Stories, science and secrets from the world’s brightest thought-leaders. Behavioral Grooves is the podcast that satisfies your curiosity of why we do what we do. Explanations of human behavior that will improve your relationships, your wellbeing, and your organization by helping you find your groove.
Episodes
Sunday Sep 29, 2019
Jim Guszcza: Data Science AND Behavioral Science, New Wine in a New Bottle
Sunday Sep 29, 2019
Sunday Sep 29, 2019
Jim Guszcza is the chief data scientist at Deloitte Analytics. His title paints a picture that he’s a total numbers geek. And that would be a fair, but single-dimensional assessment. What it doesn’t speak to is Jim’s passion for behavioral science and, more importantly, the collaboration of data science and behavioral science.
He makes a case for the application of behavioral science simply with this analogy: if we need help to see, we get eyeglasses. In so doing, we are using science and technology to help correct our faulty vision. But when it comes to correcting for our biases, we don’t turn to science and technology and that might improve our decision making. But we could. That’s where the collaboration between data science (or Big Data) and behavioral science come together: applying science and technology to decision making. And THAT was fascinating.
In our discussion about music, we talked about Jim’s equal interest in a Dvorak string quartet as much as he is the in the soundtrack to “Wonder Boys” or a great jazz piano performance. He shared he has a penchant for small venues and small bands.
He then shared some tips about how to apply behavioral science to your job and your life. He focused on reading books and listening to podcasts as ways to become more educated on the topic and to help you apply behavioral science principles.
NOTE: Behavioral Grooves is celebrating our 100th episode in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 17, 2019 with authors Annie Duke and Jeff Kreisler. Our sponsors for the event include PeopleScience and Podbean and we want to thank them for helping us make this possible. If you’re unable to join us in person, we’ll be live streaming the event and we hope you’ll log in there!
Links
Jim Guszcza: https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/profiles/jguszcza.html
“Moneyball” Michael Lewis: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1301.Moneyball
“Clinical Versus Statistical Prediction” Paul Miele: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2006-21565-000
Richard Thaler: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Thaler
Cass Sunstein: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cass_Sunstein
Daniel Kahneman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Kahneman
Imposter syndrome: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome
Bounded Rationality: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounded_rationality
Bounded Self-Control: https://www.economicsonline.co.uk/Behavioural_economics/Bounded_rationality_and_self_control.html
Craig Fox, UCLA: https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/faculty-and-research/management-and-organizations/faculty/fox
Intention Action Gap: https://www.tutor2u.net/economics/reference/behavioural-economics-the-intention-action-gap
Mike Green, Deloitte: https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/authors/g/michael-greene.html
Cathy Neil: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weapons_of_Math_Destruction
Robert Cialdini, ASU: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cialdini
“The Design of Everyday Things” Don Norman: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/840.The_Design_of_Everyday_Things
Tom Malone, MIT: https://cci.mit.edu/malone/
“Rockonomics” Alan Krueger: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/564519/rockonomics-by-alan-b-krueger/
“The Age of Surveillance Capitalism” Shoshana Zuboff: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26195941-the-age-of-surveillance-capitalism
“Deep Medicine” Eric Topol: https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/eric-topol/deep-medicine/9781541644649/
Stanford Human Centered AI: https://hai.stanford.edu/
Carnegie Mellon Social & Decision Sciences: https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/sds/
Behavioral Scientist Ethical Checklist: https://behavioralscientist.org/behavioral-scientists-ethics-checklist/
“Quiet” Susan Cain: https://www.quietrev.com/
“Thinking in Bets” Annie Duke: https://www.annieduke.com/
Herbert Simon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_A._Simon
Kurt Nelson: @motivationguru
Tim Houlihan: @thoulihan
100th Episode Event at Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Philadelphia-Behavioral-Science-Meetup-Group/events/264495763/
100th Episode Event at Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/behavioral-grooves-100th-episode-event-tickets-73159537145
Behavioral Grooves: www.behavioralgrooves.com
PeopleScience: https://peoplescience.maritz.com/
Podbean: https://www.podbean.com
Musical Links
Bob Dylan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Dylan
Van Morrison: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Morrison
Leonard Cohen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Cohen
David MacDonald: https://www.msmnyc.edu/faculty/david-macdonald/
Arthur Schoenberg: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Schoenberg
Wigmore Hall: https://wigmore-hall.org.uk/
Dvorak String Quartet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxtAHpYIXdU
Schumann String Quartet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO4UhZuw7gQ
Vijay Iyer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijay_Iyer
Wonder Boys: https://www.discogs.com/Various-Wonder-Boys-Music-From-The-Motion-Picture/master/341271
Angus & Julia Stone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHdPyp8onSI
Flora Cash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzjMmwki1Fs
Echo and the Bunnymen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echo_%26_the_Bunnymen
The Cure: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cure
Sunday Sep 22, 2019
Gina Merchant: Combating Misinformation
Sunday Sep 22, 2019
Sunday Sep 22, 2019
Gina Merchant, PhD is a behavioral scientist who wound her way through academia and into the corporate world for the purpose of improving the health of communities, not just individuals. Her work examines how online and offline social networks influence our health behaviors and healthcare decision-making.
Gina shared her insights through research she’s been conducting with promotores, the women who govern how information flows through Hispanic communities in Southern California. The research explores how the work these women do impacts the health and wellbeing of their communities.
Our discussion also included Gina’s thoughts on misinformation, especially with respect to the myths that people have come to believe about vaccinations. This topic came to light as a source of passion in her work. We also talked about the role that a behavioral scientist can play in a corporate setting. She shared how business leaders can experience positive results by including a behavioral scientist in communication and design discussions.
We also want to remind everyone that we’re celebrating our 100th episode in Philadelphia. It’s an evening event and it will be live streamed. If you’re interested in attending or listening live, check out the Behavioral Grooves website at www.behavioralgrooves.com.
Links
Gina Merchant: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gina-merchant-phd-2279b6140/
Truthful Illusion Effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusory_truth_effect
ANOVA Framework: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analysis_of_variance
“Willful Blindness,” by Margaret Heffernan: http://www.mheffernan.com/book-wb-summary.php?location=US
Inoculation Theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inoculation_theory
Confidence Project, by Heidi Larson: https://www.vaccineconfidence.org/
The Filter Bubble: http://www.lse.ac.uk/assets/richmedia/channels/publicLecturesAndEvents/slides/20110620_1830_theFilterBubble_sl.pdf
The Looking Glass Self: https://lesley.edu/article/perception-is-reality-the-looking-glass-self
Kate Starbird: https://www.hcde.washington.edu/starbird
Promotores: http://www.visionycompromiso.org/wordpress/about-us/the-promotor-model/
Topanga Canyon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topanga,_California
Kurt Nelson: @motivationguru
Tim Houlihan: @THoulihan
Check out the Behavioral Grooves website: https://behavioralgrooves.com/
Music
DMX: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMX_(rapper)
Tupac: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupac_Shakur
Lil’ Kim: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lil%27_Kim
Biggie Smalls: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Notorious_B.I.G.
Jack Johnson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Johnson_(musician)
Tribe Called Quest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tribe_Called_Quest
Ben Harper: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Harper
Ivan Schultz, “Firetruck,”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spk7gOIExjI&hl=fr&gl=SN
Swan Lake, by Pytor Illyich Tchaikovsky: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_Lake
Nova Mob: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Mob_(album)
Sunday Sep 15, 2019
Annie Duke: Revisiting the Matrix
Sunday Sep 15, 2019
Sunday Sep 15, 2019
We are re-sharing our original September 2018 discussion with Annie Duke to announce the Behavioral Grooves 100th Episode on the evening of October 17, 2019 in the Historic Hamilton Auditorium at the Pennsylvania Academy for Performing Arts. It's a live event and we invite you to join us to hear Annie, Lila Gleitman and other guests discuss the application of behavioral sciences. Seating is very limited for this intimate engagement and we hope to see you there! Links below...
. . .
Annie Duke’s latest book, Thinking in Bets, Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts, is a masterful mash-up of her life as a researcher, poker player and charitable organization founder. In it, she explores new ideas on how to make better decisions. Our interview with her expanded beyond the book and we talked extensively about probabilistic thinking and having people hold us accountable for our decision making. As expected, our interview covered an eclectic mix of behavioral biases, sociology, language development and, of without fail, music.
We used the movie The Matrix and the blue pill/red pill metaphor for looking at the world as accurate vs. inaccurate, rather than right or wrong. We discussed how tribes can offer us distinctiveness and belongingness but also confine us with the tribe’s sometimes negative influences. We also examined learning pods and how they can be used to keep our decisions more in line with reality.
If you like this episode, please forward it on to a friend or colleague and help Kurt win his bet with Tim for who pays the donation to How I Decide. You can find more information on or donate to this wonderful non-profit at www.howidecide.org.
Links
Anna Dreber: http://www.sverigesungaakademi.se/en-GB/755.html
Phil Tetlock: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_E._Tetlock
Jonathan Haidt:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Haidt
Lila Gleitman:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lila_R._Gleitman
Syntactic Bootstrapping: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syntactic_bootstrapping
Jack White: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_White
Willie Nelson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Nelson
Jonathan Richman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Richman
Prince: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_(musician)
Alex Chilton: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Chilton
Violent Femmes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violent_Femmes
Kurt Nelson: Kurt@lantergroup.com
Tim Houlihan: Tim@behavioralchemy.com
Behavioral Grooves 100th Episode Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Philadelphia-Behavioral-Science-Meetup-Group/events/264495763/
Monday Sep 09, 2019
Announcements: Minneapolis and Philadelphia Events
Monday Sep 09, 2019
Monday Sep 09, 2019
Groovers, a couple of announcements for you:
1. Kurt and I are hosting a meetup immediately after Customer Focus North in Minneapolis on September 19, 2019: https://www.customerfn.com/. Rodd Wagner will be speaking! Make sure you use this code to get 10% Off your registration to Customer Focus North: BEHAVIORAL
2. We're celebrating our 100th Episode and want you to join us in Philadelphia at the live event. Annie Duke will be onstage for our discussion! The link for the 100th Episode Meetup in Philadelphia on October 17, 2019: https://www.meetup.com/Philadelphia-Behavioral-Science-Meetup-Group/
Sunday Sep 08, 2019
Christian Hunt: Mitigating Human Risk and The Algorithmic Mind
Sunday Sep 08, 2019
Sunday Sep 08, 2019
Christian Hunt is the founder of Human Risk, a Behavioral Science Consulting and Training firm specializing in the fields of Risk, Compliance, Conduct & Culture. Before this, he was the head of Behavioral Science at UBS and before that, Chief Operating Officer of the Prudential Regulation Authority, a subsidiary of the Bank of England responsible for regulating Financial Services.
Christian shared his 5 principles of human risk – myths that humans cling to that don’t help us do what we ought to be doing. They are all founded on the notion that very few people are doing things they shouldn’t be doing – and yet most of the rules in corporate culture are created to prevent, rather than uplift. And Christian’s biggest beef is that many, many people are NOT doing the things they SHOULD be doing – again, in part because of context and culture.
We encountered some internet gremlins that mucked up the portion of our discussion with Christian that was about music. Regrettably, we are unable to bring you Christian’s Top 10 Behavioral Science Hits but we promise to return to it in the future.
In our grooving session, we discuss the implications of the mental algorithms and what we can do about them. We hope you enjoy our conversation with Christian Hunt.
Links
Christian Hunt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/humanrisk/
Human Risk: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/interested-behavioural-science-subscribe-now-human-risk-hunt/
Harley Davidson: https://www.harley-davidson.com/us/en/index.html
BMW Motorcycle: https://www.bmwmotorcycles.com/en/home.html#/filter-all
Royal Enfield: https://www.royalenfield.com/
“Predictably Irrational,” by Dan Ariely: http://danariely.com/books/predictably-irrational/
Franz Kafka: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Kafka
Daniel Kahneman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Kahneman
Prison Experiment: https://www.prisonexp.org/
Game of Thrones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_of_Thrones
Chernobyl (TV Show): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_(miniseries)
Henrik Ibsen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrik_Ibsen
Somerset Maugham: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Somerset_Maugham
Sinclair Lewis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Lewis
Inner Emigration: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_emigration
William Shakespeare: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare
Othello: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Othello
“The Culture of Responsibility” Netflix: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/36417234
“Shawshank Redemption,” by Stephen King: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rita_Hayworth_and_Shawshank_Redemption
Buckminster Fuller: https://www.bfi.org/about-fuller/biography
Kurt Nelson: @motivationguru
Tim Houlihan: @THoulihan
Check out the Behavioral Grooves website: https://behavioralgrooves.com/
Monday Sep 02, 2019
Brian Ahearn: Influencing People Ethically
Monday Sep 02, 2019
Monday Sep 02, 2019
Brian Ahearn is Behavioral Grooves’ first repeat guest. (He was first featured in Episode 39: The Heart of Reciprocity.) We recently reconnected with him to discuss his new book, Influence PEOPLE. The book explores the science behind the influence process – what drives people to take the actions you want them to take, without manipulation or trickery. The book is about changing people's behavior. Positive thoughts, and even agreement from others, only go so far – and seldom lead to a change in behavior. Our conversation with Brian focused on specific ways to make that happen.
Brian’s book is not intended as an academic replay of all the aspects of the science of persuasion. While the science is foundational, the book focuses on the practical aspects of application with lots of great examples and case studies, many of them from Brian’s personal experiences. We recommend you check it out if you’re uninterested in the science but care deeply for the “how-to” part of the story.
We also returned to music and revisited Brian’s eclectic playlists. We focused on his predilection to combine Frank Sinatra and Coldplay into a single “clean” playlist that he uses in client workshops and presentations.
In our grooving session, we discussed whether the tool can be held accountable or is it only the user of the tool? And are you familiar with the Wilhelm Scream? Listen in to find out.
For those of you listening before October 2019, Kurt and Tim will be celebrating our podcast’s 100th episode in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Academy of Performing Arts on October 17th. Our lead guest will be Annie Duke.
Links
Brian Ahearn: https://www.influenceatwork.com/about/trainers/brian-ahearn/
Influence PEOPLE: https://www.amazon.com/Influence-PEOPLE-Powerful-Everyday-Opportunities/dp/1733178503
Daniel Kahneman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Kahneman
Robert Cialdini: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cialdini
Dan Ariely: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Ariely
Ellen Langer study: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brain-wise/201310/the-power-the-word-because-get-people-do-stuff
Record Store: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Record_shop
Michael Kerrison: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-kerrison-760a778/
100th Episode Meetup in Philadelphia on October 17, 2019: https://www.meetup.com/Philadelphia-Behavioral-Science-Meetup-Group/
Kurt Nelson: @motivationguru
Tim Houlihan: @THoulihan
Check out the Behavioral Grooves website: https://behavioralgrooves.com/
Artists
Hamilton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5VqyCQV1Tg
Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsl3gBVO2k4
Frank Sinatra: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Sinatra
Coldplay: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coldplay
Boston: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_(band)
Johnny Cash: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Cash