Miller, D. T., & Nelson, L. D. (2002). Seeing approach motivation in the avoidance behavior of others: Implications for an understanding of pluralistic ignorance.

Four studies tested the hypothesis that observers tend to interpret others’ actions as approach motivated even when they recognize that their own identical choices were motivated by avoidance. Study 1 found that voters in the 2000 U.S. Presidential election who chose a candidate primarily because of their aversion to the alternative thought that others who …

Johnson, J. T. (1987). The heart on the sleeve and the secret self: Estimations of hidden emotion in self and acquaintances. Journal of Personality, 55(4), 563-582.

This research investigated how estimations of subjectively experienced emotion and estimations of displayed emotion varied with the familiarity of the target person Subjects imagined themselves, a close friend, a moderate friend, or a casual acquaintance in a series of brief affect‐eliciting situations, and then estimated the degree to which the designated person would both feel …

Dewhurst, S. A., & Marlborough, M. A. (2003). Memory bias in the recall of pre‐exam anxiety: the influence of self‐enhancement. Applied cognitive psychology, 17(6), 695-702.

Previous research has shown that students asked to recall the anxiety levels they reported prior to an exam exaggerate how anxious they had been. The present study investigated the effect of current emotions on this memory bias by comparing the recall of pre‐exam anxiety in students who either achieved or failed to achieve their target …

Blanchflower, D. G., & Oswald, A. J. (2004). Well-being over time in Britain and the USA. Journal of public economics, 88(7-8), 1359-1386.

This paper studies happiness in the United States and Great Britain. Reported levels of well-being have declined over the last quarter of a century in the US; life satisfaction has run approximately flat through time in Britain. These findings are consistent with the Easterlin hypothesis [Nations and Households in Economic Growth: Essays in Honour of …

Ashraf, N., Camerer, C. F., & Loewenstein, G. (2005). Adam Smith, behavioral economist. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 19(3), 131-145.

Adam Smith’s psychological perspective in The Theory of Moral Sentiments is remarkably similar to “dual-process” frameworks advanced by psychologists, neuroscientists, and more recently by behavioral economists, based on behavioral data and detailed observations of brain functioning. It also anticipates a wide range of insights regarding phenomena such as loss aversion, willpower, and fairness that have …

Feeney, J. A. (1994). Attachment style, communication patterns, and satisfaction across the life cycle of marriage. Personal Relationships, 1(4), 333-348.

Questionnaire measures of attachment, communication patterns, and relationship satisfaction were administered to 361 married couples, sampled across the life cycle of marriage. Individuals who were secure in attachment (defined in terms of comfort with closeness and low anxiety over relationships) tended to be paired with secure spouses. Security of attachment was associated with one’s own …

Epley, N., & Dunning, D. (2000). Feeling “holier than thou”: Are self-serving assessments produced by errors in self- or social prediction?

People typically believe they are more likely to engage in selfless, kind, and generous behaviors than their peers, a result that is both logically and statistically suspect. However, this oft-documented tendency presents an important ambiguity. Do people feel “holier than thou” because they harbor overly cynical views of their peers (but accurate impressions of themselves) …

Sanna, L. J., & Schwarz, N. (2004). Integrating temporal biases: The interplay of focal thoughts and accessibility experiences. Psychological science, 15(7), 474-481.

We provide an integrative account of temporal biases (confidence changes, planning fallacy, impact bias, and hindsight bias). Students listed either 3 or 12 thoughts about success or failure before an upcoming real-life exam or immediately after learning their grades. Previous explanations had focused on how thought content alone (what comes to mind) influences temporal biases. …

Kruger, J., Wirtz, D., & Miller, D. T. (2005). Counterfactual Thinking and the First Instinct Fallacy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88(5), 725-735.

Most people believe that they should avoid changing their answer when taking multiple-choice tests. Virtually all research on this topic, however, has suggested that this strategy is ill-founded: Most answer changes are from incorrect to correct, and people who change their answers usually improve their test scores. Why do people believe in this strategy if …

Buehler, R., & McFarland, C. (2001). Intensity bias in affective forecasting: The role of temporal focus. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27(11), 1480-1493.

In five studies, university students predicted their affective reactions to a wide variety of positive and negative future events. In Studies 1 to 3, participants also reported the affective reactions they experienced when the target event occurred. As hypothesized, they tended to anticipate more intense reactions than they actually experienced. In Studies 3 to 5, …