David Berreby
Author, Us and Them: The Science of Identity
David Berreby is the author of "Us and Them: The Science of Identity." He has written about human behavior and other science topics for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Slate, Smithsonian, The New Republic, Nature, Discover, Vogue and many other publications. He has been a Visiting Scholar at the University of Paris, a Science Writing Fellow at the Marine Biological Laboratory, a resident at Yaddo, and in 2006 was awarded the Erving Goffman Award for Outstanding Scholarship for the first edition of "Us and Them." David can be found on Twitter at @davidberreby and reached by email at david [at] davidberreby [dot] com.
How Much Violence Is Being Committed In Your Name?
My neighborhood is a tranquil place—the sort of area where you watch images of war and oppression from far away. Those columns of black smoke, the men riding by with […]
What We Mean When We Say ‘I Did Something I Didn’t Want to Do’
One way to understand a nudge—a government policy that inclines you to make a particular choice, often without your awareness—is that it makes it easier for you to do what […]
Study: You’ll Be Happier Throwing Out That Bucket List Than Chasing It
In my motley career I have had long conversations with heads of state and Nobel Prize winners. I have hiked north of the Arctic Circle and watched humpback whales amble […]
Should You Be Able to Sue the Government That Nudged You?
"Nudge" policies are spreading across the globe because they supposedly offer a less expensive and more effective way to get people to make the "right" decisions. In the original formulation, such decisions are defined as those that people would like to have made, had they not been hobbled and blinkered at the time by irresistible irrationality.
Study: Cities Speak A Different Language Than Their Small-Town Neighbors
Whatever your native language, you’ve probably noticed that city people speak it differently than do country folk. But so what? It’s also true that Chicagoans speak a bit differently than […]
Government-By-Nudge Is a Global Phenomenon
Nudges, “choice architecture,” social marketing and other non-rational approaches to government are a pretty significant development. After all, these policies replace explicit arguments (“you should get more exercise for these […]
Why Your Devices Shouldn’t Do the Work of Being You
In my post last week I linked to some work by Evan Selinger, a philosopher at the Rochester Institute of Technology who has been thinking hard about the ways seemingly […]
Why You Don’t Have to Be Rational to Run Your Own Life
Are we becoming too obsessed with the idea that people can’t think straight? When I began blogging here at BigThink five years ago, I would have said no. After all, […]
How Social Networks Help Foster Genocide
Doing any networking this week? If you aren’t, you probably feel you should. For a generation we’ve been hearing that rich social lives will find us jobs, get our chores […]
What’s Behind Humanity’s Strange Tolerance for the Deaths of Innocent People?
In my news feed the other day was a photo of an anguished boy holding an even smaller boy, killed by a shell. Another day in the war in Gaza. […]
Is Humanity Getting Less Violent? Or Just Better at Hiding Its Violence?
The premiere of Handel’s Messiah, in Dublin in 1742, was a very hot ticket, with an audience of 700 in the 600-seat theater. Hence, gentlemen were asked to come without […]
Are Men Who Are Ashamed of Their Bodies More Prone to Rape?
UPDATE 5/26/14: I wrote this post before Elliot Rodger’s killing spree. The study I describe is, strictly speaking, about rape, but its notion of a connection between male shame and […]
How Global Warming Leaches Nutrients Out of Food
One of the few supposedly silver linings to be found in the dark cloud of global warming is its effect on agriculture (at least in some regions). As optimists and […]
What If We Start Talking About Race Like We Talk About Religion?
If you’re an American at all engaged with politics, you have very likely had the following conversation: You’re debating a topic that’s culturally and politically sensitive. You appreciate the human […]
When We All ‘Talk Like TED,’ TED Will Go Mum. Here’s Why.
Earlier today the game designer and philosopher Ian Bogost tweeted the above photo, signaling that TEDism—the look and feel of those incisive idea-filled talks from TED conferences—is spreading far and […]
It’s Not ‘Demonizing’ If I Sincerely Think You’re A Demon
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about both the means and consequences of demonization. And like most Americans of my generation I generally think it’s a terrible thing. To […]
This is Your Brain on Ukraine: Can People Be ‘Nudged’ Away From Crazy Behavior in a Conflict?
Over the past few years, government has discovered that it can accomplish a lot when it sets aside the notion that human beings are rational. Rather than giving people good […]
Just How Much of Yourself Do You Really Want to Outsource?
Political and economic changes have a way of getting into people’s heads. Once-new tools come to feel as natural as the hands that pick them up; once-new rules, ingrained in […]
Personal Autonomy Is Evaporating. Should We Care?
Once upon a time, a car was an industrial machine you climbed in and drove around. Today, it’s also a tracking and nudging machine that second-guesses you for your own […]
Want to Make Hunter-Gatherers Irrational? Expose Them to Free Markets
A well-known example of irrational decision-making people’s tendency to overvalue the things they own (I would pay $1 for a coffee mug but will demand $5 for an identical coffee […]
Study: Kids Eat More Healthy Foods When They Pay With Cash
When people use plastic to pay for food, they make more impulse-based purchases, like ice cream, donuts and chips, compared to those who pay with cash, as I wrote here […]
Study: Combative People “Remember” Hostile Acts That They Didn’t Commit
What kind of people confess to crimes they didn’t commit? You might imagine they’re sleepless and terrified, with cops telling them there’s already proof of their guilt. And you’d be […]
Why We Can Predict A Lot About the Next Mass Shooting—But Never Enough to Prevent It
“I do not know whether I shall return from my long weekend trip alive,” the mathematical psychologist Anatol Rapoport once wrote. “But I do know that the number of traffic […]
Study: Social Networks Spread Anger Much More Effectively Than They Spread Joy or Sadness
Maybe digital technology is a neutral medium, conveying all our thoughts and feelings equally well. Or maybe, as tech hype tells us, our apps and gadgets skew positive, liberating us […]
Posts and Tweets and Pics About Your Kids: Cute Pastime Or Irresponsible Parenting?
Like many doting parents, I post about my son on Facebook, enjoying the few years I have left before he gets veto power. I don’t put up anything negative or […]
How to Think About the Federal “Nudge Squad”
Fox News this week has the not very surprising news that the Obama Administration is looking for social scientists to help form a “Behavioral Insights Team” that, like the group […]
How (and Why) Political Beliefs Sway Supposedly Non-Political Decisions
What’s the best way to hold people accountable for their actions on the job? Measure the results (though that might encourage them to break a few rules, or even a […]
Are Some Problems Too Big for Democracy?
“Morsi is an idiot,” says a friend of mine. “But he should have been voted out.” Like many people I know, he can’t endorse the military overthrow of a man […]
If You Don’t Want Others Spying On You, Don’t Spy On Yourself
Pondering the worrisome prospect that all your quantified self data might not be private.
A Case for the Pursuit of Unhappiness
Is the pursuit of happiness, which we Americans will celebrate later this week, a worthy goal? Many have said no, on the grounds that happiness comes only to those who […]