Area: Behavioral Decision Making
Math Gender Gap: Nonexistent for Blacks, Notable for Affluent Whites
Well-to-do families doting on their sons at daughters’ expense?
Maximizing Retirement Savings: More Nudging Required
Tweaking 401(k) website design and language can significantly boost worker contributions, yet HR doesn’t always see these opportunities
Motivation to Begin or an Excuse to Slack Off?
Fresh-start dates can serve as either — it’s a two-way nudge
New Study Disavows Marshmallow Test’s Predictive Powers
Test’s originator was a central co-author but died before its completion
News from Venus and Mars: Genders Communicate Similarly atop Organizations
Analysis of 15 years of Wikipedia editors’ chatter reveals women of rank don’t shrink from controversial topics
Not All Second Chances Are Good Ones
Hengchen Dai finds that hitting the reset button can help those who have recently struggled, but erodes the motivation and execution of top performers
Nudging Teachers, in a Large Field Study, Marginally Boosted Student Math Performance
Fifteen nudges tried out across 140,000 teachers and some 3 million students
Online Reviews Sway Experiential Purchases Less Than Those of Material Products
Reviews that explicitly talk about objective quality assessments are well received
Our Envy of Prospective Events Is Greater Than of Those Past
That’s helpful information in a social media world filled with friends who do enviable things
Out of the Blue, a Colon Cancer Screening Kit Arrives
That approach, closer to an opt-out, beat three nudges, or opt-ins at encouraging younger people to get tested
Overcoming Obstacles to Taking Better Care of Your Future Self
Hal Hershfield’s book offers research-backed methods to build a healthier, happier, more financially secure life
Oversight of Borrowed Money Creates Animosity
Friends lending to friends, taxpayers bailing out businesses feel it’s still their money and have opinions on how it’s spent
People Prioritize Shared Experiences, Even When Apart
People will endure inconvenience to synchronize events, regardless of proximity
Quirk of the ACT Test — Rounding to a Whole Number — Offers Rare Isolated Glimpse of the Value of Scores
Tracking the impact of a small test-score difference on college attendance and later life
Replicating a Successful Nudge in Health Care: Advice for Skeptics
How it often goes wrong and key observations for effective strategies
Research on Food Assistance Attitudes Shows People Overestimate Stigma Around Welfare
But correcting this misperception doesn’t necessarily boost applications