I had the pleasure of speaking with Prof. Brian Wansink the other day. He’s the food genius who’s done all those funky experiments that remind me of something out of Willy Wonka (e.g., bottomless soup bowls). ...
Category - Adaptive vs. Rational
I know it’s rude to bring this up during the holidays, but it’s not that dress or those pants that make our collective rumps look big. We all know we’ve gotten fatter, and it’s happened remarkably...
According to the British blog Ananova, two poor Hungarian “cavemen” are set to inherit their share of about $5 billion. The windfall comes after their estranged grandmother living in Germany (who apparently...
The Internet is turning 40, and to celebrate DARPA is giving away $40,000. The hitch? You have to work with others across the country to identify the specific location of 10 red balloons. The bet is that multiple solutions...
- Active Choice
- Adaptive vs. Rational
- Bias to the present
- Happiness
- Opt Out
- Self Control
- Simplify Wisely
- Social norms
Thanksgiving Tips from the Behavioral Sciences
In a Washington Post article, an interview with Dan Ariely led to the following tips for dealing with the potential food stuffage that seems to come along with Thanksgiving: Use chopsticks (or other difficult to handle...
In a recent piece in The New York Times, columnist and economics professor Paul Krugman schools us on the limitations of neoclassical economics. It’s a great piece, and one of my favorite bits is his reference to...
One potential element of healthcare reform is the provision of insurance exchanges, an arrangement designed to allow small businesses and individuals access to more affordable health insurance. A question arises, however, as to...
At the core of Express Scripts’ Consumerology products and services is something we call the healthcare consumerism spectrum. This is our visual reminder that consumerism in healthcare is much broader than financial...
The Food and Drug Administration yesterday issued a warning to consumers “not to use body building products marketed as containing steroids or steroid-like substances.” The public health advisory also stated that a...
Wired provides a great example of how what seems to be irrational behavior today — our awkward etiquette during elevator rides — was quite rational behavior in our ancestral past. The bends, kinks, and biases in...
