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 understand how and why people think and behave the way they do in this ever-changing business environment.
In addition to its database with the latest articles in the field, BIRC conducts research to understand how communication is connected to the growing body of behavioral insights research in the fields of business, cognitive behavior, psychology and neuroscience to broaden the industry’s understanding of these intersections.
The IPR Behavioral Insights Research Center has two fundamental objectives:
- To determine the key factors that influence attitude/opinion formation and therefore the resultant actions and or decisions; and
- To develop and apply processes, methods and pathways that enable effective communication.
Explore BIRC’s Signature Studies here!

Rand is helping fight the spread of disinformation through its Countering Truth Decay initiative. For this initiative, researchers have developed a database of online tools to help information consume ... more

Download Full Guide (PDF): A Communicator’s Guide to COVID-19 Vaccination Download Press Release: IPR Launches Communicators Guide Examining COVID-19 Vaccine HesitancyDownload Social Graphics: ... more

This summary is provided by the IPR Street Team based on the original study, “Citizens’ political public relations: Unpacking choices, and emergent and deliberate strategies in building trust and ... more

With just a few weeks to go before Election Day, most Americans have doubts about the fairness of the voting process, reported a new Public Affairs Council poll. In fact, only 29% of Americans have fa ... more

Download the Full Guide: 10 Ways to Identify DisinformationDownload the Webinar Playback: Disinformation in Society WebinarVisit Main Page: 2020 IPR Disinformation in Society Report THIS IS AN IPR B ... more

In partnership with Ragan’s PR Daily, “How We Did It” is a series featuring IPR Trustees discussing a success in their public relations career. As a global pharmaceutical company he ... more

Note: A version of this content appeared in the July 1, 2020 edition of PRNEWS. For subscription information, please visit: www.prnewsonline.com/about/info. Research conducted by Kyle Heatherly. In ... more

In partnership with PR News, “Lessons Earned” is a series featuring IPR Trustees sharing a difficult lesson. For 12 years, I was in the “if you want it done right, do it yourself ... more

The second annual Institute for Public Relations (IPR) “Disinformation in Society” study examines and tracks how disinformation — deemed as deliberately misleading or biased information — is ... more

This summary is presented by the IPR Behavioral Insights Research Center Key Findings Communications can be biased by the cognitive principles behind nudges, even if nudges aren’t intentionally ... more

This summary is presented by the IPR Behavioral Insights Research Center Key Findings Behavioural science research provides many techniques for motivating behaviours like compliance with public admin ... more

This summary is presented by the IPR Behavioral Insights Research Center Key Findings Positively-framed information about side effect likelihoods can reduce the experience of side effects stemming fr ... more

This summary is presented by the IPR Behavioral Insights Research Center Key Findings Crisis management teams often use strategies in time of crisis that run counter to the evidence-based best practi ... more

This summary is presented by the IPR Behavioral Insights Research Center Key Findings Simplification nudges that reduce the complexity of information in a message can increase compliance in public ad ... more

This summary is presented by the IPR Behavioral Insights Research Center Key Findings News story posts on social media are more likely to be read and shared if they include an image, especially posit ... more