<< Back to Faculty Benjamin Converse Associate Professor of Public Policy and Psychology Education & Training Ph.D., Managerial and Organizational Behavior, University of Chicago, Booth School of Business (Center for Decision Research), 2010 B.A., Psychological and Brain Sciences, High Honors, Dartmouth College, 2004 434-243-2885 converse@virginia.edu Garrett Hall L001 Curriculum Vitae (272.67 KB) Personal Website Courses taught Psychology for Leadership Strategies and Processes of Negotiation The Science of Self-Regulation and Decision Making Areas of focus Leadership Social Psychology Benjamin Converse is an associate professor of public policy and psychology at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the Department of Psychology. His research focuses on motivation, social judgment, problem solving and decision making. He teaches courses related to leadership and negotiations. As the principal investigator of the Social Behavior and Decisions (SoBaD) Lab, Converse collaborates with postdoctoral, graduate and undergraduate researchers to understand how people achieve personal and collective goals in a resource-constrained and social world. Recent projects have focused on competitive relationships, problem-solving strategies and long-term goal pursuit. His research has been published in journals such as Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Psychological Science, and American Psychologist, and has been covered in outlets such as The New York Times, The Economist, NPR, and The Wall Street Journal. His essays have been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post and Scientific American. Related Content New Research: Sharing "Eco-Innovations" Can Ease Climate Despair News Climate despair is emerging as a psychosocial threat. Ben Converse, associate professor of public policy and psychology at the Batten School, and other UVA researchers have found a potential source of hope that is underutilized. Better Sharing of “Eco-Innovations” Can Combat Rising Climate Despair Research Climate despair is emerging as a psychosocial threat. Ben Converse, associate professor of public policy and psychology at the Batten School, along with Batten post-doc Maura Austin and other UVA researchers, have found a potential source of hope that is underutilized. Fridays at Batten: When Less is More in Decision-Making Event In this FAB, held in partnership with the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Professors Leidy Klotz (Engineering & Applied Sciences), Gabe Adams and Ben Converse (Frank Batten School of Leadership & Public Policy) share insights on what we can learn, and how we can make better decisions by subtracting, rather than adding things to our to-do lists. When Less is More: How Harnessing the Power of Subtraction Can Add to Life News There’s a lot of thought that goes into adding things to our routines, our closets, our lives. But how much thought goes into subtracting things? Not enough, according to three University of Virginia professors. Batten's Lipscomb Receives UVA's Prestigious Public Impact-Focused Research Award News Batten professor Molly Lipscomb was honored with the university's Public Impact-Focused Research Award for her work examining the impact of bringing public services to low-income households in countries where services are needed. We instinctively add on new features and fixes. Why don’t we subtract instead? News 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. Why People Forget that Less is Often More News 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. Why Our Brains Miss Opportunities to Improve through Subtraction News 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. People systematically overlook subtractive changes Research A series of problem-solving experiments reveal that people are more likely to consider solutions that add features than solutions that remove them, even when removing features is more efficient. View All
New Research: Sharing "Eco-Innovations" Can Ease Climate Despair News Climate despair is emerging as a psychosocial threat. Ben Converse, associate professor of public policy and psychology at the Batten School, and other UVA researchers have found a potential source of hope that is underutilized.
Better Sharing of “Eco-Innovations” Can Combat Rising Climate Despair Research Climate despair is emerging as a psychosocial threat. Ben Converse, associate professor of public policy and psychology at the Batten School, along with Batten post-doc Maura Austin and other UVA researchers, have found a potential source of hope that is underutilized.
Fridays at Batten: When Less is More in Decision-Making Event In this FAB, held in partnership with the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Professors Leidy Klotz (Engineering & Applied Sciences), Gabe Adams and Ben Converse (Frank Batten School of Leadership & Public Policy) share insights on what we can learn, and how we can make better decisions by subtracting, rather than adding things to our to-do lists.
When Less is More: How Harnessing the Power of Subtraction Can Add to Life News There’s a lot of thought that goes into adding things to our routines, our closets, our lives. But how much thought goes into subtracting things? Not enough, according to three University of Virginia professors.
Batten's Lipscomb Receives UVA's Prestigious Public Impact-Focused Research Award News Batten professor Molly Lipscomb was honored with the university's Public Impact-Focused Research Award for her work examining the impact of bringing public services to low-income households in countries where services are needed.
We instinctively add on new features and fixes. Why don’t we subtract instead? News 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.
Why People Forget that Less is Often More News 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.
Why Our Brains Miss Opportunities to Improve through Subtraction News 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.
People systematically overlook subtractive changes Research A series of problem-solving experiments reveal that people are more likely to consider solutions that add features than solutions that remove them, even when removing features is more efficient.