Breaking the Code
Behavioral science is a cornerstone of modern marketing practice, but much of what passes itself off as behavioral science is just bs. Good social science gives us the insights and roadmap we need to change behavior, but bad social science just muddies the water and tarnishes the social sciences. As behavior change is a core objective of marketing, getting behavioral science right is crucial. Join us as two behavioral scientists sound off on what is, and isn't, good social science, from a variety of disciplines covering new topics every podcast.
Your hosts: Brad Davidson, PhD and Sonika Garcia, MPH - Medical Anthropology Strategists at Havas Health & You.
Episodes
44 episodes
Women, Sports, and Leadership: The Evolution of Female Success ft. Claire Knapp and Denise Melone
Women's professional sports are "having a moment", but this did not happen in a vacuum nor did it happen overnight. In a highly anticipated episode (for us), we finally got a chance to sit down with Claire Knapp (CEO of Havas Lynx) and Denise M...
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44:32
Do GLP-1s Change the Meaning of "Obesity"?
With the advent of GLP-1 drugs, it was only a matter of time before Brad and Gabriel dove into a discussion about this controversial drug class and the equally contentious disease, obesity. In this episode, they explore a range of topics—from t...
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43:34
Gifted, Neurodivergent, or Nerd: The Highs and Lows of Growing up Tagged as 'Gifted'
Our fascination with neurodivergence continues as we are joined by PsyD, Dr. Matt Zakreski to breakdown the semantics of giftedness, and inclusive design for neurodivergent people in a variety of public spaces. The term "gifted" was of particul...
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49:57
Unpacking the Rituals of Barbecues and Health: How we Give Structure and Meaning to an Unstructured World
In this episode, recorded right before the Labor Day weekend, Brad and Gabe have one thing on their minds... barbecuing! More specifically, they're thinking about barbecuing as a ritual, a set of behaviors with rules, inversions of norms, speci...
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22:47
Bridging Minds: Autism, Neurodivergence, and Inclusive Communication in Advertising
The term "neurodiversity," introduced 25 years ago by autistic Australian sociologist Judy Singer, marked a milestone in our understanding of autism and the appreciation of "difference, not deficit" in how brains work. More than a buzz...
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35:35
Defeating Cancer’s Hero Trope: Cancer Doesn’t Make Humans Super - It Makes Them More of Who They Already Are
A cancer diagnosis is a "moment of truth" that brings an undeniable shift to someone's identity. Faced with one's own mortality, a concerted effort may be required to overcome the dissonance between "who I was" and "who I am now". When communic...
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25:54
Making Sense Of "Trigger Warnings": Stigma, Taboo, and Trauma
Correction: In this episode, we mention that Anna Calix had a miscarriage. Anna actually had a 40 week stillbirth. Miscarriage (spontaneous abortion) is a fetal demise in utero at less than 20 weeks of pregnancy, and stillbirth (fetal death...
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32:35
Uncomfortable Conversations Save Lives: The Surgeon General Weighs In On The Risks of Social Media
In this episode, Brad and Gabe delve into the US Surgeon General's proposal to introduce warning labels on social media platforms, aimed at highlighting their impact on young people's mental health. In the US, the surgeon general is seen as a m...
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33:51
This is not a Drill: Cervical Cancer is Curable, but Treatment is Often Too Painful to Survive
In this episode, we’re joined by Eve McDavid and Dr. Onyinye Balogun, founders of Mission Driven Tech, a Cervical Cancer innovation company. Their story is an inspirational application of Breaking the Code's themes of inclusive design, va...
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48:20
If Everything is 'Healthy', Nothing is
In a world of ubiquitous marketing, figuring out what supports a "healthy lifestyle" can be challenging. Marketers have picked up on the cultural trend towards wellness branding, and are enthusiastically, if somewhat disingenuously, leaning int...
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23:53
Ensuring the Customer is Always Right: A Brand's Role in Consumer Health Decisions
As people become more conscious and more knowledgeable about their health, it's on brands and health institutions to become more intimately aware of their consumer's (or patient's) health needs and goals. Someone who "does their own research" i...
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35:34
Skip the Chocolates, Bring out the Blindfold: ParkinSex & Putting Intimacy At the Forefront
In honor of Parkinson's awareness month, we're joined by Howard Lenn, EVP, Executive Creative Director at Havas Health Plus, to discuss his team's approach to the work on the "The Kama Sutra of Parkinson's", ParkinSex. Couples that include some...
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34:06
The Pain We Feel: Culture in Storytelling and The Learned Expression of Emotions
Something that has fascinated us recently is the role culture plays in the emotional aspects of storytelling. The emotional response, its justification and the words used to describe it all are heavily influenced by an individual's identity and...
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33:45
Nurses are HCPs too: Honoring the Beating Heart of the Healthcare System
Too often in our industry, when we say "healthcare professional" what we really mean is ONE healthcare profession, the prescribing Medical Doctor. However, nursing is and always has been a part of the healthcare professional team, and today mor...
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36:34
A Chance to Stand Out: Does The SAT Do More Good Than Harm?
Recently, a number of prestigious U.S. universities have talked about reinstating The Scholastic Aptitude Test, more infamously known as The SAT, for applicants to their undergraduate programs. The SAT was once mandatory for college application...
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37:55
Do Superbowl Ads Do the Job?: Singing Busts, Resilient Athletes, & Family Photos with the Visually Impaired
Do you know anyone who just watches the Superbowl for the love of the game anymore? As TV viewers decline across the board, the Big Game on the second Sunday of February remains a must watch event in sports, entertainment, and advertising, hook...
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54:25
Let's Think Zebras: Understanding Rare Disease Through the Lives of Those it Affects
A rare disease diagnosis is the beginning of a journey of unknowns. From an HCPs ability to treat, to a caregivers' emotional burden, to a patient's sense of identity, there are a variety of factors that remain uncertain or unclear which ...
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38:48
Uncomfortable Conversations Save Lives: Gardasil, "The Sex Vaccine"
With January being Cervical Health Awareness month, we felt that this was a great time to breakdown the discussion around Gardasil, an HPV vaccine that can play a major role in curbing the incidence rates of cervical and a variety of other canc...
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30:56
Medicine at a Crossroads: Doctor Distress, Medical Culture, And "Healing The Healers"
Doctors are in distress, and pandemic is not the only cause. For decades, the role of the healer has been evolving (or devolving, depending on whom you ask), both in our imaginations and in the literal conditions of labor for doctors. For the f...
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29:33
"I Think I'm Turning into my Parents": A Celebration of Life Stage Similarities and Generational Differences
Use this link to view the video form of this episode: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/havashealthandyou_onehavas-meaningfuldifference-breakingthecode-activity-7140365496129875968-ZpsM?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop<...
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46:43
Uncomfortable Conversations Save Lives: Shame, Stigma, and Taboos
There isn't an official list of everything that's considered taboo, but somehow we all have an instinctual sense of words and topics that are off limits. We even try not to invoke the word of some taboos, like death, so we say things like "pass...
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36:24
"Your Hair Makes Me Look Like a Bad Mom": A Brief Review of the Semiotics of Hair
Hair is defined as the "threadlike strands growing from the skin of humans and other mammals", but that does not begin to describe the social significance of your hair. Color, cut, and style are all part of a shared but often tacit set of rules...
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35:09
Task Overload in Healthcare: When the Provider is Overwhelmed, The Patient Can't Be In Focus
"Task overload", or the related concepts of "information overload" and "task saturation", is a term developed to describe what happens when there is simply too much for our brains to do--a common occurrence in airline emergencies, spacecraft em...
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33:54
How Can We Sell the Idea of "Less" When We Are Wired to Want "More"?
Wanting "more" of anything we like seems to be a default human setting, even to the point of problematic excess. A packed closet means we have clothes to wear, an overstuffed fridge means we can eat, and a full wallet means we can buy even more...
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27:12
Speaking Around Death: Communicating About The End of Life
Death is an inevitable part of the human experience--OUR experience. But speaking about death, specifically how we want to spend our last months and days on earth when illness makes the end both visible and inevitable, is challenging. We find o...
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26:19