What if violence is contagious? Dr. Gary Slutkin argues that violence spreads like an epidemic, and that public health strategies can help stop it. We explore social pain, belonging, violence interrupters, and the science behind preventing violence before it spreads.

[0:00] Intro and Speed Round with Dr. Gary Slutkin

[8:23] Why Do We Treat Violence as a Moral Problem?

[11:25] What Happens When Our Diagnosis Is Wrong?

[20:00] Exposure, Susceptibility, and the Pain of Violence

[25:12] Can Belonging Stop the Cycle of Violence?

[31:26] Finding the Warning Signs Before Violence Happens

[37:44] Why Community Health Workers Matter

[41:30] How to Cool Down a Potentially Violent Situation

[47:54] How Communities Can Build Systems to Prevent Violence

[49:00] Grooving With Gary: Music, Guitar, and Leonard Cohen

[54:13] Grooving Session: Breaking the Cycle Through Connection

©2026 Behavioral Grooves

About Dr. Gary Slutkin

Cure Violence Global

The End of Violence by Dr. Gary Slutkin

Join us on Substack!

Join the Behavioral Grooves community

Subscribe to Behavioral Grooves on YouTube

Support Behavioral Grooves

Dire Straits - So Far Away

John Coltrane - Locomotion

Why do we do what we do? Behavioral Grooves explores the science of human behavior with researchers, authors, and thinkers who help us make sense of ourselves, each other, and the world around us.

Have we misunderstood two of psychology’s most famous experiments? We revisit the Stanford Prison Experiment and the Robbers Cave experiment with science historians Thibault Le Texier and Gina Perry, who uncovered a much messier story behind the research we learned about in school. What can these experiments actually tell us about human behavior, and what happens when researchers become more invested in a specific conclusion than challenging their own assumptions?

[0:00] Two Famous Experiments, One Bigger Problem [6:47] Part One: The Stanford Prison Experiment [12:26] Were the Guards Coached to Be Cruel? [18:14] Is the Real Lesson About Leadership? [19:22] Part Two: The Robbers Cave Experiment [24:04] The Forgotten Middle Grove Experiment [28:38] Engineering the Robbers Cave Experiment [32:38] What Can We Actually Learn From These Experiments? [36:09] When the Story Gets in the Way of the Science [41:36] What Happens When a Story Sounds Too Tidy?

©2026 Behavioral Grooves

Investigating the Stanford Prison Experiment: History of a Lie by Thibault Le Texier

About Gina Perry

Join us on Substack!

Join the Behavioral Grooves community

Subscribe to Behavioral Grooves on YouTube

Support Behavioral Grooves

What does it really take to change a habit? Charles Duhigg, journalist and author of The Power of Habit, joins us to explore how our understanding of habits has evolved and why lasting change may start with changing how we see ourselves. From the “habit window” and keystone habits to habit chaining and identity shifts, we challenge long-held assumptions about willpower and explore how small changes in behavior and perspective can lead to lasting transformation.

[0:00] The Food Noise and GLP-1s

[10:47] Speed Round with Charles Duhigg

[16:50] The Habit Loop: What We Get Right and Wrong

[22:34] The Hidden Cues Behind Our Habits

[27:23] Keystone Habits, Habit Chaining, and Identity

[35:51] Temptation Bundling and Making Habits Easier

[40:07] How GLP-1 Medications Change Our Relationship With Willpower

[49:02] Why Researchers Should Work With Businesses

[55:09] Desert Island Music: The Beatles vs. The Rolling Stones

[59:34] Groove Session: Why Your Actions Shape Your Identity

©2026 Behavioral Grooves

About Charles

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Join us on Substack!

Join the Behavioral Grooves community

Subscribe to Behavioral Grooves on YouTube

Support Behavioral Grooves

The Beatles - A Hard Day’s Night

The Rolling Stones - Beast of Burden

Horse meat, kidneys, prostitution. What happens when the things people want to buy, sell, and trade collide with what society has deemed “off-limits”? Nobel Prize-winning economist Alvin “Al” Roth joins us to explore the behavioral science behind controversial markets, from repugnance and social norms to black markets, incentives, and informed consent. We also dig into his work redesigning the kidney exchange market and how asking a different question can open up new possibilities for solving seemingly impossible problems.

[0:00] Intro and Speed Round with Alvin “Al” Roth

[9:21] What Is a Market?

[13:10] Repugnance vs. Disgust

[20:00] How Social Norms Shape Markets and Morality

[24:12] Do Laws Change Morality, or Does Morality Change Laws?

[28:25] Drugs, Hitmen, and the Social Support Behind a Ban

[34:23] Rethinking the Market for Prostitution

[38:12] Can Money Be Coercive?

[46:12] Redesigning Kidney Donation With Incentives

[50:42] What Do We Do When the Data Can't Change Minds?

[52:47] “Ought Implies Can” and the Limits of Moral Rules

[1:03:05] Grooving Session: What We Learned From Al Roth

©2026 Behavioral Grooves

About Alvin E. Roth

Join us on Substack!

Join the Behavioral Grooves community

Subscribe to Behavioral Grooves on YouTube

Support Behavioral Grooves

Paul Simon - You Can Call Me Al

Leonard Cohen - I’m Your Man

What happens when behavioral science leaves the classroom and enters the real world? In this special episode, we explore the past and future of the Behavioral Science & Policy Association with founders Sim Sitkin and Craig Fox and incoming leader Crystal Hall. We talk about bridging the gap between research and practice, the growing importance of interdisciplinary behavioral science, and why understanding the human side of AI may be one of the field's biggest opportunities.

[0:00] What Is the Behavioral Science & Policy Association?

[7:45] BSPA's First Big Breakthroughs

[12:12] How BSPA Helped Legitimize Applied Behavioral Science

[17:14] What AI Gets Wrong About Behavioral Science

[25:06] The Next Frontier for Behavioral Science

[32:34] Why Behavioral Science Is at a Critical Moment

[42:19] What AI Means for Behavioral Science

[46:20] A New Vision for BSPA

[49:10] How to Get Involved With BSPA

©2026 Behavioral Grooves

BSPA

Join us on Substack!

Join the Behavioral Grooves community

Subscribe to Behavioral Grooves on YouTube

Support Behavioral Grooves

What if work didn’t have to be something we simply “get through” five days a week? This week, we sit down with Bree Groff, author of Today Was Fun, to explore how small changes in the way we interact, communicate, and lead can make work more human and mostly fun, most days. We talk about work-life balance, chronic overwork, psychological safety, AI, and the importance of protecting the relationships, health, creativity, and small moments of joy that make our lives meaningful.

[0:00] Intro and Speed Round with Bree Groff

[9:45] Treat your brain like a Stradivarius

[13:18] Why this isn't a typical business book

[19:52] The five-minute check-in

[27:41] The benefits of psychological safety and cognitive offloading

[30:55] The hidden cost of chronic overwork

[36:16] Why “love what you do” is an exhausting goal

[43:09] Why work should be mostly fun, most days

[49:07] The truth about AI at work

[53:45] What happens when we outsource thinking?

[54:37] Bree's writing soundtrack

[59:45] Grooving Session: Making work fun

©2026 Behavioral Grooves

About Bree

Today was Fun by Bree Groff

Join us on Substack!

Join the Behavioral Grooves community

Subscribe to Behavioral Grooves on YouTube

Support Behavioral Grooves

Vulfpeck - Back Pocket

Qveen Herby - The Fool

This week, Dr. Jeremy Pollack joins us to explore the neuroscience of conflict, trust, mistakes, uncertainty, and psychological safety. We discuss how these obstacles and miscommunications can affect our work environments, what to do when you notice them, and how to build healthier teams by breaking old conflict patterns before they start.

Topics

[0:00] Intro and Speed Round with Jeremy Pollack

[9:20] Can our brains rewire conflict patterns?

[14:21] The neuroscience behind conflict resolution

[19:50] How organizational systems can fuel conflict

[32:32] Creating psychological safety at work

[38:55] Why our brains crave certainty

[42:09] How to rewire the nervous system after trauma

[49:04] Desert Island Music Picks

[50:36] Grooving Session: Self-regulation techniques for leaders

©2026 Behavioral Grooves

About Jeremy

Wired for Peace by Jeremy Pollack, Ph.D.

Join us on Substack!

Join the Behavioral Grooves community

Subscribe to Behavioral Grooves on YouTube

Support Behavioral Grooves

Grateful Dead - Friend of the Devil

Phish - Sample in a Jar