Area: Behavioral Decision Making
Is Telling the World of Your Success Worth Five Times Your Private Knowledge of It?
The difficulties of study design in a braggy culture where few readily admit to bragging
Unflattering Facts Don’t Dent Positive Self-Assessments
People rate selves better than average, even faced with objective data to the contrary
Quirk of the ACT Test — Rounding to a Whole Number — Offers Rare Isolated Glimpse of the Value of Scores
Tracking the impact of a small test-score difference on college attendance and later life
We Think Illegal Products Are More Effective
Because they’re harder to get, we assume they’re more potent — and thus preferable over legal ones.
Those Offering Opinions Are Better Remembered Than Those Uttering Facts
And recall of the source affects how we interpret information — and how we might act upon it
Expedited Delivery Is Widely Offered, But Might It Damage Brand Loyalty?
A surcharge for speediness is regarded as a profit grab, while a discount for slowness seems somehow more fair
Nudging Teachers, in a Large Field Study, Marginally Boosted Student Math Performance
Fifteen nudges tried out across 140,000 teachers and some 3 million students
Wealth Building Behavioral Trait Holds Up in Large-Scale Study
Feeling connected to — not estranged from — our older self is associated with savings and other helpful present-day behaviors
As Few as Three Options Can Be Too Many for Online Shoppers
A large field experiment suggests two items is the sweet spot for converting motivated lookers into buyers
Young Adults, With an AI Bot, Chat With Their 60-Year-Old Selves
Research progresses on forging closer bonds with our future selves, encouraging behavior helpful to later lives
Future-self Nudge Works Even Better in Reverse
Starting with your future self and looking back to your current self increases likelihood of saving
Oversight of Borrowed Money Creates Animosity
Friends lending to friends, taxpayers bailing out businesses feel it’s still their money and have opinions on how it’s spent
In Pleas to Remedy Economic Inequality, Babies’ Faces Outperform Adults’
It’s harder to hold an infant responsible for being poor
Thinking in Days, Weeks, Years — Rather Than Minutes — Can Bring Contentment
A broader view of one’s time also changes how one spends it
Institutions Make Mistakes: Which Should We Seek to Prevent; Which Ought We Fix After the Fact?
In experiments, people endorsed seemingly harsh policies — only to reverse course after the fact
Major Adolescent Stress Reduces Connection to Future Self
And thinking less about one’s adult life can reduce the pursuit of higher education