Vanessa Bohns

I open my book with how it feels to be in front of the classroom, staring out at blank faces, unsure your words are having any impact at all. Then one day you get an email from a student revealing the impact you had on their life. I wanted this book to be that email for others.

@scottdclary For an alternative perspective, see my interview with Adam Grant where I explain why "No is a complete sentence" is my least favorite piece of advice. ;) shows.acast.com/worklife-with-…

A habit worth stopping: Explaining your no. "No, I can't because..." invites negotiation. "No, thank you" is complete. Every explanation is an opening. Every excuse is an invitation. No is a sentence. Not a paragraph. The more you explain, the weaker your boundary. State it. Hold it. Stop defending it.

@DHBostyn Super interesting. The finding that utilitarian motivation underlies Ps' choice to shock the single person, but that a mix of explanations were offered for non-action is consistent with what I typically see when I have students discuss trolley dilemmas in my classes.

Upcoming in JPSP Psychologists study morality by having people respond to hypothetical "trolley dilemmas". We confronted people with a real-life version. Not with runaway trolleys, but with people hooked up to electroshock machines: "Do you want to save two people from pain by shocking a third?". Real people, real shocks. 1/10

Want to hear an alternative ending of "The Giving Tree"? Or maybe you want to hear me tell @AdamMGrant how mean he is to his face? If so, you should really tune in to this truly fantastic episode of Adam's Work Life Podcast, "How to Say No"! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how…

Our little Upstate NY science center just had $500k of federal funding revoked. Just constant awfulness from this administration. weny.com/story/52698769…

@ProfBforBargain I forgot about Darkwing Duck!!

@profbohns How nostalgic. Cartoons had David Lynch references back when I was a kid too youtube.com/watch?v=9h62gS…

Clear & powerful piece by Princeton President Eisgruber. "the government is using grants that apply to Columbia science departments as a cudgel to force changes to a completely unrelated department that the government apparently regards as objectionable." theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

I had to confirm off social media that he actually posted this video of "Trump Gaza" with a golden statue of himself and he and Netanyahu sipping cocktails at a pool built on a decimated war zone--it's too absurd and vile to believe at first. But he did. cnn.com/2025/02/26/wor…

Making these kinds of basic mistakes with this kind of access is genuinely terrifying. wired.com/story/elon-mus…

The flying public needs answers. How many FAA personnel were just fired? What positions? And why?

I feel like if someone could just sneak “Hidden Figures” onto Trump’s bathroom TV we could put an end to this DEI-causes plane-crashes bullshit.

@RColesworthy OMG, I brewed an entire pot of hot water because I forgot to put the coffee in that very same morning! Twinsies.

If you’re wondering how my brain is doing post-MLA, this morning I managed to brew an entire pot of coffee onto the counter and floor because I neglected to put the carafe back in the coffee maker after filling the water

There is a difference between your employee providing legal consent, and them feeling they have consented. s.hbr.org/3DSRMWU

In our latest @HarvardBiz , @RachelSchlund & I argue that obtaining true informed consent requires more than locking in a signature or verbal agreement & that organizations willing to prioritize transparency and clarity over mere compliance reap benefits. hbr.org/2025/01/resear…

A “real” yes? Even when an agreement meets the legal criteria for consent, individuals may not feel they’ve truly given consent, which can have serious consequences in the workplace, according to new @cornellilr research. @profbohns @sciencedirect news.cornell.edu/stories/2025/0…

Here is a nice summary of the paper written by @CornellILR_News's Julie Greco for @CornellNews. "Feeling ‘hoodwinked’ erodes trust in employee relations": news.cornell.edu/stories/2025/0…

New paper on informed consent! I’m so proud of this work led by @RachelSchlund. We show that regardless of how clueless WE feel about the terms we agree to when signing a contract or clicking accept, others assume we knew what we were getting into. sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

@davenuss79 @cduhigg @danengber @TheAtlantic @OlegUrminsky One more corroborating opinion on this from @lakens. This was just such a problematic take unfortunately that I think undermines any real journalism in the piece.

@davenuss79 @cduhigg @danengber @TheAtlantic @OlegUrminsky Also truly sad that the "build a woman up just to tear her down" trope is still being used to get attention and clicks. h/t to Prof Andrew King for noting this: linkedin.com/posts/andrew-k…

This is a really important piece about academic dishonesty by @danengber and @TheAtlantic. I hope it gets the attention (and further investigation) it deserves. theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…

Same!