163. The Data Sleuth Taking on Shoddy Science

Uri Simonsohn is a behavioral science professor who wants to improve standards in his field — so he’s made a sideline of investigating fraudulent academic research. He tells Steve Levitt, who's spent plenty of time rooting out cheaters in other fields, how he does it.

SOURCES:Uri Simonsohn • , professor of behavioral science at Esade Business School.

RESOURCES: • " Gino v. President and Fellows of Harvard College • ," (Court Listener, • 2025). • " Statement from Dan Ariely • ," (2024). • " Data Falsificada (Part 4): 'Forgetting The Words • ,'" by Uri Simonsohn, Leif Nelson, and Joe Simmons (Data Colada, • 2023). • " They Studied Dishonesty. Was Their Work a Lie? • " by Gideon Lewis-Kraus (The New Yorker, • 2023). • " Evidence of Fraud in an Influential Field Experiment About Dishonesty • ," by Uri Simonsohn, Leif Nelson, and Joe Simmons (Data Colada, • 2023). • " Signing at the beginning makes ethics salient anddecreases dishonest self-reports in comparison tosigning at the end • ," by Lisa Shu, Nina Mazar, Francesca Gino, Dan Ariely, and Max Bazerman (PNAS, • 2021). • " Power Posing: Reassessing The Evidence Behind The Most Popular TED Talk • ," by Uri Simonsohn and Joe Simmons (Data Colada • , 2015). • " Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are • ," by Amy Cuddy (TED, • 2012). • " Daily Horizons: Evidence of Narrow Bracketing in Judgment from 10 Years of MBA-Admission Interviews • ," by Uri Simohnson and Francesa Gino (Psychological Science, • 2012). • " Spurious? Name similarity effects (implicit egotism) in marriage, job, and moving decisions • ," by Uri Simohnson (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, • 2011). • " False-Positive Psychology: Undisclosed Flexibility in Data Collection and Analysis Allows Presenting Anything as Significant • ," by Joe Simmons, Leif Nelson, and Uri Simohnson (Psychological Science, • 2011).

EXTRAS: • " Will We Solve the Climate Problem? • " by People I (Mostly) Admire • (2025). • " Why Is There So Much Fraud in Academia? • " by Freakonomics Radio • (2024). • " When I'm Sixty Four • ," by The Beatles (1967).