Aneesh Rai

Assistant Prof. @UofMaryland @SmithSchool | PhD @Wharton OID '23 | Previously research coordinator for @BehaviorChange | @Princeton '17

[Erika Kirgios @erika_kirgios]

How do job seekers react when orgs quantify their diversity commitments? In a 🚨new paper🚨 with @IkeMDSilver1 & @edwardhchang, we explore competing predictions about how women and racial minorities react to measurable goals vs. vague, values-focused commitments

[Knowledge at Wharton @whartonknows]

Our Research Doodles series, feat. illustrations by @MarissaShandell, is back for the summer!

First up: To get more done, make your goals smaller.

This can curb procrastination & boost commitment, found @AngelaDuckw, @Katy_Milkman, @Marissa_Sharif, @AneeshRai17 & Edward Chang.

[Aneesh Rai @aneeshrai17]

Incredibly grateful to have worked with @edwardhchang, @erika_kirgios, and @katy_milkman on this. Check out the full paper here: https://t.co/cVB0rhPQ4A

[Aneesh Rai @aneeshrai17]

Does a homogeneous group's size matter for how it’s seen and if it’s diversified? Yes! Our new @OrganizationSci paper suggests decision-makers neglect gender and racial homogeneity in smaller groups while investing extra effort to diversify larger homogeneous groups

[Aneesh Rai @aneeshrai17]

One experiment suggests it could be due to larger homogeneous groups sparking increased concerns about lack of diversity, fairness, and potential social sanctions. Orgs seeking to increase diversity could try to leverage these without waiting on homogeneous groups to grow in size

[Katy Milkman @katy_milkman]

🚨New Paper🚨
Economics says: pay people directly for goal achievement.
A new field experiment led by @BerkeleyHaas Prof. Rachel Gershon shows higher achievement if you pay people only if they and a friend both achieve their goal (here, gym attendance).👉https://t.co/OSY4qe6Jnf

[Angela Duckworth @angeladuckw]

Did you set a big, hairy, audacious goal for 2024?

Our recent field experiment suggests you break that BHAG into flexible, bite-sized chunks @sciam
@aneeshrai17

https://t.co/pQQsFWA8Kr

[Aneesh Rai @aneeshrai17]

Check out our @sciam op-ed highlighting the benefits of breaking big goals into smaller subgoals for increasing productivity over time! Grateful to have worked with a dream team of authors on this paper. 😊 @katy_milkman @angeladuckw @marissa_sharif @edwardhchang

[Katy Milkman @katy_milkman]

What happens if you break a 200 hr yearly commitment down for people, reminding them it's just 4 hours of effort per week? Our new field experiment shows people make 8% more progress. Breaking big goals down can help you achieve more. @sciam @aneeshrai17 https://t.co/jdz5lrOjfe

[Katy Milkman @katy_milkman]

Attending #AOM2023? Don't miss my students' terrific symposium on boosting DEI in orgs. It's a finalist for the best symposium award in 2 different divisions of AOM. The superb co-organizer @iamlindachang (https://t.co/iEKS6KKhMi) is on the job market & will preview her fab JMP👇

[Aneesh Rai @aneeshrai17]

@durvatrivedi Thanks for being the best partner through it all 🥰

[Aneesh Rai @aneeshrai17]

@erika_kirgios Aw thanks Erika!! Couldn't have asked for a better collaborator and friend 😊

[Aneesh Rai @aneeshrai17]

@katy_milkman @Wharton @SmithSchool @ME_Schweitzer Thank you Katy! I'm so grateful to you and to my committee for your incredible guidance and mentorship throughout the PhD 😊

[Erika Kirgios @erika_kirgios]

To improve equity at work, make sure you’re accurately evaluating what works.

In a new https://t.co/VIvZXt1Riw article, @edwardhchang, @JamesElfer, Katryn Wright, Guusje Lindemann and I discuss the importance of an evidence-based approach to DEI. https://t.co/DI8xU9ADKu

[Preeti Vani Srinivasan @preetiinpink]

🚨 New publication in Current Opinion in Psychology! 🚨

When faced with situations where we could help others, people often shy away from providing "prosocial input" (like giving compliments, or delivering helpful feedback). Why do we do this?

https://t.co/rJnkgodjrH

[Aneesh Rai @aneeshrai17]

@CameronBrick @katy_milkman @marissa_sharif @edwardhchang @angeladuckw @APA_Journals Thanks for the interest! Here's a link to an ungated version: https://t.co/4MocIHxFop

[Aneesh Rai @aneeshrai17]

We just published a >9,000-person, pre-registered field experiment with an important lesson about goal setting. We partnered with a big non-profit (@CrisisTextLine) to test messages encouraging people to meet their commitment to 200 hours of yearly volunteering.

[Beidi Hu @beidiwho]

🚨My first paper (w/ @jpsimmon) is out in JEP:General!
People are overconfident. Can constructing a belief distribution – that is, indicating how likely all possible outcomes are – reduce this tendency?
Past work: Yes!
Our paper: No, it’s the opposite…
https://t.co/5Yf2Q9o6Qx

[Sam Skowronek @SkowronekSam]

Q: How can we better nudge people towards honesty?

I wrote an article with a possible solution: focus interventions on the core justifications people use to justify dishonesty.

[Aneesh Rai @aneeshrai17]

This was the very first project I started in grad school! Grateful for my fantastic co-authors @marissa_sharif @edwardhchang @katy_milkman @angeladuckw. Check out the full paper in the Journal of Applied Psychology @APA_Journals: https://t.co/AG6k4qkPAF

[Aneesh Rai @aneeshrai17]

We also find that increasing subgoal flexibility (by breaking the 200-hr volunteering goal into a subgoal of volunteering 8 hrs every 2 weeks, rather than 4 hrs every week) led to longer-lasting benefits from creating subgoals.