Dr. Ross Hanig, Senior Instructor Economics
Research Highlights
One area I’m interested in is behavioral economics. Specifically, I’m interested in how present bias and impulsivity affect people’s decision making.
- Present bias means benefits and costs in the present mean much more to someone than those in the future. Whenever we face an action for which the costs are in the present, but the benefits are in the future, there’s the potential to procrastinate.
- We discount the benefits, but the costs seem all too present.
- When that situation meets impulsive avoidance (as opposed to impulsive doing), we can end up doing all sorts of things other than what we know is most valuable.
Present bias and impulsivity can also help explain overcommitment. When there are enough benefits to an action in the present, but the costs are in the future, there’s the potential to overcommit.
- If I’m confident in my abilities and see the action as having value, I’m even more likely.
- If I tend towards impulsive doing (as opposed to impulsive avoidance) in these situations, I’m even more likely to overcommit.
- Next thing we know, we have more work on our plate than we can do to the best of our abilities.
- We set ourselves up to fail others, and ourselves.
Societal Impact
- Overcommitment may help explain why people sign up for gym memberships that then go underused or why we waste so much food.
- It’s estimated that in the US we waste between 30%-40% of the food supply.
- We can forget what we have in the fridge or get excited about what we’ll make.
- We can become overconfident about our ability to cook and eat everything we buy.
- The absent-mindedness or excitement is in the moment, but the costs come later.
Student Impact
- I’m developing a semester-long project for my psychology and economics class in which students get to take concepts we study in the class like present bias and impulsivity and figure out how to address them in ways that improve their lives.
- They’ll take baseline measures before they start to implement changes to assess the measures’ effectiveness.
- They’ll better learn the value of concepts that can sometimes seem abstract.
- They might even learn how to overcome some roadblocks to reaching their potential.
Spotlights
- I led a workshop in Italy this July on overcoming procrastination and overcommitment for Music in the Marche, an institute primarily for college students in classical music programs throughout the U.S.
- There can be intense stress and anxiety around performing music live.
- It can cause people to put off practicing.
- The intense competition can lead students to say yes to every opportunity—sometimes so much that they can’t perform at their best.
- We worked on how to overcome both.
Connect
To connect with Dr. Ross Hanig, please email – hanig@up.edu
Contribute
Help Dr. Hanig and the Pamplin School of Business Faculty continue their research. Your contribution will directly impact students and society!
