Wanted to update Blog readers on the series of articles in ‘The Mint‘ which I’ve been authoring. The articles, called ‘Behavior by Brain’, take a deep look at news and trends through the lens of ‘behavior’. Articles penned so far are linked below: New advances in understanding human decision-making: http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/msLH0h4tUX9qqkMp99M6LN/New-frontiers-of-human-behaviour.html Why we cannot rely on awareness to drive action: http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/sWkN1

The Paris attacks have been a major shock and we are understandably upset. Most of us have been reminded of some of the earlier acts of terror such as the 26/11 attack in Mumbai or even 09/11 in New York. It also reminded us of the mixed emotions (fear, anger and despair) that we felt during the attacks. Since the earlier attacks were also targeted at civilians, we consider this act in the same vein. However, this Atlantic Article – What ISIS really wants suggests that, maybe

As per the recent NY Times article, one of the biggest human experiment “One-Child Policy” has come to an end. The policy came into effect in the 1970s as a response to the concern that the population growth was impeding economic growth. The reversal seems to be a response to a new problem – aging of the population. The ethics and rationale behind such government interventions have been and will continue to be debated in the public policy and macroeconomic circles. But lets v

It’s a question my wife & I have been debating since we moved to Chicago in January. Of course, the weather is the primary trigger. Talking to our friends doesn’t help either. Folks living in bay area continue to boast about the near 70 F temperatures. Each call typically starts with a mention of the cold temperatures in Chicago. And at the end of each call, we dream of living in a warmer place. But when we start talking about happiness, there is an interesting pattern to mos

Growing up in a socialist economy comes with its unique set of experiences. One particular experience that stands out in my memory is the struggle to get through the engineering school admission after Grade 12th. Like any struggle, this too is filled with mixed emotions – anxiety due to the uncertainty of the future and frustration due to not always getting the top choice. But there was one more emotion that I experienced that day. As I look back, it seems extremely unreasona

A tragic accident involving a Volvo bus happened on the Bangalore – Hyderabad highway today. 44 passengers are feared killed. The bus driver, the helper and five passengers managed to escape death. So, how did this accident happen? Since morning, we have heard multiple narratives of the accident across different media channels. Initially, it seemed like the bus hit an Oil tanker that resulted in the bus catching fire. Later, a channel reported the bus driver’s statement that

Yesterday my colleague and I were debating which iPhone version he should buy since he has finally decided to give up his old blackberry. With the launch of the 2 new models, his choice set included the earlier model iPhone 4S, the step-down model iPhone 5C and the most high end version iPhone 5S. While we were comparing the three models, the iPhone 5c quickly went out of favor and the debate centered around the other 2 models. This anecdotal experience, however, seems to be

Building toilets for over 50% of India’s population that defecate in the open is the primary goal of the Nirmal Bharat Abhyan (the erstwhile Total Sanitation Campaign or TSC), the flagship scheme of Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. The numbers under TSC indicate that 91,820,973 household toilets have been constructed which covers about 73.03% of households. The government has spent large sums of money to achieve this coverage. The current scheme allows for a subsidy

Often we come across new findings in brain research from fairly credible sources that explain how humans think and make decisions. Our usual reaction is to generalize these findings as fundamental human traits which equally affect all of us irrespective of the context we are living in. Context, however is critical. Context could be the physical environment in which we are living in or other forces such as culture or religion that influence our day to day behavior. Thus, expla

Can you try listing your habits? Do you sometimes catch yourself obsessing about silly things? Do you know people that are struggling to get rid of their addictions? Most of us would usually refer to habits with exercise, diet or time management routines.  When it comes to obsessive compulsive disorders (OCDs), we would refer to silly obsessions such as constantly checking if the door is locked or cleaning our hand multiple times. And addictions are linked to harmful activiti

In this year’s budget, the government announced direct cash transfers as an alternate to the existing subsidy on kerosene and fertilizers to prevent leakages. This solution is a major step forward in plugging one of the biggest loopholes of our economic system. This circumvents the corrupt middle men who have been usurping these subsidies for a long time. But, what are the odds that middle men will not usurp this money, meant to light the kerosene lamps in all village homes,

How can we get people to be more active? How do you get people to not litter? What can you do to make people recycle? All of these require changes in behaviour, and Volkswagen is spearheading this effort with what they call the Fun Theory, which is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. If you haven’t yet seen this video, take a look… All of a sudden, people feel like taking the stairs. And how?

Just recently, Wooster Collective introduced us to Scott Wayne: Indiana’s Memory Lane In Central Park. Scott decided to pull off a simple experiment when he was at Central Park, New York. What he did was simple… I decided to draw (with masking tape) a floorplan to scale of my childhood home to see what memories would reveal themselves to me. I chose a location in Central Park alongside ballfields where I’d feel comfortable spending time in my space. Personally, his experience

The best part of the Zoozoos phenomenon is that no one is surprised at their success. From the first spot it was clear that this is going to be huge. It’s one of the best campaigns in recent times, can’t remember anything that comes close. The communication is clear, refreshing, good connect to the service and needless to say clutter-breaking and memorable, clearly the best campaign money can buy. The campaign has many legs and the PR frenzy is more than understandable. One c