The Label Lab

Organiser

Jordan Bridger, Emerge Creative LLC 

Summary

A sentence such as “I’m not a numbers person” sounds like a fact about the self, yet it may also be a prediction about what one will try next. The label lab turns this question into a practical problem in behavioral measurement: what is the difference between a person’s self-description, an intention, and an observable action? Participants will work with low stakes, everyday choices, not sensitive disclosures. We will compare what people say they might do against what they actually choose in a brief, voluntary task. The aim is to make measurement choices visible, not to claim that a single demonstration proves an effect.
Jordan brings a behavioral-science lens and the timing of a stand-up comedian to a workshop designed as an experiment in methods rather than a lecture. Participants first nominate or select a neutral self-label in private (or use a fictional example). In small groups, they define at least two possible operational measures: an immediate choice, a later intention, or a short observation. Groups then compare how each measure could mislead, including demand effects, social desirability, context, and missing data. A short live comic demonstration makes the distinction between what we narrate and what we do memorable, while the debrief asks participants to design a better, consent-based test they could actually run in their own setting.

Format

Participation and outputs: Everything is opt-in; no personal history is collected or shared. A fictional case is always available. Participants leave with a one-page measurement sketch naming a question, operational definition, observation window, consent approach, likely confounders, and an alternative interpretation. No clinical or neuroscientific efficacy is claimed.