“Our ancestors never avoided eating tasty things. They never worried about retirement. They barely even worried about tomorrow,” psychologist William von Hippel recently told our senior science editor…

How we conceive of behaviors like self-control, overconfidence, and happiness today bears little resemblance to their evolutionary origins, argues psychologist William von Hippel.

Fashion fades, social pressure is eternal. *

My mother has opinions. Lots of them. Strong ones. These beliefs are decreed with the force of gospel to all comers.

Could teenagers actually be getting something meaningful and real out of all that texting?

Donors face a tradeoff between helping broadly and helping deeply.

Fashion fades, social pressure is eternal. * </

Congratulations to Richard Thaler, who has been awarded the Nobel memorial prize in economics “for his contributions to behavioural economics”. Thaler is a worthy winner. In addition to…

Thinking carefully and creatively about the distant future can sharpen our thinking about the present, even if what we imagine never comes to pass.

IS SUPERINTELLIGENCE IMPOSSIBLE? John Brockman: It’s a very exciting evening for me, and I don’t like to show emotion. These two individuals have been at each other for twenty years debating very…

Some of our most cherished nudge interventions—such as the Save More Tomorrow program or blind hiring practices—might be the “equivalent of removing splinters when the patient has a broken arm,”…

How might our sense about what we should solve, or even what qualifies as a problem worth solving, be biased by how we think about what we can solve?

The advice to “conserve energy” can backfire. What’s a better way to communicate about climate change?

In his recent State of the Union message, President Obama flatly stated that “Climate change is a fact.”

When trying to curb behavior that contributes to climate change, we often target individual actions. But these approaches have too often missed the mark.

How do you apply behavioral science to a complex environmental problem?

What impact could behavioral science have when applied across dozens of developing countries with different governments, capacities, and needs?

A new study finds that state laws sent a strong message about how norms were changing—and homophobia declined as a result.

New research reveals that the general public is largely under the (incorrect) impression that whites are more concerned than nonwhites about environmental issues.

Doing the things we know we ought to do often requires effort. So how can we interpret it in a way that will help us persevere?

How nations set policies on resettling refugees is often framed as a measure of their compassion. New research suggests another explanation.

At a time when being gay was classified as a mental disorder, Dr. Green defied the advice of his colleagues and took a professional risk by arguing otherwise.

Ten years after "nudge", we’ll bring you three weeks of articles exploring the intersection of behavioral science and public policy, with one eye toward where we've been and the other toward where…