Linking something that you enjoy with pursuing a valuable goal that might be a bit of a drag but is a powerful tool to achieve more.
May 9, 2021
- The Philadelphia Inquirer
If you have several types of goals, choose one that resonates with you the most, the experts said. (Maybe choose two if you’re feeling ambitious.) Having just one goal and a plan for achieving it is more important than having lots of vague goals, they said. Next, write everything down. This will not only help you think through your goals, but also help make them more memorable, said Katy Milkman, a behavioral scientist and professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and the author of How to Change, a forthcoming book on the science of achieving goals.
December 29, 2020
-The New York Times
At 72 and with high blood pressure, John is worried he won’t be in the best shape to travel when this is all over. So behavioral economist Katy Milkman introduces him to a key strategy for losing weight called “temptation bundling.” The idea is simple: Pair something you love—like juicy audio romance novels or, say, your favorite advice podcast—with a workout. The trick is to listen to that audiobook or podcast only when you exercise, so that you actually start looking forward to the workout.
December 29, 2020
-Slate
Thanks to the digital revolution, chief executives now live in glass houses. Katherine Milkman’s research on what stories make the New York Times’ most emailed list shows stories that evoke anger or anxiety are more likely to make the “most e-mailed” list. Stories about evil CEOs make perfect click-bait.
October 11, 2014
- The Economist
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Breaking a bad habit and replacing it with a new, healthier one isn't easy. One possible strategy for building new and better habits is “temptation bundling,” a strategy articulated and tested in a recent academic paper by Katherine Milkman.
September 28, 2014
- Philadelphia Inquirer
Jeff Bezos’s famous rule that teams shouldn’t be larger than what two pizzas can feed is supported by considerable academic research, including work by Katherine Milkman and co-authors on showing that we have the tendency to increasingly underestimate task completion time as team size grows.
September 25, 2014
- Business Insider
An article about the prevalence of sexual harassment in the sciences references Katherine Milkman’s research on bias against women and minorities in the Academy.
August 11, 2014
- The New York Times
At one time or another, most of us have struggled to do the things we know we should. Whether it’s in our personal lives or at work, we fall short of a goal, not because it’s unattainable but because we fail to exert the effort required. Katherine Milkman is determined to help us do better next time.
August 8, 2014
- Strategy + Business
Viral content is highly coveted, but getting your videos to go viral is no easy feat. Using empirical research, Katherine Milkman and her co-author, Jonah Berger, found that more upbeat content is more likely to be widely shared.
August 7, 2014
- Forbes
A new paper in Management Science argues that marking fresh starts via birthdays, holidays, or other noteworthy events is indeed an effective way to promote aspirational behavior like exercising more or eating healthier—and its findings suggest we may be able to contrive effective "fresh starts" out of thin air.
June 27, 2014
- Science of Us, New York Magazine
Researchers Jack Soll and John Payne of Duke University and Katherine Milkman of the University of Pennsylvania released their chapter called “A User's Guide to Debiasing” from the next edition of the Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Judgment and Decision Making. It’s a treasure trove of useful tweaks that can help lead you down the right path.
June 19, 2014
- Science of Us, New York Magazine
Social sharing is powerful enough to topple dictatorships and profitable enough to merit multibillion-dollar investments. But scientists are only beginning to explore the psychological motivations that turn a link into “click bait” and propel a piece of content to Internet fame.
May 19, 2014
- The New York Times
Jonah Berger and Katherine Milkman found that “positive content is more viral than negative content, but the relationship between emotion and social transmission is more complex than valence alone. Virality is partially driven by physiological arousal. Content that evokes high-arousal positive (awe) or negative (anger or anxiety) emotions is more viral.”
April 29, 2014
- Forbes
Academic research shows that the bias against women and minorities is much more insidious than we thought, and it’s found in places where we least expect to find it: on the pathway to academia.
April 28, 2014
- The Washington Post
A study found—overwhelmingly—that professors of all groups were more likely to respond to white men than women and black, Hispanic, Indian or Chinese students. Academics at private universities and in subjects that pay more on average were the most unresponsive.
April 25, 2014
- Nature
The study argues that the bias present in how faculty members respond to simple inquiries raises all kinds of questions about other forms of bias and whether academe is as welcoming to future graduate students as most academic leaders would say.
April 24, 2014
- Inside Higher Ed
Researchers found that professors are less likely to mentor female and minority students.
April 23, 2014
- Slate
Research found faculty in academic departments linked to more lucrative professions are more likely to discriminate against women and minorities than faculty in fields linked to less lucrative jobs.
April 22, 2014
- Morning Edition, NPR
The research of Katherine Milkman and others offers one explanation for the proliferation of cat videos on BuzzFeed: content that invokes a strong emotional response typically does better.
April 19, 2014
- SFGate
Nearly a dozen websites claim to help you achieve your goals by utilizing the principles of behavioral economics, or how social, emotional and other factors influence our financial decisions.
January 31, 2014
- Runner’s World