The Behavioral Insights Research Center’s (BIRC) mission is to conduct research on the factors that influence attitude and behavioral change to enable effective communication. BIRC can help professionals understanding how and why people think and behave the way they do in this ever-changing business environment.
Latest Research

Author(s), Title and Publication Yang, Z., Saini, R., & Freling, T. (2015). How anxiety leads to suboptimal decisions under risky choice situations. Risk Analysis, 35(10), 1789-1800. Summary Decis ... more

Author(s), Title and Publication Namkoong, J. E., & Henderson, M. D. (2014). It’s simple and I know it!: Abstract construals reduce causal uncertainty. Social Psychological and Personality Scien ... more

Author(s), Title and Publication Tao, W. (2017). How consumers’ pre-crisis associations and attitude certainty impact their responses to different crises. Communication Research. Advanced online ... more

Author(s), Title and Publication Kim, H. J., & Cameron, G. T. (2011). Emotions matter in crisis: The role of anger and sadness in the publics’ response to crisis news framing and corporate crisi ... more

Author(s), Title and Publication Green, M. C., & Donahue, J. K. (2011). Persistence of belief change in the face of deception: The effect of factual stories revealed to be false. Media Psychology, ... more

How Warning Older Adults About A False Consumer Claim May Increase the Perceived Truth of That Claim
Author(s), Title and Publication Skurnik, I., Yoon, C., Park, D., & Schwarz, N. (2005). How Warnings about False Claims Become Recommendations. Journal of Consumer Research, 31(4), 713-724. Summar ... more

In March 2016, IPR launched its Behavioral Insights Research Center (BIRC) to conduct research on the factors that influence attitude and behavioral change to enable effective communication. The BIRC ... more

Behavioral science insights refer to a body of research aimed at better understanding how people make decisions and act on them. Launched by the Institute for Public Relations in March 2016, The Behav ... more

The Institute’s Behavioral Insights Research Center (BIRC) announced earlier in the year is a timely addition to the Institute’s research activities and to the resources available to public relati ... more

Abstract: This article outlines the importance of new and emerging behavioral insights research for the public relations profession. How attitudes and beliefs are cultivated, processed and then potent ... more

The Behavioral Communications research program is sponsored by ExxonMobil, Public Affairs Council, Mosaic, and Gagen MacDonald. This is the third blog in a three-part series that launches IPR’s ... more

The Behavioral Communications research program is sponsored by ExxonMobil, Public Affairs Council, Mosaic, and Gagen MacDonald. This is the second blog in a three-part series that launches IPR’s ... more

The Behavioral Communications research program is sponsored by ExxonMobil, Public Affairs Council, Mosaic, and Gagen MacDonald. This is the first blog in a three-part series that launches IPR’s ... more

The Behavioral Communications research program is sponsored by ExxonMobil, Public Affairs Council, Mosaic, and Gagen MacDonald. This is the second post in a series introducing IPR’s new Behav ... more

The Behavioral Communications research program is sponsored by ExxonMobil, Public Affairs Council, Mosaic, and Gagen MacDonald. This is the first blog in a three-part series that launches IPR’ ... more