Zoë Chance
Zoë studies decision making, with an emphasis on social welfare. Her dissertation, "Live Long and Prosper," investigates how consumers' behavior influences their preferences and shapes their identities in counterintuitive ways. Results across 15 studies show that an individual's own behavior leads to self-relevant inferences even when objective or "insider" information directly contradicts the behavioral cue. Contrary to rational expectations, cheating increases intellectual confidence, charitable giving makes donors feel wealthier, and spending time prosocially leads people to feel they have more time. This research also explores the consequences of these effects on behavior and consumer preferences, and presents a novel paradigm for studying self-deception. The hypotheses are tested through a variety of methods: laboratory experiments, behavioral outcomes, surveys, field experiments, and analyses of national data sets.
She has explored self-deception in "I Read Playboy for the Articles," (Chance & Norton, 2009), and "A Temporal View of the Costs and Benefits of Self-Deception," (Chance, Norton, Gino & Ariely, 2011). "People Are Experience Goods" (Frost, Chance, Norton & Ariely, 2008), an article on online dating, was named one of the top 50 business articles of 2008. She has also written about treating HIV in the developing world, in "Putting Patients First" (Deshpande & Chance, 2007) and "Fighting AIDS, Fighting Poverty" (Chance & Deshpande, 2008). She is currently following up her self-deception work by studying the decay of self-deception over time and demonstrating how difficult decisions are more easily forgotten. Her interest in improving public health has motivated her to begin developing a framework for applying tools of behavioral economics to wellness initiatives, in collaboration with Ravi Dhar.
Zoë earned her B.A. with honors in English from Haverford College and her MBA from the USC Marshall School of Business, where she won the school's Outstanding Student Award. Prior to joining the doctoral program at Harvard, she managed a $200 million line of Barbie toys at Mattel in Los Angeles. When her schedule permits, Zoë enjoys practicing yoga and playing No Limit Texas Hold'em. Zoë graduated from HBS in November, 2011 and began a post-doctoral position in the marketing department at the Yale School of Management.
Interest Area: Marketing
Featured Work
Zoë's self-deception research explains... Charlie Sheen?
Coverage in Discover
Zoë interviewed by The Economist
"The conceit of deceit: How people make up good reasons for bad behavior"
The Psychology of Cheating
NYT shout out
Publications
Chance, Zoë, Michael I. Norton, Francesca Gino, and Dan Ariely. "Temporal View of the Costs and Benefits of Self-Deception." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108 (2011): 15655-15659. Abstract
Researchers have documented many cases in which individuals rationalize their regrettable actions. Four experiments examine situations in which people go beyond merely explaining away their misconduct to actively deceiving themselves. We find that those who exploit opportunities to cheat on tests are likely to engage in self-deception, inferring that their elevated performance is a sign of intelligence. This short-term psychological benefit of self-deception, however, can come with longer-term costs: when predicting future performance, participants expect to perform equally well-a lack of awareness that persists even when these inflated expectations prove costly. We show that although people expect to cheat, they do not foresee self-deception, and that factors that reinforce the benefits of cheating enhance self-deception. More broadly, the findings of these experiments offer evidence that debates about the relative costs and benefits of self-deception are informed by adopting a temporal view that assesses the cumulative impact of self-deception over time.
Chance, Zoë, and Rohit Deshpandé. "Putting Patients First: Social Marketing Strategies for Treating HIV in Developing Nations." Special Issue on Metric and Interpretive Explorations of Macromarketing. Journal of Macromarketing 29, no. 3 (2009). Abstract
It is more than mere coincidence that the highest rates of HIV occur in the world's poorest countries. Of the over 40 million people currently living with HIV, 95 percent are in the developing world. The first part of this paper explores the economics of HIV and treatment from a social marketing perspective. The second part of the paper uses three specific case histories of successful social marketing organizations in Africa, Asia, and South America to inductively generate a consumer (patient)-centric marketing model. The focal organizations are unique in that they all identify patient needs first, then work backwards to develop economically viable solutions. These solutions are not without flaws, and the future of these programs remains uncertain, but we hope that illuminating these particular cases within the consumer-centric marketing paradigm will shed light on ways in which other organizations may be able to serve the poor profitably.
Frost, Jeana H., Zoë Chance, Michael I. Norton, and Dan Ariely. "People Are Experience Goods: Improving Online Dating with Virtual Dates." Journal of Interactive Marketing 22, no. 1 (winter 2008): 51-62.
We suggest that online dating frequently fails to meet user expectations-because people, unlike many commodities available for purchase online, are experience goods: Daters wish to screen potential romantic partners by experiential attributes (such as sense of humor or rapport), but online dating Web sites force them to screen by searchable attributes (such as income or religion). We demonstrate that people spend too much time searching for options online for too little payoff in offline dates (Study 1), in part because users desire information about experiential attributes, but online dating Web sites contain primarily searchable attributes (Study 2). Finally, we introduce and beta test the Virtual Date, offering potential dating partners the opportunity to acquire experiential information by exploring a virtual environment in interactions analogous to real first dates (such as going to a museum), an online intervention that led to greater liking after offline meetings (Study 3).
Chance, Zoë, and Michael I. Norton. "I Read Playboy for the Articles: Justifying and Rationalizing Questionable Preferences." In The Interplay of Truth and Deception, edited by M. S. McGlone and M. L. Knapp. Routledge, 2008.
When people behave in ways that might appear selfish, prejudiced or perverted, they engage a host of strategies designed to justify questionable behavior with rational excuses: "I hired my son because he's more qualified." "I promoted Ashley because she does a better job than Aisha." Or in the example from our title, and the subject of one of our experimental investigations, "I read Playboy for the articles." Motives behind individual decisions are hard to prove, but systematic differences between groups of decisions can show aggregate biases. In this chapter, we first describe two means by which individuals rationalize and justify questionable behavior, one which focuses on preemptive actions people take before engaging in such behavior - moral licensing or credentialing - and one which focuses on concurrent strategies, examining how people restructure situations such that their behavior seems less questionable. We conclude by briefly reviewing two additional strategies for coping with such difficult situations: forgoing making decisions and forgetting one's decisions altogether.
Deshpandé, Rohit and Zoë Chance. "Fighting AIDS, Fighting Poverty: Customer Centric Marketing in the Generic Antiretroviral Business." In Business Solutions for the Global Poor: Creating Social and Economic Value, edited by V. Kasturi Rangan, John A. Quelch, Gustavo Herrero and Brooke Barton. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2007.
Selected Current Research
Mogilner, Cassie, Zoë, Chance, and Michael I. Norton. "Giving Time Gives You Time." (revise and resubmit at Psychological Science).
Four experiments reveal a counterintuitive solution to the common problem of feeling that one doesn't have enough time: giving some of it away. Although people's objective amount of time cannot be increased (there are only 24 hours in a day), this research demonstrates that people's subjective sense of time affluence can be increased: compared with wasting time, spending time on oneself, and even gaining a windfall of time, spending time on others increases feelings of time affluence. The impact of giving time on feelings of time affluence is driven by a boosted sense of self-efficacy - such that giving time makes people more willing to commit to future engagements despite their busy schedules.
Chance, Zoë, and Michael I. Norton. ""I give therefore I have:" Philanthropy and Prosperity" (working paper).
We suggest and document a surprising means by which people can feel wealthier: giving their money away. We suggest that just as acts of conspicuous generosity signal wealth and power to others, they trigger feelings of subjective wealth and power in the giver--despite decreasing givers' objective wealth. Five studies explore the relationship between philanthropy and subjective wealth, demonstrating that a) giving money away increases feelings of subjective wealth on par with actually receiving windfall gains; b) the feelings of power that result from acts of giving mediate the relationship between giving and subjective wealth; and c) by fulfilling one of the goals of conspicuous consumption-signaling wealth-philanthropy decreases the need to signal status through brands.
Chance, Zoë, and Michael I. Norton. "Choice Amnesia: Motivated Forgetting of Difficult Choices," (working paper).
Imagine having to choose between your two favorite flavors of ice cream, chocolate and mint chip. Previous work suggests that whichever option you pick (say, chocolate) will become even more appealing after your decision, and the rejected option (mint chip) will get worse, reducing dissonance-induced regret. Our current research explores another viable, and perhaps common, means of coping with difficult choices: forgetting them altogether. In studies using products, colors, deaths and vacation destinations, we demonstrate this motivated forgetting. We find people are most likely to forget decisions they think hardest about, since these decisions have a high risk of regret. The more difficult participants rated decisions, or the more time they spent deliberating, the less likely they were to remember what they chose.
Conference Presentations and Invited Presentations
Chance, Zoë, Ravi Dhar, Shane Frederick, Rohit Kichlu and Erin Ratelis. "A New Model of Behavioral Change: Using Behavioral Economics and Psychology to Influence Health Decisions," Art and Science of Health Promotion Conference, San Diego, CA, April 2012.
Chance, Zoë. "The Influence of Social Context on Health Behaviors: Allies, Enemies, and Frenemies," Invited talk at Art and Science of Health Promotion Conference, San Diego, CA, April 2012.
Chance, Zoë. "I Give, Therefore I Have:" Counterintuitive Effects of Generosity with Time & Money. Invited talk at Duke University department of marketing, Spring 2012.
Chance, Zoë, Michael I. Norton, Francesca Gino, and Dan Ariely. "A Temporal View of Self-Deception." Paper presentation at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference, San Diego, CA, January 2012.
Chance, Zoë, and Michael I. Norton. "Philanthropy and Prosperity." Paper presented at the Society for Judgment and Decision Making Conference, Seattle, WA, November 2011.
Chance, Zoë, Cassie Mogilner, and Michael I. Norton. "Giving Time Gives You Time." Paper presented at the Association for Consumer Research Conference, St. Louis, MO, October 2011.
Chance, Zoë. "I Give, Therefore I Have:" Counterintuitive Effects of Generosity with Time & Money. Invited talk at University of California, Berkeley department of marketing, October 2011.
Chance, Zoë, and Michael I. Norton. "Philanthropy and Prosperity." Paper presented at the Association for Consumer Research Conference, St. Louis, MO, October 2011.
Chance, Zoë. "I Give, Therefore I Have:" Counterintuitive Effects of Generosity with Time & Money. Invited talk at University of California, Los Angeles department of marketing, October 2011.
Chance, Zoë, "Studies in Self-Deception." Paper presented at the Transatlantic Doctoral Conference, London Business School, London, UK, May 2011.
Chance, Zoë "Studies in Self-Deception." Paper presented at the Transatlantic Doctoral Conference, London Business School, London, UK, May 2011.
Chance, Zoë, Cassie Mogilner, and Michael I. Norton. "Giving Time Gives You Time." Paper presented at the Society for Consumer Psychology Conference, Atlanta, GA, February 2011.
Chance, Zoë, and Michael I. Norton. "I Give Therefore I Have: Charitable Giving and Subjective Wealth." Paper presented at the Association for Consumer Research Annual Conference, Jacksonville, Fla., October 2010.
Chance, Zoë, and Michael I. Norton. "Charitable Giving and Subjective Wealth." Paper presented at the Association for Consumer Research, Annual Conference Series, Pittsburgh, PA, October 2009.
Chance, Zoë, Michael I. Norton, and Dan Ariely. "The Cost of Self-Deception." Paper presented at the Whitebox Graduate Advisors Conference, Yale School of Management, April 2009.
Chance, Zoë, "Decision Amnesia: Motivated Forgetting of Difficult Choices." Paper presented at the Society for Consumer Psychology Conference , New Orleans, LA, February 2008.
Chance, Zoë, and Michael I. Norton. "Decision Amnesia: Motivated Forgetting of Difficult Choices." Paper presented at the Society for Judgment and Decision Making, Long Beach, Calif., November 2007.
Chance, Zoë, and Michael I. Norton. "Decision Amnesia: Why Taking Your Time Leads to Forgetting." Paper presented at the Association for Consumer Research, Annual Conference Series, Memphis, Tenn., October 2007.
Chance, Zoë, and Rohit Deshpandé. "Young Guns: How Violence Drives Video Game Adoption." Paper presented at the Transformative Consumer Research Conference, Dartmouth College, July 2007.
Chance, Zoë, and Michael I. Norton. "Choice Amnesia: Tough Choice? Fahgeddaboutit!" Paper presented at the Whitebox Advisors Graduate Student Conference, Yale University, May 2007.
Chance, Zoë, and Michael I. Norton. "Motivated Forgetting." Paper presented at the Judgment and Decision Making Pre-Conference at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference, Memphis, Tenn., January 2007.
Deshpandé, Rohit, and Zoë Chance. "Fighting AIDS, Fighting Poverty: Customer Centric Marketing in the Generic Antiretroviral Business." Paper presented at the Transatlantic Doctoral Conference, London Business School, May 2006.
Honors and Awards
Wyss Award for Excellence in Research ($10,000), Harvard Business School, 2011
Travel Grant Award, SPSP JDM Pre-Conference, 2010
Citation of Excellence, Emerald Management Review, 2008
Fellow, AMA Doctoral Consortium, Arizona State University, 2007
Fellow, Summer Institute in Social Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, 2007
Presidential Fellowship, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2005
Best Toy Fair Presentation Award, Mattel, 2005
Best Toy Fair Presentation Award, Mattel, 2004
Beta Gamma Sigma Outstanding Student Award, University of Southern California, 2003
Dean's Fellowship (full MBA tuition), University of Southern California, 2002-2003
Prediger Fellowship (full MBA tuition), University of Southern California, 2001-2002
Teaching Experience
Honors Thesis Workshop Leader, Harvard University Mind, Brain and Behavior Initiative (2010, 2011)
Lead Facilitator/Trainer, Harvard Business School Executive Education, Women's Leadership Forum (2008, 2009)
Facilitator, Harvard Business School Executive Education, Women's Leadership Forum (2007), Program for Leadership Development (2010, 2011, 2012)
Grading Assistant, Harvard Business School MBA core marketing class, for Professor Michael Norton (2006, 2007)
Extensive teaching and corporate training experience in writing, math, computer software and acting (1997-2001)
