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NOVEMBER 7, 2024 |
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Harvard Kennedy School | | | |
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New research finds evoking gratitude is more effective than sadness in reducing the urge to smoke. Illustration by Rachel Harris. | | |
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Health |
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How emotion science can help fight the world’s leading cause of preventable death |
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The World Health Organization says smoking is the leading cause of global preventable death, killing up to 8 million people prematurely every year—far more than die in wars and conflicts. Yet the emotional impact of anti-smoking campaigns has never been fully studied until now. HKS Professor Jennifer Lerner, a decision scientist who studies emotion, and Vaughan Rees, the director for the Center for Global Tobacco Control at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, say their research shows that sadness—an emotion often evoked in anti-smoking ads—can actually induce people to smoke more. Meanwhile, evoking gratitude appears to have the opposite effect. Lerner and Rees joined the latest episode of the HKS PolicyCast podcast to discuss their research and to offer policy recommendations—including closer collaboration between scientists who study emotion and the Centers for Disease Control and expanding similar research to other addictive behaviors including drinking and drug use.
Learn more about Health at HKS » | | |
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What we're learning |
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Trust in the news media has weakened. Can receptive language help the media win back readers’ trust? | | |
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Health |
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A hybrid human-algorithm approach to approving medical devices could slash product recalls and save billions |
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New research by HKS Associate Professor Soroush Saghafian and others suggests that combining machine learning algorithms with human expertise could make the FDA's approval process for medical devices faster, more accurate, and significantly more cost-effective. Saghafian and his fellow researchers trained a machine learning model on data about manufacturers and medium- to low-risk devices, which can include anything from a mobility scooter to orthodontic aligners, and say the results could allow FDA experts to focus on devices that need the most attention. They estimate that this new approach could reduce the device recall rate by nearly 39% and save up to $2.7 billion annually. The researchers recommended further studies and randomized trials to validate their findings and cost-saving projections.
Learn more about Health at HKS » | | |
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Human Rights |
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The three biggest misconceptions about immigration |
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Immigration is one of the most widely discussed topics in American society. But much of the discourse around immigrants is based on misinformation and false narratives about who they are, why they come to the U.S., and the impacts they have. In a new video, HKS Professor Jennifer Hochschild dispells three of the biggest misconceptions that people have about immigration, including on the issue of crime, where she says statistics show that natural-born American citizens commit crimes at an overwhelmingly higher rate than immigrants and asylum seekers.
Learn more about Human Rights at HKS » | | |
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Politics |
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How healthy disagreements can move a polarized citizenry forward |
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A recent HKS Forum, featuring governors and their chiefs of staff, highlighted the importance of constructive disagreement for democratic governance and strategies for fostering open dialogue and collaboration. Maine Governor Janet Mills and Arkansas's former Governor Asa Hutchinson described how their teams encouraged diverse perspectives to inform decisions, emphasizing a culture of respect and inclusivity. The governors’ respective chiefs of staff, Jeremy Kennedy and Alison Williams, also discussed balancing transparency and leadership structure to ensure effective, responsive government while managing differences constructively. Mills said she received some good advice from independent U.S. Senator Angus King: “Don’t pick people because of party loyalty or partisan politics—just pick the best people you can find.”
Learn more about Politics at HKS » | | |
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