Publications

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July 2019
Article

'Forward Flow': A New Measure to Quantify Free Thought and Predict Creativity

By: Kurt Gray, Stephen Anderson, Eric Evan Chen, John Michael Kelly, Michael S. Christian, John Patrick, Laura Huang, Yoed N. Kenett and Kevin Lewis

When the human mind is free to roam, its subjective experience is characterized by a continuously evolving stream of thought. Although there is a technique that captures people’s streams of free thought—free association—its utility for scientific research is undermined... View Details

Keywords: Cognition and Thinking; Creativity; Forecasting and Prediction

2022
Working Paper

Stories, Statistics and Memory

By: Thomas Graeber, Christopher Roth and Florian Zimmermann

For most decisions, we rely on information encountered over the course of days, months or years. We consume this information in various forms, including abstract summaries of multiple data points – statistics – and contextualized anecdotes about individual instances... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Information Types; Media; Cognition and Thinking

Read Now

July 2020
Teaching Plan

Girls Who Code

By: Brian Trelstad and Amy Klopfenstein

This teaching plan serves as a supplement to HBS Case No. 320-055, “Girls Who Code.” Founded 2012 by former lawyer Reshma Saujani, Girls Who Code (GWC) offered coding education programs to middle- and high school-aged girls. The organization also sought to alter... View Details

February 2004
Case

Note on Human Behavior: Reason and Emotion

By: Nitin Nohria and Bridget Gurtler

Human beings are driven by reasons and emotions. On the one hand, as rational choice theorists assert, human beings are resourceful and evaluative as they strive to maximize their own interests. An individual's interests can converge or diverge from the interests of... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Cognition and Thinking; Emotions; Interests; Organizations; Organizational Design; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

Educators

17 Apr 2007
First Look

First Look: April 17, 2007

http://www.e-elgar.co.uk/Bookentry_Main.lasso?id=4045 Colorblindness and Diversity: Conflicting Goals in Decisions Influenced by Race Authors:Michael I. Norton, Joseph A. Vandello, Andrew Biga, and John M. Darley Periodical:Social View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

05 May 2008
Research & Ideas

Connecting with Consumers Using Deep Metaphors

mind. One is Coca-Cola's "I'd like to teach the world to sing," which invokes the deep metaphor of connection and the ability of the brand to bring diverse people together. It also engaged the deep metaphor of social balance by... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Consumer Products

19 Jul 2017
Research & Ideas

Why Government 'Nudges' Motivate Good Citizen Behavior

conserve our cognitive resources,” Beshears says. “If we used System 2 the entire day, we’d get too tired.” Nudges tend to work with System 1 thinking, he says, because they make certain choices the more natural and convenient option.... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

18 Mar 2008
First Look

First Look: March 18, 2008

implications of incorporating behavioral and cognitive factors into models of operations. Specifically, we address three questions: 1) What is a behavioral perspective on operations? 2) What might be the intellectual added value of such a... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

October 2018 (Revised August 2019)
Case

Everybody Knows: Russia and the Election

By: Rawi Abdelal, Rafael Di Tella and Galit Goldstein

Following a contentious presidential race, Donald Trump’s 2016 election destabilized America’s status quo. Academics, journalists, politicians and the public at large examined why Trump had won. Many Americans, inside and outside the government, asserted that a... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Industry; Strategic Alliances (Business); Business And Government; Business And Public Policy; Business And Society; Media Businesses; Media Content; Media Slant; Media Regulation; Internet Of Everything; Government Policy; Politics; Political Campaigns; Political Strategy; Political Turmoil; Government; Government Regulation; Security; International Business; International Relations; National Security; Political Elections; News; Media; Internet and the Web; Rights; Problems and Challenges; Globalization; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Government Legislation; Risk and Uncertainty; Cognition and Thinking; Conflict and Resolution; Identity; Civil Society or Community; Culture; Public Opinion; Social Issues; War; Social Media; Public Administration Industry; United States; Russia

Educators

22 Jan 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, January 22, 2019

objective fluency scores from the language change recipients at five points over a period of two years. Using variable and person-centered exploratory analyses, our results suggest that recipients’ negative affective responses to the language change precede their View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

01 Oct 2014
What Do You Think?

Is Too Much Focus a Problem?

Summing Up What Are the Antidotes to Too Much Focus? Individuals and organizations suffer from too much focus much of the time. That was the sense of the majority of responses to this month's column. Respondents didn't stop there. They described why it happens and what... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

18 May 2016
Research & Ideas

Unethical Amnesia: Why We Tend to Forget Our Own Bad Behavior

actions gradually become less clear than other memories—a phenomenon the authors of the paper call “unethical amnesia.” Moreover, forgetting wrongdoings of the past makes us more likely to misbehave in the future. “We are social beings,... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

1996
Book

Creativity in Context

By: T. M. Amabile

Keywords: Creativity; Theory; Research; Motivation and Incentives; Situation or Environment; Organizational Culture; Measurement and Metrics; Personal Characteristics; Cognition and Thinking; Performance; Performance Evaluation; Social Psychology

23 Jun 2009
First Look

First Look: June 23

problems (and the ways they reinforce each other), this paper offers a new approach to community transformation which calls for leaders to use technology to inform and connect people. We need to convert the social safety net into a View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

07 Aug 2013
What Do You Think?

Is There Still a Role for Judgment in Decision-Making?

Summing Up What is the Proper Role of Judgment in Decision-Making? There is a seemingly universal (and currently popular) quest for rational processes—what Hamilton Carvalho terms "cognitive repairs"—to counter the foibles of human judgment. Nevertheless, the... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Web

Design Thinking Course | HBS Online

Syllabus Enrollment Stories FAQs Enroll Now Key Concepts Approach problems using structured methods of gathering observations, breaking cognitive fixedness, and generating creative ideas for solutions Apply creative solutions and... View Details

March 2011
Article

Zoom In, Zoom Out

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Zoom buttons on digital devices let us examine images from many viewpoints. They also provide an apt metaphor for modes of strategic thinking. Some people prefer to see things up close, others from afar. Both perspectives have virtues. But they should not be fixed... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Cognition and Thinking; Perspective; Leadership; Opportunities; Decisions