Published papers and research reports:
Algorithms
Reich, T., Kaju, A., & Maglio, S. J. (in press). How to overcome algorithm aversion: Learning from mistakes. Journal of Consumer Psychology.
The predictive abilities of artificial intelligence, already powerful to begin with, are poised to keep improving. Yet consumers hesitate to trust them. Nowhere is this more consequential than in medicine, where AI outperforms doctors while patients keep shunning it. This research project offers a practical solution to this so-called algorithm aversion. Emphasizing the ability of the model to learn from its mistakes increases how willing people are to rely on it.
Data visualization
Reinholtz, N. S., Maglio, S. J., & Spiller, S. A. (2021). Stocks, flows, and risk response to pandemic data. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 27 (4), 657-668.
In a pandemic, data can be presented in many different ways. For instance, should a COVID tracker report the number of new cases (or hospitalizations, or deaths) on a day-to-day basis, or should it tally the total count since Patient Zero? My previous research considered how people respond to data differently as a function of seeing other kinds of information laid out as the former (the ever-changing flow) or the latter (the ever-climbing stock). (Link here, citation here: Spiller, S. A., Reinholtz, N. S., & Maglio, S. J. (2020). Judgments based on stocks and flows: Different presentations of the same data can lead to opposing inferences. Management Science, 66 (5), 2213-2231.) In follow-up work, we applied these insights to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results showed that people see stocks — staggering numbers and all, unlike fluctuating flows — as scarier, so reporting numbers in that format makes people more willing to take distancing and lockdown measures seriously.
Long-term decision making
Maglio, S. J. & Hershfield, H. E. (2021). Pleas for patience from the cumulative future self. A commentary on Ainslie. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 44, e46. (see page 38)
Hershfield, H. E. & Maglio, S. J. (2020). When does the present end and the future begin? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 149 (4), 701-718.
People make plenty of choices that seem great in the moment but come with costs down the road. To indulge in smoking, unprotected sex, or one too many bourbons or Twinkies sacrifices long-term health for short-term pleasure. How can psychological science help people help themselves? Here, my work offers one answer: by making the future seem closer. With the right intervention to make the present seem fleeting and the future seem not so distant, this research helps guide people toward the kind of future self they want to be.
Commitment
Maglio, S. J. & Reich, T. (2020). Choice protection for feeling-focused decisions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 149 (9), 1704-1718.
Choosing, often, is for using. We choose a piece of exercise equipment or smoking cessation approach with the clear goal of using it over and over. Yet sometimes, chosen options languish as choosers lose interest in them. How can people stay committed to their choices over time in a way that lets them get the most value and benefit from them? My research offers one answer: relying on feelings when making choices. When we consult our feelings in decision making (instead of scrutinizing a decision to pieces), we come to see what we pick as more reflective of our true selves — who we really are at a deep level — and that makes us more inclined to stick with them.