Incentives Matter

tell-tale

What's new in behavioral science and behavioral economics — how nudges, incentives, and cognitive biases shape decisions in healthcare, finance, risky behaviors, environment, charitable donations, and beyond.

  1. May 22

    Breeding Cobras in the ER: How Healthcare Incentives Accidentally Pay for Sicker Patients

    This episode explores how misaligned incentives in healthcare can inadvertently encourage patients to get sicker, drawing a parallel to the "cobra effect." It discusses how financial structures like fee-for-service and Diagnostic Related Groups (DRGs) can reward hospitals for treating more severe conditions or "upcoding" diagnoses, rather than promoting preventative health. Listeners will learn about the subtle ways the healthcare system prioritizes "sick care" over "health care" due to these structural logics.

    14 min

  2. May 22

    The Sociopathic Optimizer: Why Scrubbing Cognitive Bias Makes AI Worse

    This episode explores new research challenging the conventional wisdom of eliminating all bias from AI, suggesting that stripping away certain cognitive biases might create a "sociopathic optimizer." It distinguishes between harmful biases, which perpetuate discrimination, and cognitive biases, which are presented as essential human heuristics for navigating complex, uncertain social environments. Listeners will learn why some human-like cognitive biases might be crucial for AI to make socially acceptable and ethically sound decisions, rather than merely technically optimal ones.

    13 min

  3. May 22

    Don’t Tell Me What To Do: The Hidden Cognitive Cost of AI Advice

    This episode explores the counterintuitive finding that optimal AI advice can often lead to worse human performance, attributing this to a psychological cost where explicit commands diminish a user's autonomy and engagement. It delves into how direct AI instruction can stifle creativity and motivation, particularly in complex tasks, while emphasizing the importance of human psychology in AI design. Listeners will learn the critical difference between directive "AI advice" and autonomy-preserving "AI nudges" for fostering better human-AI collaboration and outcomes.

    13 min

  4. May 22

    The GLP-1 Illusion: When Viral Anecdotes Meet Hard Behavioral Data

    This episode explores how GLP-1 drugs, beyond their well-known effects on weight loss and appetite suppression, profoundly impact other addictive behaviors, particularly alcohol and nicotine consumption. Listeners will learn that these drugs appear to re-calibrate the brain's reward system by modulating dopamine release in key areas, thereby reducing the 'wanting' and hedonic response to these substances. The discussion also touches on the potential for these effects to extend to other compulsive behaviors like gambling or shopping, highlighting a much broader influence on the brain's motivation and reward circuitry.

    11 min

  5. May 19

    The Great Phone Ban Experiment: A Nudge or a Hammer?

    This episode explores the surprising academic benefits of school-wide mobile phone bans, revealing that such policies can lead to significant learning gains equivalent to an extra week of schooling. Listeners will learn how these bans disproportionately benefit struggling students by removing a major source of distraction, improving cognitive focus, and effectively closing achievement gaps.

    13 min

  6. May 19

    The Doer vs. The Fed: Why Rate Hikes Make Us Think Inflation is Getting Worse

    This episode explores the fascinating paradox where the public often interprets Federal Reserve interest rate hikes, intended to combat inflation, as a sign that inflation is actually getting worse. It delves into the behavioral mechanisms, such as salience, the availability heuristic, and confirmation bias, that contribute to this fundamental disconnect in how monetary policy is understood. Listeners will learn why individuals, or "Doers," focus on immediate, painful costs of rate hikes rather than their long-term anti-inflationary goals, and the profound implications this has for the effectiveness of central bank actions.

    12 min

  7. May 19

    Haunted by HVAC: The 18-Hertz Nudge and the Science of Unseen Stress

    This episode explores how specific low-frequency sounds, known as infrasound, particularly around 18 hertz, can induce feelings of dread, anxiety, and even visual hallucinations, often mistaken for supernatural encounters. It details the scientific discovery by Vic Tandy, who linked these unsettling sensations to environmental factors like faulty fans emitting infrasound. Listeners will learn how these unheard frequencies cause internal organs to resonate, leading the brain to interpret these physiological responses as profound emotional and psychological effects.

    14 min

  8. May 8

    The $18 Trillion Snooze Button: How Banks Profit from Our Inertia

    This episode explores how banks profit immensely from customer inertia, or "sleepy customers," who leave an estimated $18 trillion in deposits earning minimal interest. It delves into the behavioral economics behind why individuals don't switch banks, highlighting "psychological switching costs" as a major barrier, and reveals how banks actively encourage this inaction through strategies like price discrimination and bundling. Listeners will learn the staggering scale of these profits and the deliberate mechanisms banks use to maintain them, often penalizing loyal customers.

    10 min
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What's new in behavioral science and behavioral economics — how nudges, incentives, and cognitive biases shape decisions in healthcare, finance, risky behaviors, environment, charitable donations, and beyond.

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