News

Dr Michael Muthukrishna writes about cultural evolution and the paradox of diversity for the National Academy of Engineering. Read the issue here. (18 December 2020)

In this article for Behavioural Public Policy, Dr Stuart Mills advances current theory on 'nudge' and 'sludge' theory, and argues that even greater emphasis should be made in the role of transparency in choice architecture, particularly those in policymaking roles. Read the article in full in Cambridge University Press. (2 December 2020)

A new report, published by the British Psychological Society and the Poverty to Flourishing campaign, shows how psychology can help to inform policies to support children and families. PBS's Dr Jennifer Sheehy-Skeffington is a member of the campaign and has explored the impact of poverty on people’s sense of control through her research. Read an article on the report in the January 2021 issue of The Psychologist. (30 November 2020)

A study, led by PBS's Maxi Heitmayer and Professor Saadi Lahlou, finds that 89% of mobile phone use is initiated by the user, and only 11% by notifications. Out now in Computers in Human Behaviour & reported in BBC News here. (23 November 2020)

Remote working has encouraged a shift in perception of what roles can be done flexibly, says a report commissioned by the Women in Banking & Finance network and PBS's Dr Grace Lordan. Read the article in Bloomberg here. (23 November 2020)

Research by Nihan Albayrak-Aydemir and Dr Ilka Gleibs shows that people are less likely to support global emergencies when the aftermaths are less clear. Read the full story. (14 November 2020)

Dr Grace Lordan has been appointed to the Department for Education’s (DfE) Skills and Productivity Board to advise on enhancing skills and inclusion for a post-COVID-19 economy. Read the story in full here. (13 November 2020)

LSE Behavioural Lab joins the European Commission’s €10million funded PERISCOPE consortium to study the effectiveness of COVID-19 policy messages on compliance behaviours. Read the story in full here. (20 October 2020)

Jess Winterstein speaks to Dr Thomas Curran, Associate Professor at PBS, about the potential pitfalls of wanting to be perfect. Our society values perfection, but is the concept of perfect really that good for us? This episode of LSE IQ explores perfectionism. Listen to the podcast on LSE Player here. (6 October 2020)

Dr Christian Krekel has led research showing that happier people were more compliant with COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, while unhappy people were less likely to comply. This research has been co-authored into a blog for LSE, available here. (24 September 2020)

Torben Emmerling and Duncan Rooders, both alumni of Executive MSc Behavioural Science, write about behavioural science strategies that can improve group decision making for Harvard Business Review. Read the article '7 Strategies for Better Group Decision Making' here. (22 September 2020)

A comic strip visualisation of the 2020 article 'Experimental evidence on the impact of biodiversity conservation videos on charitable donations' by Dr Ganga Shreedhar and Professor Susana Mourato from the journal Ecological Economics has been created by artist Joe Decie and published by LSE Library. View and download the cartoon at LSE Research Online. (17 September 2020)

Research co-authored by PBS and the Department of Georgraphy & the Environment at LSE will be presented at an event held by the UK Network of Environmental Economists on 16 September 2020, 12.15pm (BST). The research, co-authored by Dr Ganga Shreedhar, suggests that support for wildlife conservation is boosted when COVID-19 is linked to destruction of nature. Read the full research paper, published in Environmental and Resource Economics here. (16 September 2020)

PBS alumni and faculty including Professor Liam Delaney and Professor Paul Dolan have helped to launch the world's first independent organisation for applied behavioural scientists, GAABS.  More on GAABS here. (2 September 2020)

Dr Grace Lordan, Associate Professor in Behavioural Science, is set to release Think Big, utilizing behavioural insights to help people improve their careers, in 2021 with Penguin. (28 August 2020)

Commitment posters have been used in the US to reduce the number of unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions. A randomised trial in the UK showed these were ineffective & that an automated message pre-appointment showed more promise. Research led by the Public Health England Behavioural Insights (PHEBI) and co-authored by Dr Jet Sanders (LSE). Read the research in Antibiotics. (11 August 2020)

Happier people are more likely to comply with social distancing and shielding at home orders to help suppress the spread of COVID-19. This is the key finding from a new working paper from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), University of Oxford, and University College London (UCL). Read the news article here. (7 August 2020)

National attitudes to welfare recipients are related to political and media spheres, suggests a study of UK political speeches from 1996 to 2016 and 168,000 media reports. Read the research here. This research was led by Celestin Okoroji as part of his PhD thesis. (23 July 2020)

Patient compliment letters reveal the value of ‘extra-role’ behaviours and if properly utilised can improve patient safety and staff well-being, a new study from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) suggests. Read the story. (22 July 2020)

Linking the human destruction of the environment to the spread of Covid-19 increases support for pro-wildlife conservation policy, new research from Dr Ganga Shreedhar and Professor Susana Mourato shows. Read the research in Environmental and Resource Economics. (15 July 2020)

Professor Martin W. Bauer speaks on the relationship between the public and science in the context of Covid-19, organised by UFRGS in Brazil. The discussion was held in light of the 2019 publication The Cultural Authority of Science: Comparing across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas available via Routledge here. Access the presentation slides (in English): Martin Bauer for UFRGS 2020 supporting information (6 July 2020)

Tom Reader & Alex Gillespie published a paper in the Journal of Applied Psychology showing that patient care could be improved if patient reports on unsafe clinical behaviours are systematically used as a metric of hospital safety. Read the paper here. (21 June 2020)

In a discussion paper for IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Grace Lordan and Cecily Josten investigate the impact of personality on responses to health policy, in this case the UK smoking ban. Read the paper here. (21 June 2020)

Dr Jennifer Sheehy-Skeffington was selected by the British Psychological Society (BPS) to join their Poverty Expert Reference Group, charged with working with their Policy Team to carry forward the Society’s priority focus on ‘From Poverty to Flourishing’. (21 June 2020)

PBS Honorary Fellow Jan Stockdale writes a tribute to Bram Oppenheim, who sadly died on 27 April 2020, one of the founding members of the Department of Social Psychology (now PBS) for the British Psychological Society. Read the tribute on the BPS website here. (17 June 2020)

Students who are suffering from symptoms of burnout, defined as exhaustion, cynicism and reduced efficacy,  achieve worse academic results, according to new research from York St John University and London School of Economics and Political Science, that highlights the need for better strategies to counteract stress. Read more. (16 June 2020)

A paper co-signed by Dr Fauquet-Alekhine & Professor Lahlou (SEBE-Lab http://www.sebe-lab.net) has been awarded (laureate level 1) at the XVth International PTSCIENCE CPD Competition for Scientific Works organised by the Panrussian Society for Scientific Development. (13 June 2020)

Only 15% of manuscripts explicitly test results derived from psychological theory, bringing in to question whether researchers are working within a theoretical consensus, claims new research compiled by early career researchers including PBS's Nihan Albayrak-Aydemir. Read the report here. (12 June 2020)

A one-size-fits-all approach to encouraging more compliance with social distancing rules, instead of targeting sub-groups, can be ineffective and may even lead to less compliance, a new working paper led by Dr Dario Krpan has found. Read more on LSE news here. (11 June 2020)

Low-income communities in the United States and Europe can learn from bottom-up development policies - people finding solutions for themselves where the state has faltered - like the grass-roots movements we are seeing in the favelas of Brazil says Professor Sandra Jovchelovitch to the Washington Post. Read more. (10 June 2020)

COVID-19 mental-health responses neglect social realities writes PBS alumna (MSc Health, Community and Development & PhD Social Psychology) Dr Rochelle Burgess who says "labelling a condition doesn’t make the social challenges around it disappear." Read the full article in Nature here. (27 May 2020)

PBS faculty (Dr Christian Krekel) and Professional Services  Staff (Will Stubbs) awarded at the LSE's Teaching Excellence Awards. (20 May 2020)

A report from LSE's The Inclusion Initiative (TII), led by PBS Associate Professor Dr Grace Lordan, identifies best practice for virtual inclusion in City of London firms during the pandemic. Read a blog post on the report on LSE Business Review. (5 May 2020)

The UK government’s policy to suppress the COVID-19 epidemic was expected to prevent around 189,000 incremental deaths, with a monetary value of £380 billion — around 17% of GDP — according to new research from Professor Paul Dolan and Pinar Jenkins. Read more on this story and access the report here. (20 April 2020)

Professor Paul Dolan writes for The Spectator about the social and economic costs, as well as the health costs, involved in the coronavirus lockdown measures. Read the full article on The Spectator here. (9 April 2020)

In this article for CNN International, Dr Michael Muthukrishna comments on the reasons why people may find physical distancing hard based on our complex societal structures. Read the article here. (2 April 2020)

Professor Martin Bauer speaks to Aljazeera about the World Health Organisation's decision to use 'physical distancing' rather than 'social distancing' is better for our mental health. Read the article here. (30 March 2020)

LSE launched The Inclusion Initiative (TII), co-founded by Grace Lordan, Associate Professor in Behavioural Science, and Karina Robinson, Master of the Worshipful Company of International Bankers. TII will tackle inclusion from within the firm itself, offering practical interventions based on academic research that aims to understand why people make the choices they do. Visit The Inclusion Initiative website at https://www.lse.ac.uk/tii (6 March 2020)

In this podcast interview for LSEIQ, Dr Michael Muthukrishna about corruption and the many forms it can come in, from bribery, extortion, cronyism, to nepotism – with varying levels of legality. Listen on SoundCloud. (3 March 2020)

Liam Delaney joins PBS as new Head of Department. Read our news story here. (10 February 2020)

Barry Rogers, Visiting Senior Fellow in PBS, was awarded a gold award for excellency in the 2019 Brandon Hall Group Human Capital Management [HCM] Awards for Excellence in Miami, Florida. (7 February 2020)

The LSE Electoral Psychology Observatory formally launched in February 2020, aiming to understand the psychology of voters. Dr Sandra Obradovic has joined the team, bringing her expertise in political psychology. Read more here on LSE News.

Dr Tom W. Reader and Dr Alex Gillespie's article Patient‐Centered Insights: Using Health Care Complaints to Reveal Hot Spots and Blind Spots in Quality and Safety has been recognised as the most highly cited in The Milbank Quarerly's recent publication history. The article was published 11 September 2018 and is available to read on Wiley Online Library here. (6 February 2020)

Director Petra Costa, who studied MSc Health, Community and Development in 2008 in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science (formerly Department of Social Psychology), has been nominated for Best Documentary for The Edge of Democracy at the 92nd Academy Awards. (14 January 2020)

Dr Ilka Gleibs was interviewed by LSE about her recent research (co-authored with Prof Daniel Frings & Dr Anne M. Ridley of LSEBU) into the challenge of managing different identities and how it can lower undergraduate performance. Read the full interview on the LSE website here. (5 December 2019)

Dr Michael Muthukrishna has written his views on cultural evolutionary public policy, including public policy interventions that aim to tackle harmful traditions such as FGC, for Nature Human Behaviour. Read the article on Nature Human Behaviour here. (5 December 2019).

PBS faculty awarded for excellence in teaching. More information about the LSE Excellence in Education Awards and the full list of winners can be found on the LSE website. (22 November 2019).

Some hyper-realistic face masks more believable than human faces, study suggests. A new study, released in the open-access journal Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, has found a higher than anticipated error rate amongst participants asked to identify a real face from a hyper-realistic face mask when two photographs are side-by-side. Read more in our news article. (21 November 2019)

Does re-framing health messaging lead to higher patient uptake? "Make the most of your life!" "Don't miss out!"Which message will get you to a health check-up? A new trial, co-authored by Dr Jet. G. Sanders, compared the effectiveness of the NHS Health Check invitation letter with gain- and loss-framed messaging to see how they impacted patient uptake. (18 November 2019)

What moderates the attainment gap? A new study into social identity in higher education. Dr Ilka Gleibs has co-authored an article for Social Psychology of Education looking at the issue of attainment gaps in higher education and specifically the effects of social identity incompatibility and practical incompatibility on the performance of students who are or are not Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME). Read the full article in Springer Link here. (6 November 2019)

Are bankers really that bad? A new study from PBS alumni. A new article out now in Nature has addressed the issue of reproductibility, and the increasing issue of replicating findings in 'inaccessible' environments. Zoe Rahwan studied on the Executive MSc Behavioural Science when it launched in 2014. Read the full article in Nature here. (November 2019)

Why plant-based diets are probably not a fad. To mark World Vegan Day (1 November 2019) LSE news have interviewed experts including PBS's Dr Ben Voyer and PhD student Heidi Zamzow who discuss why plant-based diets are not just a flash in the pan, but have strong links to identity. Read the article on LSE news here. (1 November 2019)

New research on identity among white British Muslims. New research out now in the International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP) from PBS PhD student Amena Amer, explores the experiences of identity (mis/non) recognition and strategies of identity performance among white British Muslims. Read the paper in full on Wiley Online Library here. (30 October 2019)

Understanding behavioural intervention strategies. Tackling environmental and social sustainability challenges cannot be done without changes in the everyday behaviours of people. Attempts to, for example, reduce energy consumption at home, increase recycling rates, reduce alcohol and prevent bullying, have popularly (an cost-effectively) been addressed by addressing social norms, such as media campaigns to help direct more positive behaviours. Read the article in full here in Sustainability. (21 October 2019)

A report published in Human Resource Management Journal shows that when employees are provided with a supportive environment to express their religious identity in the workplace they experience increased wellbeing and work more efficiently. The report comprises a literature review of 53 publications on religious beliefs and the workplace and is co-authored by Dr Ilka Gleibs. Read the full report on Wiley Online Library here. (19 July 2019)

In this interview for LSE news, Exec MSc Behavioural Science alumni Ian Hadden (lead author) explains how a short series of precisely targeted writing exercises can significantly improve the academic attainment of school students from low-income families, in this new study by a joint research team from PBS and the University of Sussex. Read the interview on LSE news. (9 July 2019)

Dr Grace Lordan has contributed an analysis of Healthy Minds, a research project by the London School of Economics and Bounce Forward into the ultimate secondary school PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic) curriculum, in light of the UK Government's plans to expand these subjects further by 2020. Read this piece in LSE Centre Piece here. 18 July 2019 - you can now read more on this in LSE news. (18 July 2019)

The Emirates Foundation has awarded Dr Jennifer Sheehy-Skeffington funding for the project, “Global identity in an uncertain world: A longitudinal study of the development of cosmopolitan social attitudes at an international elite university setting in the Middle East”. The money will fund a longitudinal study of social attitudes in the student population of NYU-Abu Dhabi, to be run in collaboration with PJ Henry at NYU-Abu Dhabi (Psychology) and Christian Haerpfer at United Arab Emirates University (Sociology), commencing in January 2020.

Dr Lucia Garcia-Lorenzo recently spoke at the conference Identity, Creativity and Innovation jointly organised by the Departments of Management and Organisational Psychology at Birkbeck, University of London. The focus of the talk was on how despite entrepreneurship being proposed as a solution to extend working lives in the context of an increasingly ageing population, older entrepreneurs still face discrimination in society and the workplace. Read more about Lucia's research here.

Dr Grace Lordan features in the latest episode of the award winning LSE IQ podcast. On it she talks about her research into gender equality. Listen on LSE player. (18 June 2019)

New research on social influence. Forthcoming research in Personality and Social Psychology Review from Dr Michael Muthukrishna and Dr. Mark Schaller from University of British Columbia uses computational modelling to understand the specific ways in which cross-cultural differences may have long-term consequences for cultural stability and cultural change.

As part of a new publication Responsibility for Refugee and Migrant Integration, Dr Jet Sanders (with Elizabeth Castle, Karen Tan and Rob Jenkins) explores how behavioural science can be applied to refugee integration, in this case through education and employment, and how behavioural evidence can be used to facilitate drivers of integration. Access the publication here.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) have announced new research projects to address issues facing Colombia’s transition from conflict to peace. Pathways to Reconciliation, led by Professor Sandra Jovchelovitch investigates the impact of Schools for Forgiveness and Reconciliation -ES.PE.RE - on the psychological and social wellbeing of victims of the Colombian conflict. Read more on the project on the UKRI website and follow the project on Twitter @reconciliaLSECo 

On 9 June 2019, 11am - 12pm, Professor Paul Dolan will speak about his new book Happy Ever After: Escaping the Myth of the Perfect Life at the Cheltenham Science Festival. Find out more on the Cheltenham Science Festival website.

At LSE's 2019 Festival Joel Suss won the photography prize for his image of a Hong Kong urbanscape. Joel wanted to capture what it can feel like to live in a big city full of vibrancy and crowds and yet feel loneliness, anxiety and social dislocation – issues which many people in places like Hong Kong and London can experience. The LSE Festival 2019 theme was 'New World (Dis)Orders'.

Dr Kate Laffan has been awarded a Marie-Curie Individual Fellowship by the European Commission to study Intention-Behaviour Gaps in Environmentally Significant Consumption Behaviours. 

New study shows a reduction in meat consumption when animals are viewed as "friends". Dr Frederic Basso and PhD student Feiyang Wang provide evidence that exposure to the metaphor “animals are friends”, generates moral (guilt) feelings in meat consumers, which negatively influences their attitudes toward meat consumption and their behavioral intentions to eat meat. Read the article in Appetite here. (July 2019)

Book Release: Happy Ever After by Professor Paul Dolan. On Thursday 24th January in an event chaired by Professor Julia Black, Professor Paul Dolan discussed themes from his new book Happy Ever After.  View the webcast from the event here. 

UK and Colombian Researchers Working Together for Sustainable Peace. Ten new research projects to address issues facing Colombia’s transition from conflict to peace, including one from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), have been announced by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Pathways to Reconciliation will be led by Professor Sandra Jovchelovitch and Dr Fabio Idrobo, Santa Fe de Bogota Foundation (FSFB). It will investigate the impact of Schools for Forgiveness and Reconciliation -ES.PE.RE - on the psychological and social wellbeing of victims of the Colombian conflict. Read more here. (11 November 2019)

Gender Pay Gap Could Get Worse. Research by Dr Grace Lordan shows that girls born in the year 2000 are aspiring to do jobs that are paid 31 per cent lower than males. Boys born in 2000, on the other hand, have higher aspirations than previous male generations in terms of income, to the point where the gender pay gap could actually become larger than it is at present if these aspirations are fulfilled. Read more here. (10 October 2019)

Patient Complaints Reveal Quality and Safety ‘Blind Spots’ in Healthcare Delivery. Healthcare complaints made by patients can provide unique insight on aspects of healthcare delivery not easily evaluated by hospitals, a new study from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) has found. Read the article (10 October 2018)

Entrepreneurship Research: Dr Michael Muthukrishna. New research lead by Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science, Dr Michael Muthukrishna, has shown that rates of entrepreneurship are higher in some countries than others and it may be because they are generally less risk-averse and more overconfident. Read the article (20 August 2018)

Podcast: Dr Ilka Gleibs Discusses the Psychology Behind Diversity. Professor Dr Ilka Gleibs discusses on the CB On Air podcast why people need to stop blaming women’s behaviour for a lack of diversity within economics and central banking. (31 July 2018)

ESRC Grant Assessment Panel Appointment. Associate Professor Dr Sophie von Stumm has been appointed to the ESRC grant assessment panel D, which looks after projects on secondary data analysis.

ESRC Celebrating Impact Awards. At the ESRC Celebrating Impact Awards, PHD student Brett Heasman won the Future Promise Prize and was named runner-up of the Outstanding Early Career Impact award. Congratulations to Brett whose work has helped improve public understanding of autism. (June 2018)

Professor Martin W Bauer elected a Fellow of acatech. Congratulations to Professor Dr Martin W Bauer, LSE Psychology and Behavioural Science Department Professor of Social Psychology, who has been elected a Fellow of Deutsche Akademie der Technikwissenschaften [German Academy of Technical Sciences; acatech].

2018 LSE Student-Led Teaching Awards. Congratulations to Assistant Professor in Social Psychology and Economic Psychology, Frederic Basso, who received the Highly Commended, Inspirational Teaching Award at the LSE Student-led Teaching Excellence Awards. (May 2018)

Diet choice research: Dr Dario Krpan. Research by Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science, Dr Dario Krpan, has shown that frequent vegetarian meal eaters are less likely to select a vegetarian dish when presented with a separate section for this in a menu. Read the article. (13 March 2018)

PBS PhD candidate Nihan Albayrak wins LSE Festival Popular Prize. On Friday 23 February 2018, PhD candidate Nihan Albayrak was awarded the LSE Festival Popular Prize for her work on the ways in which we help the victims of global disasters. You can read an abstract from Nihan's work on the LSE Festival website. Find out more about Nihan. (23 February 2018)

Open day for our new undergraduate programme. In Autumn 2018, applications for our new BSc in Psychological and Behavioural Science will open. You can find out more about this exciting and unique undergraduate programme from our faculty on 11 April 2018. 

Behavioural Science Hub Seminar: Ashley Whillans. On 30 November, Ashley Whillans spoke at the Behavioural Science Hub Seminar and presented her work, entitled "Exchanging cents for seconds: The happiness benefits of choosing time over money". Watch her presentation here: Ashley Willans (30 November 2017)

Book release: Installation Theory. On Wednesday 18 October in an event chaired by Dame Shirley Pearce, Professor Saadi Lahlou discussed themes from new book Installation Theory: The Societal Construction and Regulation of Behaviour. Listen to the event. Read the first chapter of Saadi's book, Installation Theory. (19 October 2017)

Professor Sandra Jovchelovitch to speak on importance of schools and parents in childhood and adolescent learning. On 4 October 2017, LSE Latin America and Caribbean Centre (LACC) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) hosted the conference Skills for Development in a Changing World. Prof. Sandra Jovchelovitch spoke as part of a panel discussion on learning during childhood and adolescence, drawing on years of fascinating research. Read (free e-book) Underground Sociabilities by Sandra Jovchelovitch. (4 October 2017)

Publication in nature human behaviour. Dr Michael Muthukrishna has recently published research on the dynamics of corruption, Corrupting Cooperation and How Anti-Corruption Strategies May Backfire Data. This research demonstrates that transparency only reduces corruption in certain circumstances: if economic opportunities exist or if the state has the strength and resources to punish law-breakers. If neither of these circumstances is present, transparency is ineffective—or can even make things worse.  Read more about the story | Read the paper. (10 July 2017)

Important study on autistic perspectives published in the international journal Autism. In the first study of its kind, Brett Heasman (PBS PhD student) and Dr Alex Gillespie used a two-way measure of perspective-taking to show that 'neurotypical' people struggle to imagine autistic perspectives, bringing attention to the many activities, such as job interviews, that rely on how autistic people are seen by others. Read the study (July 2017)

Dr Jana Uher presents research in public lecture. How do we judge others? Are people judged differently for the same things? Watch the presentation. (13 June 2017)