U.S. Health

ideas42 Seminar Series: A Talk with Christina Roberto

by ideas42

With the ideas42 Seminar Series, we invite leading scholars to share their insights and what inspires their exploration into human behavior. Our New York office was pleased to host Christina Roberto, an Assistant Professor of Medical Ethics & Health Policy at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Director of the Psychology […]

Want Generous, Intentional, and Informed Giving? Try Behavioral Science

by Omar Parbhoo

It’s often said that Americans are exceptionally generous, and fortunately, it’s a claim that’s well supported by the numbers. In 2016 alone, U.S. households donated over $282 billion to charities worldwide. And when compared globally, the U.S. consistently ranks as one of the most altruistic countries by the World Giving Index. But do these absolute […]

The Role of Combinatorial Innovation in Addressing Societal Challenges

by ideas42

  idea42’s Josh Wright recently caught up with Tom Kalil, Chief Innovation Officer of Schmidt Futures, and former Deputy Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.  One of the ideas that Tom is exploring is that science and technology can and should be playing a larger role in addressing societal challenges, particularly those […]

ideas42 Seminar Series: A Talk with Daniel Chen

by ideas42

With the ideas42 Seminar Series, we invite leading scholars to share their insights and what inspires their exploration into human behavior. Our New York office was pleased to host Daniel Chen, researcher at Toulouse School of Economics. He has a law degree from Harvard Law School and a PhD in economics from Massachusetts Institute of […]

5 Tips for Launching (and Sustaining) a City Behavioral Design Team

by ideas42

For the past few years, we have been applying behavioral science to city programs and services in New York and Chicago to help the city government take into account complex human behavior, and the contexts in which we make decisions. We have embedded experts into agencies themselves—a model we call Behavioral Design Teams (BDTs)—to tackle […]

Celebrating a Decade of Using Behavioral Science for Social Good

by ideas42

Ten years ago, ideas42 started in a small office at Harvard University. Since then, we have partnered with foundations, non-profits, government agencies, and socially-minded companies to work on more than 100 projects in over 35 countries, using behavioral science to improve millions of lives around the world. Today we released our first-ever Impact Report, taking […]

Applying “When” to Real Life

by Kanyinsola Aibana

Our work involves devoting significant amounts of time to understanding what drives people’s behavior—and prompting them to make decisions and follow through with action that benefits them. As a member of ideas42, I can’t help but apply this same behavioral lens to my own life. When I read Daniel Pink’s new book, When: The Scientific […]

Would Better Parental Controls Impact Youth Phone Behavior?

by Suman Gidwani & Antonia Violante

If you have a young child in the family, you might have noticed them watching a show on a tablet or playing a game on a phone at your recent holiday party. Kids today become comfortable with digital screens at a very young age. A recently published study found that 97% of U.S. children under […]

Simple Steps to Take Now that Produce Benefits All Year

by ideas42

We all have big plans for changing our lives at the beginning of a new year, thanks to the fresh start effect. But time moves fast…and reality is probably starting to set in for many people. This may not be the year you become a workout guru, vault your career in a new direction, or […]

Our 5 Favorite Behavioral Insights of 2017

by ideas42

We’ve learned a lot this year. Thankfully, we haven’t uncovered all the strange little quirks in human decision making, so with every passing year, a few more insights come to light. As 2017 comes to a close, we look back at some of the insights that made us think, laugh, cry, and question our own […]