Rory Sutherland is the Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK, an advertising and marketing agency where he co-founded the behavioral science practice. He is a TED Global speaker and writes regular columns for The Spectator and The Behavioral Scientist. His latest book, "Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense," was published earlier this year.    Rory joins our hosts Erik and Zarak for a special two-part episode to share his unique perspective and expertise in identifying unseen...

In our latest episode, Aline Holzwarth joins Erik and Zarak to discuss the intersection of healthcare, behavioral science, and technology. Aline is a Principal at Duke University's Center for Advanced Hindsight, where she's worked alongside Dan Ariely for the past 10 years. She is also the Head of Behavioral Science at Pattern Health, a digital health platform designed to help people live happier and healthier lives.  Topics include the healthcare industry's tendency to take an...

Zarak and Erik are joined by Nir Eyal, the bestselling author of “Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products.” He has taught business and design at Stanford, founded two technology companies, and helps teams design more engaging products. Nir discusses the themes and inspiration behind his latest book “Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life,” including why we struggle with distraction, the overuse of technology, and tips for overcoming those issues.

In our second Behavioral Science Training installment, Erik and Zarak are joined by Christopher Nave, Associate Director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Master of Behavioral and Decision Sciences program. Chris shares his passion for bringing together graduate students from diverse industries, backgrounds, and disciplines in order to study decision-making and behavior change. He explains how measurement, data science, and experimental design are crucial to applying behavioral concepts to...

We're doing a series of podcasts on different types of behavioral training that fall somewhere between a one-day workshop and a PhD. These aren't advertisements for the programs, but are meant to give you a sense of the type of things out there, should you decide to pursue a career in behavioral science.  In this episode, we focus on a ten-week bootcamp from Irrational Labs with Evelyn Gosnell, the Managing Director at Irrational Labs, as well as the leader of their Behavioral Economics...

Spencer Greenberg is an applied mathematician, entrepreneur, and self-described “collector of powerful tools.” He is the Founder and CEO of Spark Wave – a venture builder that creates software products with the goal of achieving large social impact. Spencer joins Erik and Zarak to discuss his unique perspective on psychology and behavior. He takes a background in technology and combines it with applied social science to build platforms that implement complex behavioral interventions.

Adam Gilbert is a nationally-recognized health, fitness, and motivational expert and trainer. He is the Founder of MyBodyTutor, which helps people stick to their health and fitness goals. Adam joins our hosts Erik and Zarak to discuss his approach to creating long-term, sustainable behavior change. After years of learning and incorporating psychology into his work, Adam’s philosophy is that heavy support and accountability is necessary to help someone achieve their goals.

Elizabeth Kim is an Applied Behavioral Scientist at the e-commerce company Jet.com, where she designs and conducts experiments to make better products for users. She is also founder of the Duke Behavioral Science Group, a community of Duke University students and faculty dedicated to applying behavioral science for social good. Our hosts Zarak and Erik chat with Elizabeth about her BeSci origin story and how aspiring behavioral scientists can create their own path.

Ruth Schmidt joins to discuss the intersection of behavioral science and design. Ruth is a Visiting Industry Professor and Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Illinois Institute of Technology – Institute of Design. She served as a senior leader at Doblin/Deloitte for over 8 years, where she led teams in applying design-informed innovation strategy to solve complex challenges and grow new innovation functions within client organizations, primarily in the health care and financial services...

Jeff Kreisler is a Princeton educated lawyer turned author, speaker, pundit, comedian, and behavioral science advocate. Winner of the Bill Hicks Spirit Award for Thought Provoking Comedy, he runs PeopleScience.com, writes for TV, politicians and CEOs, and shares witty insight on CNN, FoxNews, MSNBC, and SiriusXM. Jeff discusses his journey from comedy to behavioral science, his book “Dollars and Sense” (co-authored with Dan Ariely) , and how to use behavioral science to improve everyday life.

Kelly Leonard is the Executive Director of Insights and Applied Improvisation at The Second City and President of Second City Theatricals. Erik and Zarak chat with Kelly about the Second Science Project – a partnership between Second City and the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business that utilizes cutting-edge behavioral science to better study, understand, and support improvisation in everyday life.

Today’s guest is Kristen Berman, co-founder of Duke University’s Common Cents Lab, as well as co-founder (with Dan Ariely) of Irrational Labs. Kristen was on the founding team for the behavioral economics group at Google. Erik and Zarak chat with Kristen about her philosophy of incorporating behavioral science into the Product Manager’s domain, creating what she dubs the Behavioral Product Manager. Kristen outlines how behavioral science gives us the missing pieces of the Product Manager’s...

In this week’s episode, our hosts sit down with Linnea Gandhi, managing partner of the boutique consulting firm BehavioralSight and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. They discuss the importance of following the scientific method to optimize corporate decision-making.

Erik and Zarak are joined by Dr. Sarah Newcomb, behavioral economist at Morningstar, an investment research firm committed to improving the wellbeing of investors through the use of research and software. Sarah’s personal passion and professional goal is to bring independent financial advice to populations that are currently underserved by the financial services industry. Sarah discusses the psychology of money and explores why smart people still make poor financial decisions.

In this week’s episode, Erik and Zarak tackle New Year's resolutions with Dr. Katy Milkman, associate professor of behavioral economics at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. They discuss behavioral concepts like habits, incentives, motivation, rewards, consequences, accountability, and commitment devices. Katy brings an engineering background to her current focus on quantitative social science research, such as how to help people create lasting and positive behavior change.

Join Erik and Zarak for a new episode with guest Dr. Julian Jamison, member of the Mind/Behavior/Development (eMBeD) Team at the World Bank. Julian’s focus is on behavioral applications in international policy development in economics, health, and finance. Julian discusses how the World Bank utilizes behavioral economics to tackle global issues, the behavioral similarities that are essentially universal to all human beings, and the history and application of field experiments.

Dr. Rory Gallagher is a member of the Behavioural Insights Team and co-author of “Think Small: The Surprisingly Simple Ways to Reach Big Goals." His interview focuses on the application of behavioral concepts to government, to create better public policies and services that benefit citizens in myriad ways, and personal development. His new book co-authored with Owain Service, “Think Small: The Surprisingly Simple Ways to Reach Big Goals,” details how behavioral science can help people achieve...

Mariel Beasley, Senior Applied Researcher at the Center for Advanced Hindsight and Co-Director of the Common Cents Lab, covers various behavioral science topics, such as the pros and cons of mental accounting and simple ways local governments can get citizens to recycle more. Her research and application experience, coupled with studies she’s run with Dan Ariely, make for a wide-ranging and fascinating conversation with the Action Design Radio hosts.

Behavioral Scientist Matt Wallaert joins Erik and Zarak to chat about how and why organizations should create a Chief Behavioral Officer position. Matt shares insights and examples from his 15+ years of behavioral science experience to explore how academic concepts can be practically and efficiently applied to businesses. Ethical considerations are discussed, always keeping the public good in mind. Low operational costs and high efficacy make the creation of a CBO position a savvy idea for...

Your hosts Erik Johnson and Zarak Khan introduce themselves and give listeners a brief insight into what Action Design stands for and what to expect from the podcast.