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  • How to Give Better Gifts

    Do your loved ones want their presents to be expensive or thoughtful? Do they want to be surprised or to get items from their wish lists? We asked Professor Nathan Novemsky, a psychologist and expert in consumer behavior, to explain some of the common mistakes that gift-givers make.

    Illustration of a gift
  • Could Be Worse: When You See Others Losing More, You’re More Likely to Take Risks

    What induces people to take greater risks in certain situations—such as sitting at the blackjack table in a glitzy casino? A new study from Yale SOM’s Nathan Novemsky and Guy Voiche reveals that we experience losses as less painful when we see examples of bigger losses.

    Sean Connery (left) as James Bond in a casino scene from the 1965 film Thunderball.
  • Why a Pandemic Leads to Panic Buying

    We asked Yale SOM’s Nathan Novemsky, an expert in the psychology of judgment and decision-making, for his thoughts on how consumers are behaving during the COVID-19 pandemic and how they’re likely to view companies’ actions in the aftermath.

    A shopper confronting empty shelves at a grocery store in Wassenaar, The Netherlands, on March 14, 2020. Photo: Michel Porro/Getty Images.
  • How Not to Hate the Holidays 

    We asked Nathan Novemsky, a social psychologist and a professor of marketing at Yale SOM, what the research says about avoiding tension and creating positive memories.

    https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/three-questions-prof-gal-zauberman-on-the-psychology-of-taking-vacation-photos
  • Three Questions: Prof. Nathan Novemsky on Gifts and Resolutions

    Yale’s Nathan Novemsky explains how to use behavioral research to give better gifts and follow through on New Year’s resolutions.

    Wrapping paper
  • Can I Ask You a Question?

    We have learned to be skeptical of claims by advertisers. Can a question evade our defenses?

    Red wine bottles accompanied by a half full wine glass with a question mark
  • Study Explains Pitfalls in Gift Giving

    Research by Professor Nathan Novemsky and Yale SOM doctoral student Ernest Baskin helps to explain why we give bad gifts.

  • Classroom Insights: Risk Aversion in Decision Making

    Nathan Novemsky, professor of marketing, explains to his Problem Framing course how Prospect Theory–the series of ideas and experimental observations that lie at the root of behavioral economics–elucidates one of the psychological biases that can cause people to approach the same problem in very different ways. Understanding these biases can help one see problems more clearly.