Join the Rotman School and BEAR for an online book launch event for What Works, What Doesn't (and When): Case Studies in Applied Behavioral Science edited by Dilip Soman (April 2024, UTP).

Speakers:

Michael Hallsworth, Managing Director, Americas, The Behavioral Insights Team

Nicole Robitaille, Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Smith School of Business, Queen’s University

Anisha Singh, PhD student, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

Chiara Varazzani, Lead Behavioral Scientist, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD - OCDE)

Moderator: Dilip Soman, Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Science and Economics; Director, BEAR

Co-hosted by: Rotman Events

Session Synopsis:

The event will include short presentations from three featured contributors to the book, followed by a panel conversation. Featured presentations include:

Nicole Robitaille on NUDGING SUCCESSFULLY ACROSS CONTEXTS: PLANNING PROMPT INTERVENTIONS TRANSLATED ACROSS PEOPLE, PLACES, AND TIME

Anisha Singh on TAKING CONTEXT SERIOUSLY: ITERATIVELY TRANSLATING LAB TO FIELD INTERVENTIONS FOR ANEMIA PREVENTION IN RURAL INDIA

Chiara Varazzani on IMPACTS OF ACCURACY PROMPTS ON MISINFORMATION SHARING

Nuala Walsh, one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Finance discusses her book 'Tune In: How to Make Smarter Decisions in a Noisy World'.

Co-hosted with Rotman Events.

Topic:

Tune In: How to make smarter decisions in a noisy world Paperback (Harriman House, March 26 2024)

Speaker:

Nuala Walsh, Founder and CEO, MindEquity; Visiting Fellow, London School of Economics

In Conversation with: Rhia Catapano, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Rotman School of Management

Event Synopsis:

Despite conventional wisdom, the biggest risk confronting our generation isn’t economic, political or climate risk. It’s decision risk, and the failure to hear who and what really matters.

Your decisions impact others, yet in today’s noisy world of digital distraction, disinformation and data overload we’re more vulnerable than ever to hearing less and less. In the dash to decide, we sacrifice nuance for convenience, misinterpret people and misunderstand situations, accelerating a rush to misjudgement.

The result? A catalogue of human errors, unheard voices and tone-deaf leadership. Tuning out relevant voices degrades decisions, damages reputation and squanders opportunity, amplifying modern activism, rampant polarisation, scandals and scams.

Now that can change.

In Tune In, award-winning Nuala Walsh champions understanding behaviour as an insurance policy against mishearing, misinformation and misjudgement. This timely masterclass stands apart in its original treatment of 'deaf spots,' the hidden judgement killers that stop us from hearing what really matters. It not only explains your worst mistakes but equips you to prevent future error and the sting of regret.

Armed with a new science-led PERIMETERS framework and dozens of 'sonic' strategies that rely on human intelligence, not artificial intelligence, you’ll discover the 10 traps that bind our reasoning. Each is illustrated by a cast of Wall Street titans, sports legends, serial killers, presidents, astronauts, entrepreneurs, entertainers and exonerees.

By tuning in, you’ll hear what others don’t and secure advantage. You’ll stand out rather than miss out, becoming a more admired and influential Decision Ninja.

Good judgement is at a premium - and your decisions matter. It's time to Tune In.

Following the conversation, we invite you to join us for a meet-and-greet with the author, book signing and light refreshments.

SOBDR 2024

The Southern Ontario Behavioural Decision Research (SOBDR) Conference brings together researchers from Ontario universities (and beyond!) with an interest in the study of how people make judgments and decisions.

Keynote Speaker: Eric J. Johnson (columbia University)

BI Org Closing Panel

We will be welcoming four esteemed panelists to discuss how we can best translate the academic world into practice.

• Elizabeth Hardy, Sr. Director of Research and Experimentation, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

• Ryan Hum, Chief Client Experience Officer, Employment and Social Development Canada

• Wardah Malik, Chief Executive Officer, BEworks

• Catherine Yeung, Associate Professor of Marketing, Chinese University of Hong Kong

In conversation with Rajiv Vaidyanathan, Prof. of Marketing, University of Minnesota Duluth

BI-Org Books

We’ve partnered with the University of Toronto Press (UTP) who is offering a 30% discount for SOBDR attendees on a purchase of 2 or more books (any format) in the series. Attendees can purchase the books through this website: https://utorontopress.com/search-results/?series=behaviorally-informed-organizations using the code BIORG30 at checkout.

Registration

Though there are no fees to attend and participate in the conference, we ask that attendees register to reserve their ticket, as they will be available on a “first come first served” basis. Once registration is full, we will open a waitlist.

Sign up to the SOBDR conference mailing list here, and you will receive updates including save-the-date announcements, calls for papers, and registration information for future SOBDR conferences as they become available

Questions? Email us at: rotmanbiorg@rotman.utoronto.ca

Conference Co-Chairs

Program Committee

Conference Coordinators

Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein discusses his new book "Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There."

Speaker:

Cass Sunstein, Robert Walmsley University Professor, Harvard Law School

Moderator:

Dilip Soman, Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Science and Economics; Director of the Behavioural Economics in Action Research Centre (BEAR), Rotman School of Management

Co-presented with Rotman Events

Book Synopsis:

For fans of Thinking Fast and Slow and The Power of Habit, a groundbreaking new study of how disrupting our well-worn routines, both good and bad, can rejuvenate our days and reset our brains to allow us to live happier and more fulfilling lives.

Have you ever noticed that what is thrilling on Monday tends to become boring on Friday? Even exciting relationships, stimulating jobs, and breathtaking works of art lose their sparkle after a while. People stop noticing what is most wonderful in their own lives. They also stop noticing what is terrible. They get used to dirty air. They stay in abusive relationships. People grow to accept authoritarianism and take foolish risks. They become unconcerned by their own misconduct, blind to inequality, and are more liable to believe misinformation than ever before.

But what if we could find a way to see everything anew? What if you could regain sensitivity, not only to the great things in your life, but also to the terrible things you stopped noticing and so don’t try to change?

Now, neuroscience professor Tali Sharot and Harvard law professor (and presidential advisor) Cass R. Sunstein investigate why we stop noticing both the great and not-so-great things around us and how to “dishabituate” at the office, in the bedroom, at the store, on social media, and in the voting booth. This groundbreaking work, based on decades of research in the psychological and biological sciences, illuminates how we can reignite the sparks of joy, innovate, and recognize where improvements urgently need to be made. The key to this disruption—to seeing, feeling, and noticing again—is change. By temporarily changing your environment, changing the rules, changing the people you interact with—or even just stepping back and imagining change—you regain sensitivity, allowing you to more clearly identify the bad and more deeply appreciate the good.

HKU Business School's Bonnie Hayden Cheng on 'The Return on Kindness: How Kind Leadership Wins Talent, Earns Loyalty & Builds Successful Companies'

Topic:

The Return on Kindness: How Kind Leadership Wins Talent, Earns Loyalty, And Builds Successful Companies Penguin Business (Oct. 24 2023)

Speaker:

Bonnie Hayden Cheng (PhD 2013), Associate Professor of Management and MBA Program Director of HKU Business School, University of Hong Kong

In Conversation with: Dilip Soman, Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Science and Economics; Director, Behavioural Economics in Action Research Centre at Rotman [BEAR]

Co-presented with Rotman Events

Book Synopsis:

The world needs leaders who have the strength to be kind. The Return on Kindness challenges companies to set a higher bar and reimagine what great leadership looks like. Kindness isn’t what you think it is. Kind leaders, far from being soft or weak, are caring and tough.

The Return on Kindness makes a compelling, evidence-based case for why kind leadership is good for business and how kind leaders create value through prioritizing the mental health and wellbeing of their people. Bonnie Hayden Cheng, organizational psychologist, researcher, and consultant to Fortune 500 companies, combines extensive research, storytelling, and in-depth interviews with influential executives across a wide range of industries to reveal the transformative power of kindness in driving business success.

The Return on Kindness provides a simple but impactful RISE framework to inspire kind leadership, accompanied by practical touchpoints for successfully implementing kind leadership in organizations.

Join us, in-person, for an insightful discussion on how behavioural economics can shape the design and implementation of social assistance programs. Our panel includes two senators who have advanced Basic Income legislation in Canada and the co-editors (Jiaying Zhao, Saugato Datta and Dilip Soman) of the new book, “Cash Transfers for Inclusive Societies: A Behavioral Lens” (University of Toronto Press, October 12, 2023).

Book Synopsis:

While much progress has been made in reducing poverty worldwide – especially in the pre-pandemic era – it is fair to say that an unacceptably large proportion of the world’s people still live in poverty. Cash Transfers for Inclusive Societies sheds light on the widely prevalent cash transfer programs. The book asks these central questions: What is the state of the art in the development of welfare programs? What do we know works in these programs and what does not? How can an understanding of behavioral science better inform the design, delivery, and evaluation of welfare programs?

The latest title in the Behaviorally Informed Organizations series, the book develops a nuanced framework for how governments, practitioners, and society in general should design cash transfer programs to improve inclusivity, reduce poverty, and improve equality. It draws on field experiments and case studies to showcase past successes, while also building frameworks and developing prescriptive advice that we can give to practitioners who are looking to design a behaviorally informed cash transfer program. With contributions from leading academics as well as seasoned practitioners, Cash Transfers for Inclusive Societies presents a new model to policymakers to study and shift the discourse on poverty alleviation from purely economic factors to also behavioral ones.

Speakers:

The Honourable Kim Pate, Senator

The Honourable Pau Yuen Woo, Senator

Saugato Datta, Managing Director, ideas42; co-editor

Jiaying Zhao, Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Sustainability; Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia; co-editor

Moderator:

Dilip Soman, Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Science and Economics; Director of the Behavioural Economics in Action Research Centre (BEAR), Rotman School of Management; co-editor

Read an excerpt from the book:

https://www.book2look.com/book/6Cr7XJD3oz

Co-presented with Rotman Events.

The Southern Ontario Behavioural Decision Research (SOBDR) Conference brings together researchers from Ontario universities (and beyond!) with an interest in the study of how people make judgments and decisions.

SOBDR 2023 will be held on Friday, May 5, and hosted in the Desautels Event Hall on the 2nd Floor (elevators/up the pink staircase) at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto

Upon entering the building at 105. St. George Street, you may ask the Front Desk staff for directions to the event hall. There will also be signage stands to guide you.

Keynote Speaker: Prof. Sendhil Mullainathan

BI-Org Panel Session with

• Jessica Leifer, Impact Canada

• Julian House, Ontario Behavioural Insights Unit

• Melanie Kim, PwC

Click on our panelists’ images for their biographies.

Moderated by: Dilip Soman, Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Science and Economics; Director, Behavioural Economics in Action Research Centre at Rotman [BEAR]

Agenda

The tentative agenda program can be viewed below (do check back for occasional updates).

REgistration

Registration is now full. You can add your name to the waitlist via the link below. If tickets become available, we will contact people on the waitlist in the order they are on the list.

If you have registered, but are unable to attend, please cancel your ticket to open that spot for someone else.

Call for Papers

Submissions can be for talks or for posters. All submissions will be double-blind reviewed by the program committee to make final decisions as to which papers will be accepted for presentation at the conference.

The deadline for submitting abstracts has now passed.

University of Toronto’s Policies on Masks

The University’s mask requirements have been lifted. However, the use of a medical mask in high-density indoor spaces when physical distancing is not possible is strongly encouraged. The University is a mask-friendly environment, and we ask everyone to respect each other’s decisions, comfort levels, and health needs. The University will continue to monitor public health conditions to adjust our response as needed, and we will update you on any changes.

Please see https://www.utoronto.ca/utogether/masks for further information.

Photos from the #SOBDR2023 Conference

Conference co-chairs

Program Committee

We thank the following program committee members who evaluated a large number of submissions in a short period of time.

Conference Coordinator

Notice of Filming and Photography

When you attend this event, you enter an area where photography, audio, and video recording may occur. By entering the event premises, you consent to such recording media and its release, publication, exhibition or reproduction.

Further information and updates will be posted here.

Questions? Email us at: rotmanbiorg@rotman.utoronto.ca