The News From Psychological Science: A Conversation Between David Brooks and Walter Mischel

摘要

The annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science (APS) was the setting for a candid and wide ranging conversation between The New York Times columnist David Brooks and APS Past President Walter Mischel about what’s exciting them in psychological science and why it matters outside the academy. Fittingly, the conversation took place in the same ballroom in the Washington Hilton where politicians and reporters gather for the annual White House Correspondents’ dinner and other events that shape the relationships between policy insiders and the media. In his reporting, Brooks regularly draws on findings from the scholarly study of human behavior to explore and explain the psychology of the political arena. He also appreciates the intrinsic value of this kind of research, concluding in one of his columns that “A day without social science is like a day without sunshine” (Brooks, 2010, p. A33). Among other things, Brooks and Mischel talk about translating science for a wider audience, bringing psychological science to bear on public policy, and looking at politicians through a behavioral science lens.