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- March 2023
- Article
Authentic First Impressions Relate to Interpersonal, Social, and Entrepreneurial Success
By: David M. Markowitz, Maryam Kouchaki, Francesca Gino, Jeffrey T. Hancock and Ryan L. Boyd
This paper examines how verbal authenticity influences person perception. Our work combines human judgments and natural language processing to suggest verbal authenticity is a positive predictor of interpersonal interest (Study 1: 294 dyadic conversations), engagement...
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- 2023
- Working Paper
Sending Signals: Strategic Displays of Warmth and Competence
By: Bushra S. Guenoun and Julian J. Zlatev
Using a combination of exploratory and confirmatory approaches, this research examines how
people signal important information about themselves to others. We first train machine learning
models to assess the use of warmth and competence impression management...
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- October 2022
- Article
Underestimating Counterparts' Learning Goals Impairs Conflictual Conversations
By: Hanne K. Collins, Charles A. Dorison, Francesca Gino and Julia A. Minson
Given the difficulty people have engaging with disagreeing views across contexts—from political discussions to workplace conflicts—it is critical to understand how conflictual conversation can be improved. While previous work has focused on strategies to change...
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- January 2022
- Article
Rejections Make the Heart Grow Fonder: The Benefits of Articulating Risks When Declining Social Invitations
By: Ashley Whillans, Anne Wilson and Tobias Schlager (Shared Authorship)
Across six studies (N=3,591), we explore the interpersonal consequences of COVID-19 risk communication when rejecting social invitations. In Study 1, consumers underestimate the benefits and overestimate the social costs of explicitly rejecting social invitations for...
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- 2023
- Working Paper
Going Beyond the ‘Self’ in Self-Control: Interpersonal Consequences of Commitment Strategy Use
By: Ariella Kristal and Julian Zlatev
Commitment strategies are effective mechanisms individuals can use to overcome self-control problems. Across seven studies (and three supplemental studies), we explore the negative interpersonal consequences of commitment strategy use. In Study 1, using an incentivized...
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Keywords:
Self-control;
Willpower;
Commitment Strategies;
Goals and Objectives;
Behavior;
Strategy;
Perception
- October 2021
- Article
Communicating Resource Scarcity and Interpersonal Connection
By: Grant E. Donnelly, Anne V. Wilson, Ashley V. Whillans and Michael I. Norton
Consumers often cite insufficient time or money as an excuse for rejecting social invitations. We explore the effectiveness of these excuses in preserving interpersonal relationships. Six studies—including perceptions of couples planning their wedding—demonstrate that...
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- Article
Emotional Acknowledgment: How Verbalizing Others' Emotions Fosters Interpersonal Trust
By: Alisa Yu, Justin M. Berg and Julian Zlatev
People often respond to others’ emotions using verbal acknowledgment (e.g., “You seem upset”). Yet, little is known about the relational benefits and risks of acknowledging others’ emotions in the workplace. We draw upon Costly Signaling Theory to posit how emotional...
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- 2021
- Working Paper
Not Feeling Safe in a Diversity Climate? The Role of Social Dominance Orientation for Interpersonal Outcomes of Diversity Climate Perceptions
By: Lumumba Babushe Seegars, Patricia Faison Hewlin and Sung Soo Kim
- 2020
- Working Paper
The Unexpected Benefits and Underlying Motivations for Communicating COVID-19 Contagion Risks When Rejecting In-Person Social Invitations
By: T. Schlager, A. Wilson and A.V. Whillans
Across five studies (N=3,071), we explore the interpersonal consequences of COVID risk communication when rejecting social invitations. In Study 1, people underestimate the benefits and overestimate the costs of rejecting social invitations for risk-related reasons. In...
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- July 2020
- Article
Tell It Like It Is: When Politically Incorrect Language Promotes Authenticity
By: J. Schroeder, M. Rosenblum and F. Gino
When a person’s language appears political—such as being politically correct or incorrect—it can influence fundamental impressions of him or her. Political correctness is “using language or behavior to seem sensitive to others’ feelings, especially those others who...
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- June 2020
- Article
In Generous Offers I Trust: The Effect of First-offer Value on Economically Vulnerable Behaviors
By: M. Jeong, J. Minson and F. Gino
Negotiation scholarship espouses the importance of opening a bargaining situation with an aggressive offer, given the power of first offers to shape concessionary behavior and outcomes. In our research, we identify a surprising consequence to this common prescription....
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- 2020
- Working Paper
Topic Preference Detection: A Novel Approach to Understand Perspective Taking in Conversation
By: Michael Yeomans and Alison Wood Brooks
Although most humans engage in conversations constantly throughout their lives, conversational mistakes are commonplace— interacting with others is difficult, and conversation re-quires quick, relentless perspective-taking and decision making. For example: during every...
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- September 2019
- Article
The Interpersonal Costs of Dishonesty: How Dishonest Behavior Reduces Individuals' Ability to Read Others' Emotions
By: J.J. Lee, H. Hardin, B. Parmar and F. Gino
In this research, we examine the unintended consequences of dishonest behavior for one’s interpersonal abilities and subsequent ethical behavior. Specifically, we unpack how dishonest conduct can reduce one’s generalized empathic accuracy—the ability to accurately read...
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- July 2019
- Article
The Gravitational Pull of Expressing Passion: When and How Expressing Passion Elicits Status Conferral and Support from Others
By: Jon M. Jachimowicz, Christopher To, Shira Agasi, Stéphane Côté and Adam D. Galinsky
Prior research attributes the positive effects of passion on professional success to intrapersonal characteristics. We propose that interpersonal processes are also critical because observers confer status on and support those who express passion. These interpersonal...
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- April 16, 2019
- Article
Research Confirms: When Receiving Bad News, We Shoot the Messenger
By: Leslie John, Hayley Blunden and Heidi Liu
Most jobs require us at some point to deliver bad news—whether it be a minor revelation such as a recruiter telling a prospective employee that there’s no wiggle room in salary, or something major, like when a manager must fire an employee. We dread such discussions...
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- April 2019
- Article
Mitigating Malicious Envy: Why Successful Individuals Should Reveal Their Failures
People often feel malicious envy, a destructive interpersonal emotion, when they compare themselves to successful peers. Across three online experiments and a field experiment of entrepreneurs, we identify an interpersonal strategy that can mitigate feelings of...
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- April 2019
- Article
Shooting the Messenger
By: Leslie John, Hayley Blunden and Heidi Liu
Eleven experiments provide evidence that people have a tendency to “shoot the messenger,” deeming innocent bearers of bad news unlikeable. In a preregistered lab experiment, participants rated messengers who delivered bad news from a random drawing as relatively...
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- February 2019
- Article
Pettiness in Social Exchange
By: Tami Kim, Ting Zhang and Michael I. Norton
We identify and document a novel construct—pettiness, or intentional attentiveness to trivial details—and examine its (negative) implications in interpersonal relationships and social exchange. Seven studies show that pettiness manifests across different types of...
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- 2019
- Working Paper
Communicating Resource Scarcity
By: Grant E. Donnelly, Anne Wilson, A.V. Whillans and Michael I. Norton
The development and maintenance of interpersonal relationships require investments of both money and time—resources that are often limited in supply, but in great demand. Indeed, consumers are regularly asked to dedicate their money and time to social engagements, and...
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- 2019
- Working Paper
It Doesn't Hurt to Ask (for More Time): Employees Often Overestimate the Interpersonal Costs of Extension Requests
By: Jaewon Yoon, Grant Donnelly and Ashley V. Whillans
Setting deadlines can improve productivity. Yet, miscalibrated deadlines are a major source of stress, undermining employees’ health and happiness. An effective strategy to maximize the benefits of deadlines while minimizing the costs could be to set task deadlines and...
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