Behavioral Science

A nascent and interdisciplinary field, behavioral science is the psychologically inclined, boots-on-the-ground cousin of decision sciences: not how to optimize decision-making with structured and impartial flow-charts, but the “real-world” neuro-economic stuff that prods our monkey-brains into action. We tend to make a lot of foolish and apparently contradictory decisions in our lives, wreaking havoc in the process, and we often can’t even explain why (much less what we ought to do about it). Enter behavioral science. The findings emerging from these fields are, I believe, among the most important in the history of human thought, helping us to curtail our own moronic, self-destructive myopia and impulsivity. From collective action problems to personal health to across-the-aisle political compromises, Behavioral Science offers immense promise for helping us to solve virtually every imaginable challenge of modern existence (though, I repeat, it is in its infancy). As an aside, few books can carry the distinction of having Changed Everything for me, but Thaler and Sunstein’s Nudge is one of them (particularly in its promise for non-binary political directions); I cannot recommend it highly enough.