Tag: Decision making

  • Nation & World

    A revised portrait of psychopaths

    A study suggests that while psychopaths do feel regret, however, it doesn’t affect their choices.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Leadership under stress

    Leadership under fire and decision-making under stress were invoked, praised, and perhaps slightly demystified on Wednesday during an event that brought 600 Harvard alumni a taste of the campus today even as it urged them to consider the Harvard of tomorrow.

    7 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Bringing order to the court

    New Harvard research points to a sharper method for evaluating basketball players.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    The motivation to move

    Using an unusual decision-making study, Harvard researchers exploring the question of motivation found that rats will perform a task faster or slower depending on the size of the benefit they receive, suggesting they maintain a long-term estimate of whether it’s worthwhile for them to invest the energy.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    The power of ‘thanks’

    In “Sidetracked: Why Our Decisions Get Derailed, and How We Can Stick to the Plan,” Francesca Gino, an associate professor at Harvard Business School, explores a range of fascinating subjects, including how emotions influence decisions and the often-thorny matter of understanding the perspectives of others. Blending social science and real-world examples, Gino’s book also highlights…

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Decision, decisions

    Two of Harvard’s leading social scientists discussed the way that humans make decisions, and whether having more choices really makes us happier.

    6 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Right choice, but not the intuitive one

    When faced with a tough choice, we already have the cognitive tools we need to make the right decision, Daniel Gilbert, professor of psychology, told a Harvard Law School audience on Feb. 16. The hard part is overcoming the tricks our minds play on us that render rational decision-making nearly impossible.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Focus on Pakistan

    What did Pakistani officials know about the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and when did they know it? Were they complicit — or dumb? Or smart at playing dumb? Those questions were analyzed by a panel of foreign policy experts on Wednesday (May 4) at Harvard Kennedy School.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Learning to love the irrational mind

    Just how much should we allow “human nature” to guide our politics — and our everyday decision making? Columnist David Brooks and a trio of Harvard analysts debated new findings on the unconscious mind during a panel discussion.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    HKS receives $600,000 from William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

    The Harvard Decision Science Laboratory, a cross-faculty research facility based at the Harvard Kennedy School, has received a three-year, $600,000 grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to support the lab’s scientific research in human judgment and decision making.

    1 minute