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PhD Student - Marissa Lepper

My research interests stem from my desire to understand the world around me, in particular human behavior and decision making. This curiosity has led me to study behavioral economics and to incorporate psychological principles into economic questions. A lot of my research focuses on questions about self-control, which I find particularly interesting as people may knowingly make decisions that are potentially sub-optimal in the long run. Moreover, questions about self-control have a broad-reaching economic impact, ranging from health outcomes to savings decisions amongst other things.

My research examines excuse-seeking behavior. Excuse-seeking behavior is where people appear to be altruistic or patient unless an “excuse” is available. I use a lab experiment to test whether people use excuse-seeking behavior to justify giving in to temptation. In daily life, people face situations where they are tempted to act in a way that benefits their current-self to the detriment of their future self. In these situations, people may know that they shouldn’t act this way and exert self-control to avoid feeling bad about giving in to temptation. However, if an excuse is present, this would lower the cost of giving in. For example, imagine a person who likes to sleep in but has to wake up early for work. They set their alarm for the last moment they can wake up without being late. However, one night there is a storm. As they sit in traffic, they think to themselves “If only I had known there was a storm, I would’ve woken up early!” and this may be true – however, they chose not to look at the weather to give themselves an excuse to sleep in guilt-free.

Something I’ve enjoyed about studying excuse-seeking behavior is how relatable it is. It’s always enjoyable to be explaining my research to someone and have them nod along and start sharing their own experiences. It was interesting to think through how and why this phenomenon that seems so pervasive happens, find a way to quantify it, and think of ways to potentially mitigate its impact. Overall, studying behavioral economics has changed the way that I view the world, and I am excited to continue quantifying and studying these behavioral biases that impact the way that people make decisions and interact with the world around them.