Marketers have a choice of what to tell consumers and consumers must consider what they are told or not told. Across 6 experiments, we show that consumers fail to differentiate between deliberate and nondeliberate missing information (strategic naiveté) and make generous inferences when they do notice missing information is deliberately withheld (charitability). We also show …
When my doctor ordered a CT scan that I didn’t need, I found myself in an uncomfortable position. Even though, as a physician myself, I knew that it was unnecessary, as a patient, I still felt compelled to comply. In this article I explain how difficult it can be to say no to bad advice …
Why you find it so hard to resist taking bad advice. Read More »
As consumers and citizens in the internet era, we have access to more information than ever when making purchases and other choices that affect our health, safety, and well-being. But sometimes what marketers don’t say is at least as important as what they do say. But how do consumers react when marketers withhold information that would be relevant to …
Missing Product Information Doesn’t Bother Consumers as Much as It Should. Read More »
Abstract Expressing distress at work can have negative consequences for employees: observers perceive employees who express distress as less competent than employees who do not. Across five experiments, we explore how reframing a socially inappropriate emotional expression (distress) by publicly attributing it to an appropriate source (passion) can shape perceptions of, and decisions about, the …
Managing perceptions of distress at work: Reframing emotion as passion. Read More »
Abstract Professionals often give advice to many anonymous people. For example, financial analysts give public recommendations to trade stock, and medical experts formulate clinical guidelines that affect many patients. Normatively, awareness of the advice-recipient’s identity should not influence the quality of advice, and when advice affects a larger number of people, if anything, greater care should …