Publications

20 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: September 20

of Englishnization and the continued global rise of his organization. Purchase this case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/412002-PDF-ENG Note on Evaluating Empirical Research Michael I. NortonHarvard... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

02 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 3, 2008

Exercise of Leadership, a New Model Authors:Werner Erhard, Michael C. Jensen, Steve Zaffron, Kari L. Granger Abstract This paper is the (pre-course) introduction document to an experimental course developed View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

22 Apr 2014
First Look

First Look: April 22

Experimental Psychology: General The (Perceived) Meaning of Spontaneous Thoughts By: Morewedge, Carey K., Colleen E. Giblin, and Michael I. Norton Abstract—Much human thought... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

19 Jun 2012
First Look

First Look: June 19

case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/312002-PDF-ENG EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand Anat Keinan, Jill Avery, Fiona Wilson, and Michael I. NortonHarvard Business School Case 512-085... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Article

Memos to the President from a 'Council of Psychological Science Advisers'

By: Bethany A. Teachman, Michael I. Norton and Barbara A. Spellman

On September 15, 2015, President Obama issued an Executive Order recommending that executive departments and agencies use "behavioral science insights to better serve the American people." The articles in this special section were already in press when the order was... View Details

Keywords: Social Psychology; Government Administration; Public Administration Industry; United States

August 19, 2015
Article

The Slow Decay and Quick Revival of Self-deception

By: Zoe Chance, Francesca Gino, Michael I. Norton and Dan Ariely

People demonstrate an impressive ability to self-deceive, distorting misbehavior to reflect positively on themselves—for example, by cheating on a test and believing that their inflated performance reflects their true ability. But what happens to self-deception when... View Details

Keywords: Self-deception; Cheating; Self-enhancement; Positive Illusions; Motivated Reasoning; Perception; Behavior; Ethics

29 Mar 2016
First Look

March 29, 2016

By: Buell, Ryan W., Ethan Porter, and Michael I. Norton Abstract—As Americans' trust in government nears historic lows, frustration with government performance approaches... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2012
Article

Consequence-Cause Matching: Looking to the Consequences of Events to Infer Their Causes

By: Robyn A. LeBoeuf and Michael I. Norton

We show that people non-normatively infer event causes from event consequences. For example, people inferred that a product failure (computer crash) had a large cause (widespread computer virus) if it had a large consequence (job loss), but that the identical failure... View Details

Keywords: Causal Inference; Product; Forecasting and Prediction; Motivation and Incentives; Failure

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.... View Details

Keywords: Effor; Caregiving; Close Relationships; Symbolic Meaning; Signaling; Relationships; Consumer Behavior; Perception

13 Oct 2015
First Look

October 13, 2015

Amy, Elizabeth Baily Wolf, Peter Glick, Susan Crotty, Jihye Chong, and Michael I. Norton Abstract—Four studies tested whether cultural values moderate the content of gender... View Details

April 2018
Article

Consumers Avoid Buying from Firms with Higher CEO-to-Worker Pay Ratios

By: Bhavya Mohan, Tobias Schlager, Rohit Deshpandé and Michael I. Norton

We document a novel driver of consumer behavior: pay ratio disclosure. Swiss corporation performance data gathered during a legally mandated pay ratio referendum reveals that salient high pay ratios are associated with decreased firm sales (Pilot Study). An... View Details

Keywords: Pay Ratio; Wage Fairness; Purchase Intention; Customers; Wages; Fairness; Consumer Behavior

2007
Working Paper

The 'Fees → Savings' Link, or Purchasing Fifty Pounds of Pasta

By: Michael I. Norton and Leonard Lee

Many consumers have had the experience of entering discount membership clubs to make a few purchases, only to leave with enough pasta to outlast a nuclear winter. We suggest that the presence of membership fees can lead consumers to infer a "fees → savings" link,... View Details

Keywords: Price; Profit; Spending; Consumer Behavior; Retail Industry

October 2012
Article

Giving Time Gives You Time

By: Cassie Mogilner, Zoe Chance and Michael I. Norton

Four experiments reveal a counterintuitive solution to the common problem of feeling that one does not have enough time: giving some of it away. Although people's objective amount of time cannot be increased (there are only 24 hours in a day), this research... View Details

Keywords: Time Perception; Well-being; Volunteering; Prosocial Behavior; Helping; Time Management; Welfare

May 2018
Article

The Amount and Source of Millionaires' Wealth (Moderately) Predicts Their Happiness

By: Grant Edward Donnelly, Tianyi Zheng, Emily Haisley and Michael I. Norton

Two samples of more than 4,000 millionaires reveal two primary findings. First, only at high levels of wealth—in excess of $8 million (Study 1) and $10 million (Study 2)—are wealthier millionaires happier than millionaires with lower levels of wealth, though these... View Details

Keywords: Income; Well-being; Happiness; Wealth; Money; Attitudes; Situation or Environment

13 Oct 2010
First Look

First Look: October 13, 2010

Nyende, Claire Ashton-James, and Michael I. Norton Abstract This research provides the first support for a possible psychological universal: human beings around the world... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2012
Article

Bolstering and Restoring Feelings of Competence via the IKEA Effect

By: Daniel Mochon, Michael I. Norton and Dan Ariely

We examine the underlying process behind the IKEA effect, which is defined as consumers' willingness to pay more for self-created products than for identical products made by others, and explore the factors that influence both consumers' willingness to engage in... View Details

Keywords: Value; Consumer Behavior; Attitudes

Article

From Thinking Too Little to Thinking Too Much: A Continuum of Decision Making.

By: Dan Ariely and Michael I. Norton

Due to the sheer number and variety of decisions that people make in their everyday lives-from choosing yogurts to choosing religions to choosing spouses-research in judgment and decision making has taken many forms. We suggest, however, that much of this research has... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Cognition and Thinking; Judgments; Research; Problems and Challenges