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- April 2022
- Article
Consumers Value Effort over Ease When Caring for Close Others
By: Ximena Garcia-Rada, Mary Steffel, Elanor F. Williams and Michael I. Norton
Many products and services are designed to make caregiving easier, from premade meals for feeding families to robo-cribs that automatically rock babies to sleep. Yet, using these products may come with a cost: consumers may feel they have not exerted enough effort....
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- January 2022
- Article
People Overestimate the Self-Presentation Costs of Deadline Extension Requests
By: Ashley V. Whillans, Jaewon Yoon and Grant Donnelly
Across five studies (N = 4,151), we investigate a novel barrier that prevents people from making personally beneficial requests: the overestimation of self-presentation costs. Even when deadlines are easily adjustable, people are less likely to request an extension and...
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- October 15, 2021
- Article
Virtuous Victims
By: Jillian J. Jordan and Maryam Kouchaki
How do people perceive the moral character of victims? We find, across a range of transgressions, that people frequently see victims of wrongdoing as more moral than non-victims who have behaved identically. Across 15 experiments (total n = 9,355), we document this...
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- October 2021
- Article
Communicating Resource Scarcity and Interpersonal Connection
By: Grant E. Donnelly, Anne V. Wilson, Ashley V. Whillans and Michael I. Norton
Consumers often cite insufficient time or money as an excuse for rejecting social invitations. We explore the effectiveness of these excuses in preserving interpersonal relationships. Six studies—including perceptions of couples planning their wedding—demonstrate that...
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- Article
Are They Useful? The Effects of Performance Incentives on the Prioritization of Work Versus Personal Ties
By: Julia Hur, Alice Lee-Yoon and Ashley V. Whillans
Most working adults report spending very little time with friends and family. The current research explores the aspects of work that encourage employees to spend less time with personal ties. We show that incentive systems play a critical role in shaping how people...
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- July–August 2021
- Article
Surfacing the Submerged State: Operational Transparency Increases Trust in and Engagement with Government
By: Ryan W. Buell, Ethan Porter and Michael I. Norton
Problem definition: As trust in government reaches historic lows, frustration with government performance approaches record highs.
Academic/practical relevance: We propose that in co-productive settings like government services, peoples’ trust and...
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- Article
'Many Others Are Doing It, So Why Shouldn't I?': How Being in Larger Competitions Leads to More Cheating
By: Celia Chui, Maryam Kouchaki and Francesca Gino
In many spheres of life, from applying for a job to participating in an athletic contest to vying for a date, we face competition. Does the size of the competition pool affect our propensity to behave unethically in our pursuit of the prize? We propose that it does....
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Keywords:
Unethical Behavior;
Cheating;
Competitors;
Social Norms;
Ethics;
Behavior;
Competition;
Societal Protocols
- Article
Emotional Acknowledgment: How Verbalizing Others' Emotions Fosters Interpersonal Trust
By: Alisa Yu, Justin M. Berg and Julian Zlatev
People often respond to others’ emotions using verbal acknowledgment (e.g., “You seem upset”). Yet, little is known about the relational benefits and risks of acknowledging others’ emotions in the workplace. We draw upon Costly Signaling Theory to posit how emotional...
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- 2020
- Working Paper
'Repayment-by-Purchase' Helps Consumers to Reduce Credit Card Debt
By: Grant E. Donnelly, Cait Lamberton, Stephen Bush, Zoe Chance and Michael I. Norton
Many consumers struggle to repay their credit card debt, in part because paying small portions of large bills often feels fruitless. We introduce a novel credit card payment option—repayment-by-purchase—and examine its influence on both the amount consumers’ repay and...
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- 2020
- Chapter
The Group Malleability Intervention: Addressing Intergroup Conflicts by Changing Perceptions of Outgroup Malleability
By: Amit Goldenberg, J. J. Gross and Eran Halperin
Precise shifts in the ways people make sense of themselves, others, and social situations can help people flourish. This compelling handbook synthesizes the growing body of research on wise interventions—brief, nonclinical strategies that are "wise" to the impact of...
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- Article
Feeling Authentic Serves as a Buffer Against Rejections
By: F. Gino and M. Kouchaki
Social exclusion is a painful yet common experience in many people’s personal and professional lives. This research demonstrates that feeling authentic serves as a buffer against social rejection, leading people to experience less social pain. Across five studies,...
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- 2020
- Working Paper
Quiet Fires Fail to Impress: Introverted Expressions of Passion Receive Less Social Worth
By: Grace Cormier and Jon M. Jachimowicz
Thinking of passionate people typically brings to mind their vivacious expressions. Prior research has shown that such outward manifestations of passion are often met with increased admiration and support by others. But not everyone may express their passion so...
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Keywords:
Passion;
Personality;
Support;
Social Worth;
Personal Characteristics;
Behavior;
Perception;
Value
- 2020
- Working Paper
Older People Are Less Pessimistic About the Health Risks of COVID-19
By: Pedro Bordalo, Katherine B. Coffman, Nicola Gennaioli and Andrei Shleifer
A central question for understanding behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic, at both the individual and collective levels, is how people perceive the health and economic risks they face. We conducted a survey of over 1,500 Americans from May 6–13, 2020, to understand...
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- 2020
- Article
The Upside to Feeling Worse Than Average (WTA): A Conceptual Framework to Understand When, How, and for Whom Worse-Than-Average Beliefs Have Long-Term Benefits
By: Ashley V. Whillans, Frances Chen and Alex Jordan
Our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are shaped in critical ways by our beliefs about how we compare to other people. Past research has predominantly focused on the consequences of believing oneself to be better than average (BTA). Research on the consequences of...
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- 2022
- Working Paper
Fostering Perceptions of Authenticity via Sensitive Self-Disclosure
By: Li Jiang, Leslie John, Reihane Boghrati and Maryam Kouchaki
Leaders’ perceived authenticity—the sense that they are acting in accordance with their “true self”—is associated with positive outcomes for both employees and organizations alike. How might a leader foster this impression? We show that sensitive self-disclosure, in...
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- 2020
- Book
Edge: Turning Adversity into Advantage
By: Laura Huang
Having an edge is about gaining an advantage, but it goes beyond just advantage. It's about recognizing that others will have their own perceptions about us, right or wrong. When you recognize the power in those perceptions and flip them in your favor, you create an...
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- September 2019
- Article
The Self-Presentational Consequences of Upholding One's Stance in Spite of the Evidence
Five studies explore the self-presentational consequences of refusing to “back down” – that is, upholding a stance despite evidence of its inaccuracy. Using data from an entrepreneurial pitch competition, Study 1 shows that entrepreneurs tend not to back down even...
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- 2010
- Article
I May Not Agree With You, but I Trust You: Caring About Social Issues Signals Integrity
By: Julian Zlatev
What characteristics of an individual signal trustworthiness to other people? I propose that individuals who care about contentious social issues signal to observers that they have integrity and thus can be trusted. Critically, this signal conveys trustworthiness...
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- February 2019
- Article
Pettiness in Social Exchange
By: Tami Kim, Ting Zhang and Michael I. Norton
We identify and document a novel construct—pettiness, or intentional attentiveness to trivial details—and examine its (negative) implications in interpersonal relationships and social exchange. Seven studies show that pettiness manifests across different types of...
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- 2019
- Working Paper
Communicating Resource Scarcity
By: Grant E. Donnelly, Anne Wilson, A.V. Whillans and Michael I. Norton
The development and maintenance of interpersonal relationships require investments of both money and time—resources that are often limited in supply, but in great demand. Indeed, consumers are regularly asked to dedicate their money and time to social engagements, and...
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