Behavioral

The degree of physical contact that a celebrity has with a piece of memorabilia affects how much collectors are willing to pay for it at auction, according to a study co-authored by Professor George Newman.

To reduce subtle biases that limit women and minority academic scientists, research universities should design diversity programs that adhere to rigorous scientific standards, according to a new paper co-authored by Professor Victoria Brescoll.

Nobel laureate Robert Shiller discusses some of the trends he currently sees in finance and the housing market.

Professor Ravi Dhar runs through how recent research in psychology helps explain how we all make decisions when shopping. When are you impulsive? When do you really think things through? When do you make the good long-term choice? And when do you go for the junk food?

In the New York Times, Professor Robert Shiller writes that the United States should reduce government subsidies for homeownership, while finding another way to promote household saving.

New research co-authored by Professor Olav Sorenson finds that managers are biased against ideas that are proposed by employees outside of their own work groups, hurting innovation and performance.

How does a successful company maintain a climate in which new ideas and risk-taking are encouraged? Tim Brown, CEO and president of the design consultancy IDEO, describes how he thinks about innovation and why empathy is an important part of the equation.

As housing, unemployment, the stock market, and the overall economy show signs of recovery, Professor Robert Shiller writes in the New York Times that we understand little about how people’s confidence affect these major turning points. "…[P]ublic thinking is inscrutable. We can keep trying to understand it, but we’ll be puzzled again the next time the markets or the economy make major moves."

Languages differ in how much they distinguish between the present and the future. Professor Keith Chen found that speakers of languages that do not rely on the future tense make more future-oriented choices, including saving more money, retiring with more wealth, and smoking less.

At the moment we consume, say, a chocolate bar, our brains seamlessly synthesize sensory phenomena, ideas, memories, and expectations—which means that we often don't fully understand why we like the things we like. Psychologist Paul Bloom describes how storytelling and marketing can add layers of meaning to our pleasures.