Publications

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November 2022
Article

Opportunity Neglect: An Aversion to Low-probability Gains

By: Emily Prinsloo, Kate Barasz, Leslie K. John and Michael I. Norton

Seven preregistered studies (N = 2,890) conducted in the field, lab, and online document opportunity neglect: a tendency to reject opportunities with low probability of success, even when they come with little or no objective cost (e.g., time, money,... View Details

Keywords: Opportunities; Behavior; Risk and Uncertainty; Success; Perception

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Article

Pseudo-Set Framing

By: Kate Barasz, Leslie John, Elizabeth A. Keenan and Michael I. Norton

Pseudo-set framing—arbitrarily grouping items or tasks together as part of an apparent “set”—motivates people to reach perceived completion points. Pseudo-set framing changes gambling choices (Study 1), effort (Studies 2 and 3), giving behavior (Field Data and Study... View Details

Keywords: Framing Effects; Gestalt Psychology; Judgment; Judgments; Decision Making; Perception; Behavior

2011
Working Paper

'Last-place Aversion': Evidence and Redistributive Implications

By: Ilyana Kuziemko, Ryan W. Buell, Taly Reich and Michael I. Norton

Why do low-income individuals often oppose redistribution? We hypothesize that an aversion to being in "last place" undercuts support for redistribution, with low-income individuals punishing those slightly below themselves to keep someone "beneath" them. In laboratory... View Details

Keywords: Wages; Surveys; Wealth and Poverty; Behavior; Income; Research; Rank and Position; Attitudes; Personal Characteristics; Economics

2008
Article

Learning (Not) to Talk About Race: When Older Children Underperform in Social Categorization

By: Evan P. Apfelbaum, Kristin Pauker, Nalini Ambady, Samuel R. Sommers and Michael I. Norton

The present research identifies an anomaly in sociocognitive development, whereby younger children (8 and 9 years) outperform their older counterparts (10 and 11 years) in a basic categorization task in which the acknowledgment of racial difference facilitates... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Age; Race; Society; Cognition and Thinking

25 Jun 2020
News

Global Centers Broaden Understanding of Business and the Pandemic

HBS faculty are actively involved in international research, often working in collaboration with specific HBS research centers to pursue particular avenues of inquiry. In FY20, all of the School’s global outposts helped to coordinate more than 50 interviews in 10... View Details

01 Jun 2004
News

An Ethical Fitness Quiz for Negotiators

Shady dealings at the negotiating table may work in the short term, but in the end, you’ll undermine trust and tarnish your reputation, warns HBS professor Michael A. Wheeler in the March issue of... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

01 Sep 2003
News

Lessons from Everest

scores of hopeful climbers were trying to duplicate their feat, Assistant Professor Michael Roberto discussed his research into the tragic Everest events of 1996. In May of that year, eight individuals... View Details

Keywords: Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries; Arts, Entertainment; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

Article

Prosocial Spending and Buying Time: Money as a Tool for Increasing Subjective Well-Being

By: Elizabeth Dunn, A.V. Whillans, Michael I. Norton and Lara B. Aknin

Researchers have long been interested in the relationship between income and happiness, but a newer wave of work suggests that how people use their money also matters. We discuss the three primary areas in which psychologists have explored the relationship... View Details

Keywords: Wellbeing; Money; Spending; Decision Making; Happiness; Well-being

Article

Handshaking Promotes Deal-Making by Signaling Cooperative Intent

By: Juliana Schroeder, Jane L. Risen, Francesca Gino and Michael I. Norton

We examine how a simple handshake—a gesture that often occurs at the outset of social interactions—can influence deal-making. Because handshakes are social rituals, they are imbued with meaning beyond their physical features. We propose that during mixed-motive... View Details

Keywords: Handshake; Cooperation; Affiliation; Competition; Negotiation; Nonverbal Communication; Negotiation Participants; Behavior; Communication Intention and Meaning; Negotiation Deal

Article

Does 'Liking' Lead to Loving? The Impact of Joining a Brand's Social Network on Marketing Outcomes

By: Leslie K. John, Oliver Emrich, Sunil Gupta and Michael I. Norton

Does “liking” a brand on Facebook cause a person to view it more favorably? Or is “liking” simply a symptom of being fond of a brand? We disentangle these possibilities and find evidence for the latter: brand attitudes and purchasing are predicted by consumers’... View Details

Keywords: Brands; Marketing Effectiveness; Brand Evaluation; Peer Influence; Brands and Branding; Social and Collaborative Networks; Social Media

15 Feb 2014
Conference Presentation

Men as Cultural Ideals: How Culture Shapes Gender Stereotypes

By: Amy Cuddy, Elizabeth Baily Wolf, Peter Glick and Michael I. Norton

Four studies test whether cultural values moderate the content of gender stereotypes, such that male stereotypes more closely align with core cultural values (specifically, individualism vs. collectivism) than do female stereotypes. In Studies 1 and 2, using different... View Details

Keywords: Stereotypes; Gender; United States; South Korea