Author: Suzanne Bouffard

Suzanne Bouffard is a writer with a passion for making social science research accessible to the general public. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Parents, the Harvard Education Letter, and other outlets, and she is the winner of a 2013 Solutions Journalism Network grant. She holds a Ph.D. in psychology from Duke University.

Seeking a Better Way to Evaluate Teachers
Higher Education Reform
August 11, 2016

Seeking a Better Way to Evaluate Teachers

Read Now
Redefining What It Means To Be An Adult
PIBBS
April 6, 2016

Redefining What It Means To Be An Adult

Read Now
A Key to Improving Math Skills: Reducing Anxiety
PIBBS
February 23, 2016

A Key to Improving Math Skills: Reducing Anxiety

Read Now
Hands-free Technology is Not Enough to Prevent Distracted Driving
PIBBS
January 21, 2016

Hands-free Technology is Not Enough to Prevent Distracted Driving

Read Now
Tackling Gender Stereotypes With the Power of Words

Tackling Gender Stereotypes With the Power of Words

Gendered language shapes how we think about the appropriate roles for men and women, especially when we are children and just beginning to form our understanding of the world. That might not sound like a problem, but it can reinforce stereotypes we are trying to tear down.

Read Now
A Deceptively Simple Strategy For Keeping Mentally Sharp In Late Life

A Deceptively Simple Strategy For Keeping Mentally Sharp In Late Life

Mankind has long been looking for a magic solution to staving off mental decline as we age. One solution examined in the new issue of the journal ‘Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences’ may be just in front of our reading glasses.

Read Now
How to Create Lasting Change 

How to Create Lasting Change 

How interventions are designed matter as much as what they do. In that vein, Harvard researchers Erin Frey and Todd Rogers have identified four pathways through which behavior change interventions can achieve long-term impact.

Read Now
Looking at Affirmative Action in a New Light

Looking at Affirmative Action in a New Light

Stereotype threat occurs when an individual is afraid of confirming a negative stereotype about a group to which he or she belongs and, in a cruel irony, performs worse because of it. Research shows the phenomenon is real and can sabotage affirmative action.

Read Now
Perceived Gaps in Equity Affect Decisions More Than Absolute Gaps

Perceived Gaps in Equity Affect Decisions More Than Absolute Gaps

The absolute difference between what someone else is getting compared to what you get matters less than how feel about any disparity, according to a review of ‘relative deprivation’ research in the journal ‘Policy Insights from the Brain and Behavioral Sciences.’

Read Now
Simple But Powerful Solutions to Education’s Thorniest Problems

Simple But Powerful Solutions to Education’s Thorniest Problems

Brief educational interventions that draw on social psychology can have a big impact on seemingly intractable inequities in the classroom because students’ thoughts and feelings about school affect their experiences of it.

Read Now
Creating Equality in the Workplace Everyone’s Responsibility

Creating Equality in the Workplace Everyone’s Responsibility

Call it the ‘paradox of equality’: Women are expected to lean in but it turns out there are barriers that are invisible until you smack your head on one. Who should be tasked with taking the tilt out of leaning in?

Read Now
False Confessions, True Consequences: Why and How to Reform Interrogations  

False Confessions, True Consequences: Why and How to Reform Interrogations  

Every year, innocent people sit in prison cells, some of them even on death row. A surprising number are there because they confessed to crimes they did not commit. Psychologist Saul Kassin is looking into why.

Read Now

Subscribe to our mailing list

Get the latest news from the social and behavioral science community delivered straight to your inbox.