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Biography
Jackie Silverman joined the University of Delaware in 2019 after earning her doctorate in marketing from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She currently teaches Introduction to Marketing (BUAD 301).
Her research examines several facets of judgment and decision making and consumer psychology. In particular, she studies the judgments and consequences of repeated behaviors, prosocial actions, memory and experiential choices.
Dr. Silverman received her bachelor of science in economics and environmental science from the University of Michigan in 2011. She previously taught high school science for two years on the west side of Chicago, Illinois.
Industry Expertise (2)
Research
Education/Learning
Areas of Expertise (5)
Prosocial Actions
Consumer Psychology
Marketing
Decision Making
Judgement
Media Appearances (5)
Broken Records: When Streaks End, Consumer Behavior Gets ‘A Little Crazy’
Leeds School of Business online
2023-04-20
What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done to keep a streak alive—like language lessons on Duolingo, steps on a Fitbit or correct guesses on Wordle? How about the guy in a bar whose daily workout streak was in danger of breaking, so he retired to a back room and did pushups for seven minutes before ordering another round?
Black Friday 2022 outlook: Cloudy with a chance of solid sales
Newswise online
2022-11-24
Analysts are split on projections for this year's Black Friday. Markdowns could bring a solid haul for consumers and a stronger-than-expected economy may lead to a successful day for retailers. But the consensus seems to be that the biggest shopping day of the season could go either way. For example, there are concerns that price slashes will be on the stockpile of leftovers that didn't sell earlier this year. And what about that whole supply chain bottleneck thing?
Why setting time limits for TikTok or YouTube may backfire
The Washington Post online
2023-03-10
If you want to cut back on how much time you watch YouTube or scroll Instagram, you might use those apps’ features to nudge you to stop after more than, say, an hour a day. It seems like common sense. But new research found that app time limits such as these can backfire.
Logging food intake manually is more effective for weight loss than shooting a photo of your plate
Medical Xpress online
2022-09-16
Nutritionists tell us that tracking our caloric input can help us lose weight, and a new generation of smartphone apps offers a simple way to do it: take a photo of your food, which is automatically identified and logged using machine learning. But a new study co-authored by Yale SOM's Gal Zauberman finds that while these apps are appealing, manually logging your meals is actually more effective. The results offer a cautionary tale about giving consumers what they think they want, he says.
Consumer Streaks Are Motivating – The Key Is Keeping Them Alive
INSEAD Knowledge online
2022-06-22
People often go out of their way to repeat a behaviour if it is logged and highlighted to them. If you’ve ever played Wordle, learned a new language on Duolingo, or worked out with Peloton, you may be familiar with daily app notifications that nudge you to keep at it – or risk breaking a streak of consecutive efforts. Do you or do you not heed the clarion call?
Articles (5)
On or Off Track: How (Broken) Streaks Affect Consumer Decisions
Journal of Consumer Research2023 New technologies increasingly enable consumers to track their behaviors over time, making them more aware of their “streaks”—behaviors performed consecutively three or more times—than ever before. Our research explores how these logged streaks affect consumers’ decisions to engage in the same behavior subsequently. In seven studies, we find that intact streaks highlighted via behavioral logs increase consumers’ subsequent engagement in that behavior, relative to when broken streaks are highlighted.
Not Starting From the Bottom: Consumers Emphasize Rank Position and Neglect List Length When Evaluating Ranked Products
SSRN2023 How do people use ranking information when evaluating products? In eight pre-registered experiments, we find a persistent preference for products ranked within shorter (vs. longer) lists. For instance, participants rated a product ranked 2nd on a list of 8 products more positively and chose it more often compared to a product ranked 4th on a list of 16 products, despite the products having the same relative position within their respective lists (25th percentile).
Does Setting a Time Limit Affect Time Spent?
SSRN2023 New technologies have made it easier than ever before to consume content online. Consumers spend hours browsing social media, playing games, and watching videos. To aid in consumers’ time management, many companies (e.g., TikTok, Instagram, YouTube) have recently introduced the option to set a “time limit” on their platforms. These features ask consumers to select an amount of time after which they would like to receive an alert. But while giving consumers this option may be well intended, how does it actually impact time spent?
Harder Than You Think: Misconceptions about Logging Food with Photos versus Text
Journal of the Association for Consumer Research2022 Consumers lose more weight when they log their food consumption more consistently, yet they face challenges in doing so. We investigate how the modality of food logging—whether people record what they eat by taking photos versus writing text—affects their anticipated and actual logging experience and behavior. We find that consumers are more likely to adopt and anticipate better experiences with photo-based food logging tools over text-based tools.
The Prediction Order Effect: People Are More Likely to Choose Improbable Outcomes in Later Predictions
SSRN2022 People often need to predict the outcomes of future events. We investigate the influence of order on such forecasts. Seven preregistered studies (N = 6,019) show that people are more likely to forecast improbable outcomes (e.g., that an “underdog” will win a game) for predictions they make later, versus earlier, within a sequence of multiple predictions.
Accomplishments (3)
AMA-Sheth Foundation Doctoral Consortium Fellow (professional)
2018
Ph.D. Research Fellowship (professional)
2016 and 2017 Jay Baker Retailing Center, The Wharton School
Mack Institute Research Fellowship (professional)
2018 The Wharton School
Education (3)
University of Michigan: BS, Economics and Environmental Science 2011
The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania: PhD, Marketing 2019
Northwestern University: Certification for Secondary Science Education 2012
Links (3)
Event Appearances (3)
Not Starting from the Bottom: Consumers Emphasize Rank Position and Neglect List Length when Evaluating Ranked Products
Association for Consumer Research Denver, CO
Harder Than You Think: Misconceptions about Logging Food with Photos versus Text
Journal of the Association of Consumer Research Webinar Virtual
The Prediction Order Effect: People Are More Likely to Choose Improbable Outcomes in Later Predictions
Society for Judgment and Decision Making Virtual
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