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New York University
SOCIAL PERCEPTION ACTION
and MOTIVATION LAB
Lab Director: Dr. Emily Balcetis
Digital Media
Your Brain is Lying to You! - The Neuroscience of Perception
Dr. Emily Balcetis delves into her research on how individuals perceive reality differently. The discussion touches on concepts from Immanuel Kant, David Eagleman, and Richard Nisbett, highlighting how perception is an active process shaped by both the brain and culture. The conversation further explores the implications of human perception for artificial intelligence and future research directions in understanding how we construct and interpret reality.
March 2025
Why We See Things Differently
People can see things differently when presented with the same visual evidence — from party trick optical illusions to courtroom videos of police arrests. Why? The difference isn't in our eyes, but in our memories, and where our mind focuses its gaze. By becoming more aware of our visual attention biases, we can gain a broader and more informed perspective of the world.
August 2023
The Surprising Science of Motivation
(It’s Not What You Think)
we delve into the surprising science of motivation and accomplishment, uncovering powerful strategies to help you conquer challenges and propel yourself towards your dreams.
April 2023
How To Achieve ANY Goal
with Stephen Scoggins
March 2023
Visual Illusions: Catching the Brain Creating Reality
Neuroscientists Susana Martinez-Conde and Rodrigo Quian Quiroga and psychologist Emily Balcetis are among those using illusions to catch the brain in the act of interpreting and sometimes misinterpreting what the eye takes in. In conversation with Brian Greene, they discuss illusions involving everything from celebrity photos to police dash cam tapes to mind bending images that broke the internet.
February 2023
Does Food Taste Better When Someone Else Makes It?
December 2022
The Science of Setting and Achieving Goals
Social psychologist Emily Balcetis goes in-depth on understanding how people’s perceptions of the world fuel their motivations and life goals, what she’s learned from studying some of the world’s most successful people and how they set goals, and how you can get better results in life if you change the way you see the world and where you place your focus.
December 2022
Why the Secret to Success is Setting the Right Goals
Dr. Balcetis explains how to best break down, visualize and overcome the challenges we face as we work towards hitting our goals.
October 2022
Tools for Setting & Achieving Goals
Dr. Emily Balcetis and Dr. Andrew Huberman discuss tools that anyone can use to achieve physical and/or cognitive goals more effectively.
August 2022
The Power of Narrow Visual Focus
Ever wondered why you can’t meet your fitness goals? Dr. Emily Balcetis turned to elite runners to find out.
January 2022
The Behavioral Science of Setting Goals
May 2021
with Alain Guillot
April 2021
Seeing Better Leadership
Emily divulges her current research into what successful work cultures embrace, how to set the goldie-locks goal, and why it just could be as simple as changing the optics.
March 2021
The Hidden Secret to Achieving Your Goals
Emily Balcetis, author of the book, "Clearer, Closer, Better: How Successful People See the World," shares four ways you can envision and achieve your own goal
March 2021
with Jay Scherr
Emily shares the four powerful visual strategies to reshape the way we see the world and how we can use them to our advantage for setting and achieving goals, the impact of social media on our view of the world, how she reframes failure, and more.
October 2020
A Roundtable Discussion
with Emily Ballets, Ned Block, Lawrence Friedman,
and Edward Smith
May 2011
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