Publications
In Press:
46. O'Brien, E. (in press). A Flexible Threshold Theory of Change Perception in Self, Others, and The World. Psychological Review. [pdf]
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45. Winet, Y. K., & O'Brien, E. (in press). Familiarity Seeking: Learning and Growing From Repeat Experiences. In Vail, K. E., Van Tongeren, D., Schlegel, R. J., Greenberg, J., King, L. A., & Ryan, R. M. (Eds.), Handbook of the Science of Existential Psychology. New York: Guilford Press. [pdf]
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44. O'Brien, E. (in press). Things Change—But When? A Top-Down Approach to Understanding How People Judge Change Thresholds. In Taku, K., & Shackelford, T. K. (Eds.), The Routledge International Handbook of Changes in Human Perceptions and Behaviors. London: Taylor & Francis. [pdf]
2023:
43. O'Brien, E. (2023). Judging Change: A Flexible Threshold Theory. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 68, 223-290. [pdf]
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42. Klein, N., & O'Brien, E. (2023). Threshold Violations in Social Judgment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 125, 284-315. [pdf]
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41. 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. [pdf]
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40. Winet, Y. K., & O'Brien, E. (2023). Ending on a Familiar Note: Perceived Endings Motivate Repeat Consumption. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 124, 707-734. [pdf]
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39. Weingarten, E., Duke, K. E., 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. [pdf]
2022:
38. 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. [pdf]
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37. O'Brien, E. (2022). Look Back, Not Ahead? Time Use and the Value of Revisiting Past Experiences. In Hoerl, C., McCormack, T., & Fernandes, A. (Eds.), Temporal Asymmetries in Philosophy and Psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [pdf]
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36. Wald, K. A., & O'Brien, E. (2022). Repeated Exposure to Success Harshens Reactions to Failure. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 103, 1-18. [pdf]
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35. 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. [pdf]
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34. O'Brien, E. (2022). The "Next" Effect: When a Better Future Worsens the Present. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 13, 456-465. [pdf]
2021:
33. O'Brien, E. (2021). A Mind Stretched: The Psychology of Repeat Consumption. Consumer Psychology Review, 4, 42-58. [pdf]
*ISSEP Best Paper Award 2023
2020:
32. O'Brien, E. (2020). When Small Signs of Change Add Up: The Psychology of Tipping Points. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 29, 55-62. [pdf]
2019:
31. 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. [pdf]
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30. O'Brien, E. (2019). Enjoy It Again: Repeat Experiences are Less Repetitive Than People Think. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 116, 519-540. [pdf]
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29. O'Brien, E., & Kassirer, S. (2019). People are Slow to Adapt to the Warm Glow of Giving. Psychological Science, 30, 193-204. [pdf]
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28. Roberts, A. R., & O'Brien, E. (2019). Work Well-Being. In Dunn, D. S. (Ed.), Oxford Bibliographies in Psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [pdf]
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27. 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. [pdf]
2018:
26. 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. [pdf]
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25. 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. [pdf]
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24. 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. [pdf]
2017:
23. O'Brien, E., & Roney, E. (2017). Worth the Wait? Leisure Can Be Just as Enjoyable with Work Left Undone. Psychological Science, 28, 1000-1015. [pdf]
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22. 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. [pdf]
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21. 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. [pdf]
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20. Chopik, W. J., O'Brien, E., & Konrath, S. H. (2017). Differences in Empathic Concern and Perspective Taking Across 63 Countries. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 48, 23-38. [pdf]
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19. Chopik, W. J., & O'Brien, E. (2017). Happy You, Healthy Me? Having a Happy Partner is Independently Associated with Better Health in Oneself. Health Psychology, 36, 21-30. [pdf]
2016:
18. O'Brien, E., & Kardas, M. (2016). The Implicit Meaning of (My) Change. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 111, 882-894. [pdf]
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17. 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. [pdf]
2015:
16. 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, 624-638. [pdf]
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15. O'Brien, E. (2015). Feeling Connected to Younger Versus Older Selves: The Asymmetric Impact of Life Stage Orientation. Cognition and Emotion, 29, 678-686. [pdf]
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14. Chopik, W. J., O'Brien, E., Konrath, S. H., & Schwarz, N. (2015). MLK Day and Attitude Change: Liking the Group More But Its Members Less. Political Psychology, 36, 559-567. [pdf]
2014:
13. Konrath, S. H., 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. [pdf]
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12. Campbell, T., O'Brien, E., Van Boven, L., Schwarz, N., & Ubel, P. A. (2014). Too Much Exprience: A Desensitization Bias in Emotional Perspective Taking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106, 272-285. [pdf]
2013:
11. O'Brien, E., & Hagen, L. (2013). The Thrill of (Absolute) Victory: Success Among Many Enhances Emotional Payoffs. Emotion, 13, 366-374. [pdf]
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10. O'Brien, E. (2013). Easy to Retrieve but Hard to Believe: Metacognitive Discounting of the Unpleasantly Possible. Psychological Science, 24, 844-851. [pdf]
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9. O'Brien, E., Konrath, S. H., Grühn, D., & Hagen, L. (2015). Empathic Concern and Perspective Taking: Linear and Quadratic Effects of Age Across the Adult Lifespan. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 68, 168-175. [pdf]
2012:
8. 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 Well-Being. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 968-72. [pdf]
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7. O'Brien, E., & Ellsworth, P. C. (2012). Polar Opposites: Empathy Does Not Extend Across the Political Aisle. The Jury Expert, 24, 25-39. [pdf]
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6. O'Brien, E., & Ellsworth, P. C. (2012). More Than Skin Deep: Visceral States Are Not Projected Onto Dissimilar Others. Psychological Science, 23, 391-396. [pdf]
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5. O'Brien, E., & Ellsworth, P. C. (2012). Saving the Last for Best: A Positivity Bias for End Experiences. Psychological Science, 23, 163-165. [pdf]
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4. Bushman, B. J., & O'Brien, E. (2012). Aggression. In Ramachandran, V. S. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Human Behavior. New York: Academic Press. [pdf]
2011 and earlier:
3. 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. [pdf]
2. Konrath, S. H., 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. [pdf]
1. Anderson, M. A., Williams, S. A., & O'Brien, E. (2009). Individual Differences in Preferred Neck-Resting Position of Caribbean Flamingos (Phoenicopterus Ruber). Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition, 14, 66-78. [pdf]
SELECTED RESEARCH IN PROGRESS:
Hong, S., & O'Brien, E. (R&R). Repeatedly Soliciting Hedonic Reactions Can Exacerbate Hedonic Adaptation. Journal of Consumer Research. [email for copy]
Hagen, L., & O'Brien, E. (R&R). Lost Time Undermines Return Behavior. PNAS Nexus. [email for copy]​​
Zaw, S., & O'Brien, E. (under review). Repeated Failures to Change Reveal a Hidden Harshness to Growth Mindset. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. [email for copy]
O'Brien, E. (under review). One's Actions "Aging Poorly": An Integrative Review and Egocentric Framework for Understanding Impression Management Errors and the Challenge of Temporal Impression Management. Psychological Bulletin. [email for copy]​
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Wang, J., & O'Brien, E. (collecting data). How Will Today Look Tomorrow? (Mis)Perceiving How Things "Age" Over Time.
Klein, N., & O'Brien, E. (collecting data). Threshold Violations in Social Judgment: Interventions for Conflict Resolution.
Su, T., & O'Brien, E. (collecting data). Change Perception Beyond Change Detection.
Zaw, S., & O'Brien, E. (collecting data). Incentives and Change Perception.​