Working Projects

Revise and Resubmit

Business-size bias in consumer dishonesty

Consumers are less likely to cheat small businesses than big ones. Data on 13,239 businesses and seven main experiments (N = 10,436), including conjoint and incentivized studies, show that people see small businesses as more vulnerable and more moral, which makes cheating them feel worse.

Jareef Martuza, Hallgeir Sjåstad & Helge Thorbjørnsen

Under Review

Intergroup bias in coalitional but not selfish dishonesty

In experiments with 5,230 US Democrats and Republicans, people who lied for their own gain lied as much at the expense of their own party as of the other party. When a lie only helped someone else, they lied 9 percentage points more to help their own side. People also overestimated how dishonest the other side is.

Jareef Martuza, Helge Thorbjørnsen, Jay J. Van Bavel & Hallgeir Sjåstad

Under Review

Time-as-Money Thinking

People differ in how much they think of their time in terms of money. Across 21 studies (N = 9,206), we develop a short scale to measure this tendency and show that it is stable over time and distinct from related traits. People who score higher are more likely to pay to save time, pay others to do tasks for them, and pay to wait less, including when real money is at stake, even after accounting for income.

Jareef Martuza, Rodrigo S. Dias, Jordan Etkin, Helge Thorbjørnsen & Micael Dahlen

Preprint

AI integration timing and creativity judgments

Creators who use AI suggestions at the start of their work are judged less creative than those who use them at the end, even when the AI contributes the same amount. Across 12 experiments (N = 5,272), early users seem less effortful and less authentic. Saying that the creator changed the AI’s suggestions, rather than using them as given, reduces the penalty.

Rajarshi Majumder, Joshua Mahaney & Jareef Martuza

Revise and Resubmit

Recycling rivalry: social identity appeals and recycling

In two season-long field experiments at a Norwegian Premier Division football stadium (N = 5,712 and 6,598), appealing to supporters’ club identity did not increase recycling on its own. Combining that appeal with a ranking of clubs by recycling rate more than doubled recycling compared with every other condition. Supporters who saw the combined message reported more motivation to recycle and cared more about helping their club do well.

Hege Landsvik, Jareef Martuza, Sveinung Jørgensen, Lars Jacob Tynes Pedersen & Siv Skard

Under Review

Happy Growth? GDP-Well-being Relationship Across 160 Countries and Two Decades

Using Gallup World Poll data from 160 countries between 2006 and 2024, we find that 60% of countries grew both richer and happier, while 38% grew richer without getting happier. Growth predicts later happiness more than the reverse. The link is strongest in Europe and near zero in Africa, and countries exposed to conflict turn growth into happiness less well.

Jareef Martuza, Micael Dahlen, Christos A. Makridis, Paul Dolan, Tim Lomas, Michael Steger, Pablo Diego-Rosell & Dennis J. Snower

In Preparation

Greater female variability in wellbeing?

Men are thought to vary more than women on most traits. Using two global datasets (N = 207,092 and N = 3,028,559 across 168 countries), we find that well-being is an exception: women vary more than men in physical and mental health and financial security, and their well-being also changes more over time. The gap depends on a country’s development and gender equality.

Tim Lomas, Nora Bittár, Jareef Martuza, Noah R. Padgett, Micael Dahlen, Cassie Mogilner Holmes, Paul Dolan, Oscar Kjell, August Håkan Nilsson, Meg Warren, Byron R. Johnson & Tyler J. VanderWeele

Preprint

People underestimate the acceptability of canceling plans

People who cancel plans with others think the other person minds more than they actually do. Across 11 studies (N = 6,824) in the US and France, this happened partly because cancelers saw others as less forgiving and more affected than they really were. As a result, cancelers also overestimated how much the other person expected in return, such as gifts or favors.

Rajarshi Majumder, Esra Aslan & Jareef Martuza