The Cambridge Handbook of Behavioural Data Science

This Handbook is essential for researchers, students, and practitioners seeking to understand behaviour in the digital age. Bridging behavioural science and data science, it offers interdisciplinary insights, ethical reflections, and practical applications to study human, algorithmic, and systemic behaviour in real-world, data-rich environments.

The Cambridge Handbook of Behavioural Data Science offers an essential exploration of how behavioural science and data science converge to study, predict, and explain human, algorithmic, and systemic behaviours. Bringing together scholars from psychology, economics, computer science, engineering, and philosophy, the Handbook presents interdisciplinary perspectives on emerging methods, ethical dilemmas, and real-world applications. Organised into modular parts-Human Behaviour, Algorithmic Behaviour, Systems and Culture, and Applications—it provides readers with a comprehensive, flexible map of the field. Covering topics from cognitive modelling to explainable AI, and from social network analysis to ethics of large language models, the Handbook reflects on both technical innovations and the societal impact of behavioural data, and reinforces concepts in online supplementary materials and videos. The book is an indispensable resource for researchers, students, practitioners, and policymakers who seek to engage critically and constructively with behavioural data in an increasingly digital and algorithmically mediated world.