Carey Morewedge

Everett W. Lord Distinguished Faculty Scholar Professor, Marketing Department Chair, Marketing

Carey K. Morewedge researches how high-level cognitive processes such as memory, attention, and mental imagery influence consequential human judgments and decisions. His research is distinctive in elucidating how these basic processes influence judgments of utility—the value or pleasure that experiences provide—often more than the physical properties or market value of experiences. Judgments of utility are consequential as they determine which experiences people choose, how much of experiences they choose to have, and how much money, time, and effort they will spend to acquire or avoid them.

Dr. Morewedge received a PhD in Social Psychology in 2006 from Harvard University. He was a Postdoctoral Researcher Associate in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy from 2006 until 2007. He served as an Assistant and Associate Professor at Carnegie Mellon University in the Department of Social and Decision Sciences and the Marketing group at the Tepper School of Business from 2007 until 2013. In 2014, he joined the Marketing faculty at Boston University.

Dr. Morewedge has been awarded more than $2 million in external research funding. He has published more than 40 articles and chapters in top peer-reviewed journals including Science, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Management Science, and Psychological Science.

In 2016, Dr. Morewedge was recognized by Poets & Quants as one of the Top 40 Under 40 Most Outstanding MBA Professors. In 2010, Dr. Morewedge won an award for the Most Theoretically Innovative Article or Chapter of the Year from the Society of Personality and Social Psychology, and won an Ideas of the Year Award from the New York Times in 2009. His research has been featured by major news organizations including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, Forbes, and Time Magazine. His work has been featured in television and radio interviews with media outlets such as NPR's Science Friday, ABC World News Tonight, and the BBC.

    Education
  • PhD, Harvard University, 2006
  • BA, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, 2000
    Publications
  • Morewedge, C., Naushan, H., Mullainathan, S. (In Press). Decisions with algorithms."The Handbook of Social Psychology, 6th edition", Princeton University Libraries
  • Agarwal, S., De Freitas, J., Ragnhildstveit, A., Morewedge, C. (In Press). "Acceptance of automated vehicles is lower for self than others", Journal of the Association for Consumer Research
  • Morewedge, C. (2024). "Algorithms can remove bias blind spots, study shows", Fast Company
  • Morewedge, C. (2024). "Algorithms help people see and correct their biases, study shows", The conversation
  • Celiktutan, B., Cadario, R., Morewedge, C. (2024). "People see more of their biases in algorithms", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA, 121 (16)
  • Agarwal, S., De Freitas, J., Morewedge, C. (2024). "How automakers can address resistance to self-driving cars", Harvard Business Review
  • Sellier, A., Morewedge, C., Scopelliti, I. (2024). "Training to reduce cognitive bias may improve decision making after all", The Conversation
  • Morewedge, C. (2024). "Judgment skills: Teach kids to play devil’s advocate", Character Lab
  • Morewedge, C. (2024). "Why algorithm-generated recommendations fall short", Harvard Business Review
  • Morewedge, C., Mullainathan, S., Naushan, H., Sunstein, C., Kleinberg, J., Raghavan, M., Ludwig, J. (2023). "Human bias in algorithm design", Nature Human Behaviour, 8 1822-1824
  • Morewedge, C., Weiss, L. (2023). "Psychological ownership: Actors' and observers' perspectives.", Behav Brain Sci, 46 e344-e344
  • Lee, C., Morewedge, C. (2023). "Mental accounting of product returns", Journal of Consumer Psychology
  • Lee, C., Morewedge, C. (2023). "Correction, uncertainty, and anchoring effects", Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 46 129-129
  • Lee, C., Morewedge, C. (2023). "How Retailers Can Capitalize on the “Refund Effect"", Harvard Business Review
  • Shachar, C., Cadario, R., Cohen, G., Morewedge, C. (2023). "HIPAA is a misunderstood and inadequate tool to protect patient health medical data", Nature Medicine, 29 1900-1902
  • Morewedge, C. (2022). "Preference for human, not algorithm aversion", Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 26 (10), 824-826
  • Morewedge, C. (2022). "Confirmation bias in journalism: What it is and strategies to avoid it", The Journalist's Resource
  • Whitley, S., Garcia-Rada, X., Bardhi, F., Ariely, D., Morewedge, C. (2022). "Relational Spending in Funerals: Caring for Others Loved and Lost", Journal of Consumer Psychology, 32 (2), 211-231
  • Yoon, H., Yang, Y., Morewedge, C. (2022). "Early Cost Realization and College Choice", Journal of Marketing Research, 59 (1), 136-152
  • Cadario, R., Morewedge, C. (2022). "Why do people eat the same breakfast every day? Goals and circadian rhythms of variety seeking in meals.", Appetite, 168 105716-
  • Morewedge, C. (2022). "When We Don’t Own the Things We Use, Will We Still Love Them?", MIT Sloan Management Review: MIT's journal of management research and ideas, 63 (2), 16-18
  • Lee, C., Morewedge, C. (2022). "Noise increases anchoring effects", Psychological Science, 33 (1), 60-75
  • Morewedge, C. (2021). "Why you eat the same thing for breakfast every day", Time Magazine
  • Cadario, R., Longoni, C., Morewedge, C. (2021). "Understanding, Explaining, and Utilizing Medical Artificial Intelligence", Nature Human Behaviour, 5 (12), 1636-1642
  • Longoni, C., Cadario, R., Morewedge, C. (2021). "For Patients to Trust Medical AI, They Need to Understand It", Harvard Business Review (digital)
  • Morewedge, C. (2021). "Decision Making", Character Lab Playbook
  • Putnam-Farr, E., Morewedge, C. (2021). "Which social comparisons influence happiness with unequal pay?", J Exp Psychol Gen, 150 (3), 570-582
  • Morewedge, C., Monga, A., Palmatier, R., Shu, S., Small, D. (2021). "Evolution of Consumption: A Psychological Ownership Framework", Journal of Marketing, 85 (1), 196-218
  • Yoon, H., Scopelliti, I., Morewedge, C. (2021). "Decision making can be improved through observational learning", Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 162 155-188
  • Morewedge, C. (2020). "Psychological ownership: implicit and explicit.", Current Opinion in Psychology, 39 125-132
  • Longoni, C., Bonezzi, A., Morewedge, C. (2020). "Resistance to medical artificial intelligence is an attribute in a compensatory decision process: response to Pezzo and Becksted (2020)", Judgment and Decision Making, 15 (3)
  • Putnam-Farr, E., Morewedge, C. (2019). Comparing one and many: Insights from judgment and decision making for social comparison. In RL, Collins., J, Suls., L, Wheeler. (Eds.), "Social Comparison in Judgment and Behavior", Oxford University Press
  • Longoni, C., Bonezzi, A., Morewedge, C. (2019). "Resistance To Medical Artificial Intelligence", Journal of Consumer Research, 46 (4), 629-650
  • Sellier, A., Scopelliti, I., Morewedge, C. (2019). "Debiasing Training Improves Decision Making in the Field.", Psychological Science, 30 (9), 1371-1379
  • Morewedge, C., Zhu, M., Buechel, E. (2019). "Hedonic Contrast Effects Are Larger When Comparisons Are Social", Journal of Consumer Research, 46 (2), 286-306
  • Lee, C., Morewedge, C., Hochman, G., Ariely, D. (2019). "Small probabilistic discounts stimulate spending: Pain of paying in price promotions", Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 4 (2), 160-171
  • Morewedge, C., Kupor, D. (2018). When the absence of reasoning breeds meaning: Metacognitive appraisals of spontaneous thought. In K, Christoff., K, Fox. (Eds.), "The Oxford Handbook of Spontaneous Thought", Oxford 35-46
  • Scopelliti, I., Morewedge, C., Min, L., McCormick, E., Kassam, K. (2018). "Individual Differences in Correspondence Bias: Measurement, Consequences, and Correction of Biased Interpersonal Attributions", Management Science, 64 (4), 1879-1910
  • Atasoy, O., Morewedge, C. (2018). "Digital Goods Are Valued Less Than Physical Goods", Journal of Consumer Research, 44 (6), 1343-1357
  • Scopelliti, I., Min, H., McCormick, E., Kassam, K., Morewedge, C. (2018). "Individual Differences in Correspondence Bias: Measurement, Consequences, and Correction of Biased Interpersonal Attributions", Management Science, 64 (4), 1879-1910
  • Morewedge, C., Tang, S., Larrick, R. (2018). "Betting Your Favorite to Win: Costly Reluctance to Hedge Desired Outcomes", Management Science, 64 (3), 997-1014
  • Morewedge, C. (2018). "Was 2017 the worst year ever? It depends on when you're asked.",
  • Buechel, E., Zhang, J., Morewedge, C. (2017). "Impact Bias or Underestimation? Outcome Specifications Predict the Direction of Affective Forecasting Errors", Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 146 (5), 746-761
  • Symborski, C., Barton, M., Quinn, M., Korris, J., Kassam, K., Morewedge, C. (2017). "The Design and Development of Serious Games Using Iterative Evaluation", Games and Culture, 12 (3), 252-268
  • Tang, S., Morewedge, C., Larrick, R., Klein, J. (2017). "Disloyalty aversion: Greater reluctance to bet against close others than the self", Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 140 1-13
  • Huh, Y., Vosgerau, J., Morewedge, C. (2016). "Selective Sensitization: Consuming a Food Activates a Goal to Consume Its Complements", Journal of Marketing Research, 53 (6), 1034-1049
  • Barton, M., Symborski, C., Quinn, M., Morewedge, C., Kassam, K., Korris, J. (2016). "The Use of Theory in Designing a Serious Game for the Reduction of Cognitive Biases", Transactions of the Digital Games Research Association, 2 (3)
  • Morewedge, C. (2016). "Why you should bet against your candidate.",
  • Lau, T., Morewedge, C., Cikara, M. (2016). "Overcorrection for Social-Categorization Information Moderates Impact Bias in Affective Forecasting", Psychological Science, 27 (10), 1340-1351
  • Kappes, H., Morewedge, C. (2016). "Mental Simulation as Substitute for Experience", Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 10 (7), 405-420
  • Huh, Y., Vosgerau, J., Morewedge, C. (2016). "More Similar but Less Satisfying: Comparing Preferences for and the Efficacy of Within- and Cross-Category Substitutes for Food", Psychological Science, 27 (6), 894-903
  • Scopelliti, I., Morewedge, C., Min, L., McCormick, E., Kassam, K. (2016). ""Measurement, Consequences, and Debiasing of Correspondent Inference Making"", Academy of Management Proceedings, 2016 (1), 12389-12389
  • Morewedge, C., Yoon, H., Scopelliti, I., Symborski, C., Korris, J., Kassam, K. (2015). "Debiasing decisions: Improved decision making with a single training intervention", Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2 (1), 129-140
  • Scopelliti, I., Morewedge, C., McCormick, E., Min, H., Lebrecht, S., Kassam, K. (2015). "Bias blind spot: Structure, measurement, and consequences", Management Science, 61 (10), 2468-2486
  • Morewedge, C., Giblin, C. (2015). "Explanations of the endowment effect: An integrative review", Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 19 (6), 339-348
  • Hamerman, E., Morewedge, C. (2015). "Reliance on Luck: Identifying Which Achievement Goals Elicit Superstitious Behavior", Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41 (3), 323-335
  • Huh, Y., Vosgerau, J., Morewedge, C. (2014). "Social Defaults: Observed Choices Become Choice Defaults", Journal of Consumer Research, 41 (3), 746-760
  • Morewedge, C., Giblin, C., Norton, M. (2014). "The (Perceived) Meaning of Spontaneous Thoughts", Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143 (4), 1742-1754
  • Buechel, E., Zhang, J., Morewedge, C., Vosgerau, J. (2014). "More Intense Experiences, Less Intense Forecasts: Why People Overweight Probability Specifications in Affective Forecasts", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106 (1), 20-36
  • Morewedge, C., Krishnamurti, T., Ariely, D. (2014). "Focused on fairness: Alcohol intoxication increases the costly rejection of inequitable rewards", Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 50 15-20
  • Garbinsky, E., Morewedge, C., Shiv, B. (2014). "Does liking or wanting determine repeat consumption delay?", Appetite, 72 59-65
  • Tang, S., Morewedge, C. (2014). ""I can profit from my failure, not yours: Loyalty inhibits capitalizing on a close other’s failure"", Academy of Management Proceedings, 2014 (1), 16649-16649
  • Morewedge, C., Garbinsky, E., Shiv, B. (2014). "Interference of the end: Why recency bias in memory determines when a food is consumed again", Psychological Science, 25 (7), 1466-1474
  • Morewedge, C., Buechel, E. (2013). "Motivated Underpinnings of the Impact Bias in Affective Forecasts", Emotion, 13 (6), 1023-1029
  • Morewedge, C., Chandler, J., Smith, R., Schwarz, N., Schooler, J. (2013). "Lost in the crowd: Entitative group membership reduces mind attribution", Consciousness and Cognition, 22 (4), 1195-1205
  • Morewedge, C. (2013). "It Was a Most Unusual Time: How Memory Bias Engenders Nostalgic Preferences", Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 26 (4), 319-326
  • Giblin, C., Morewedge, C., Norton, M. (2013). "Unexpected benefits of deciding by mind wandering", Frontiers in Psychology, 4
  • Morewedge, C., Todorov, A. (2012). "The Least Likely Act: Overweighting Atypical Past Behavior in Behavioral Predictions", Social Psychological and Personality Science, 3 (6), 760-766
  • Cryder, C., Springer, S., Morewedge, C. (2012). "Guilty Feelings, Targeted Actions", Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38 (5), 607-618
  • Kassam, K., Morewedge, C., Gilbert, D., Wilson, T. (2011). "Winners Love Winning and Losers Love Money", Psychological Science, 22 (5), 602-606
  • Morewedge, C., Huh, Y., Vosgerau, J. (2010). "Thought for Food: Imagined Consumption Reduces Actual Consumption", Science, 330 (6010), 1530-1533
  • Haran, U., Moore, D., Morewedge, C. (2010). "A simple remedy for overprecision in judgment", Judgment and Decision Making, 5 (7), 467-476
  • Morewedge, C., Gilbert, D., Myrseth, K., Kassam, K., Wilson, T. (2010). "Consuming experience: Why affective forecasters overestimate comparative value", Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46 (6), 986-992
  • Morewedge, C., Kahneman, D. (2010). "Associative processes in intuitive judgment", Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 14 (10), 435-440
  • Waytz, A., Morewedge, C., Epley, N., Monteleone, G., Gao, J., Cacioppo, J. (2010). "Making Sense by Making Sentient: Effectance Motivation Increases Anthropomorphism", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99 (3), 410-435
  • Morewedge, C. (2009). "Negativity Bias in Attribution of External Agency", Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 138 (4), 535-545
  • Morewedge, C., Shu, L., Gilbert, D., Wilson, T. (2009). "Bad riddance or good rubbish? Ownership and not loss aversion causes the endowment effect", Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45 (4), 947-951
  • Morewedge, C., Kassam, K., Hsee, C., Caruso, E. (2009). "Duration Sensitivity Depends on Stimulus Familiarity", Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 138 (2), 177-186
  • Morewedge, C., Norton, M. (2009). "When Dreaming Is Believing: The (Motivated) Interpretation of Dreams", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96 (2), 249-264
  • Morewedge, C., Clear, M. (2008). "Anthropomorphic god concepts engender moral judgment", Social Cognition, 26 (2), 182-189
  • Morewedge, C., Holtzman, L., Epley, N. (2007). "Unfixed resources: Perceived costs, consumption, and the accessible account effect", Journal of Consumer Research, 34 (4), 459-467
  • Morewedge, C., Gilbert, D., Keysar, B., Berkovits, M., Wilson, T. (2007). "Mispredicting the hedonic benefits of segregated gains", Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 136 (4), 700-709
  • Morewedge, C., Preston, J., Wegner, D. (2007). "Timescale bias in the attribution of mind", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93 (1), 1-11
  • Morewedge, C., Gilbert, D., Wilson, T. (2005). "The least likely of times - How remembering the past biases forecasts of the future", Psychological Science, 16 (8), 626-630
  • Epley, N., Morewedge, C., Keysar, B. (2004). "Perspective taking in children and adults: Equivalent egocentrism but differential correction", Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40 (6), 760-768
  • Gilbert, D., Morewedge, C., Risen, J., Wilson, T. (2004). "Looking forward to looking backward: The misprediction of regret", Psychological Science, 15 (5), 346-350
  • Gilbert, D., Lieberman, M., Morewedge, C., Wilson, T. (2004). "The peculiar longevity of things not so bad", Psychological Science, 15 (1), 14-19
    Research Presentations
  • Morewedge, C. People see more of their biases in algorithms, Marketing Seminar, Kellogg School of Business, Northwestern University, 2024
  • Morewedge, C. People see more of their biases in algorithms, Behavioral Economics Seminar, Chicago Booth, University of Chicago, 2024
  • Morewedge, C. Evolution of Consumption, Gen AI and Digital Marketing, Boston, MA, 2024
  • Morewedge, C. When and why people distrust AI - algorithm aversion or self-serving bias?, University of Oregon Marketing Seminar, Eugene, Oregon, 2024
  • Morewedge, C. When people distrust algorithms: Algorithm aversion or self-serving bias?, Stanford Marketing Seminar, Stanford Graduate School of Business, 2024
  • MacDonald, T. , Morewedge, C. Access Preferred: Consumption Without Identity Costs, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, San Francisco, 2023
  • Morewedge, C. People better see their biases in algorithms, Psychology of Technology, Los Angeles, CA, 2023
  • Morewedge, C. , Pham, M. , Krishna, A. , Blanchard, S. Figuring out my Researcher Identity, Association for Consumer Research, Doctoral Sympoisum, Seattle, WA, 2023
  • Morewedge, C. Reluctance to use medical AI: Algorithm aversion or self-serving bias?, Marketing, Ivy College of Business, University of Iowa, Ames, Iowa (virutal), 2023
  • Morewedge, C. Rise of AI in Healthcare, Africa Health Research Organization (AHRO), Glasgow, Scotland (virtual), 2023
  • Morewedge, C. When Do People Trust AI? Algorithm Adoption and Human Egotism, 2023 Yale Customer Insights Conference, Yale School of Management, New Haven CT, 2023
  • Morewedge, C. Reluctance to use medical AI: Algorithm adoption and self-enhancement, School of Management & Economics Seminar, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, 2023
  • Morewedge, C. Reluctance to use medical AI: Algorithm adoption or self-enhancement, Marketing Seminar, Carey School of Business, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 2023
  • Morewedge, C. Reluctance to use medical AI: algorithm aversion or human egotism?, Eller Behavioral Decision Making Think Tank, University of Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona, 2023
  • Morewedge, C. Reluctance to use medical AI, AI and Health Working Group, Johns Hopkins Medical Center, Baltimore, MD / Virtual, 2023
  • Morewedge, C. Reluctance to use medical AI: Algorithm aversion or biased self-evaluation, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Department of Management and Marketing, Hong Kong, China, 2023
  • Morewedge, C. Resistance to medical artificial intelligence: Aversion to algorithms or positively biased evaluation of humans?, Department of Marketing, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 2023
  • Morewedge, C. When are people threatened by AI?, Digital Business Institute Data Blitz, Boston, MA, 2022
  • MacDonald, T. , Trudel, R. , Morewedge, C. Ownership aversion: Self-signaling underlies preferences for consuming without owning, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, San Diego, CA, 2022
  • Mishra, N. , Morewedge, C. Disclosing to online relations: An evaluative context model, Association for Consumer Research, Denver, CO, 2022
  • Bhardi, F. , Garcia-Rada, X. , Morewedge, C. , Whitley, S. Designing qualitative interviews for experimental studies, Association for Consumer Research, Denver, CO, 2022
  • MacDonald, T. , Trudel, R. , Morewedge, C. Ownership Unwanted: Identity signals and preferences to consume without owning, Association for Consumer Research, Denver, CO, 2022
  • Morewedge, C. Research Leadership: Developing a Program of Research that Changes the Field, Association for Consumer Research, Denver, Colorado, 2022
  • Morewedge, C. Doing research with impact, Association for Consumer Research, Doctoral Symposium, Denver, CO, 2022
  • Morewedge, C. Resistance to medical artificial intelligence: Aversion to algorithms or positively biased evaluation of humans?, China Marketing International Conference, Wuhan, China, 2022
  • Morewedge, C. User-Generated Content on Social Media: Value from Goals, Department of Marketing, Ivey Business School, London, Ontario, Canada, 2022
  • Morewedge, C. Consumer Utilization of (Medical) Artificial Intelligence, Executive Roundtable, Ivey Business School, London, Ontario, Canada, 2022
  • Morewedge, C. Psychological Ownership, Society for Consumer Psychology, Virtual, 2022
  • Morewedge, C. Training Can Improve Decision Making, Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, 2022
  • Morewedge, C. Reluctance to Utilize Medical Artificial Intelligence, Shorenstein Center, Harvard Kennedy School, 2022
  • Morewedge, C. Reluctance to Utilize Medical Artificial Intelligence, Marketing Department, Sloan School of Business, MIT, 2021
  • Mishra, N. , Morewedge, C. User-Generated Content on Social Media: Values from Goals, Association for Consumer Research, virtual, 2021
  • Lee, C. , Mazar, N. , Morewedge, C. Are preference reversals due to decision context or elicitation procedure? A theoretical reconciliation, Association for Consumer Research, virtual, 2021
  • Morewedge, C. Reluctance to utilize medical artificial intelligence, Marketing Department, Goizueta Business School, Emory University, 2021
  • Lee, C. , Morewedge, C. Noise increases anchoring effects, SCP Boutique Conference Numerical Markers in Judgments, Choices & Consumption Experiments, Tucson, AZ, 2021
  • Morewedge, C. Reluctance to utilize medical artificial intelligence, Marketing Department, George Washington University, 2021
  • Lee, C. , Morewedge, C. Loss booking: Mental budgeting increases consumer spending, Society for Consumer Psychology, 2021
  • Morewedge, C. Evolution of consumption: A psychological ownership framework, Winter Academic American Marketing Association, 2021
  • Morewedge, C. Reluctance to utilize medical artificial intelligence, Marketing Colloquium, Beedie School of Business, Simon Frasier University, 2021
  • Morewedge, C. Reluctance to utilize medical artificial intelligence, Marketing Seminar, UCLA Anderson School of Business, 2021
    Awards and Honors
  • 2022, Best Paper
  • 2022, Broderick Award for Service to the Doctoral Program
  • 2021, Best Paper Award
  • 2019, Favorite Elective Professor
  • 2018, Fellow
  • 2018, Outstanding Reviewer
  • 2018, Fellow
  • 2018, MSI Scholar
  • 2016, Broderick Award for Excellence in Research
  • 2016, AOM Annual Meeting Best Paper Award
  • 2016, 40 Most Outstanding Business School Professors Under 40
  • 2015, Dean's Research Scholar
  • 2015, Member
  • 2014, Best Training Paper
  • 2010, Most Theoretically Innovative Article or Chapter of the Year
  • 2009, Year in Ideas
  • 2007, Dissertation Award Finalist
  • 1999, Phi Beta Kappa