Publications
3 results found
Han M, Voichek G, Zauberman G, 2023, COVID time: how quarantine affects feelings of elapsed time, Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, Vol: 8, ISSN: 2378-1823
The lockdowns imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly upended people’s lives and daily structure. In this survey of 1,506 Americans conducted in June 2020, we test how quarantine affects feelings of elapsed time (the subjective temporal distance from an event). We find that feelings of elapsed time are determined either by how people spent their time in quarantine or by how much time since an event was spent in quarantine, depending on whether people are still in quarantine at the time of evaluation. Specifically, whether people quarantined alone and the extent to which they maintained a temporal structure affect feelings of elapsed time while people are in quarantine; once people leave quarantine, feelings of elapsed time depend on how much of the time following an event was spent in quarantine, rather than on how they spent their time in it.
Banker M, Miller M, Voichek G, et al., 2022, Prosocial nudges and visual indicators increase social distancing, but authoritative nudges do not., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA, Vol: 119, Pages: 1-3, ISSN: 0027-8424
Social distancing reduces the transmission of COVID-19 and other airborne diseases. To test different ways to increase social distancing, we conducted a field experiment at a major US airport using a system that presented color-coded visual indicators on crowdedness. We complemented those visual indicators with nudges commonly used to increase COVID-19-preventive behaviors. Analyzing data from 57,146 travelers, we find that visual indicators and nudges significantly affected social distancing. Introducing visual indicators increased the share of travelers practicing social distancing, and this positive effect was enhanced by introducing nudges focused on personal benefits ("protect yourself") and public benefits ("protect others"). Conversely, an authoritative nudge referencing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ("don't break CDC COVID-19 guidelines") did not change social distancing behavior. Our results demonstrate that visual indicators and informed nudges can boost social distancing and potentially curb the spread of contagious diseases.
Voichek G, Novemsky N, 2021, Asymmetric hedonic contrast: pain is more contrast dependent than pleasure, Psychological Science, Vol: 32, Pages: 1038-1046, ISSN: 0956-7976
Research has shown that hedonic-contrast effects are a ubiquitous and important phenomenon. In eight studies (N = 4,999) and four supplemental studies (N = 1,809), we found that hedonic-contrast effects were stronger for negative outcomes than for positive outcomes. This asymmetric-contrast effect held for both anticipated and experienced affect. The effect makes risks that include gains and losses more attractive in the presence of high reference points because contrast diminishes the hedonic impact of losses more than gains. We demonstrated that the effect occurs because people are generally more attentive to reference points when evaluating negative outcomes, so drawing attention to reference points eliminates the asymmetric-contrast effect.
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