David Brooks is a columnist for The New York Times. With commentary from Max Bazerman, David Kennedy, and Steven Pinker.
For decades we have tried to increase high school graduation rates and college completion rates. We’ve tried to reduce the achievement gaps. We’ve tried to depolarize our economy and moderate the financial cycles. These and many other public policy efforts have produced disappointing results. This is in part because the policies were based on a partial view of human nature and a simplistic view of human capital. Neuroscientific research over the past few years has pointed toward a richer view, one in which our emotions and unconscious play a far more important role in everyday decision-making. It is time to apply the findings of science to the world of policy, morality and practice.
Organized by the Program on Science, Technology, and Society at the Harvard Kennedy School, and co-sponsored by the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Graduate School of Design, and the Harvard University Center for the Environment
