, and assign me 25 years of homework. And honestly, I’ve been trying to make my research relevant to the real world ever since. One day I’ll be able to give him a good answer.
– Prof. Ayelet Fishbach (University of Chicago)

When I was doing my PhD at UChicago, Richard showed up unexpectedly in the front row at my first seminar presentation. Of course, I was extremely nervous, expecting a searing, insightful critique of the research. Halfway through the presentation, after I had just shown a photo of myself recruiting participants in a train station, Richard finally raised his hand. My heart stopped as I called on him (with great excitement and trepidation). He said thoughtfully: “you know, grad students are a lot like homeless people.” Well, it wasn’t the comment I was expecting, and the crowd went wild. It took more than 10 minutes to re-gather everyone’s attention to get back to the research, and by that point, I think Richard had already left so I’m not certain he ever actually heard the results. Afterwards, it became an inside joke among the grad students - any time we wore sweat clothes, searched for food in the building, etc. we’d repeat: “you know, grad students are like homeless people!” Richard had an outsized impact on everything in the group, even when it was (mostly) unrelated to research! Beyond his searing intellect, he was always hilarious and added a lot of entertainment to the seminars.
– Prof. Juliana Schroeder (UC Berkeley)

I served as editor for a paper by Sue Dynarski documenting how a simple nudge sent to Michigan high schoolers closed half the SES gap in UMichigan college enrollment. When I mentioned this outstanding paper to Richard, he said he had a funny story about it. You never want to miss a Richard funny story! He said that Sue came to present the paper at the University of Chicago and the faculty at the talk did what they do at Chicago, give plenty of critical and pointed comments (to use understatements). After all this played out, near the end of the talk, Richard raised his hand and said – "I am pretty sure this is not allowed at a seminar in this place, but I just want to say – what a great, important paper" and he rested his case. This is Richard – clever, funny, generous, and... ever so eager to break a social norm!
– Prof. Stefano DellaVigna (UC Berkeley)

Richard was always encouraging of me as a physician working on behavioral economic interventions. I suspect this was partly because of the novelty dating back to when this was unusual and partly because he genuinely was interested in and supportive of my ideas. As many of you know, Richard often has sage (and witty) advice. I remember a long conversation with him about a book idea where he said “Don’t write it unless you are going to enjoy the journey” – words of wisdom that I have tried to incorporate in what I do day in and day out. I very much appreciate his making himself available to provide guidance to me and so many others.
- Prof. Kevin Volpp (University of Pennsylvania)

4. Thank You for The Inspiration

I once asked Dick, "Were you always Richard Thaler?" and he said no, it was a semi-accidental connection with Kahneman and Tversky that did the trick. It scares me to think how many of his stunning insights and contributions the world could have lost without the true Richard Thaler.
– Prof. Bob Cialdini (Arizona State University)

When I once talked to Richard about his early career experiences with top economic journals he said: "Every paper was a battle". I think that this could be a good lesson for everyone interested in being a "disruptive pioneer" like Richard.
– Prof. Ernst Fehr (University of Zurich)

The most important lesson I learned in a class came from Richard. There were only three of us in the class. Richard, however, was co-teaching it, with two people. So there were also three faculty. And he arranged guest lectures. The lesson: Richard has life figured out.
– Prof. Sendhil Mullainathan (MIT)

I invited an all-star team of behavioral economists to advise the NIH on behavior change. We each received a $200 honorarium for the full-day visit to Bethesda MD. Richard argued convincingly that the sum was too small to mentally categorize as compensation (for a day of work and a second day of travel), so we should instead mentally code the payment as a justified splurge. We went to a “fancy restaurant” and had fun. An important lesson on framing.

More seriously, Richard spent 10 years getting attacked by mainstream economists and rebutting those attacks so the rest of us could enter a field that had credibility. Thanks to Richard for taking 10 years of blows in the 1980’s, paving the way for the next generation to get good referee reports and jobs in the 1990’s.
– Prof. David Laibson (Harvard University)

Congrats on your retirement Dick! From the moment I stepped into your office at Rosenwald, you've been a steadfast supporter of my work, even when you strenuously disagreed (which was often!). Your wit, brilliance, and unyielding candor have left an indelible mark on our field, and I know you'll never truly "retire" from inspiring and challenging us. Please keep shining my friend—our science needs you.
– Prof. John A. List (University of Chicago)

Back in 2021, Richard generously guest lectured for my PhD Experimental class. As usual with Richard, the Q&A was incredibly entertaining, and I think that over the course of an hour he single-handedly converted a dozen PhD students to become behavioral economists!
– Prof. Judd Kessler (University of Pennsylvania)

When I first arrived to UChicago in 2017 I was *extremely* intimidated. Richard did so much to bring me in and put me at ease—from frequent coffees and dinners, to asking me to co-teach a class with him in Behavioral Economics. During my first weeks there Richard won the Nobel prize; being there when my intellectual hero won the Prize was incredibly special and something I will always fondly remember.
– Prof. Alex Imas (University of Chicago)

I love the story of the paper review that Thaler submitted to a journal whose editorial tastes didn’t always match his. He wrote that the paper had lots of problems but that if they published it, it would be the best paper they published all year.
– Prof. Don Moore (UC Berkeley)

Dick Thaler is a leading light who blends dry wit with brilliance. After winning the Nobel Prize, he took the time to meet with my PhD class on Decision Making to talk about one of my favorite papers—Mental Accounting Matters. This article is breezy, conversational, and packed with generative ideas. Dick talked through the genesis of the paper fielding every question, including why it was published in JBDM. More recently, Dick told me how, after winning the Nobel Prize, a caddy at a golf club was super impressed to see Dick Thaler… because he had appeared in a movie (The Big Short).
– Prof. Maurice Schweitzer (University of Pennsylvania)

5. Thank You for Occasionally Stunning Us by Behaving Like a Homo Economicus

I remember a couple of occasions when Homo economicus Thaler couldn’t help himself. The first was in 1983, when he was visiting CMU as a relatively unknown economist at the invitation of the Dean, Bob Kaplin. One event held by the MBA students was a betting pool, where people bid sequentially for teams in the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Thaler, of course, was interested, and we — along with David Schkade and his officemate — formed a consortium. We had decided in advance that North Carolina State was a good value, since they lived and died by the three-point play. High-variance underdogs are a good recipe for an upset. When it came time to bid on NC State, we were in the thick of it, but soon they were valued higher than the previous team. Richard insisted that we not bid further because it would be a violation of dominance: the prior, higher-ranked team had gone for less. Of course, the Wolfpack won, and rationality cost us a four-figure payoff. It was worth it, of course — for the story.

Another time revolved around a boat trip in Chicago. As is often the case, an entrepreneurial photographer took pictures of groups arriving to board. Afterward, they would sell the photographs when people disembarked, no doubt overvaluing the photo due to the nice memories — and the drinks. Richard, Homo economicus, of course said, “Let me handle this.” He proceeded to explain to the photographer that unless he sold us the photo at a discount, it would be worthless to anyone else. After all, what was the photographer’s BATNA? The Homo sapiens photographer was not moved, and we left without an agreement — or a photograph. One of the few regrets I have is not keeping images like that. But somehow, Homo sapiens Thaler saved the day. On the occasion of a milestone birthday, my present from Richard and France was that photo. I don’t know how they did it, but it made me very happy — and it’s among my (no doubt overvalued) prized possessions.
– Prof. Eric Johnson (Columbia University)

Richard Thaler is the most relaxed public speaker I’ve ever seen. He is the only person I know whose blood pressure actually goes down when he’s at the lectern. That fact made me especially eager to check out his speech at the Nobel Prize banquet. If ever there were a time for nerves, that was it. But no, those eager to see signs of nervousness in Thaler will be disappointed when they look it up on YouTube. He seemed about as nervous as most of us would be while giving, say, a toast at Thanksgiving dinner among family and friends. And lest you think that he wasn’t nervous because he’s not human—like the mythical Econs he’s spent his career arguing don’t exist—take a look at the end of his speech when he gets very visibly choked up. To be so relaxed when experiencing such powerful human emotions, well, that’s the sign of someone in a whole other league of calm.
– Prof. Tom Gilovich (Cornell University)

6. Thank You for Helping BCFG Get Out the Vote

We couldn’t be more grateful for you, Richard. Congratulations on your retirement, but please keep your promise to change almost nothing about what you do in this next phase of your career! This is a case where we’re all rooting for the status quo.

– The Entire Behavior Change for Good Team

Donate

BCFG’s new megastudy published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that behaviorally-informed emails can accelerate student math progress. Led by BCFG Co-Director Angela Duckworth, this megastudy with 140,000+ teachers and 3 million students was conducted in collaboration with Zearn Math, a leading math learning platform used by 1 in 4 elementary-school students nationwide.

What did the megastudy test?

We tested 15 interventions directed at teachers to evaluate how different behavioral science approaches could help teachers improve their students’ math progress. Over four weeks, math teachers received: (1) weekly emails, and (2) weekly messages posted on the Zearn Math teacher dashboard. For instance, one intervention prompted teachers to make a specific plan for using the platform, while another appealed to their empathy for their students.

What were the key takeaways from the research?

1. The most effective of the 15 interventions tested prompted teachers to log into the Zearn platform’s dashboard weekly to check their students’ progress. This intervention increased students’ math lesson completion by 5.06% during the 4-week intervention period.

2. Messages that referenced data specific to a teacher’s students boosted progress by 2.26% more than other messages, with effects lasting 8 weeks post-intervention.

3. Overall, the effects of these interventions were modest—underscoring just how difficult it is to nudge behavior change via email.

BCFG Postdoctoral Scholar Jan Voelkel Wins 2025 Young Investigator Award

Congratulations to Jan Voelkel for receiving the 2025 Young Investigator Award from the Behavioral Science and Policy Association (BSPA). This award honors an early-career scholar whose work has advanced the rigorous application of behavioral science to policy and practice across sectors. Starting in Fall 2025, Jan will join the faculty at Cornell University as an Assistant Professor. We’re thrilled to see his impactful research recognized by BSPA and have loved hosting Jan as a post-doc.

ICYMI: BCFG x CHIBE’s Spring Keynote Events on Behavioral Science & Health

Keynote #1: Team Scientist and Yale Sociology Professor Nicholas Christakis discussed how social network interventions can be used to promote cooperation and innovation ranging from online groups to remote villages.

Watch Keynote #1 on YouTube

Keynote #2: Harvard Economics Professor Raj Chetty presented on the drivers of economic opportunity and how data science can inform policies to improve upward mobility.

Watch Keynote #2 on YouTube

New Books By BCFG Team Scientists

1. What We Value: The Neuroscience of Choice and Change by Emily Falk

2. Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence by Jens Ludwig

3. Ordinary Magic: The Science of How We Can Achieve Big Change with Small Acts by Greg Walton

Selected New Journal Articles from BCFG Team Scientists

1. When Do “Nudges” Increase Welfare?, co-authored by Hunt Allcott, Daniel Cohen, William Morrison & Dmitry Taubinsky, The American Economic Review

2. Reluctance to Downplay: Asymmetric Sensitivity to Differences in the Severity of Moral Transgressions, co-authored by Amanda Geiser, Ike Silver & Deborah Small, Psychological Science

3. High-Frequency Location Data Show That Race Affects Citations and Fines for Speeding, co-authored by Pradhi Aggarwal, Alec Brandon, Ariel Goldszmidt, Justin Holz, John List, Ian Muir, Gregory Sun & Thomas Yu, Science

Spotlighted Podcasts

1. A Numbers Game: With Guests Linda Chang & Stephen M. Colbert, hosted by Co-Director Katy Milkman, Choiceology

2. Policymaking Is Not a Science — Yet, featuring Team Scientist John List, Freakonomics Radio

3. Say Anything (1989), hosted by Team Scientist Eli Finkel & featuring Team Scientist Laurie Santos, Love Factually

Don’t forget to follow us on social media, where we share new research, job postings, and more: LinkedIn / X / Facebook / BlueSky

Donate

In January, a paper made possible by BCFG and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences established that behaviorally-informed emails can reduce student loan delinquencies. The paper, led by BCFG-funded PhD student Rob Kuan (with supervision from BCFG Co-Director Katy Milkman and BCFG Team Scientist Ben Castleman) reports on a 13-million person field experiment conducted in collaboration with a team of economists in the U.S. Department of Education.

What were the key takeaways from the research?

1. Behaviorally-informed emails recommending action steps to prevent delinquency successfully reduced student loan delinquencies by 0.42 percentage points.

2. These emails had a greater impact when:

   • Reminders followed an initial message

   • Potential savings from recommended action steps were described in percentage terms rather than dollar amounts, and

   • Multiple messages each recommended two action steps to prevent delinquencies instead of multiple messages suggesting only one step at a time.

Q&A with Team Scientist Wendy De La Rosa

Wendy De La Rosa is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Her research on financial decision-making has been published in the Journal for Consumer Research and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, as well as featured in news outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and CNN.

BCFG: We’re inspired by the innovative experiments you’ve conducted on how to improve peoples’ financial well-being. What motivated you to study this topic?

Wendy: I’ve always been fascinated by the ways people make financial decisions—not just the big ones but the everyday choices that shape their financial well-being over time. Growing up, I saw how financial stress weighed on people around me, not because they were not working hard enough but because the system often made it difficult to get ahead. That stuck with me.

Like many children in immigrant communities, I was deeply involved in my family’s financial decision-making, often serving as the de facto translator. Those experiences made me acutely aware of how financial systems can either empower or constrain people’s ability to thrive.

What excites me about this field is the realization that, just as we have built the financial systems that shape people’s choices, we have the power to change them—if we so choose. My work is about finding those leverage points, the small but meaningful shifts that influence people’s financial well-being.

BCFG: What’s an insight from your work that you wish you could share with more policymakers?

Wendy: One of the biggest insights from my work that I wish more policymakers understood is that financial behavior is not just a function of knowledge or willpower but also a function of the environment in which decisions are made. People don’t wake up in the morning deciding to leave money on the table or to struggle financially. But if claiming a benefit feels overwhelming, if saving requires too many steps, or if a financial incentive feels abstract rather than personally meaningful, then even well-intentioned programs won’t achieve their full impact.

A simple but powerful example is how we frame financial support. My research shows that people are significantly more likely to engage when benefits are described in concrete and relevant ways (like how much food expenses the benefit can cover). This means policymakers should not just focus on increasing benefit amounts or expanding eligibility (that is obvious); they should also consider how benefits are presented and whether they resonate with the realities of the people they’re meant to serve.

Another critical but often overlooked factor is income. Most financial advice focuses on helping people curb their expenses. However, the reality is that for the vast majority of people, buying avocado toast will not meaningfully change their financial situation. But changing how much they earn will. However, we have to go past income levels and focus on the timing of income. Two people earning $50,000 a year can have vastly different financial experiences if they face income volatility or payment frequency. Irregular pay cycles can make it harder to budget, save, and meet financial obligations, yet policymakers rarely design interventions that address these structural challenges.

If we want to improve financial well-being at scale, we need to stop placing the burden entirely on individuals and instead focus on designing systems that make better financial choices the easier, more intuitive option—including policies that help smooth income volatility and ensure people have predictable, timely access to their earnings.

BCFG: Your recent research shows that AI can lead people to make poor financial decisions. Could you explain why this happens?

Wendy: AI will profoundly influence our lives; in many ways, it already has. Most discussions about AI focus on how it can enhance productivity, health, and overall well-being. However, in my research with Chris Bechler, an assistant professor at the University of Notre Dame, we wanted to highlight a different perspective—how the ways in which AI is reshaping the marketplace can decrease financial well-being. We lay this out through our AI-IMPACT Model.

For example, AI is expected to 1) expand credit access, which can lead to overborrowing and a lower “pain of payment” when spending, 2) engender personalized products and prices, 3) enable more frictionless biometric payment methods, which lower the “pain of payment” at checkout, and 4) automate financial tasks, which can decrease people’s ability to manage their finances.

As AI becomes more integrated into financial decision-making, we cannot just focus on its potential benefits—we also need to anticipate and mitigate how it can unintentionally harm consumers’ financial health. Ultimately, AI isn’t inherently bad for financial decision-making—it’s all about how it’s designed and deployed.

BCFG: You’re currently leading work on how to increase low income taxpayers’ likelihood of claiming the tax credits they are owed. Could you share any insights from your work so far?

Wendy: Government benefits like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) have been proven to be highly effective in reducing poverty rates. However, one of the biggest challenges practitioners face is that millions of eligible low-income taxpayers do not claim the EITC.

A key insight from our work is that increasing awareness is not enough— we need to change our communication to match how consumers think about their finances. For example, in work with Abigail Sussman, a professor of Marketing at the University of Chicago, we demonstrated that describing tax credits in terms of their monthly amount (vs. lump sums) increases interest in claiming the tax credit as people can easily map these amounts and incorporate them into their monthly budgets.

Ultimately, our research shows that increasing tax credit take-up is not just about increasing awareness—it is about designing communications that make these benefits feel useful and relevant to the people who need it most.

Many thanks to Wendy De La Rosa for sharing her expertise with BCFG! Learn more about her research here.

Virtual Keynote Event with Harvard Professor Raj Chetty

As part of the Center for Health Incentives & Behavioral Economics (CHIBE) Spring Research Seminar Series on behavioral science and health, BCFG Co-Director Katy Milkman will co-host the second keynote featuring Harvard Economics Professor Raj Chetty. Join us virtually on April 30th from 12-1 pm ET.

Register here

Upcoming Events & Past Keynotes

• Register now for the final event in CHIBE’s Spring Research Seminar Series on 5/28 featuring Team Scientist and UCLA Professor Hengchen Dai.

• Watch a recording of the Fall keynote we co-hosted featuring UC Berkeley Economics Professor Supreet Kaur.

• Watch a recording of the first Spring keynote we co-hosted featuring Yale Sociology Professor Nicholas Christakis.

Selected New Journal Articles from BCFG Team Scientists

1. The Motivating Power of Streaks: Increasing Persistence Is as Easy as 1, 2, 3, co-authored by Katie Mehr, Jackie Silverman, Marissa Sharif, Alixandra Barasch, & Katy Milkman, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes

2. The Bigger the Problem the Littler: When the Scope of a Problem Makes It Seem Less Dangerous, co-authored by Lauren Eskreis-Winkler, Luiza Peres, & Ayelet Fishbach, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

3. Does Communicating Measurable Diversity Goals Attract or Repel Historically Marginalized Job Applicants? Evidence From the Lab and Field, co-authored by Erika Kirgios, Ike Silver, & Edward Chang, Journal of Experimental Psychology

4. Do Financial Concerns Make Workers Less Productive?, co-authored by Supreet Kaur, Sendhil Mullainathan, Suanna Oh, & Frank Schilbach, The Quarterly Journal of Economics

New Books By Team Scientists

1. Antiracist by Design: Reimagining Applied Behavioral Science by Crystal C. Hall and Mindy Hernandez

2. Mindmasters: The Data-Driven Science of Predicting and Changing Human Behavior by Sandra Matz

3. Negotiation: The Game Has Changed by Max Bazerman

4. Shift: Managing Your Emotions–So They Don’t Manage You by Ethan Kross

Don’t forget to follow us on social media, where we share new research, job postings, and more: LinkedIn / X / Facebook / Bluesky

Donate here

We are excited to share our bi-annual report, which highlights our latest efforts to advance the science of behavior change for good at scale. We are deeply grateful to our BCFG Team Scientists, staff, funders, and partners for making our work possible!

Click here to read the full report

Spring Keynote Events in CHIBE Research Seminar Series

BCFG is co-hosting two keynote events as part of the Center for Health Incentives & Behavioral Economics (CHIBE) Spring Research Seminar Series on behavioral science and health. BCFG Co-Director Katy Milkman will co-host these two events. The first event will take place from 12-1 pm ET on Zoom on 3/26 featuring Yale Sociology Professor Nicholas Christakis, and the second event will take place from 12-1 pm ET on Zoom on 4/30 featuring Harvard Economics Professor Raj Chetty. Please mark your calendar!

Register here

To register for other talks in this fantastic series featuring BCFG Team Scientists Rachel Gershon (UC Berkeley), Justin Sydnor (Wisconsin-Madison), and Hengchen Dai (UCLA), visit the CHIBE website. To watch a recording of the Fall keynote we co-hosted featuring Supreet Kaur (UC Berkeley), visit our YouTube channel.

Selected New Journal Articles from BCFG Team Scientists

1. Does Counting Change What Counts? Quantification Fixation Biases Decision-Making, co-authored by Linda Chang, Erika Kirgios, Sendhil Mullainathan & Katherine Milkman, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

2. Megastudy Testing 25 Treatments to Reduce Antidemocratic Attitudes and Partisan Animosity, co-authored by BCFG Postdoctoral Scholar Jan Voelkel, Jay Van Bavel, Christopher Bryan, David Yeager, David Rand, Robb Willer and ~75 Others, Science

3. People Judge Others More Harshly After Talking to Bots, co-authored by Kian Siong Tey, Asaf Mazar, Angela Duckworth and Lyle Ungar, PNAS Nexus

4. Detecting Drivers of Behavior at an Early Age: Evidence from a Longitudinal Field Experiment, co-authored by Marco Castillo, John List, Ragan Petrie and Anya Samek, Journal of Political Economy

Spotlighted Podcasts

1. When Harry Met Sally, hosted by Eli Finkel and Paul Eastwick, The Love Factually Podcast

2. You Share Your Gut Microbiome with Your Friends, featuring Nicholas Christakis, Science Friday

3. What Makes an Idea Interesting, hosted by Angela Duckworth and Mike Maughan, No Stupid Questions

Donate here

Visit: www.didmyfriendsvote.org and Nudge Your Friends!

Donate here

Watch here!

Visit: www.didmyfriendsvote.org and Nudge Your Friends!

Donate here

BCFG is co-hosting the kickoff keynote of a new Zoom-based Center for Health Incentives & Behavioral Economics (CHIBE) Research Seminar Series on behavioral science and health. Our Co-Director Katy Milkman will host the event where Team Scientist Supreet Kaur will present her research on Thursday, 9/19 at 12pm ET.  We hope you’ll register to join (see below for more details).  

The abstract for Supeet Kaur’s talk:

Low income individuals often experience recurrent, predictable consumption cycles: spending increases after income arrives, followed by declines in spending and calorie intake in the days leading up to the next paycheck or income receipt. We empirically investigate the role of the “planning fallacy” in such cycles among Zambian farmers, who derive their income from one annual harvest and then spend it down over the course of the year. We document that individuals underestimate upcoming spending by 50%, creating scope for under-saving. To debias beliefs, we randomize an intervention that prompts individuals to think through their future expenses associatively in categories---without providing any external information or guidance. Treated individuals increase “remembered'” expenses by 42%; as predicted by the memory literature, effects are concentrated among small, irregular, and stochastic items. Immediate spending drops and, two months after the intervention, treated households hold 15% higher savings. They subsequently enter the “hungry season”---the final months of the year when consumption typically declines sharply---with one additional month of savings, leading to a flatter spending profile over the year. Households use the increased savings to self-finance additional farm investment, resulting in a 9% increase in the next year's crop revenue. We replicate the intervention's impact on beliefs among low-income Americans, suggesting the applicability of the planning fallacy to savings behavior across settings and populations.

Register here

To learn more about this fantastic new online seminar series featuring not only Supreet Kaur (UC Berkeley), but also Gautam Rao (UC Berkeley), Devin Pope (U Chicago) and Manasvini Singh (Carnegie Mellon), visit the CHIBE Research Seminar Series website.

Selected New Journal Articles from BCFG Team Scientists

1. Social Inferences from Choice Context: Dominated Options Can Engender Distrust, co-authored by Jonathan Bogard, Joseph Reiff, & Hal Hershfield, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes

2. Bottlenecks for Evidence Adoption, co-authored by Stefano DellaVigna & Elizabeth Linos, Journal of Political Economy

3. Group Size and Its Impact on Diversity-Related Perceptions and Hiring Decisions in Homogenous Groups, co-authored by Aneesh Rai, Edward Chang, Erika Kirgios and Katherine Milkman, Organization Science

4. Friends with Health Benefits: A Field Experiment, co-authored by Rachel Gershon, Cynthia Cryder and Katherine Milkman, Management Science

Spotlighted Podcasts

1. The Science of Inspiring Young Minds, featuring David Yeager, Passion Struck

2. Choiceology’s Guide to Better Decisions, by Katy Milkman featuring Carey Morewedge, Choiceology

3. A Matter of Life and Death, by Laurie Santos, The Happiness Lab 

4. The Psychology of Identity and Fostering Social Harmony, featuring Jay Van Bavel, The Psychology Podcast

Team Scientist Eric Johnson Wins APS James McKeen Cattell Award

Congratulations to Eric Johnson on winning the 2025 APS James McKeen Cattell Award for lifetime contributions to the area of applied psychology research and addressing critical problems in society! Johnson is the Norman Eig Professor of Business and Director of the Center for Decision Sciences at Columbia University. He “has been a leader in bringing behavioral science into public policy” through his work on choice architecture.

Thank You to Our Summer ‘24 Research Assistants!

This summer, we welcomed 14 Research Assistants who got hands-on experience implementing large-scale behavioral science interventions. We’re grateful for their contributions to BCFG and their dedication to driving positive behavior change!

Donate here

A new BCFG megastudy published in Nature evaluated eight different behaviorally-informed text message reminders to boost vaccination rates among over 3.6 million CVS Pharmacy patients. Here’s what we learned:

• Experts and non-experts predicted that offering free round-trip rides to pharmacies for vaccines would more than double COVID booster rates in fall ‘22.

• But providing free Lyft rides to and from pharmacies in text reminders about boosters did no more for vaccination rates than sending vaccine reminders alone. 

• What did encourage vaccination? Overall, COVID vaccination reminders led to a  21% (1.05 percentage point) increase in COVID boosters and also “spilled over” to produce an 8% increase in flu shots. And we identified ways to improve the wording of standard reminders to make them a bit more effective.

• Here’s a visual of the message that yielded the largest estimated boost in COVID vaccinations (though notably, two other messages were statistically tied for “first place”):

Where can you learn more about our findings?

Read our original research in Nature or check out this article in Penn Today or this piece by Cornell News summarizing our key takeaways.

Thank you to our funders

This research was generously supported by Flu Lab, the Social Science Research Council’s Mercury Project (with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Craig Newmark Philanthropies and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation), and the Wharton Behavioral Laboratory. We are also grateful for the broad funding support provided to BCFG by the AKO Foundation, John Alexander, Marc Leder, Warren Lichtenstein and Abby Schiffman and Jeremy Schiffman.

Q&A with Team Scientist Heather Royer

Heather Royer is a Professor of Economics at the University of California at Santa Barbara. She is also a Co-Editor of the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Research Fellow at the IZA Institute for Labor Economics, and has a passion for endurance sports. 

BCFG: You’ve conducted a number of exciting experiments on incentivizing people to engage in healthy behaviors. Based on that research, what would you encourage organizations to do to encourage healthier behaviors among their employees?

Heather: Not surprisingly, money works well in incentivizing people to promote healthy behaviors like exercise. However, pitching the same program over and over (e.g., $5/visit to go to the gym) can dull participants’ interest. Instead of offering the same monetary incentive repeatedly, I would encourage companies to add novelty to their program to keep the program exciting and fresh.

BCFG: Could you describe your favorite research finding that pertains to health behavior change from the last several years and why you think it’s important?

Heather: Engaging people across all levels of interest poses a challenge for wellness incentives. An incentive that works well for “gym rats” may flounder for someone who has never been to the gym. If incentives can be personalized, then incentives may encourage all. Some recent work provides encouraging results on personalization. 

Rebecca Dizon Ross and Ariel Zucker in an interesting and exciting working paper entitled “Mechanism Design for Personalized Policy: A Field Experiment Incentivizing Exercise” run a randomized-controlled trial in India studying the personalization of incentives. They randomize participants into treatments with different walking goals (e.g., 10,000 steps, 12,000 steps, or 14,000 steps) versus a treatment where individuals can choose their step goal. Step counts are highest under the choice treatment and the cost per participant is comparable to that of the fixed step target treatments. This study demonstrates the potential promise of personalization of incentive schemes.

BCFG: We’re inspired by your personal passion for participating in endurance sports. Do you use any tips and tricks from your own research—or behavioral science more generally—to help improve your training?

Heather: Working on the behavioral side of financial wellness incentives has made me more aware of my tendency to procrastinate regarding exercise. I will start the day with the intention of exercising (I’m not a morning person!). Then I reach the end of the day and I decide that today is not the day. Knowing this, I often commit myself to attending an exercise class or swimming practice at a particular time. 

Many thanks to Heather Royer for sharing her expertise with BCFG!

Team Scientist Nicholas Christakis Elected to the National Academy of Sciences

Congratulations to Nicholas Christakis for being recognized by the National Academy of Sciences for his “distinguished and continued achievements in original research.” He is the Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science at Yale University, where he combines his training as a social scientist and physician to study social networks, biology, and health.

BCFG Team Scientists in the News

1. Great Online Dating Profiles Emphasize Knowing The Other Person, Research Suggests, featuring Juliana Schroeder and Ayelet Fishbach, Forbes

2. The Secret to a Sustainable Workout Habit, featuring Kevin Volpp, The New York Times

3. When Patients Do Their Own Research, featuring Emily Oster, The Atlantic

4. The Research-Backed Benefits of Daily Rituals, by Michael Norton, Harvard Business Review

Spotlighted Podcasts

1. Innovation 2.0: Multiplying the Growth Mindset, featuring Mary Murphy, Hidden Brain

2. Recipe for Success, by Katy Milkman featuring Michele Gelfand, Choiceology

3. Skills Development, featuring Jim Heckman, The Economics of Flourishing

4. The Social Etiquette of Lending Money, featuring Wendy De La Rosa, Life Kit

In Memoriam: Daniel Kahneman

Nobel Laureate and beloved behavioral scientist Daniel Kahneman passed away on March 27, 2024 at 90 years of age. 

BCFG’s Co-Directors Angela Duckworth and Katy Milkman shared their reflections on the incredible impact of Danny’s work and its foundational importance to the field of behavioral science on Studio 2 from PBS and in Behavioral Scientist’s Mosaic of Memories and Lessons. Below are two of their reflections:

“One evening, more than twenty years ago [after helping Dr. Kahneman find his suitcase]… I thought to myself, Oh, it’s possible to be a world-famous genius—the most recently anointed Nobel laureate in economics, among other honors—and interact with anybody and everybody with utmost respect and dignity, no matter who they are. In the years that followed, I got to know Danny Kahneman much better, and when I did, that view was only confirmed. Confirmation bias? Halo effect? No and no. What then? Character. The world is mourning the loss of Danny Kahneman the genius, as we should, but I am missing Danny Kahneman the person.” - Angela Duckworth

“I also vividly recall talking with Danny about his experience winning the Nobel Prize. He explained to me that the best thing about winning it, by far, was how happy it made all the people around him—even his casual acquaintances. He said their joy was by far his greatest source of delight; it caught him by surprise but was truly wonderful.” - Katy Milkman

BCFG is grateful that Danny shared some time, wisdom, and joy with us during our first conference. Along with the entire field of behavioral science, we would not exist without Danny’s incredible contributions.

BCFG Co-Directors Angela Duckworth and Katy Milkman’s Q&A with Harvard Professor, best-selling author, and BCFG Team Scientist Cass Sunstein drew a crowd of well over 100 in late January (congratulations to those lucky attendees who won a signed copy of Nudge: The Final Chapter). You can now watch the event on our YouTube channel.

Struggling to achieve an ambitious goal? Try breaking it down into smaller pieces!

A new op-ed in Scientific American from BCFG Team Scientists Aneesh Rai, Marissa Sharif, Edward Chang, Katy Milkman, and Angela Duckworth shares their research demonstrating just how much breaking down ambitious goals into smaller pieces can matter for motivating productivity.

New Book Out This Week from BCFG Team Scientist Mary Murphy

Congratulations to Team Scientist Mary Murphy on the publication of her fabulous new book Cultures of Growth: How the New Science of Mindset Can Transform Individuals, Teams, and Organizations.

And Be Sure to Check Out Four More Terrific Fresh and Forthcoming Titles from BCFG Team Scientists

1. Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There by Tali Sharot and Cass Sunstein, published February 27th

2. The Ritual Effect: From Habit to Ritual, Harness the Surprising Power of Everyday Actions by Michael Norton, coming April 9th

3. The Unexpected: Navigating Pregnancy During and After Complications by Emily Oster and Nathan Fox, coming April 30th

4. 10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People: A Groundbreaking Approach to Leading the Next Generation for Managers, Parents, and Educators by David Yeager, coming August 6th

Spotlighted Podcasts

1. US 2.0: Win Hearts, Then Minds, featuring Robb Willer, Hidden Brain

2. Angela Duckworth Returns, featuring Angela Duckworth, Armchair Expert

3. The Key to Boosting Retirement Savings, featuring John Beshears, Behavioral Grooves

In a new article published in Nature, Kai Ruggeri and collaborators (including eight BCFG Team Scientists) found support for 89% of behavioral science recommendations based on evidence from 747 empirical papers. One surprising disappointment: the review found no support for the recommendation that policymakers should appeal to people’s desire to protect others when encouraging behavior change.

New BCFG Op-Ed: How Long Does it Take to Form a Habit?

And what does it take to turn New Year’s resolutions into lasting habits? BCFG Co-Directors Angela Duckworth and Katy Milkman—along with Kasandra Brabaw and Anastasia Buyalskya—share three science-backed strategies and a summary of their recent research with BCFG Team scientist Colin Camerer in this new CNN op-ed. 

BCFG Presents: A Conversation about the Past, Present and Future of Behavioral Science and Public Policy

Harvard Professor, best-selling author, and BCFG Team Scientist Cass Sunstein will join Katy Milkman and Angela Duckworth in Philadelphia on Wednesday, January 31st for a conversation about the influence of behavioral science on public policy past, present, and future.

We hope you can join us if you’re in town, but if not, a recording of the event will be made available after the fact on our YouTube channel, so stay tuned.

In Case You Missed It: Learn How Megastudies Can Help Shape Public Policy

BCFG Co-Director Katy Milkman recently shared insights on how behavioral science, and megastudies in particular, can help shape policy in a number of public forums. Recordings from Katy’s conversations and presentations to The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, the Social Science Research Council’s Centennial Lecture Series and the National Academy of Sciences can be found below.

1. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, Executive Office of the President of the United States

2. What Have Megastudies Taught Us about Successfully Encouraging Increased Vaccination?, Social Science Research Council Centennial Lecture Series

3. What is the Future of Behavioral Economics and Public Policy?, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Olivia S. Mitchell Named American Economic Association Distinguished Fellow

Congratulations to BCFG Team Scientist Olivia Mitchell for this impressive recognition of her many important contributions to the field of economics. The full announcement is available on the AEA website.

Thinkers50 Awards

Congratulations to Katy Milkman and Adam Grant for being named to the 2023 Thinkers50 list!

Selected Popular Press Coverage of BCFG Team Scientists

1. Making a Resolution? Read These Tips for Success, featuring Jay Van Bavel, Vogue

2. We Need to Focus More on the Social Effects of AI, by Nicholas Christakis, The Economist

3. Trick Your Brain Into Being Better With Money, featuring Wendy De La Rosa, The Wall Street Journal

Spotlighted Podcasts

1. The Science of Making — and Keeping — New Year’s Resolutions, featuring Hal Hersfield, Ten Percent Happier

2. Unlocking Hidden Potential with Malcolm Gladwell, by Adam Grant, ReThinking

3. Can You Really “Manifest” Success Through Positive Visualization?, by Angela Duckworth, No Stupid Questions

Please join us online on Friday, September 29th from 12:00–12:45 PM ET for this exciting discussion.

BCFG Team Scientist Stefano DellaVigna will share key takeaways from a new NAS report he co-authored on the future of behavioral economics and policy (shout out to BCFG Team Scientists Allison Buttenheim and Kevin Volpp who also co-authored the report). BCFG Co-Director Katy Milkman will moderate a discussion of the future of behavioral economics after Stefano presents.

We’re thrilled to co-host this webinar with the National Academy of Sciences and other leading behavioral science organizations.

Register

President Biden Announces the Appointment of BCFG Team Scientist C. Kirabo Jackson to the Council of Economic Advisers

C. Kirabo Jackson is the Abraham Harris Professor of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University. Congratulations to Kirabo!

New Books from BCFG Team Scientists

Decisions about Decisions
Cass Sunstein explores how we think about making decisions.
Order here: bit.ly/43CjxKx

Nobody’s Fool
Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris discuss the science behind deception for both deceivers and the deceived.
Order here: bit.ly/44J7ywg

Writing for Busy Readers
Todd Rogers and Jessica Lasky-Fink share evidence-based strategies for more efficient and effective communication.
Order here: writingforbusyreaders.com

Hidden Potential
Adam Grant illustrates how people can grow their own potential. 
Preorder here: adamgrant.net/book/hidden-potential

Spotlighted Podcasts

Choiceology
An Accidental Experiment
Katy Milkman launches Season 12 of her Choiceology podcast by discussing how real-life mishaps can translate into very informative experiments with BCFG Team Scientist Steven Levitt.

Passion Struck
Cracking the Code
Todd Rogers shares tips and tricks for effective communication from his new book, Writing for Busy Readers.

Human Centered from Stanford University
Deploying Behavioral Science on the Front Lines of Social Protest
BCFG Team Scientist Robb Willer applies insights from his research to social protest strategies in Israel.

In Memoriam: BCFG Team Scientist Howard Kunreuther

Howard was a beloved member of the BCFG Scientific Team and a giant in the field of behavioral economics. He passed away peacefully on August 1st after a long battle with cancer. He was 84 years old.

Howard is best known as a pioneering scholar investigating how people think about risk with a focus on natural and man-made disasters. He questioned why people buy too little insurance when they live on flood plains, and why they buy too much insurance when they worry about earthquakes. He wrote numerous highly influential articles, books, and book chapters with titles such as “Learning from Catastrophes” and “The Ostrich Paradox;” and he was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science as well as a Distinguished Fellow of the Society for Risk Analysis. In 2015, he received the 2015 Shin Research Excellence Award from the Geneva Association. Howard also served on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Stories of Howard’s professional and personal impact can be found in the Wharton Newsroom and the Center for Health Incentives & Behavioral Economics Blog.

About BCFG

The Behavior Change for Good Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania is co-led by Psychology and Wharton Professor Angela Duckworth and Wharton Professor Katy Milkman. BCFG unites a world-class, interdisciplinary team of academic experts with leading organizational partners to advance the science and practice of behavior change.

We’re always interested in hearing about new areas to explore and potential collaborations. Contact us anytime.