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Insights from experts in academia and business, exploring the behavioural science behind the most pressing issues of the day.
The Changing Minds webinar series ran through the covid-19 pandemic. The series explores insights from psychology and neuroscience to better understand human behaviour. In each webinar we are joined by an expert in their field to investigate the behavioural science behind some of our most pressing issues.
All webinars are approximately 30 minutes.
The psychology of successfully working from home: Anna Cox
On 23 March 2020, the UK joined many other countries in imposing a lockdown in order to slow the spread of the covid-19 virus and many people suddenly found themselves working from home. Most were unprepared for such a dramatic change in their working and many of us struggled to work effectively in these new circumstances. Professor Anna Cox discusses her research with crowdworkers and the insights and top tips it provides for working from home. She focuses on using technology to create and maintain work-life boundaries.
For anyone interested in access to Anna's free online course it is available here: https://idwell.netlify.com/#/.
Cooperation in the time of covid: Nichola Raihani
Covid-19 has transformed society in an amazingly short period of time. Part of that change has involved a loss of trust in government but at the same time, a rise in "hyper-local" cooperation as people look to their local communities to solve problems. Professor Nichola Raihani discusses what makes individuals invest in helping others and how has covid-19 changed cooperation in our society.
Staying connected while social distancing: Sophie Scott
In this era of lockdown, staying in touch with friends and family is vital for maintaining good mental health. If we cannot meet down the pub or at the cinema and only have video conferencing, is that enough? Professor Sophie Scott discusses the importance of maintaining our social connections and how laughter, in particular, plays a vital role.
Facing the fear of going outside: Lasana Harris
Normally, meeting up with people is a rewarding activity; we find great pleasure in seeing our friends and family in person. At the moment, though, the thought of face-to-face interaction can come with a great deal of anxiety because of the risk of exposure to covid. In this webinar, Dr. Lasana Harris speaks about this new form of social anxiety, how contagious it is, and how best to make walking outside a more pleasant experience ag
What if...David Lagnado
We all love a good “What if…” question. What if the government stops social distancing too early? What if we hadn’t closed schools? What if I moved in with my ageing parents -- would they be safer now?
Why do we love to ask questions without an answer? What are they good for? And why do we often believe so passionately that *we* have the true answer? Prof. David Lagnado discusses all of these questions and more.
Home schooling: Getting it right: Sandra Dunsmuir
With the covid-crisis closing schools for the majority of children, many parents face the daunting task of having full-time work while also home schooling their children. In this episode, Professor Sandra Dunsmuir, Professor of Educational & Child Psychology and Director of the UCL Educational Psychology department shares her insights and experience in how parents can best juggle these competing demands, help their children learn, and keep the family happy at the same time.
The new behavioural economics: Jo Evershed
Companies often use focus groups to better understand their customers but one thing we've learned from Behavioural Economics is that asking questions doesn't always provide the most accurate results -- often people are not able to say precisely how they came to a decision. As a result, many companies are adopting the tools of psychology in order to better understand consumer behaviour. Jo Evershed, the CEO of Gorilla Experiment Builder and a pioneer in providing online testing ability to a range of audiences, discusses the importance of the behavioural sciences for acquiring evidence and making informed decisions.
Big data, smart analyses: Brad Love
Big data can be analysed to reveal patterns, trends, and associations, especially relating to human behaviour and interactions. Many organisations now employ data scientists and advanced machine learning tools to search for novel insights into consumer behaviour. In this episode, Professor Brad Love discusses the potential -- and pitfalls! -- of big data and makes a strong case for academic-corporate partnerships to leverage the strengths of both organisations.
Live theatre is dead. Long live theatre! Daniel Richardson
With social distancing an essential part of the new social fabric, how are venues like theatres, cinemas, and even stadiums going to recover? Obviously there are strict public health issues related to their opening, but there are also import social and psychological factors to consider. Prof. Daniel Richardson joins me to discuss the importance of being an audience and the personal and societal value of plays, movies, and even sporting events.
How does your brain navigate the world? Kate Jeffery
Most of us take our ability to get from one place to another for granted but navigation is a surprisingly complex problem. Just ask Christoper Columbus who was shockingly far from his intended goal when he discovered The New World. Our brains are constantly integrating information about our position, direction and motion to enable us to move around our environment. In this episode, Professor Kate Jeffery speaks about the brain's navigation circuit and how understanding helped Ikea devise ways to interfere with your navigation skills to route you through every part of their store and why that means more sales.
Why listening to your gut feelings works: Sarah Garfinkel
Although our five external senses get all the love, an internal sense called interoception plays an important role in recognising emotional states, self-regulating, and even when making risky decisions. Professor Sarah Garfinkel talks with me about interoception -- what it is, what it's good for, and how in the world people study it. She tells us about her work showing that "gut feelings" have a pronounced effect on the professional lives of financial traders working on a London trading floor.
Unconscious influences on behaviour: Fact or fiction? David Shanks
"95% of all decision making is unconscious." It's such a common refrain, but is it true? What does it even mean for a decision to be unconscious? What about an unconscious influence? Professor David Shanks sheds light on these topics and discusses money priming, whether sex really sells, and why grocery stores put the bakery by the entrance.
Tripping points in consumer experience: Tim Routledge
How many times have you been about to make a purchase, only to have something change your mind at the last minute? Sometimes it's just a realisation that we don't want/need it, but often it is because of something jarring in the consumer journey: a tripping point. Is it possible to measure this and use the information to improve the consumer experience? If so, how? Tim Routledge, co-founder of CX Lab and self-professed neuroscience enthusiast, speaks about getting the customer experience right.
Why do we trust some brands more than others? Michele O'Neill
When we talk about brands we often use the same words that we use when talking about people. We have relationships with brands. We like or dislike them, and sometimes we even trust them. This is precisely what makes brand management fundamentally important and such big business. But why do we trust some brands more than others? Michele O'Neill, Global Strategy Partner at Edelman, shares the insights they've developed in over 20 years of working closely with some of the world's top brands.
How does psychology contribute to great entrepreneurship? Gorkan Ahmetoglu
Successful entrepreneurs are innovators. They see opportunities where others don't and find ways to turn these into effective businesses. But what gives a person the ability to generate, execute and lead business innovation? Are they born with it or can it be learned? Dr. Gorkan Ahmetoglu, Associate Professor of Business Psychology, answers these questions and shares his experience running the world's largest entrepreneurship experiment.
When to Shoot the Messenger: Joe Marks
Banking on Behavioural Insights: Alexandra Chesterfield
How To Make a Difference on Climate Change: Pernille Holtedahl
Global warming is a stark fact of modern life. Regardless of whether you believe the problem is man-made or not, the evidence for rapid climate change is over-whelming. The polar ice sheets are receding, sea levels are rising and ocean temperatures are getting warmer. Carbon dioxide levels are twice as high as the previous peak in the last 800,000 years. For reference, our species — homo sapiens — have only existed for approximately 300,000 years. The problem is ours to address and the question we face is how? Dr. Pernille Holtedahl will be speaking about the economics of climate change and how behavioural science can be leveraged to make a real difference.
The Political Animal: The Science of Politics and Polarisation: Le de-Wit
Aristotle famously claimed “man is by nature a political animal” or an outcast like a “bird that flies alone.” In other words, our social nature means that politics is intrinsic to who we are. If we want to understand politics, simple demographics like age, gender, education, and religion are only the tip of the iceberg — what is needed is a deeper understanding of how our minds and brains affect our political behaviour. In this episode, Dr. Lee de-Wit, Lecturer in Political Psychology at Cambridge University, discusses how fundamental psychological processes influence our voting behaviour and can lead to polarisation.
How to Build Better Habits: Liz Braker
In these strange times, we are all too aware of the need for increased attention to hygiene: washing hands, wearing face masks and taking other special measures to reduce the spread of infection. But sometimes, these new habits are hard to build. In this episode, we talk to Liz Barker from The Behavioural Architects about how we can use behavioural insights to build better habits. Liz shares her own insights and expertise in this area, focussing on an especially interesting case study involving the design and rollout of portable hand-wash units across refugee camps.
Understanding the Irrational Shopper: Sue Benson
Sue Benson is the Managing Director of the Behaviours Agency, a creative agency that seeks to make marketing more effective with the use of behavioural science
How New 'Tech' is Changing Recruitment: Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic
Why Consumers Lie? Rob Bayne
Why Should Companies Care About Diversity? Susan Fiske
Beauty, Brains and Banks: Luigi Ruggerone
How does our brain react to artistic beauty? What do we look at when we see masterpieces like Leonardo’s Last Supper ? And why is Italy’s largest bank interested in these questions? Join us for a discussion with Luigi Ruggerone, head of Innovation, Research and Development at Intesa San Paolo Bank. We will discuss how the bank is conducting and implementing behavioural and neuroscientific research in a novel and fascinating way.
For Goodness' Sake: Insights on Prosocial Nudging: Pete Dyson
How can we get people to make choices that benefit others? The answer to this question has never seemed more relevant than it does today. Join us for a discussion with Pete Dyson, Principal Behavioural Scientist at Ogilvy Consulting, where we will find out how behavioural science can be used to help prompt prosocial decisions from consumers and citizens.
Nudging: How to Learn from Failure: Magda Osman
What can we learn from behavioural interventions that fail? Join us for a discussion with Dr. Magda Osman, Reader in Experimental Psychology at Queen Mary University of London, where we will discuss how to establish a robust and responsible basis for evidence-based policy.
