Desirous
Affirmation prevents long-term weight gain
Christine Logel, Alice Kathmandu & Geoffrey Cohen
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Weight gain and loss arise from environmental, genetic, biological, and behavioral factors. Most North Americans desire weight loss or maintenance, but most gain weight throughout adulthood. In a society rife with thin ideals and anti-fat bias, especially for women, one under-recognized factor could contribute to this weight-gaining trajectory: the activation and persistence of psychological threat. We used multiple methods to contact participants from two previous studies in which weight-dissatisfied women were given either a values affirmation to buffer them against psychological threat, or a control task. An average of 2.32 years after the affirmation manipulation, higher body mass index (BMI) women who had been affirmed maintained their weight, whereas controls gained weight. There was no effect on lower BMI women. Additional analyses ruled out alternative explanations. Results underscore the role of psychological threat in long-term weight gain. Our findings suggest that a more holistic analysis of weight-gaining trajectory is essential for understanding processes behind weight maintenance and change.
It's risky, therefore I do it: Counterfinality as a source of perceived instrumentality of risk behavior as means to goals
Catalina Kopetz et al.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
People engage in risk behavior as a means to different goals they may pursue. This research investigates why people choose risk behavior as opposed to finding alternative means to fulfill these goals. One intuitive answer is that they are not aware of the negative consequences of these behaviors. However, there is now substantial research suggesting that, in fact, people know and understand the consequences of risk behavior. We propose that risk behavior may be perceived as particularly instrumental to certain goals because of its potential negative consequences. This possibility is suggested by the principle of counterfinality whereby, a means' perceived instrumentality to one's goals may increase to the extent to which it is detrimental to alternative goals. To support this argument, we present evidence from five studies showing that: 1) people are more likely to engage in risk behavior when relevant goals become accessible; 2) this effect is stronger when the negative consequences of risk behavior are emphasized and 3) it is explained by an increase in perceived instrumentality of risk behaviors to the current goals; 4) people who are more concerned with finding the “best” means to fulfill their goals (i.e., people high in a regulatory mode characterized by assessment) are more likely to engage in risk behavior. These findings offer preliminary support for the notion of counterfinality as a source of perceived instrumentality of risk behavior to people's goals and may explain engagement in risk behavior despite potential negative consequences.
How long is a minute?
Isabelle Brocas, Juan Carrillo & Jorge Tarrasó
Games and Economic Behavior, September 2018, Pages 305-322
Abstract:
Psychophysics studies suggest that our perception of time is different from the objective passage of time. Economics research emphasizes that the value of a reward depends on the delay involved. In this paper, we combine both strands and estimate time perception and time discounting functions at the individual level in an incentivized controlled laboratory environment. We find a negative and statistically significant correlation between time perception and time discounting: subjects who overestimate objective time intervals are less willing to delay gratification. The result suggests that our ability to delay consumption is related to our mental representation of time delays.
How and Why the Collaborative Consumption of Food Leads to Overpurchasing, Overconsumption, and Waste
Jeffrey Parker, Nita Umashankar & Martin Schleicher
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, forthcoming
Abstract:
Overconsuming and wasting food are disadvantageous for consumers and society as a whole and, therefore, are topics of great relevance. This research identifies food-based collaborative consumption (CC) as a hitherto unrecognized cause of overpurchasing, overconsuming, and wasting food. Food-based CC, which involves members of a group contributing to and taking from a collective pool of food, is a common social practice (e.g., potlucks) and a widely adopted format by the restaurant industry (e.g., family-style and tapas dining). Here, a combination of interviews, behavioral studies, and online experiments show that consumers purchase significantly more food per person in CC (vs. personal-consumption) group contexts, resulting in overconsumption and waste. This is shown to be the result of both generosity motives and cognitive errors (specifically, failing to account for the reciprocal nature of CC). However, inflated purchase amounts in CC contexts can be reduced (i.e., consumer well-being can be improved) by (i) having consumers explicitly focus on the amount they expect to take from others and (ii) providing anti-waste persuasive messages at the point-of-purchase.
Making the leader identity salient can be demotivating
Krishna Savani & Xi Zou
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, forthcoming
Abstract:
Extensive research has shown that when a social identity is made salient, people tend to embrace positive identities (e.g., being a voter) and shy away from negative identities (e.g., being a cheater). The present research proposes that this effect of identity salience could be reversed for identities that cannot be attained or rejected by engaging in simple behaviors (e.g., being a leader). People perceived leadership education programs that highlighted the leader identity as more difficult (Studies 1 and 3), and were less interested in signing up for such programs (Study 2). People performed worse when learning educational material framed in terms of the leader identity (Study 4). However, a growth mindset about leadership ability reduced the negative effects of identity frames on performance (Study 4). These findings highlight that the motivational effects of making identities salient might not hold for identities that cannot be attained by executing simple behaviors.
Sunk Cost as a Self-Management Device
Fuhai Hong, Wei Huang & Xiaojian Zhao
Management Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
The sunk cost effect has been widely observed in individual decisions. Building on an intrapersonal self-management game, the paper theoretically shows that the sunk cost effect may stem from an attempt to overcome the underinvestment problem associated with a high degree of present bias or to resolve the multi-selves coordination problem when the degree of present bias is low. Especially for individuals with severe present bias, the current self may take a costly action (which is a sunk cost for the future self) to signal the individual’s high success probability that motivates his future self-disciplining behaviors. In equilibrium, a higher level of sunk cost is more likely to give rise to a higher probability for the individual to continue the project. We then conduct a laboratory experiment. The empirical findings are consistent with our theoretical implications.