Publications

24 Sep 2009
Working Paper Summaries

“I read Playboy for the articles”: Justifying and Rationalizing Questionable Preferences

Keywords: by Zoë Chance & Michael I. Norton

2024
Working Paper

What Is Newsworthy? Theory and Evidence

By: Luis Armona, Matthew Gentzkow, Emir Kamenica and Jesse M. Shapiro

We study newsworthiness in theory and practice. We focus on situations in which a news outlet observes the realization of a state of the world and must decide whether to report the realization to a consumer who pays an opportunity cost to consume the report. The... View Details

Keywords: News; Mathematical Methods; Prejudice and Bias; Media and Broadcasting Industry

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March 2011
Supplement

BioPasteur: Instructions for the group discussion

By: Giovanni Gavetti and Francesca Gino

The purpose of this exercise is to let students experience a few biases that can be deleterious to strategic decision-making. In particular, students are induced to fall into a confirmatory trap, and to experience other biases such as anchoring and sampling bias.... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Groups and Teams; Prejudice and Bias; Strategy

2005
Working Paper

Letting Misconduct Slide: The Acceptability of Gradual Erosion in Others' Unethical Behavior

By: Francesca Gino and Max H. Bazerman

Four laboratory studies show that people are more likely to overlook others' unethical behavior when ethical degradation occurs slowly rather than in one abrupt shift. Participants served in the role of watchdogs charged with catching instances of cheating. The... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Behavior; Crime and Corruption; Prejudice and Bias

1993
Chapter

Mentoring and Irrationality: The Role of Racial Taboos

By: D. A. Thomas

Keywords: Training; Prejudice and Bias; Race; Perception

Article

The Impact of Penalties for Wrong Answers on the Gender Gap in Test Scores

By: Katherine B. Coffman and David Klinowski

Multiple-choice exams play a critical role in university admissions across the world. A key question is whether imposing penalties for wrong answers on these exams deters guessing from women more than men, disadvantaging female test-takers. We consider data from a... View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Economics; Standardized Testing; Gender; Higher Education; Prejudice and Bias

2020
Working Paper

(When) Does Appearance Matter? Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Tarun Khanna, Christos A. Makridis and Subhradip Sarker

While there is evidence about labor market discrimination based on race, religion, and gender, we know little about whether physical appearance leads to discrimination in labor market outcomes. We deploy a randomized experiment on 1,000 respondents in India between... View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Economics; Coronavirus; Discrimination; Homophily; Labor Market Mobility; Limited Attention; Resumes; Personal Characteristics; Prejudice and Bias

02 Aug 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Discrimination, Disenfranchisement and African American WWII Military Enlistment

Keywords: by Nancy Qian and Marco Tabellini

August 2020 (Revised December 2020)
Background Note

A Note on Ethical Analysis

By: Nien-hê Hsieh

To engage in ethical analysis is to answer such questions as “What is the right thing to do?” “What does it mean to be a good person?” “How should I live my life?” Ethical analysis, on its own, is often not adequate for doing the right thing or being a good... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Framework; Decision Making; Prejudice and Bias

Educators

2018
Chapter

Organizational Remedies for Discrimination

By: R. Ely and A. Feldberg

Laws now exist to protect employees from blatant forms of discrimination in hiring and promotion, but workplace discrimination persists in latent forms. These “second-generation” forms of bias arise in workplace structures, practices, and patterns of interaction that... View Details

Keywords: Discrimination; Prejudice and Bias; Equality and Inequality

04 Feb 2020
Cold Call Podcast

Why Backstage Capital Invests in ‘Underestimated’ Entrepreneurs

Keywords: Financial Services

2024
Working Paper

How Real Is Hypothetical?: A High-Stakes Test of the Allais Paradox

By: Uri Gneezy, Yoram Halevy, Brian Hall, Theo Offerman and Jeroen van de Ven

Researchers in behavioral and experimental economics often argue that only incentive-compatible mechanisms can elicit effort and truthful responses from participants. Others argue that participants make less-biased decisions when the stakes are sufficiently high.... View Details

Keywords: Research; Behavioral Finance; Economics; Behavior; Prejudice and Bias

July 2024
Article

Acceptance of Automated Vehicles Is Lower for Self than Others

By: Stuti Agarwal, Julian De Freitas, Anya Ragnhildstveit and Carey K. Morewedge

Road traffic accidents are the leading cause of death worldwide for people aged 2–59. Nearly all deaths are due to human error. Automated vehicles could reduce mortality risks, traffic congestion, and air pollution of human-driven vehicles. However, their adoption... View Details

Keywords: Transportation; Risk and Uncertainty; Technology Adoption; Prejudice and Bias

May 2021
Supplement

Career at a Crossroads? (B)

By: James K. Sebenius and Alex Green

A career professional at a major consumer goods company, Kym Lew Nelson is hoping to negotiate a promotion to vice president, which would make her one of the senior-most African American women in the organization. But when Nelson’s white German boss arrives in the... View Details

Keywords: Culture; Negotiation; Race; Gender; Organizational Culture; Prejudice and Bias

27 Apr 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Is Overconfidence a Motivated Bias? Experimental Evidence

Keywords: by Jennifer M. Logg, Uriel Haran, and Don A. Moore

September 16, 2022
Article

3 Workplace Biases that Derail Mid-Career Women

By: Colleen Ammerman and Boris Groysberg

Mid-career women are often surprised by the levels of bias and discrimination they encounter in the workplace, especially if they’ve successfully avoided it earlier in their careers. After speaking to 100 senior women executives, the authors identified three distinct... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Prejudice and Bias; Gender

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30 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Political Polarization: Why We All Just Can't Get Along

A recent study suggests that America’s political polarization is driven more by incorrect beliefs and stereotypes about the other side than distaste with those people. That should be good news for those wondering how to knit polarized sides together, or at least nudge... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Banking; Financial Services

December 2024
Article

Public Attitudes on Performance for Algorithmic and Human Decision-Makers

By: Kirk Bansak and Elisabeth Paulson

This study explores public preferences for algorithmic and human decision-makers (DMs) in high-stakes contexts, how these preferences are shaped by performance metrics, and whether public evaluations of performance differ depending on the type of DM. Leveraging a... View Details

Keywords: Public Opinion; Prejudice and Bias; Decision Making

June 2005
Article

This Old Stereotype: The Stubbornness and Pervasiveness of the Elderly Stereotype

By: A.J.C. Cuddy, M. I. Norton and S. T. Fiske

Americans stereotype elderly people as warm and incompetent, following from perceptions of them as noncompetitive and low status, respectively. This article extends existing research regarding stereotyping of older people in two ways. First, we discuss whether the... View Details

Keywords: Stereotyping; Prejudice and Bias; Age; Attitudes