Optimizing Human Potential
Taking the Self Out of Self-Control
Self-control is often reduced to individual willpower, when in reality, it can be influenced by the choices one is given. Professors Shoda and Laibson will examine how modifying situational features surrounding one’s choices can lead to changes in behavior, and how we can engineer those changes to benefit ourselves and society.

Yuichi Shoda, PhD, University of Washington
Changing How to Think About Willpower: Harnessing, Rather Than Resisting, the Power of Situations
A series of experiments showed delaying gratification is made easier, or more difficult, by changing relatively insignificant parts of the waiting situation. Benefiting from insights gained from these studies may, however, require forgoing the "muscular wrangling" model of self-control, or willpower.

David Laibson, PhD, Harvard University
Memory in the Age of Alzheimer’s Disease
Small changes in choice architecture can lead to large voluntary changes in behavior. These “nudges”, like auto-enrolling workers in 401(k) plans, are often inexpensive and scalable. Present bias explains why these nudges are socially desirable. Present bias, the tendency to weight today’s pleasures and pains more heavily than experiences in the future, leads to self-defeating behaviors like procrastination and under-saving.

Registration is now open.

These lectures are made possible by generous endowments by Professors Allen L. Edwards and Roger B. Loucks.