Ayelet Fishbach

The Psychological Quest for Meaning How do we transform scattered experiences into a coherent narrative? What drives us—consciously or unconsciously—to seek patterns, purpose, and understanding? This is the first volume explicitly devot...

New Book Alert! 📘
How do our minds turn life’s chaos into something that makes sense? Our upcoming book explores the science of psychological meaning.
I hope you preorder and let your future self thank you for finding meaning. @guilfordpress.bsky.social
www.guilford.com/books/The-Ps...

Check out a new @psychscience.bsky.social article by @ayeletfishbach.bsky.social and collaborators: People were more likely to stick with goals framed as enjoyable—not just important. People used a health app more when told it was “a fun game” rather than “a useful tool.”

bit.ly/4obM70Y

Year-long longitudinal study by Woolley et al suggests intrinsic motivation (more than extrinsic motivation) both predicted, and causally increased, goal adherence for professional, financial, and health goals:

buff.ly/uyALjnX
via coauthor @ayeletfishbach.bsky.social

In a new article by Jiabi Wang & Team Scientist @ayeletfishbach.bsky.social, they find that helping people connect their goals can increase motivation. When people linked a health goal (like exercising more) to a financial one, they expressed more motivation to pursue it.
bit.ly/44KGaze

Big news in social psych!
The Handbook of Social Psychology just dropped its 6th edition. For the first time ever, it’s FREE.

The first version was in 1954. The 2025 version is open-access. No paywalls. No barriers. Just decades of wisdom, ready to be read, downloaded, and shared.

www.the-HSP.com

Opinion | Why Trump’s Tariff Math Is a Joke A look inside the administration’s methodology is a real eye-opener.

Math is hard

Shige Oishi just dropped by my office with his new book Life in Three Dimensions—and I’m excited to dive in!
Shige’s been challenging us to think beyond the pursuit of happiness. What about meaning? What about a psychologically rich life? Turns out, there’s more to life than just feeling good

We call it "the big problem paradox."
psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...
Yet, just because a problem is common doesn’t mean it’s not a crisis.

RFK Jr. Vows To Make Measles Deaths So Common They Won’t Be Upsetting Anymore WASHINGTON—Addressing the ongoing outbreak in Texas that has infected at least 124 state residents and killed one child, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vowed Thursday to mak...

The Onion jokes that RFK Jr. wants measles deaths so common people stop caring. Funny—but also how our brains work. When a crisis affects many, people assume it’s less harmful. The logic? If it’s everywhere, surely someone’s handling it. Spoiler: They’re not. theonion.com/rfk-jr-vows-...

🚨 Is the peer review system broken? Our new PNAS paper dives into the biases, inefficiencies, and inconsistencies plaguing scientific publishing. Can transparency, training, and AI fix it? Evolution or revolution for peer review?
🔗 Read more: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
@balazsaczel.bsky.social

NIH slashes overhead payments for research, sparking outrage Move to cut indirect cost rate to 15% could cost universities billions of dollars

Oy
www.science.org/content/arti...

🚨 New Paper Alert! 🚨
How should scientists decide what to replicate & how? Our latest article explores:
🔍 Book of Truths vs. Book of Conversations – What's the purpose of replication?
📊 Balancing epistemic values, public trust & transparency.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... @clintin.bsky.social

The misalignment of incentives in academic publishing and implications for journal reform | PNAS For most researchers, academic publishing serves two goals that are often misaligned—knowledge dissemination and establishing scientific credential...

📢 Academic publishing should serve knowledge, not profits. But commercial publishers exploit the system—leveraging unpaid labor, imposing paywalls, and charging high fees. 🚧

We explore alternative models & reforms to realign publishing with academia’s true mission.

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Which scientific results should be replicated? Our new PNAS suggests the decision depends on whether you subscribe to “the book of truth” or “book of conversation” @pnas.org @clintin.bsky.social

Opinion | Why Common Problems Are Often Worse Than We Realize It’s called the “big problem paradox.”

Just because something is common doesn’t mean it won’t cause you harm. Thank you @nytimes.com and Peter coy for writing about our research.

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/27/o...

Principal Researcher Department Booth CDR: Operations About the Department The University of Chicago Booth School of Business is the second-oldest business school in the U.S. and second to none when it comes to influencin...

Third: Instructor for Behavioral Science courses
uchicago.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/External/job...
Send recommendations to Amy Boonstra, amy.boonstra@chicagobooth.edu.

Principal Researcher Department Booth CDR: Operations - Communications About the Department The University of Chicago Booth School of Business is the second-oldest business school in the U.S. and second to none when it co...

Second: Statistician
uchicago.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Extern...
Send recommendations to Amy Boonstra, amy.boonstra@chicagobooth.edu.

Looking for a postdoc position? We'd love to chat with you!
We have three positions. Each involves working with the faculty at Chicago Booth. First: Chief Scientist
uchicago.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Extern...
Send recommendations to Amy Boonstra, amy.boonstra@chicagobooth.edu.

Tired of the news? Take a break and listen to these #BehaviouralScience podcasts from Behavioural Grooves 👇 Their most recent episide is on how to achieve your New Year goals with @ayeletfishbach.bsky.social

On the experience of goals: Differentiating goal‐generic value from goal‐specific value We distinguish between goal-specific value, which refers to the intrinsic and extrinsic benefits associated with a particular goal (“value derived from the goal”), and goal-generic value, which refer...

We recently wrote about the value of having a goal—any goal—even if you'll never achieve it. Thank you, Ben Converse, Annabelle Roberts, and Marie Hennecke.

compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Several factors influence risk perception. We manipulated prevalence while holding social and other factors constant. Big problems seemed small. The power of experiments! 🔬🧫🧪

Thanks for spreading the word on big problems appearing too small.

People who learned that 4.2 people drive drunk each month inferred drunk driving causes less harm. Prevalence information caused medical experts to infer medication nonadherence was less dangerous, just as it led women to underestimate their true risk of contracting cancer.

The ‘Big Problem Paradox’ When something dangerous is common, it somehow seems less dangerous.

When you consider the prevalence of a problem, you infer it causes less harm. People believed dire problems—ranging from poverty to drunk driving—were less problematic upon learning the number of people they affect.
@chicagoboothreview.bsky.social www.chicagobooth.edu/review/the-b...

How to Make Healthy Food More Appealing to Americans Describing how dishes are made increases people’s appetite for them.

To eat healthily, think of healthy foods as deliciously prepared. It’s counterintuitive—people often picture white pasta smothered in tomato sauce and topped with parmesan, while envisioning whole wheat pasta as uncooked sticks. @chicagoboothreview.bsky.social
www.chicagobooth.edu/review/how-m...

Why humans feel the need to feast together For thousands of years, humans have come together in small groups to feast on food. Why is it important – and why do we still continue the tradition?

A reminder that shared plates = shared minds. Thank you for featuring my research with Kaitlin Woolley!
www.bbc.com/future/artic...

Thanksgiving alert! Kaitlin Woolley and I found that shared plates increase bonding and cooperation. Check out lnkd.in/gCxRvjEm. Perfect occasion to discuss climate action and what's your family doing.

www.tedxchicago.com/aclimateacti...

How Thanksgiving Dinner Can Make You A Better Collaborator Believe it or not, whether it be at the house or back at the office, Thanksgiving dinner can make you a better collaborator.

Thanksgiving alert! @Kaitlin Woolley and I found that shared plates increase bonding and cooperation. Check out lnkd.in/gCxRvjEm

My son’s dentist believes in incentives. As a motivation scientist I want to see the data.

Thanks for sharing! Ryan Carlson’s figure illustrates why it’s hard to see the information in failure and how to make it more likely that the information is seen.