Publications
Under Review/In Preparation:
53. Hong, Stephanie and Ed O'Brien (revise and resubmit, Journal of Consumer Research), "Repeatedly Soliciting Hedonic Reactions Can Exacerbate Hedonic Adaptation." [email for copy]
52. Hagen, Linda and Ed O'Brien (revise and resubmit, Journal of Consumer Research), "Lost Time Undermines Return Behavior." [email for copy]
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51. Hagen, Linda and Ed O'Brien (revise and resubmit, Psychology & Marketing), "When Did They Post It? How Temporal Markers Influence the Persuasiveness of Online Reviews." [email for copy]​​
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50. Garcia-Rada, Ximena, Leslie K. John, Ed O'Brien, and Michael I. Norton (under review, Journal of Marketing), "The Revised-is-Quality Heuristic: Why Consumers Prefer Products Labeled as Revised." [email for copy]
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49. Winet, Yuji K. and Ed O'Brien (data collection complete; writing for Journal of Consumer Research), "Refreshing the Familiar: Consumers Prefer Experiences with Callbacks." [email for copy]
48. Wang, Jiabi and Ed O'Brien (data collection nearly complete; writing for Journal of Consumer Research), "How Will Today's Marketplace Look Tomorrow? Consumer (Mis)Perceptions of How Products 'Age' Over Time." [email for copy]
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47. Christensen, Katherine L. and Ed O'Brien (data collection nearly complete; writing for Journal of Consumer Research), "Personal Temporal Connection Boosts Market Value." [email for copy]
Newly Accepted:
46. O'Brien, Ed (forthcoming), "A Flexible Threshold Theory of Change Perception in Self, Others, and The World," Psychological Review. [email for copy]
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45. Winet, Yuji K. and Ed O'Brien (forthcoming), "Familiarity Seeking: Learning and Growing From Repeat Experiences," in Handbook of the Science of Existential Psychology, ed. Kenneth E. Vail, Daryl Van Tongeren, Rebecca J. Schlegel, Jeff Greenberg, Laura A. King, and Richard M. Ryan, New York: Guilford Press. [email for copy]
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44. O'Brien, Ed. (forthcoming), "Things Change—But When? A Top-Down Approach to Understanding How People Judge Change Thresholds," in The Routledge International Handbook of Changes in Human Perceptions and Behaviors, ed. Kanako Taku and Todd K. Shackelford, London: Taylor & Francis. [email for copy]
2023:
43. O'Brien, Ed (2023), "Judging Change: A Flexible Threshold Theory," Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 68 (1), 223-90. [pdf]
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42. Klein, Nadav and Ed O'Brien (2023), "Threshold Violations in Social Judgment," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 125 (2), 284-315. [pdf]
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41. Li, Xilin, Christopher K. Hsee, and Ed O'Brien (2023), "'It Could Be Better' Can Make It Worse: When and Why People Mistakenly Communicate Upward Counterfactual Information," Journal of Marketing Research, 60 (2), 219-36. [pdf]
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40. Winet, Yuji and Ed O'Brien (2023), "Ending on a Familiar Note: Perceived Endings Motivate Repeat Consumption," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 124 (4), 707-34. [pdf]
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39. Weingarten, Evan, Kristen E. Duke, Wendy Liu, Rebecca W. Hamilton, On Amir, Gil Appel, Moran Cerf, Joseph K. Goodman, Andrea C. Morales, Ed O'Brien, Jordi Quoidbach, and Monic Sun (2023), "What Makes People Happy? Decoupling the Experiential-Material Continuum," Journal of Consumer Psychology, 33 (1), 97-106. [pdf]
2022:
38. Kardas, Michael, Juliana Schroeder, and Ed O'Brien (2022), "Keep Talking: (Mis)Understanding the Hedonic Trajectory of Conversation," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 123 (4), 717-40. [pdf]
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37. O'Brien, Ed (2022), "Look Back, Not Ahead? Time Use and the Value of Revisiting Past Experiences," in Temporal Asymmetries in Philosophy and Psychology, ed. Christopher Hoerl, Teresa McCormack, and Alison Fernandes, Oxford: Oxford University Press. [pdf]
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36. Wald, Kristina A. and Ed O'Brien (2022), "'Repeated Exposure to Success Harshens Reactions to Failure," Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 103 (1), 1-18. [pdf]
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35. O'Brien, Ed (2022), "Losing Sight of Piecemeal Progress: People Lump and Dismiss Improvement Efforts That Fall Short of Categorical Change—Despite Improving," Psychological Science, 33 (8), 1278-99. [pdf]
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34. O'Brien, Ed (2022), "The 'Next' Effect: When a Better Future Worsens the Present," Social Psychological and Personality Science, 13 (2), 456-65. [pdf]
2021:
33. O'Brien, Ed (2021), "A Mind Stretched: The Psychology of Repeat Consumption," Consumer Psychology Review, 4 (1), 42-58. [pdf]
*ISSEP Best Paper Award 2023
2020:
32. O'Brien, Ed (2020), "When Small Signs of Change Add Up: The Psychology of Tipping Points," Current Directions in Psychological Science, 29 (1), 55-62. [pdf]
2019:
31. Kristal, Alexander C., Ed O'Brien, and Eugene M. Caruso (2019), "Yesterday's News: A Temporal Discontinuity in the Sting of Inferiority," Psychological Science, 30 (5), 643-56. [pdf]
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30. O'Brien, Ed (2019), "Enjoy It Again: Repeat Experiences are Less Repetitive Than People Think," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 116 (4), 519-40. [pdf]
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29. O'Brien, Ed and Samantha Kassirer (2019), "'People are Slow to Adapt to the Warm Glow of Giving," Psychological Science, 30 (2), 193-204. [pdf]
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28. Roberts, Annabelle R. and Ed O'Brien (2019), "Work Well-Being," in Oxford Bibliographies in Psychology, ed. Dana S. Dunn, Oxford: Oxford University Press. [pdf]
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27. O'Brien, Ed and Robert W. Smith (2019), "Unconventional Consumption Methods and Enjoying Things Consumed: Recapturing the 'First Time' Experience," Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 45 (1), 67-80. [pdf]
2018:
26. Klein, Nadav and Ed O'Brien (2018), "People Use Less Information Than They Think to Make Up Their Minds," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115 (52), 13222-27. [pdf]
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25. Kardas, Michael and Ed O'Brien (2018), "Easier Seen Than Done: Merely Watching Others Perform Can Foster an Illusion of Skill Acquisition," Psychological Science, 29 (4), 521-36. [pdf]
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24. O'Brien, Ed, Alexander C. Kristal, Phoebe C. Ellsworth, and Norbert Schwarz (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 (1), 41-53. [pdf]
2017:
23. O'Brien, Ed and Ellen Roney (2017), "Worth the Wait? Leisure Can Be Just as Enjoyable with Work Left Undone," Psychological Science, 28 (7), 1000-15. [pdf]
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22. Klein, Nadav and Ed O'Brien (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 (2), 210-29. [pdf]
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21. O'Brien, Ed and Nadav Klein (2017), "'The Tipping Point of Perceived Change: Asymmetric Thresholds in Diagnosing Improvement Versus Decline," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 112 (2), 161-185. [pdf]
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20. Chopik, William J., Ed O'Brien, and Sara H. Konrath (2017), "Differences in Empathic Concern and Perspective Taking Across 63 Countries," Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 48 (1), 23-38. [pdf]
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19. Chopik, William J. and Ed O'Brien (2017), "Happy You, Healthy Me? Having a Happy Partner is Independently Associated with Better Health in Oneself," Health Psychology, 36 (1), 21-30. [pdf]
2016:
18. O'Brien, Ed and Michael Kardas (2016), "The Implicit Meaning of (My) Change," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 111 (6), 882-94. [pdf]
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17. Klein, Nadav and Ed O'Brien (2016), "The Tipping Point of Moral Change: When Do Good and Bad Acts Make Good and Bad Actors?," Social Cognition, 34 (2), 149-66. [pdf]
2015:
16. O'Brien, Ed. (2015), "Mapping Out Past Versus Future Minds: The Perceived Trajectory of Rationality Versus Emotionality Over Time," Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 144 (3), 624-38. [pdf]
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15. O'Brien, Ed. (2015), "Feeling Connected to Younger Versus Older Selves: The Asymmetric Impact of Life Stage Orientation," Cognition and Emotion, 29 (4), 678-86. [pdf]
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14. Chopik, William J., Ed O'Brien, Sara H. Konrath, and Norbert Schwarz (2015), "MLK Day and Attitude Change: Liking the Group More But Its Members Less," Political Psychology, 36 (5), 559-67. [pdf]
2014:
13. Konrath, Sara H., William J. Chopik, Courtney Hsing, and Ed O'Brien (2014), "Changes in Adult Attachment Styles in American College Students Over Time: A Meta-Analysis," Personality and Social Psychology Review, 18 (4), 326-48. [pdf]
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12. Campbell, Troy, Ed O'Brien, Leaf Van Boven, Norbert Schwarz, and Peter A. Ubel (2014), "Too Much Exprience: A Desensitization Bias in Emotional Perspective Taking" Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106 (2), 272-85. [pdf]
2013:
11. O'Brien, Ed and Linda Hagen (2013), "The Thrill of (Absolute) Victory: Success Among Many Enhances Emotional Payoffs," Emotion, 13 (3), 366-74. [pdf]
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10. O'Brien, Ed (2013), "Easy to Retrieve but Hard to Believe: Metacognitive Discounting of the Unpleasantly Possible," Psychological Science, 24 (6), 844-51. [pdf]
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9. O'Brien, Ed, Sara H. Konrath, Daniel Grühn, and Linda Hagen (2015), "Empathic Concern and Perspective Taking: Linear and Quadratic Effects of Age Across the Adult Lifespan," Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 68 (2), 168-75. [pdf]
2012:
8. O'Brien, Ed, Phoebe C. Ellsworth, and Norbert Schwarz (2012), "Today's Misery and Yesterday's Happiness: Differential Effects of Current Life-Events on Perceptions of Past Well-Being," Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48 (4), 968-72. [pdf]
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7. O'Brien, Ed and Phoebe C. Ellsworth (2012), "Polar Opposites: Empathy Does Not Extend Across the Political Aisle," The Jury Expert, 24 (1), 25-39. [pdf]
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6. O'Brien, Ed and Phoebe C. Ellsworth (2012), "More Than Skin Deep: Visceral States Are Not Projected Onto Dissimilar Others," Psychological Science, 23 (4), 391-96. [pdf]
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5. O'Brien, Ed and Phoebe C. Ellsworth (2012), "Saving the Last for Best: A Positivity Bias for End Experiences," Psychological Science, 23 (2), 163-65. [pdf]
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4. Bushman, Brad J. and Ed O'Brien (2012), "Aggression," in Encyclopedia of Human Behavior, ed. Vilayanur S. Ramachandran, New York: Academic Press. [pdf]
2011 and earlier:
3. O'Brien, Ed, Phyllis A. Anastasio, and Brad J. Bushman (2011), "Time Crawls When You're Not Having Fun: Feeling Entitled Makes Dull Tasks Drag On," Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37 (10), 1287-96. [pdf]
2. Konrath, Sara H., Ed O'Brien, and Courtney Hsing (2011), "Changes in Dispositional Empathy in American College Students Over Time: A Meta-Analysis," Personality and Social Psychology Review, 15 (2), 180-98. [pdf]
1. Anderson, Matthew A., Sarah A. Williams, and Ed O'Brien (2009), "Individual Differences in Preferred Neck-Resting Position of Caribbean Flamingos (Phoenicopterus Ruber)," Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition, 14 (1), 66-78. [pdf]