The science of fighting crime with Nick Cowen
Worklife with Adam Grant
TED
4.8 • 9.4K Ratings
🗓️ 19 November 2024
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Criminologist Nick Cowen doesn't just analyze crime — he studies how to prevent it. As a professor at the University of Lincoln in the UK, he explores the unexpected factors that influence crime rates. Nick joins Adam to discuss how social norms and incentives helped the UK curb drunk driving, and the two talk through the science behind what actually drives individuals and societies to change outdated and dangerous behaviors.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | TED Audio Collective. |
| 0:07.0 | Have you ever wondered why we call French Fries French Fries or why something is the greatest thing since sliced bread? |
| 0:13.1 | There are answers to those questions. |
| 0:15.2 | Everything Everywhere Daily is a podcast for curious people who want to learn more about the world around them. |
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| 0:24.6 | Subjects include history, science, geography, mathematics, and culture. |
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| 0:31.9 | just subscribe to everything everywhere daily, wherever you cast your pod. |
| 0:38.0 | In the UK, we reduced drink-driving fatalities from 1980 to 2020 by around 85%. |
| 0:51.2 | Hey, everyone, it's Adam Grant. |
| 0:53.4 | Welcome back to Rethinking, my podcast on the Science of What Makes Us Tick with the TED Audio Collective. |
| 0:59.0 | I'm an organizational psychologist, and I'm taking you inside the minds of fascinating people to explore new thoughts and new ways of thinking. |
| 1:07.0 | My guest today is Nick Cowan. |
| 1:11.6 | He's a criminologist at the University of Lincoln in the UK. |
| 1:14.6 | I recently read a riveting article that he wrote about putting an end to drunk driving. |
| 1:19.6 | Nick made me rethink some of my core assumptions about how to fight crime. |
| 1:23.6 | They're seeing that fewer people are drinking and driving. |
| 1:26.6 | They'll then feel, oh, that's |
| 1:28.2 | actually kind of deviant. It's kind of abnormal in this community. And that's when you see the |
| 1:33.1 | cultural change. So my kind of take in this article is that culture, at least for some things, |
| 1:38.0 | can be surprisingly malleable. |
| 1:43.7 | Let me start by just asking you, how did you become a criminologist? |
... |
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