About News News Subscribe Leadership Education Domestic Policy & Politics Racial Justice and Equity Democracy International and Global Affairs Political Science Health Policy Economics Advocacy Ethics National Security Social Entrepreneurship Social Equity Crime and Justice Environmental Policy Humanitarian Policy International Development Research and Commentary Immigration Migration Labor Housing Virginia Politics & Policy (-) Social Psychology (-) Global Politics & International Relations Facet Area of Focus - News Gabrielle Adams Benjamin Converse Timothy L. Davis Jay Shimshack Adam Roux Alexander Bick Brendan J. Boler David Leblang Gerald Warburg Jieun Pai John Holbein Kirsten Gelsdorf Lucy Bassett Facet People - News UVA Humanitarian Collaborative School Engineering Facet UVA Partner - News Research and Commentary Faculty In Action Facet News Type - News Apr 16, 2021 We instinctively add on new features and fixes. Why don’t we subtract instead? Social Psychology Across a series of studies published this month in the journal Nature, Batten’s Gabrielle Adams, Benjamin Converse and co-authors demonstrated that people tend to overlook the option to subtract parts when asked to change or improve something. In an op-ed for The Washington Post, they explore why ‘less is more’ is a hard insight to act on. Read in The Washington Post Apr 14, 2021 Why People Forget that Less is Often More Social Psychology Why, when solving problems, do people prefer adding things to getting rid of them? In an article for The Economist, Batten’s Gabrielle Adams and Benjamin Converse explain their research on subtractive improvements. Read in The Economist Apr 07, 2021 Why Our Brains Miss Opportunities to Improve through Subtraction Social Psychology Leadership In a new paper featured on the cover of Nature, Batten’s Gabrielle Adams, Benjamin Converse and co-authors explain why people systematically overlook subtractive improvements. Learn more Aug 07, 2020 Analyst and Educator Brendan Boler to Join Batten School Faculty Social Psychology Education Educator, scholar, and analyst Brendan Boler will join the faculty at the Batten School for the 2020-21 academic year. As an assistant professor of public policy, Boler will teach core and elective leadership courses in both the BA and MPP curricula. Learn more Mar 27, 2020 The Essential Role of Resilience During Crisis Leadership Health Policy Social Psychology For the first event in Batten's digital expert chat series, Professor Tim Davis spoke about the importance of “emotional fortitude” during the current health crisis. Learn more Mar 20, 2020 Faculty, Staff Address Student Concerns for Coping with COVID-19 Stigma and Stress Social Equity Social Psychology Members of the University community, including Batten's Tim Davis, emphasize student resiliency and kindness in response to pandemic preparations. READ IN The Cavalier Daily Dec 13, 2019 The Case for Regifting Social Psychology Many think the move is shameful—but research from Batten's Gabrielle Adams and Harvard's Michael Norton suggests the problem is all in the regifter’s head. READ IN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Sep 13, 2018 The Batten School Launches First Executive Education Course Social Psychology The weekend-long course will take place from Saturday, Nov. 10 to Sunday, Nov. 11 at Garrett Hall, home of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Learn more Sep 13, 2018 Batten’s Shimshack Explains If (and Why) People Wait Too Long to Stock Up to Prepare for Hurricanes Economics Environmental Policy Social Psychology Is it the “ostrich effect?” Misguided optimism? Ease of shopping during normal times? Or a distrust of government warnings? Learn more Pagination Previous page ‹ Previous Page 1 Current page 2 Stay Up To Date with the Latest Batten News and Events Subscribe
Apr 16, 2021 We instinctively add on new features and fixes. Why don’t we subtract instead? Social Psychology Across a series of studies published this month in the journal Nature, Batten’s Gabrielle Adams, Benjamin Converse and co-authors demonstrated that people tend to overlook the option to subtract parts when asked to change or improve something. In an op-ed for The Washington Post, they explore why ‘less is more’ is a hard insight to act on. Read in The Washington Post
Apr 14, 2021 Why People Forget that Less is Often More Social Psychology Why, when solving problems, do people prefer adding things to getting rid of them? In an article for The Economist, Batten’s Gabrielle Adams and Benjamin Converse explain their research on subtractive improvements. Read in The Economist
Apr 07, 2021 Why Our Brains Miss Opportunities to Improve through Subtraction Social Psychology Leadership In a new paper featured on the cover of Nature, Batten’s Gabrielle Adams, Benjamin Converse and co-authors explain why people systematically overlook subtractive improvements. Learn more
Aug 07, 2020 Analyst and Educator Brendan Boler to Join Batten School Faculty Social Psychology Education Educator, scholar, and analyst Brendan Boler will join the faculty at the Batten School for the 2020-21 academic year. As an assistant professor of public policy, Boler will teach core and elective leadership courses in both the BA and MPP curricula. Learn more
Mar 27, 2020 The Essential Role of Resilience During Crisis Leadership Health Policy Social Psychology For the first event in Batten's digital expert chat series, Professor Tim Davis spoke about the importance of “emotional fortitude” during the current health crisis. Learn more
Mar 20, 2020 Faculty, Staff Address Student Concerns for Coping with COVID-19 Stigma and Stress Social Equity Social Psychology Members of the University community, including Batten's Tim Davis, emphasize student resiliency and kindness in response to pandemic preparations. READ IN The Cavalier Daily
Dec 13, 2019 The Case for Regifting Social Psychology Many think the move is shameful—but research from Batten's Gabrielle Adams and Harvard's Michael Norton suggests the problem is all in the regifter’s head. READ IN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Sep 13, 2018 The Batten School Launches First Executive Education Course Social Psychology The weekend-long course will take place from Saturday, Nov. 10 to Sunday, Nov. 11 at Garrett Hall, home of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Learn more
Sep 13, 2018 Batten’s Shimshack Explains If (and Why) People Wait Too Long to Stock Up to Prepare for Hurricanes Economics Environmental Policy Social Psychology Is it the “ostrich effect?” Misguided optimism? Ease of shopping during normal times? Or a distrust of government warnings? Learn more