About
About The Behavioral Scientist
Human behavior is complicated. Advice about changing it is often much too simple. The Behavioral Scientist is a publication and reference library for people who want to understand behavior and put that knowledge to work.
The site covers behavior change, psychology, behavioral economics, behavioral design, and applied behavioral science more broadly. You can look up a concept in the glossary, go deeper with an in-depth guide, or read articles and analysis. Jason Hreha founded the site and leads its editorial direction. His book Real Change and its free worksheets are here too.
About Jason Hreha
Jason Hreha is an applied behavioral scientist with nearly 18 years of experience. He served as Global Head of Behavioral Science at Walmart, where he co-founded the first applied behavioral science unit at a Fortune 100 company. Earlier, he was a researcher in BJ Fogg’s Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab, now the Stanford Behavior Design Lab. He also co-founded the mobile search startup Kite.io, which Quixey acquired. He is co-founder and CEO of Persona.
Jason writes the site’s original analysis and reviews material across the library. Individual pages keep their own authorship and source attributions. He is the author of Real Change; his author profile has more about his background and writing.
How the site handles evidence
A neat explanation of human behavior can be persuasive long before it is well supported. The site connects important scientific claims to sources readers can inspect. Original studies let readers check precise findings; reviews show how a result fits the wider body of research.
A research finding, a proposed explanation, a practical example, and Jason’s judgment are different things. The writing should make those differences clear. A compelling idea is not evidence that an intervention works. Study design, replication, and the limits of generalization matter.
Articles can still make strong arguments. Read those arguments with the evidence and qualifications behind them, and in the context of when they were written.
Reviews and corrections
A review credit means someone reviewed the page. It does not mean the page passed external academic peer review. The Behavioral Scientist is an editorial publication, not an academic journal.
Revising a page means reading the full piece, checking relevant sources, and making sure the edit did not erase an important distinction or qualification. A new modification date does not mean every claim was checked again that day.
If you find a factual error, broken source, or misleading explanation, email jason@thebehavioralscientist.com. Include the page URL and the exact passage. Add a supporting source when you have one.
A factual error should be corrected. A disagreement about what the evidence means deserves a closer look at the argument and the strongest relevant sources. Both can improve the page.