Behavioral
A Simple Thumbs Up or Down Eliminates Racial Bias in Online Ratings
Yale SOM’s Tristan Botelho and his co-authors found that the ubiquitous five-star rating system could subtly propagate discrimination. But they also found a surprisingly simple fix: switching to a two-point scale (thumbs up or thumbs down) eliminated subtle racial bias in customer ratings of gig workers.
AI Photo Analysis Illuminates How Personality Traits Predict Career Trajectories
Recent advancements in AI have made it possible to infer personality traits from a single photograph of a person’s face. A new study co-authored by Yale SOM’s Kelly Shue applies these techniques to a large set of photos of MBA graduates to assess the effects of personality on labor market outcomes.
Do Nudges Help Americans Save for Retirement? Not as Much as We Thought.
Two decades ago, Prof. James Choi’s research suggested that automatic enrollment and escalation and could have a sizeable impact on savings. Now he and his co-authors have looked at these programs again and found that under real-world conditions, the effect on savings is much smaller than expected.
When Do Ads Become Too Deceptive?
Yale SOM’s Deborah Small and her co-authors examine how people judge the ethical acceptability of ads for charities, and find that they are much more bothered by artificiality than objectification or exaggeration—a finding with implications for advertisers of all kinds.
The Fed Is Cutting Rates Soon. Should I Wait to Get a Loan?
Many homebuyers and other borrowers incorrectly believe that they get a lower rate by waiting until a cut becomes official, according to Prof. Kelly Shue. This misconception is so widespread that it can undercut the effectiveness of Fed monetary policy.
Seeing Peer Ratings Pushes Professionals to Align Their Evaluations
New research from Yale SOM’s Tristan Botelho reveals that even savvy professionals tend to defer to the ratings given by their peers who evaluated before them.
Can Reflection Dislodge a Faulty Intuition?
Sometimes our gut is right. But a new study co-authored by Yale SOM’s Shane Frederick shows that when it’s not, the erroneous intuition can be difficult to overrid.
What We Get Wrong about the Effects of Population Growth
New research co-authored by Professor Jason Dana finds that people over-focus on increased consumption without considering the positive effects of increased productivity.
CEOs Invest Less in Corporate Social Responsibility When Their Own Money Is At Stake
A study co-authored by Yale SOM’s Kelly Shue finds that when CEOs have a larger financial stake in their companies, or when they face stronger shareholder oversight, they cut back spending on corporate social responsibility efforts.
The Best Leaders Use Intuition
In an excerpt from her new book, Yale SOM’s Emma Seppälä writes that drawing on instinct as well as analysis can help us make better decisions.
Can ChatGPT Accelerate Social Science Research?
Yale SOM’s Balázs Kovács and his co-authors spent years designing a computer-based method to measure “typicality.” In a new study, they found that ChatGPT could duplicate their results at a fraction of the cost.
