Journal Articles
Klein, N., & O'Brien, E. (in press). Threshold Violations in Social Judgment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
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Li, X., Hsee, C. K., & O'Brien, E. (2023). "It Could Be Better" Can Make It Worse: When and Why People Mistakenly Communicate Upward Counterfactual Information. Journal of Marketing Research, 60, 219-236.
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Winet, Y., & O'Brien, E. (2023). Ending on a Familiar Note: Perceived Endings Motivate Repeat Consumption. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 124, 707-734.
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Weingarten, E., Duke, K., Liu, W., Hamilton, R. W., Amir, O., Appel, G., Cerf, M., Goodman, J. K., Morales, A. C., O'Brien, E., Quoidbach, J., & Sun, M. (2023). What Makes People Happy? Decoupling the Experiential-Material Continuum. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 33, 97-106.
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Kardas, M., Schroeder, J., & O'Brien, E. (2022). Keep Talking: (Mis)Understanding the Hedonic Trajectory of Conversation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 123, 717-740.
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Wald, K., & O'Brien, E. (2022). Repeated Exposure to Success Harshens Reactions to Failure. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 103, 1-18.
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O'Brien, E. (2022). Losing Sight of Piecemeal Progress: People Lump and Dismiss Improvement Efforts That Fall Short of Categorical Change—Despite Improving. Psychological Science, 33, 1278-1299.
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O'Brien, E. (2022). The "Next" Effect: When a Better Future Worsens the Present. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 13, 456-465.
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O'Brien, E. (2021). A Mind Stretched: The Psychology of Repeat Consumption. Consumer Psychology Review, 4, 42-58.
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O'Brien, E. (2020). When Small Signs of Change Add Up: The Psychology of Tipping Points. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 29, 55-62.
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Kristal, A. C., O'Brien, E., & Caruso, E. M. (2019). Yesterday's News: A Temporal Discontinuity in the Sting of Inferiority. Psychological Science, 30, 643-656.
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O'Brien, E. (2019). Enjoy It Again: Repeat Experiences are Less Repetitive Than People Think. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 116, 519-540.
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O'Brien, E., & Kassirer, S. (2019). People are Slow to Adapt to the Warm Glow of Giving. Psychological Science, 30, 193-204.
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O'Brien, E., & Smith, R. W. (2019). Unconventional Consumption Methods and Enjoying Things Consumed: Recapturing the "First Time" Experience. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 45, 67-80.
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Klein, N., & O'Brien, E. (2018). People Use Less Information Than They Think to Make Up Their Minds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115, 13222-13227.
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Kardas, M., & O'Brien, E. (2018). Easier Seen Than Done: Merely Watching Others Perform Can Foster an Illusion of Skill Acquisition. Psychological Science, 29, 521-536.
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O'Brien, E., Kristal, A. C., Ellsworth, P. C., & Schwarz, N. (2018). (Mis)imagining The Good Life and The Bad Life: Envy and Pity as a Function of the Focusing Illusion. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 75, 41-53.
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O'Brien, E., & Roney, E. (2017). Worth the Wait? Leisure Can Be Just As Enjoyable With Work Left Undone. Psychological Science, 28, 1000-1015.
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Klein, N., & O'Brien, E. (2017). The Power and Limits of Personal Change: When a Bad Past Does (and Does Not) Inspire in the Present. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 113, 210-229.
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O'Brien, E., & Klein, N. (2017). The Tipping Point of Perceived Change: Asymmetric Thresholds in Diagnosing Improvement Versus Decline. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 112, 161-185.
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Chopik, W. J., O'Brien, E., & Konrath, S. (2017). Differences in Empathic Concern and Perspective Taking Across 63 Countries. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 48, 23-38.
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O'Brien, E., & Kardas, M. (2016). The Implicit Meaning of (My) Change. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 111, 882-894.
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Klein, N., & O'Brien, E. (2016). The Tipping Point of Moral Change: When Do Good and Bad Acts Make Good and Bad Actors? Social Cognition, 34, 149-166.
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O'Brien, E. (2015). Mapping Out Past Versus Future Minds: The Perceived Trajectory of Rationality Versus Emotionality Over Time. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 144, 624-628.
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O'Brien, E. (2015). Feeling Connected to Younger Versus Older Selves: The Asymmetric Impact of Life Stage Orientation. Cognition and Emotion, 29, 678-686.
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Konrath, S., Chopik, W. J., Hsing, C., & O'Brien, E. (2014). Changes in Adult Attachment Styles in American College Students Over Time: A Meta-Analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 18, 326-348.
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Campbell, T., O'Brien, E., Van Boven, L., Schwarz, N., & Ubel, P. A. (2014). Too Much Experience: A Desensitization Bias in Emotional Perspective Taking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106, 272-285.
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O'Brien, E. (2013). Easy to Retrieve but Hard to Believe: Metacognitive Discounting of the Unpleasantly Possible. Psychological Science, 24, 844-851.
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O'Brien, E., Konrath, S., Gruhn, D., & Hagen, L. (2013). Empathic Concern and Perspective Taking: Linear and Quadratic Effects of Age Across the Adult Lifespan. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 68, 168-175.
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O'Brien, E., Ellsworth, P. C., & Schwarz, N. (2012). Today's Misery and Yesterday's Happiness: Differential Effects of Current Life-Events on Perceptions of Past Wellbeing. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 968-972.
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O'Brien, E., & Ellsworth, P. C. (2012). More Than Skin Deep: Visceral States Are Not Projected Onto Dissimilar Others. Psychological Science, 23, 391-396.
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O'Brien, E., & Ellsworth, P. C. (2012). Saving the Last for Best: A Positivity Bias for End Experiences. Psychological Science, 23, 163-165.
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O'Brien, E., Anastasio, P. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2011). Time Crawls When You're Not Having Fun: Feeling Entitled Makes Dull Tasks Drag On. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37, 1287-1296.
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Konrath, S., O'Brien, E., & Hsing, C. (2011). Changes in Dispositional Empathy in American College Students Over Time: A Meta-Analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 15, 180-198.
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Book Chapters
O'Brien, E. (in press). Things Change—But When? A Top-Down Approach to Understanding How People Judge Change Thresholds. In K. Taku & T. K. Shackelford (Eds.), The Routledge International Handbook of Changes in Human Perceptions and Behaviors. London, UK: Taylor & Francis.
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O'Brien, E. (2022). Look Back, Not Ahead? Time Use and the Value of Revisiting Past Experiences. In C. Hoerl, T. McCormack, & A. Fernandes (Eds.), Temporal Asymmetries in Philosophy and Psychology. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
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Selected Ongoing Research
O'Brien, E. A Flexible Threshold Theory of Change Perception in Self, Others, and The World.
O'Brien, E. Temporal Impression (Mis)Management.
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Hagen, L., & O'Brien, E. The Trap of Temporal Gaps: Longer Waits Motivate Waiting Longer.
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Winet, Y., & O'Brien, E. Callbacks: How Unexpected Familiarity Influences Evaluation and Choice.
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Roberts, A. R., Baron, C., & O'Brien, E. Self-Other Differences in Advised Time Use.
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Hagen, L., & O'Brien, E. Temporal Inference in Word-of-Mouth Influence.
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Christensen, K., & O'Brien, E. Temporal Connection Boosts Market Value.
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Hong, S., & O'Brien, E. Hedonic Adaptation Depends on How You Measure It.
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