Area: Behavioral Decision Making

Police body cam point of view Feature / Public Policy

Do Body Cams Give Police an Unintended Break?

Video from officer-worn cameras is judged less negatively than footage captured on dashboard cameras

Close-up angled image of someone's eye. The eye is reflecting a beach landscape Research Brief / Personal Finance

Do Money Troubles Make It Harder to Daydream?

Popular notion that the poor console themselves with fantasy is perhaps more a comfort to the rich

Woman paying bills with a computer Research Brief / Student Loans

Education Pays Off Handsomely, but Borrowing for It Makes People Unhappy

Student debt weighs on happiness more than mortgages or credit card loans

Person looking through a multifaceted gemstone Research Brief / Health

Embryo Selection, Polygenic Scoring and Unrealistic Expectations

False hope for instilling disease resistance and desirable traits?

Illustration of salary men Research Brief / Compensation

Employees Are OK with Unequal Pay — If They Have a Say in It

Workers involved in compensation decisions might accept a co-worker’s better deal if management didn’t unilaterally decide

A hospital hallway full of mediical personnel and patients Research Brief / Health Care

Exhausted Doctors Less Likely to Prescribe Pain Meds

At the end of a night shift, empathy for patients’ hurting seems diminished

Aerial view of marathon city runners. One person leading marathon. Research Brief / Forecasting

Experts Struggle to Accurately Forecast Societal Change

On COVID-19’s impacts, social scientists’ predictions weren’t much better than those of laypeople

Female professor and male student having a discussion Q&A / Happiness

Faculty Q&A: MBA Students in Digital Detox, Committing Random Acts of Kindness

The empirical study of happiness, a growth area at business schools, enters the classroom

People in line to buy tickets at a booth Feature / Pricing

Fairness in the Allocation of Scarce Goods and Services

As alternative pricing schemes proliferate, researchers examine beliefs about their fairness

Person shopping online on a laptop Research Brief / Marketing

Free Shipping: Our Preference to Spend on Ultimate Goals vs. Preliminary Steps

Prerequisites are valued poorly in a series of six experiments

Research Brief / Nudges

Fresh-Start Framing Boosts Retirement Plan Participation

A behavioral nudge passes a real-world test with 6,000 workers

A girl smiling in front of a calendar Research Brief / Bias

Future Bias Is Present by Middle School

By age 10 or earlier, kids are putting more weight on the future than the past — just like adults

Modern woman on her way to take the train. Super commuting lifestyle. Research Brief / Nudges

Future-self Nudge Works Even Better in Reverse

Starting with your future self and looking back to your current self increases likelihood of saving

Line of bananas in order of ripeness Research Brief / Behavioral Decision Making

Gesturing Left to Right for Passage of Time Occurs by Age 6

Cultural norms — reading and the calendar — affect native English-speakers’ motioning constructs

Two hands holding a phone displaying a man on a video call Research Brief / Behavioral Economics

Good News or Bad, We Like to Experience It With a Friend

Less so when it’s really bad news

Graph of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. Research Brief / COVID-19

Graphic Presentation of COVID-19 Data Can Skew Perceptions of Risk

Showing cumulative cases — not day-to-day trends — could nudge people to avoid reckless behavior