Dr. Ben Butina interviews Dr. Logan Watts, Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Arlington, about his background and research. They discuss the concept of “side effects” in organizational interventions, which are unintended negative consequences that may occur as a result of a treatment or intervention. They also explore the distinction between side effects and primary effects, which are intended consequences of an intervention. Dr. Watts also shares an example of how he and his colleagues discovered negative side effects of an assessment tool they created, which resulted in a negative correlation between the nature of feedback and how much the participants liked the tool. He also addresses the challenges in detecting side effects in the workplace, such as collecting data and disentangling the effects of an intervention, and suggests that organizations may already be collecting a lot of relevant data that could be used to detect side effects.

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