Topic: Behavioral Decision Making
Not All Second Chances Are Good Ones
Hengchen Dai finds that hitting the reset button can help those who have recently struggled, but erodes the motivation and execution of top performers
The Healthy Upside of Thinking about an Older You
Consciously imagining our older self can spur us to take better care of ourselves now
Ignorance — About One’s Investments, Anyway — Isn’t Always Bliss
Valentin Haddad’s research looks at the phenomenon of “information aversion,” when individual investors stop tracking their portfolios for fear of bad news
Why Can’t We All Get Along? On Some Things, We Do
The narrative of a growing cultural divide, while partly true, conceals a more nuanced picture
Using Ancestral Characteristics to Study Modern Economics
A database of pre-industrial sampling supports historical and ethnographic research
Happiness and Living in the Moment: Westerners Haven’t Quite Put Them Together Yet
Asians, more than Americans and Europeans, make a point of experiencing joy in the short term
How an Excess of Stock Analyst Optimism Lands on Companies Least Deserving of It
Results of financially weak firms are difficult to forecast; in uncertainty, Wall Street’s views are overly generous
Streaming Choices: Do We Follow the Big Crowd or Our Friends?
The ubiquitous community-wide customer rating is the biggest pull in helping us pick a movie or show
The Limited Payoff in Auto Insurance Advertising
Ads aimed at brand awareness are shown to be more effective
A History of Plough-Based Farming Leads to Fewer Girls
Modern-day gender ratios are linked to countries’ agricultural roots
Behavioral Economics: Are Nudges Cost-Effective?
A team of experts makes the financial case that governments should spend more on nudging
In Adversity, Some High Performers Give Up Rather than Dig In
The world of tennis sheds light on a potential downside to office ranking systems
BRCA Mutation: New Model Quantifies How Surgeries Reduce Cancer Risk
Informed by personal experience, a researcher parses data to help those mulling mastectomy and gynecological surgeries
Hospital Hand-Washing: The Limits of Electronic Monitoring
The anti-infection procedure rises for a time, when workers are watched, and then falls off
Mobile Workers More Likely to Cold-Shoulder a Dishonest Co-Worker
Research compares U.S. behavior to norms in Asia
Bystanders Are Tougher than Victims in Punishing Office Misbehavior
Research looks beyond management to measure how co-workers police each other