Podcasts about white house social

SpeakerStuart Buck is the Executive Director of the Good Science Project, and a Senior Advisor at the Social Science Research Council. Formerly, he was the Vice President of Research at Arnold Ventures. His efforts to improve research transparency and reproducibility have been featured in Wired, New York Times, The Atlantic, Slate, The Economist, and more. He has given advice to DARPA, IARPA (the CIA's research arm), the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the White House Social and Behavioral Sciences Team on rigorous research processes, as well as publishing in top journals (such as Science and BMJ) on how to make research more accurate.Session SummaryWorking in the field of meta-science, Stuart cares deeply about who gets funding and how, the engulfment of bureaucracy for researchers, everywhere, how we can fund more innovative science, ensuring results are reproducible and true, and much more. Among many things, he has funded renowned work showing that scientific research is often irreproducible, including the Reproducibility Projects in Psychology and Cancer Biology.Full transcript, list of resources, and art piece: https://www.existentialhope.com/podcastsExistential Hope was created to collect positive and possible scenarios for the future so that we can have more people commit to creating a brighter future, and to begin mapping out the main developments and challenges that need to be navigated to reach it. Existential Hope is a Foresight Institute project.Hosted by Allison Duettmann and Beatrice ErkersFollow Us: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Existential Hope InstagramExplore every word spoken on this podcast through Fathom.fm. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Former White House Social Secretaries from multiple administrations recently traveled to Dallas for a special Engage at the Bush Center, presented by NexPoint event.Amy Zantzinger, social secretary for President and Mrs. Bush, and Jeremy Bernard, social secretary for President and Mrs. Obama, joined host Andrew Kaufmann beforehand to discuss the responsibilities of their job, their favorite White House events, and the lessons they learned in this important role.Hear more from Amy and Jeremy on this episode of The Strategerist, presented by the George W. Bush Presidential Center.Related content: A Conversation with White House Social Secretaries

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey discusses his landmark win in which the courts agreed that the Biden administration, FBI, and other federal agencies have improperly colluded with social media to engage in unconstitutional censorship.Subscribe to my two podcasts: “The Sharyl Attkisson Podcast” and “Full Measure After Hours.” Leave a review, subscribe and share with your friends! Support independent journalism by visiting the new Sharyl Attkisson store. Preorder Sharyl's new book: “Follow the $Science.” Visit SharylAttkisson.com and www.FullMeasure.news for original reporting. Do your own research. Make up your own mind. Think for yourself.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, my guest is Maya Shankar, Ph.D., a cognitive scientist, former senior advisor to the White House and Chair of the White House Social and Behavioral Sciences Team. She is the creator and host of the podcast, A Slight Change of Plans. We discuss how our identities develop and change, how our beliefs and internal narratives shape our perception of self, and how to use structured introspection about our values to determine our goals. We discuss how to cope and grow through uncertain situations, especially those that force us to reexamine our roles and identity. Dr. Shankar shares her experience of redefining her identity after an early career-ending setback. She also explains numerous science-based strategies to effectively define goals, structure our goal pursuits and maintain consistent motivation. This episode provides a science-supported toolkit and roadmap to assess your identity and goals and positively transform in the face of change. For the full show notes, visit hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman Maui Nui Venison: https://mauinuivenison.com/huberman Eight Sleep: https://eightsleep.com/huberman InsideTracker: https://insidetracker.com/huberman Supplements from Momentous https://www.livemomentous.com/huberman Timestamps (00:00:00) Dr. Maya Shankar (00:02:37) Sponsors: Maui Nui Venison & Eight Sleep (00:05:15) Identity Foreclosure, Identity Paralysis, Throughlines (00:12:10) Identity & Adolescence; “Essence” & Shame (00:16:58) Delight & Awe (00:23:00) Delight & Possibilities for Self (00:29:28) Playing Violin, Childhood (00:34:54) Sponsor: AG1 (00:35:58) Intrinsic Motivation; Juilliard & Courage (00:45:43) Competitive Environments; Curiosity & Growth (00:53:46) Re-Creating of Self (01:00:51) Pop-Science, Science Accessibility (01:05:25) Sponsor: InsideTracker (01:06:32) Passions & Curiosity (01:13:20) Change, Cognitive Closure, End-of-History Illusion (01:22:29) Self-Awareness & Critical Feedback (01:30:48) Tools: Flexible Mindset; Reframing & Venting; Gratitude (01:40:13) Tool: Framing Goals (01:47:13) Tool: Agency in Goal Pursuit (01:52:25) Tool: Like-Minded People & Goal Pursuit; Challenging Beliefs (02:01:27) Cultivating Open-Mindedness & Empathy (02:08:15) Building Self Narratives: Empathy, Burnout (02:13:56) Tools: Goal Setting (02:19:54) Tool: “Middle Problem”, Maintaining Motivation (02:24:55) Tool: Aversion & Memory, Peak-End Rule (02:31:41) Zero-Cost Support, YouTube Feedback, Spotify & Apple Reviews, Sponsors, Momentous, Neural Network Newsletter, Social Media Title Card Photo Credit: Mike Blabac Disclaimer

from the archives- Lea Burnam and Jeremy Bernard, who served as Social Secretary for the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, respectively, talk about their book "Treating People Well: The Extraordinary Power of Civility at Work and in Life."

Nudges are all around you. They might help you choose your meal at a restaurant, navigate a busy airport terminal, or start saving for the future. But nudges are often subtle, so you might not notice them until they're pointed out. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman, we're doing things a little differently. This episode is your guide to the many ways nudges have changed the world for the better. We'll revisit examples of nudges you may recognize from previous episodes of Choiceology. UCLA professor Shlomo Benartzi explains why defaults help more people save for retirement. University of Chicago professor Ayelet Fishbach reminds us how making the best choice a fun one is a great way to encourage better decisions. Harvard professor Todd Rogers discusses how social norms can help people reduce water and energy usage in hotels. You'll hear a feature interview with Nobel Prize-winning economist Richard Thaler, who along with Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein popularized nudges more than a decade ago in their book Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. And Cass Sunstein himself talks about how simplifying application forms can have an outsized impact on financial aid programs for students.Richard Thaler is the Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. He is the author of several books, including Nudge: The Final Edition and Misbehaving: The Making Of Behavioral Economics.Next, you'll hear from cognitive scientist Maya Shankar about how reading Nudge led her to work in the White House. She served as a senior advisor in the federal government where she founded the White House Social and Behavioral Sciences Team. She's also the creator, host, and executive producer of the award-winning podcast A Slight Change of Plans.Finally, Katy discusses ways you can incorporate nudges in your own life to help you make better decisions. Choiceology is an original podcast from Charles Schwab. For more on the series, visit schwab.com/podcast.If you enjoy the show, please leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating or review on Apple Podcasts. Important DisclosuresAll expressions of opinion are subject to change without notice in reaction to shifting market conditions.The comments, views, and opinions expressed in the presentation are those of the speakers and do not necessarily represent the views of Charles Schwab. Data contained herein from third-party providers is obtained from what are considered reliable sources. However, its accuracy, completeness or reliability cannot be guaranteed.The policy analysis provided by the Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., does not constitute and should not be interpreted as an endorsement of any political party.Investing involves risk, including loss of principal.The book, How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (CS&Co.). Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (CS&Co.) has not reviewed the book and makes no representations about its content.Apple Podcasts and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.Google Podcasts and the Google Podcasts logo are trademarks of Google LLC.Spotify and the Spotify logo are registered trademarks of Spotify AB.(0422-2A4K)

Today's guest is Renée Lertzman, Climate Psychologist & Strategist and Founder of Project InsideOut.Project InsideOut (PIO) is a unique platform, online tool, and resource hub that brings together changemakers, activists, and clinical psychologists to drive sustainable behavior change for our planet. PIO also provides guiding psychological principles for effectively working in climate change. We are entering a new phase of building out and inviting additional organizational partners. Renée is an internationally recognized psychological researcher and thought-leader, working to impact climate change with tools that organizations can use to engage, mobilize and connect with diverse populations. A native of Northern California, Renée has had more than 20 years of experience as a pioneer bridging psychological research and sustainability. She integrates behavioral, social, and innovative design sciences to create a dynamic approach to social change. She holds a Master's degree in Environmental Communications from the University of North Carolina and a Ph.D. from the Cardiff School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University, UK. Her distinguished reputation has led her to teach regularly, present, and produce research for numerous institutions, including World Wildlife Fund, the White House Social and Behavioural Sciences Team (SBST), National Center for Atmospheric Research, NOAA, and universities around the world. Renée is also an author and published journalist, writing about how the intersections of psychology, environment, and culture illustrate the culture of change.I was looking forward to this episode because I wanted to learn more about Renée's work and climate psychology. Renée walks me through her career path, why she focused on climate psychology, and her strategic consulting experience in the private and public sectors. We also discuss eco-anxiety and how to turn anxiety into action. Renée is a great guest, and we cover essential topics to ensure a successful clean transition.Enjoy the show!You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at info@mcjcollective.com, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.Episode recorded March 14th, 2022To learn more about Renée Lertzman and her project InsideOut, visit: https://www.reneelertzman.com/To learn more about this episode, visit: https://mcjcollective.com/my-climate-journey-podcast/renee-lertzman

Dr. Irina Feygina is a social psychologist who applies behavioral science and facilitation approaches to climate change policy and program development.  She served as the Director of Behavioral Science and Assessment at Climate Central, and as a fellow on the White House Social and Behavioral Sciences Team.  Irina joins Let's Get Real to talk about how our need for belonging affects our belief in climate change,  how some of our core assumptions endanger us, and what actually influences people to take positive action.  Nina and Irina also talk about what it really takes to have productive conversations with people who have different beliefs than our own.  Irina shared openly about her own struggle to integrate the scientific method with more intuitive ways of knowing and how her own inner work mirrors what needs to happen in society.   Process WorkPolarity Management The Master and his Emissary  

Meet Juan Manuel Contreras, Ph.D., a cognitive neuroscientist turned data science manager at Uber. Juan Manuel works at the intersection of data science, law, and economics to help drive Uber's legal and business strategies. In 2015, he was one of HuffPost's “40 Under 40: Latinos in American Politics” and he previously worked in the White House Social and Behavioral Sciences Team during the Obama Administration.Juan Manuel Contrerashttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jmcontreras/The Data Standardhttps://datastandard.io/https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-data-standard/

The video is the latest piece of content to test the social networks' policies surrounding manipulated media and false information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Having pioneered the bridging of psychological research and sustainability for more 20 years, Dr. Renee Lertzman gracefully marries the worlds of academia and practice. She does this by translating complex psychological and social science research insights into clear, applied and profound tools for organizations around the world seeking to engage, mobilize and connect with diverse populations, communities and individuals. Her unique and integrated approach brings together the best of the behavioral sciences, social sciences and innovative design sciences to create a powerful approach to engagement and social change. Renee is an internationally recognized thought leader and adviser, and works with organizations, professionals, and practitioners from government, business, philanthropic, and non-governmental sectors to design research tools, brand strategy, trainings, workshops, engagement practices, and strategies suited for the uniquely challenging nature of environmental work. Renee also is regularly commissioned to teach, present and produce research for a range of institutions, including World Wildlife Fund, the White House Social and Behavioral Sciences Team (SBST), National Center for Atmospheric Research, NOAA, Climate Solutions, Sustainable Path Foundation, Columbia University, Portland State University, Center for Sustainable Energy, Skoll Global Threats Fund, Radboud University (NL), Lanzhou University (China), Royal Roads University (British Columbia), Oxford University’s UK Energy Research Centre, and the University College London’s Climate Sciences Communications Policy Commission. Also an experienced journalist, since publishing her first interview in 1997 with Ira Glass in The Sun Magazine (and numerous others as a prolific interviewer), she has written extensively about how intersections of psychology, environment, and culture illuminate change work. Her writings have appeared in a diverse set of publications including The Sun Magazine, Pacific Standard, Orion Magazine, The Ecologist, Climate Access, DeSmog Blog, Sustainable Brands, and Sightline. Renee’s work has been featured in The Guardian, The New York Times, Time, Washington Post, the Hollywood Reporter, Vice, DeSmog Blog, Grist.org, Huffington Post, The Correspondent (NL), Down to Earth (NL), ClimateAccess, Warm Regards (podcast), Cambridge TV (UK), Climate One at the Commonwealth Club, Climate Confidential, Oregon Public Radio, and the BBC. Renee received her MA in Environmental Communications from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her PhD from the Cardiff School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University, UK. She developed and taught the first course on the Psychology of Environmental Education and Communications for the MA program at Royal Roads University from 2011-2016, and has supervised over a dozen graduate students. She has also designed and taught courses on the psychology of climate change and environment since 2001, and has convened symposiums internationally since 2003. Following a post-doctoral position as senior researcher at Portland State University in 2011, she has been a full-time applied researcher and advisor. She is a founding member of the Climate Psychology Alliance. Renee’s first book, Environmental Melancholia: Psychoanalytic Dimensions of Engagement, was published by Routledge in 2015; a trade book will follow. She is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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The White House is hosting a star-studded social media summit featuring a cast of attendees that gives a clue to the re-election strategy in 2020. Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta is facing demands to resign for cutting a sweetheart deal with alleged raping sociopath Jeffery Epstein. Finally, a news buffet of other headlines including a border update, hurricane season, and Megan Rapinoe's speech at the ticker tape parade.@HardFactorMark@HardFactorPat@HardFactorWes@HardFactorWill@HardFactorNews

Trump Invited Me To The White House Social Media Summit, Here Is Why I Am Attending. In one of the first articles published today about Donald Trump's White House Social Media Summit they claimed that there was no evidence of social media bias against conservatives.WrongAn outright lie or just pure willful ignorance. The first article I show in this video is proof Facebook routinely suppressed conservative news. I am not sure what the event at the White House will entail but I look forward to highlighting the far left and social justice bias held by many people at these companies and try to break down exactly what I think is happening and why.As someone who has been smeared by far left activists and fake news, done extensive research on the subject, as well as someone who has had his work censored on Youtube I believe I will bring an important bit of context to the event and I look forward to participating.Social Media and Big tech giants control a disproportionate amount of space in public discourse and the real issue is not the censorship of conservatives but massive billion dollar companies restricting speech and controlling public opinion.Today its conservatives, tomorrow its the centrists, and then its anyone who opposes the oligarchs.Support the show (http://timcast.com/donate)

Has the Holy Spirit invaded the White House? Social media lit up this week when prominent worship leaders sang to Jesus in the White House. What resulted was nothing short of a blessing from the Holy Spirit. Listen to hear what happened!

David Yokum may not be a household name but that shouldn’t stop you from listening. If you’ve ever wondered about police officer body cameras and the effect they’re having on crime, policing and adjudication, we have David to thank for conducting the first major randomized study on the use of police officer body cameras. We came to know his work by a stroke of good fortune. He and Tim met as guests of George Loewenstein at the 2016 inauguration of Carnegie Mellon University’s undergraduate degree in Behavioral Economics. It was clear from the first handshake that David is not just another guy who’s curious about behavioral sciences. Even though he’s earned a law degree and a PhD in psychology, he’s not just another science geek. He’s a doer. When they were introduced, David was transitioning from the White House Social and Behavioral Science Team to be a founding member of The Lab @ DC, which resides in the Executive Office of the Mayor of the District of Columbia. Among their many accomplishments, David and his colleagues conducted the foundational study on the impact of police officer body cameras. They set out to understand how body cameras might influence the use of force, how the cameras might impact crime and how the cameras might impact the flow of cases through the courts. But they discovered much more. They realized that the context in which the study was rolled out mattered a great deal. The District of Columbia is not a static laboratory – it’s a city with nearly 4,000 law enforcement officers that represent a spectrum of quality, ability and experience on the job. Police officer training, police force reform, the urban crime environment, the population of the city, the support from other governmental agencies…all of these create a context that impacted the study’s results. David shared with us about how, at the launch of the study, the team considered how body cameras might create an effect to increase the perceived legitimacy of the police force. And in some cases that happened. They believed that pairing the body camera data with existing datasets would reveal great insights for potential changes to police work. However, even with the tremendous amount of adjudication data and the dreaded police reporting paperwork, known to every viewer of a television police drama, there were still surprises. They discovered that some of the correlations (and sometimes lack of correlations) on arrests and quality of adjudication simply weren’t what they expected. To some degree, they got a null result. On that level, David noted that the null effect was an important message that prompted deeper analysis. We wandered into a great discussion about the pratfalls of researchers relying too much on data, especially when they lack the ‘feet on the street’ view that comes from actually being in the field. All of this was predicated on the Lab@DC’s study on the capital city’s rat problem. The study changed for the better when the research team was enlightened with insights from the animal vector team and rat biology specialists. At this point in our discussion, David enthusiastically noted that you should never stop developing a study. A study needs to be open to new insights, new data points, new information and reflect the latest and best thinking of the team. A study isn’t a shiny, newly-minted penny…it’s a living, breathing thing. All this connected us with the fact that not all results from just any similar study will replicate in your situation. This led us to a note about David’s failed attempt to replicate Michael Hallsworth’s tax letter studies, which reinforced the need for regular and rigorous research from context to context. We were pleased to be conducting our discussion with David from Brown University, where he very recently assumed a post as an adjunct professor and has been tasked with establishing and directing a new center that will support applied public policy research with state and local governments. There is so much more to come from David Yokum! Of course, we ended our discussion on music and we laughed our way through comments about Eddie Vedder to South African pop artist Mathew Mole and into the lost art of making a mixtape. Today, music is curated digitally, created by computers observing our likes and dislikes. We don’t even need to select individual songs, just click a ‘create’ button. But in the days before digital music, mixtapes allowed listeners to enjoy their favorite album tracks in the order that they wanted to listen to them. They were used at parties or for private consumption. And, in some cases, mixtapes were created as love letters – providing that special someone with a curated musical story of how you felt about him or her. As technology changes, the world changes with it. For better or for worse, our human brains are huffing to keep up with that changing world. Our biases appear to be stuck in the context of a world that existed not 4 years ago, but 40,000 years ago. As long as we have a gap between our brain’s ability to process the contemporary world, we need science to help us understand it. We need people like David Yokum to do the hard work of figuring out how to apply the behavioral sciences to government.Yes, science is hard. And we have David Yokum to thank for contributing to a better understanding of how governmental policies can improve our daily lives.   PS: As of this writing, Behavioral Grooves is now listened to in more than 85 countries. We are pleased to have listeners around this wonderful world. Thank you all for sharing in our journey.

Easter Egg Rolls, picnics, and dinners at the White House may not sound like urgent matters, but they are opportunities to reach across the aisle and build relationships thanks to the influence of first ladies. We chatted with co-author of Treating People Well and former White House Social Secretary Lea Berman about our nation's most well-known hostesses. 

Rachel Greenberg interviews White House Social Secretaries Jeremy Bernard and Lea Berman

The application of behavioral science inside government has gained steam over the past few years with the creation of so-called “Nudge units” popping up in countries around the world. Their goals are simple: Use the lessons of behavioral science to make government work better. The Behavioural Insights Team in the United Kingdom and the White House Social and Behavioral Sciences team in the U.S. Canada has a team now. Australia. Singapore. All the Scandinavian countries. Behavioral science teams now have a bit of buzz.  Before this buzz, there was BIAS – the Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) project, the first major opportunity to apply a behavioral science lens to programs that serve poor and vulnerable families in the United States. The project, which began in 2010 funded through the Administration of Children and Families in the Department of Health and Human Services, sought to apply behavioral insights to issues related to the design and implementation of social service programs and policies with a goal of learn how such tools could be used to improve the well-being of low-income children, adults, and families. The non-profit education and social policy organization MDRC led the project. (Disclosure: I worked on BIAS in 2010-2011 at one of the partner organizations, ideas42, also participating.) Traditionally, many social programs were designed in ways that individuals must make active decisions and go through a series of steps in order to benefit from them. They must decide which programs to apply to or participate in, complete forms, attend meetings, show proof of eligibility, and arrange travel and child care. Program designers have often assumed that individuals will carefully consider options, analyze details, and make decisions that maximize their well-being. BIAS drew heavily from that past three decades of research in the behavioral sciences showing that human decision making is often imperfect and imprecise. People clients and program administrators alike procrastinate, get overwhelmed by choices, miss details, lose their self-control, rely on mental shortcuts, and permit small changes in the environment to influence their decisions. As a result, programs and participants may not always achieve the goals they set for themselves. Working through ACF programs, the BIAS team designed and tested 15 behaviorally-informed interventions in seven states involving nearly 100,000 people. Many of the interventions involved a redesign of communications materials. Projects ranged from increasing child support collections, to improving child care recertification processes, to changing messaging around TANF participation. Along the way, BIAS researchers published a series of reports laying out not just which designs worked and didn’t, but how they went about implementing the designs in difficult bureaucratic and technological environments and when they faced challenges that altered their work. A final report is due out later this year. Of the 15 interventions, 11 showed positive signs of impact, making the overall project today one proof point among a growing number about the promise of applying insights from behavioral science to make government work better.   John Balz is Director of Strategy at VML, a full-service marketing agency with offices around the globe. He has spent his career applying behavioral science strategies in the marketing and advertising field through direct mail and email, display and .coms, mobile messaging, e-commerce and social media. You can follow him on Twitter @Nudgeblog and contact him at nudgeblog@gmail.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The application of behavioral science inside government has gained steam over the past few years with the creation of so-called “Nudge units” popping up in countries around the world. Their goals are simple: Use the lessons of behavioral science to make government work better. The Behavioural Insights Team in the United Kingdom and the White House Social and Behavioral Sciences team in the U.S. Canada has a team now. Australia. Singapore. All the Scandinavian countries. Behavioral science teams now have a bit of buzz.  Before this buzz, there was BIAS – the Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) project, the first major opportunity to apply a behavioral science lens to programs that serve poor and vulnerable families in the United States. The project, which began in 2010 funded through the Administration of Children and Families in the Department of Health and Human Services, sought to apply behavioral insights to issues related to the design and implementation of social service programs and policies with a goal of learn how such tools could be used to improve the well-being of low-income children, adults, and families. The non-profit education and social policy organization MDRC led the project. (Disclosure: I worked on BIAS in 2010-2011 at one of the partner organizations, ideas42, also participating.) Traditionally, many social programs were designed in ways that individuals must make active decisions and go through a series of steps in order to benefit from them. They must decide which programs to apply to or participate in, complete forms, attend meetings, show proof of eligibility, and arrange travel and child care. Program designers have often assumed that individuals will carefully consider options, analyze details, and make decisions that maximize their well-being. BIAS drew heavily from that past three decades of research in the behavioral sciences showing that human decision making is often imperfect and imprecise. People clients and program administrators alike procrastinate, get overwhelmed by choices, miss details, lose their self-control, rely on mental shortcuts, and permit small changes in the environment to influence their decisions. As a result, programs and participants may not always achieve the goals they set for themselves. Working through ACF programs, the BIAS team designed and tested 15 behaviorally-informed interventions in seven states involving nearly 100,000 people. Many of the interventions involved a redesign of communications materials. Projects ranged from increasing child support collections, to improving child care recertification processes, to changing messaging around TANF participation. Along the way, BIAS researchers published a series of reports laying out not just which designs worked and didn’t, but how they went about implementing the designs in difficult bureaucratic and technological environments and when they faced challenges that altered their work. A final report is due out later this year. Of the 15 interventions, 11 showed positive signs of impact, making the overall project today one proof point among a growing number about the promise of applying insights from behavioral science to make government work better.   John Balz is Director of Strategy at VML, a full-service marketing agency with offices around the globe. He has spent his career applying behavioral science strategies in the marketing and advertising field through direct mail and email, display and .coms, mobile messaging, e-commerce and social media. You can follow him on Twitter @Nudgeblog and contact him at nudgeblog@gmail.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The application of behavioral science inside government has gained steam over the past few years with the creation of so-called “Nudge units” popping up in countries around the world. Their goals are simple: Use the lessons of behavioral science to make government work better. The Behavioural Insights Team in the United Kingdom and the White House Social and Behavioral Sciences team in the U.S. Canada has a team now. Australia. Singapore. All the Scandinavian countries. Behavioral science teams now have a bit of buzz.  Before this buzz, there was BIAS – the Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) project, the first major opportunity to apply a behavioral science lens to programs that serve poor and vulnerable families in the United States. The project, which began in 2010 funded through the Administration of Children and Families in the Department of Health and Human Services, sought to apply behavioral insights to issues related to the design and implementation of social service programs and policies with a goal of learn how such tools could be used to improve the well-being of low-income children, adults, and families. The non-profit education and social policy organization MDRC led the project. (Disclosure: I worked on BIAS in 2010-2011 at one of the partner organizations, ideas42, also participating.) Traditionally, many social programs were designed in ways that individuals must make active decisions and go through a series of steps in order to benefit from them. They must decide which programs to apply to or participate in, complete forms, attend meetings, show proof of eligibility, and arrange travel and child care. Program designers have often assumed that individuals will carefully consider options, analyze details, and make decisions that maximize their well-being. BIAS drew heavily from that past three decades of research in the behavioral sciences showing that human decision making is often imperfect and imprecise. People clients and program administrators alike procrastinate, get overwhelmed by choices, miss details, lose their self-control, rely on mental shortcuts, and permit small changes in the environment to influence their decisions. As a result, programs and participants may not always achieve the goals they set for themselves. Working through ACF programs, the BIAS team designed and tested 15 behaviorally-informed interventions in seven states involving nearly 100,000 people. Many of the interventions involved a redesign of communications materials. Projects ranged from increasing child support collections, to improving child care recertification processes, to changing messaging around TANF participation. Along the way, BIAS researchers published a series of reports laying out not just which designs worked and didn’t, but how they went about implementing the designs in difficult bureaucratic and technological environments and when they faced challenges that altered their work. A final report is due out later this year. Of the 15 interventions, 11 showed positive signs of impact, making the overall project today one proof point among a growing number about the promise of applying insights from behavioral science to make government work better.   John Balz is Director of Strategy at VML, a full-service marketing agency with offices around the globe. He has spent his career applying behavioral science strategies in the marketing and advertising field through direct mail and email, display and .coms, mobile messaging, e-commerce and social media. You can follow him on Twitter @Nudgeblog and contact him at nudgeblog@gmail.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On September 15th, 2015, President Obama issued an Executive Order encouraging federal agencies to apply behavioral insights in their programs, policies, and operations. On the same day, the White House Social and Behavioral Sciences Team (SBST) released its first annual report that details the results of 15 different collaborative projects with agencies to apply insights from behavioral economics and […] The post Using behavioral insights to improve government performance: An interview with Maya Shankar, Chair, White House Social and Behavioral Science Team – Episode #95 appeared first on Gov Innovator podcast.