306. How to Launch a Behavior-Change Revolution

Freakonomics Radio

Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.6 • 32K Ratings

🗓️ 26 October 2017

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Academic studies are nice, and so are Nobel Prizes. But to truly prove the value of a new idea, you have to unleash it to the masses. That's what a dream team of social scientists is doing — and we sat in as they drew up their game plan.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Several months ago, we introduced you to a pair of University of Pennsylvania professors,
0:09.3	Angela Duckworth.
0:10.3	Hi, Stephen.
0:11.4	And Katie Milkman.
0:12.4	Hi.
0:13.4	They wanted to solve a problem.
0:15.0	A problem that if we fixed it could truly solve every social problem we could think of.
0:19.9	The problem is ourselves.
0:22.5	In other words, the problem with human beings is that they're human beings and that they
0:27.5	repeatedly make decisions that undermine their own long-term well-being.
0:33.0	So Duckworth and Milkman started putting together a project.
0:36.2	We're now calling it behavior change for good with a deliberate double-entandra for good
0:40.9	for permanent but for good for you.
0:43.9	The idea was hatched in response to a competition from the MacArthur Foundation, the prize a $100
0:50.6	million research grant.
0:53.4	But the behavior change for good project didn't even advance to the final round.
0:58.4	I was not only devastated but I was surprised.
1:02.3	I mean, arrogance, I don't know, narcissism.
1:05.5	I was shocked to hear that we were not advanced.
1:09.3	But by then, Duckworth and Milkman were already recruiting a dream team of fellow researchers.
1:14.2	They'd signed on a bunch of corporate partners and they'd fallen in love with their project.
1:19.3	So they found some other money, not $100 million but enough to get it going.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.