Talk – How to escape the hypocrisy trap
18 Nov 2025
12:15 -13:45
Times are shown in local time
Open to: All
Lecture Theatre 2 (Cambridge Judge Business School)
Trumpington St
Cambridge
CB2 1AG
United Kingdom
Join our upcoming EEI book talk
Our lives are full of accusations of hypocrisy, against politicians, companies and each other. Yet despite this noise, little seems to change. In this talk, Michael Hallsworth reveals the hypocrisy trap, our relentless drive to expose inconsistency either breeds more hypocrisy or exhausts our belief in shared standards altogether.
Drawing on the latest behavioural science studies, Hallsworth demonstrates why hypocrisy accusations ratchet up over time, why they rarely convert opponents and how purity tests can backfire. Rather than trying to eliminate hypocrisy altogether, we can find practical ways to criticise it better, distinguishing between corrosive double standards and tolerable compromises, rewarding progress over perfection and using new tactics to become more consistent ourselves.
The introduction will be given by Professor Lucia Reisch and refreshments at 12:15-12:30 will include a light vegetarian lunch, tea, coffee and networking.
Speaker
Dr Michael Hallsworth
Chief Behavioural Scientist, The Behavioural Insights Team (BIT)
Michael is the Chief Behavioural Scientist at BIT. Before his current role, Michael was Managing Director of BIT Americas. For 20 years, he has worked as both an official and an advisor to various governments and has been a leading figure in applying behavioural science to address practical problems.
Michael has a PhD in behavioural economics from Imperial College London and is currently Distinguished Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania. He has held positions at Princeton University, Columbia University and Imperial College London.
His work has been published in The Lancet, the Journal of Public Economics and Nature Human Behaviour and is the co-author of the book Behavioral Insights from MIT Press (2020). Inc.com calls Behavioral Insights, ‘The one book every entrepreneur should read.’
In 2023, Michael authored the hugely popular Manifesto for Applied Behavioural Science. He gave a talk about the manifesto at the Cambridge Judge Business School in May 2023 and it is a pleasure to invite him back to discuss his new book. The Manifesto marked a turning point for applied behavioural science, by taking a clear-eyed look at challenges facing the field and offering 10 proposals to address them.
No registration required
No registration required. If you have any questions about this book talk, please email the EEI team.