The hottest Behavioral Science Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Science Topics

How The Psychologist Got Confused

Living Fossils • 27 implied HN points • 15 Jan 25
📖 Philosophy Behavioral Science
  1. Just because something is called an explanation doesn't mean it really explains anything. A word can't fully clarify complex ideas.
  2. Complex topics need more detailed models to explain them. Simple labels aren't enough for deeper understanding.
  3. Many psychologists struggle with clear explanations because they often focus on labels rather than real underlying processes or mechanisms.

"A Theory of Everyone" by Michael Muthukrishna

Optimally Irrational • 33 implied HN points • 18 Nov 24
📚 Literature Behavioral Science
  1. Muthukrishna's book looks at human behavior and society through four key ideas: energy, innovation, cooperation, and evolution. These ideas help explain how life and societies develop over time.
  2. The author connects concepts from physics and social sciences, showing how energy sources have influenced human progress and how cooperation among people has been crucial for success.
  3. The book also offers insights into today's social issues, suggesting ways to improve democracy and education, while pushing for more cooperation and innovation to tackle challenges like inequality and political division.

Take a break

Klement on Investing • 2 implied HN points • 05 Dec 25
🏥 Health & Wellness Behavioral Science
  1. Breaks framed as happening between tasks reduce stress and stop you from ruminating, so you can mentally switch off.
  2. That benefit appears whether the break is expected or surprising and even if the task is just mentally split, meaning how you frame the break matters more than its exact timing.
  3. Break big tasks into smaller chunks and take a break after each chunk to get a sense of accomplishment and improve performance when you return.

How to get into tech as a behavioral scientist

The Kahneman Bot • 19 implied HN points • 13 Feb 23
💼 Business Behavioral Science
  1. To get into tech as a behavioral scientist, consider starting in a junior PM role, transferring internally, working at a startup, or starting your own company.
  2. Before transitioning into tech, make sure you enjoy building software and understand how tech teams work.
  3. Experienced behavioral scientists can enter tech by joining a big tech company as a researcher, rebranding as a data scientist, or joining a tech company that values behavioral science as part of its IP.
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The Placebo Effect in Therapy (Part 1/2)

Living Fossils • 18 implied HN points • 08 Jan 25
🏥 Health & Wellness Behavioral Science
  1. There are over seventy types of therapy, each with its own method, but research shows they often work about the same. It's called the Dodo bird verdict.
  2. The placebo effect plays a big role in therapy success. Just believing that therapy will help can lead to real changes.
  3. Instead of focusing on which therapy type is best, it might be smarter to understand what makes therapy work, like a supportive environment and the client's expectations.

Have We Been Fooled by PrimeWorld?

Holodoxa • 39 implied HN points • 21 Jul 22
🔬 Science Behavioral Science
  1. Critically looking at flashy but weak academic research is essential to avoid misguided social initiatives based on unreliable findings
  2. Popular media and journalistic venues often promote non-replicable science as easy solutions to complex problems, leading to wasteful institutional investments in ineffective programs
  3. Emphasizing rigorous scientific methods and exploring alternative solutions beyond 'quick fixes' is crucial in addressing social issues and avoiding costly yet ineffective interventions

What (some) people think about cultured meat

The Counterfactual • 19 implied HN points • 27 Mar 23
🍲 Food & Drink Behavioral Science
  1. Disgust sensitivity and gender are important factors in whether people want to try cultured meat. Generally, men are more willing than women, and those who feel more disgusted are less likely to try it.
  2. How people feel about cultured meat really matters. If they express positive feelings, they're more likely to want to try it and even pay extra for it.
  3. Even with different factors considered, only about 25% of what makes people willing to try cultured meat can be explained. This shows there's still a lot to discover about what influences these decisions.

Nerds have an advantage

Klement on Investing • 3 implied HN points • 06 Jun 25
😂 Humor Behavioral Science
  1. Being a nerd can give you an advantage in life and skills. Nerds tend to work smarter, making them more efficient.
  2. Chimpanzees that are skilled at cracking nuts show that experience and technical ability lead to better outcomes. This suggests that practice and learning pay off.
  3. In the long run, those who master their skills can invest time into other things like relationships and education, leading to more success overall.

Why We Stopped Charging Airbnb Cleaning Fee

Wetware Snippets • 11 implied HN points • 18 Apr 24
💼 Business Behavioral Science
  1. Removing the cleaning fee led guests to leave the apartment cleaner because they felt a sense of respect for the host and the property.
  2. Guests shift their mindset from social norms, which promote kindness, to market norms when a cleaning fee is charged, thinking that cleaning is no longer their responsibility.
  3. Understanding the difference between social and market norms is important, as mixing them can change people’s behavior in unexpected ways.

✳✴❇ Behavioural Science, Better Data Engineering & Timnit Gebru’s New Institute

Sector 6 | The Newsletter of AIM • 19 implied HN points • 05 Dec 21
🕹 Technology Behavioral Science
  1. Behavioral science can improve how data engineering is done. Understanding how people think and behave helps create better tech solutions.
  2. There’s a new hackathon for data scientists featuring a challenge to predict loan defaults. It has already attracted over 1,000 participants.
  3. A conference for machine learning developers will be held in-person in Bangalore. It's a great opportunity to learn and connect with others in the field.

Considerable overlap

Klement on Investing • 3 implied HN points • 24 Jan 25
🔬 Science Behavioral Science
  1. Baboons can learn to assess scatterplots and identify trends, similar to humans. This shows that different species can have overlapping skills in certain tasks.
  2. In general, smart baboons can outperform less intelligent humans in recognizing relationships in data. This highlights that intelligence can vary greatly, even within our own species.
  3. The study suggests that education plays a big role in developing skills, like understanding statistics. Humans often learn these concepts in school, while baboons do not.

Generative Agents 2.0

Gonzo ML • 0 implied HN points • 24 Feb 25
🕹 Technology Behavioral Science
  1. Researchers successfully created AI agents that can simulate 1,052 real people with about 85% accuracy. This means the AI can closely mimic how real people would respond in various situations.
  2. The study highlights the importance of interviews over surveys, as they provide deeper insights into people’s behaviors and thoughts, allowing the AI to generate better follow-up questions and responses.
  3. These AI agents have potential uses in social science research. They could help predict public reactions to policy changes or simulate behavioral responses, leading to new methods of understanding human decision-making.

When Better Feels Worse: The ChatGPT 5 Transition

Nano Thoughts • 0 implied HN points • 09 Aug 25
🕹 Technology Behavioral Science
  1. People often resist changes to familiar tools, even if the new version is actually better. It feels more like losing something they loved rather than gaining something new.
  2. Losses hit us harder than gains. Even a small loss can affect our mood significantly, while a win feels good only briefly. This is particularly true when we feel we've lost a feature or aspect we valued.
  3. When systems or tools change suddenly, it can feel overwhelming. Gradual transitions, where both old and new options are available, help people adjust better and keep them feeling comfortable.

Information as constraint of behavior

Space chimp life • 0 implied HN points • 07 Jan 24
📖 Philosophy Behavioral Science
  1. Institutions shape how we behave by restricting certain actions. This can be seen in clear rules or by making other choices harder or more costly.
  2. Information is created when different conditions allow an entity to do work, as shown in the example of a simple organism's behavior. The way it manages energy and information is crucial for survival.
  3. Just like simple organisms, institutions also gather information from their environment and use it to influence our actions. The way they set up rules determines the kind of work they can do.

GRANTED: The new books to read this fall

Granted • 0 implied HN points • 01 Sep 19
📚 Literature Behavioral Science
  1. When meeting new people, ask 'What do you love to do?' instead of 'What do you do?' to encourage unique interests and deeper conversations.
  2. Leadership requires keeping your ego in check by promoting those who challenge you and accepting privileges that enhance your work.
  3. Elite schools are reinforcing inequality, not meritocracy, by admitting more students from high-income families than low-income families.

Horse Races, Real and Political: Intrade's Favorite-Longshot Bias

Matt’s Five Points • 0 implied HN points • 05 Jan 12
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Behavioral Science
  1. Betters often prefer longshots to favorites, even when the favorites are better bets. This is known as the favorite-longshot bias.
  2. Studies show that betting on favorites tends to result in less loss compared to betting on longshots. Longshots usually lead to worse returns over time.
  3. This bias affects how people place bets in political markets too, leading to irrational choices like favoring less likely candidates just for the excitement.

Coming soon

The Kahneman Bot • 0 implied HN points • 05 Dec 21
🕹 Technology Behavioral Science
  1. The newsletter explores the connection between behavioral science and technology, focusing on how technology uses psychology and behavioral biases.
  2. The author has a diverse background, including training in economics, consulting, working at the UK's Nudge Unit, and being a Product Manager at a tech scale-up.
  3. The newsletter includes insights from a meeting in 2007 between psychologists, notably Daniel Kahneman, and tech leaders, showcasing how tech has integrated behavioral science concepts since the Web 2.0 era.

This is how tech is using behavioral science today

The Kahneman Bot • 0 implied HN points • 13 Feb 23
🕹 Technology Behavioral Science
  1. Product squads in tech actively use psychology and behavior science tactics like personalization and defaults to drive metrics.
  2. Top nudges used today include personalization, timely prompts, defaults, and social norms, while scarcity and commitment devices are less common.
  3. Personalization and defaults are perceived as the most effective techniques for driving metrics in tech products, with defaults being notably effective in behavioral science.

GRANTED: The costs of convenience and the benefits of humility

Granted • 0 implied HN points • 31 Mar 18
🏥 Health & Wellness Behavioral Science
  1. Choosing convenience always may mean missing out on the meaningful struggles that give life depth and value.
  2. Taking a break in a quiet space post-learning can boost memory recall significantly, showing that memory consolidation happens during wakeful rest.
  3. In the modern era, one's reputation as a trustworthy source is becoming more crucial than the sheer accumulation of knowledge.