Publications

26 Jan 2016
First Look

January 26, 2016

worker productivity by using data from two important applications—police hiring and teacher tenure decisions. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50430 December 2015 Current Opinion in Psychology The What and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

04 Dec 2007
First Look

First Look: December 4, 2007

Working PapersThe "Fees Savings" Link, or Purchasing Fifty Pounds of Pasta Authors:Michael I. Norton and Leonard Lee Abstract Many consumers have had the experience of entering discount... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Article

The Feeling of Not Knowing It All

By: Haiyang Yang, Ziv Carmon, Dan Ariely and Michael I. Norton

How do consumers assess their mastery of knowledge they have learned? We explore this question by investigating a common knowledge consumption situation: encountering opportunities for further learning. We argue and show that such opportunities can trigger a... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Consumption; Consumption Of Learning; Judgment Of Knowledge; Feeling Ofknowing; Confidence In Knowledge; WYSIATI; FONKIA; Knowledge Acquisition; Learning; Perception

Article

The Artful Dodger: Answering the Wrong Question the Right Way

By: Todd Rogers and Michael I. Norton

What happens when speakers try to "dodge" a question they would rather not answer by answering a different question? In 4 studies, we show that listeners can fail to detect dodges when speakers answer similar-but objectively incorrect-questions (the "artful dodge"), a... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Goals and Objectives

March–April 2015
Article

Why We Think We Can't Dance: Theory of Mind and Children's Desire to Perform

By: Lan Nguyen Chaplin and Michael I. Norton

Theory of Mind (ToM) allows children to achieve success in the social world by understanding others' minds. A study with 3–12 year olds, however, demonstrates that gains in ToM are linked to decreases in children's desire to engage in performative behaviors associated... View Details

Keywords: Theory Of Mind; Self-Esteem; Behavior; Attitudes; Performance; Cognition and Thinking

21 Oct 2014
First Look

First Look: October 21

Jan-Emmanuel, George W. Ward, Femke De Keulenaer, Bert Van Landeghem, Georgios Kavetsos, and Michael I. Norton Abstract—Are individuals more sensitive to losses than gains in... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2014
Article

Rituals Alleviate Grieving for Loved Ones, Lovers, and Lotteries

By: Michael I. Norton and Francesca Gino

Three experiments explored the impact of mourning rituals after losses—of loved ones, lovers, and lotteries—on mitigating grief. Participants who were directed to reflect on past rituals or who were assigned to complete novel rituals after experiencing losses reported... View Details

Keywords: Loss; Practice; Emotions

25 Feb 2014
First Look

First Look: February 25

Publications August 2013 Social Psychological & Personality Science Matchmaking Promotes Happiness By: Anik, Lalin, and Michael I. Norton Abstract—Four studies document... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

11 Oct 2016
First Look

October 11, 2016

Ethan Porter, and Michael I. Norton Abstract—As Americans’ trust in government nears historic lows, frustration with government performance approaches record highs. We propose... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2008
Working Paper

Variance-Seeking for Positive (and Variance-Aversion for Negative) Experiences: Risk-Seeking in the Domain of Gains?

By: Jolie Mae Martin, Gregory M. Barron and Michael I. Norton

In contrast to research which has conflated losses with negative experiences and gains with positive experiences, we argue that because reference points are set by memories of extremely good and bad experiences, most outcomes are seen as losses in positive domains and... View Details

Keywords: Change; Experience and Expertise; Marketing; Research; Risk and Uncertainty; Loss; Perspective

08 Aug 2017
First Look

First Look at Research and Ideas, August 8, 2017

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52998 forthcoming Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Buying Time Promotes Happiness By: Whillans, Ashley V., Elizabeth W. Dunn, Paul Smeets, Rene Bekkers, and View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2014
Article

Paying It Forward: Generalized Reciprocity and the Limits of Generosity

By: Kurt Gray, Adrian F. Ward and Michael I. Norton

When people are the victims of greed or recipients of generosity, their first impulse is often to pay back that behavior in kind. What happens when people cannot reciprocate, but instead have the chance to be cruel or kind to someone entirely different—to pay it... View Details

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Behavior; Situation or Environment; Attitudes

Article

When Dreaming Is Believing: The (Motivated) Interpretation of Dreams

By: Carey K. Morewedge and Michael I. Norton

This research investigated laypeople's interpretation of their dreams. Participants from both Eastern and Western cultures believed that dreams contain hidden truths (Study 1) and considered dreams to provide more meaningful information about the world than similar... View Details

Keywords: Anchoring; Attribution; Dreams; Motivated Reasoning; Unconscious Thought; Communication Intention and Meaning; Judgments; Values and Beliefs; Information; Behavior; Cognition and Thinking; Motivation and Incentives

Article

Contingent Match Incentives Increase Donations

By: Lalin Anik, Michael I. Norton and Dan Ariely

We propose a new means by which non-profits can induce donors to give today and commit to giving in the future: contingent match incentives, in which matching is made contingent on the percentage of others who give (e.g., "if X% of others give, we will match all... View Details

Keywords: Matching Donations; Social Proof; Prosocial Behavior; Charitable Giving; Plausibility; Motivation and Incentives; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

20 Apr 2010
First Look

First Look: April 20

supplement:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/310077-PDF-ENG Local Motors: Designed by the Crowd, Built by the Customer Michael I. View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

February 2019
Article

Pettiness in Social Exchange

By: Tami Kim, Ting Zhang and Michael I. Norton

We identify and document a novel construct—pettiness, or intentional attentiveness to trivial details—and examine its (negative) implications in interpersonal relationships and social exchange. Seven studies show that pettiness manifests across different types of... View Details

Keywords: Relationships; Personal Characteristics; Perception; Societal Protocols