Ryan Hamilton

Critical Business Skills for Success was just released by The Great Courses, a company that claims to sell the “best of the best” in college-level lectures given by professors selected “exclusively for their ability to teach.” If you’ve never heard of them, The Great Courses was featured prominently in a New York Times article on the growth of “edutainment.”

I did the lecture series on Marketing. It was a lot of fun to do–the people at The Great Courses were phenomenal to work with and really helped me to craft something I am very proud of. To be fair, they did most of the crafting. I mostly just stood there and told stories. Either way, I feel lucky to have had the opportunity.

I spent two great weeks at the ad agency Energy BBDO in Chicago a couple of years ago. They let me wander around their offices, interview them, sit in on meetings, and generally learn more about the advertising biz. They were an amazing, talented, smart group–I had a great time. At the end of the two weeks, I explained to them a little about what academics do when not teaching and presented some of my research.

Video: Competing for a Consumer’s Identity

The visit was arranged by the Advertising Education Foundation.

Recent research in psychology has determined that the ability to exercise self-control depends, in part, on the availability of a certain type of cognitive resource. Unfortunately for those trying to resist that tempting Hershey bar or to stop from snapping at a co-worker, there are lots of things that can bleed off these self-regulatory resources, leaving us with impaired self-control, at least in the short run. Kathleen Vohs, Anne-Laure Sellier, Tom Meyvis and I found that switching mindsets (or multi-tasking or wearing multiple hats throughout the day…) consumes this self-regulatory resource, impairing subsequent attempts at self-regulation.

Hamilton, Ryan, Kathleen Vohs, Anne-Laure Sellier & Tom Meyvis, (2011) “Being of Two Minds: Switching Mindsets Exhausts Self-Regulatory Resources,” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 115 (May)

Press coverage:
Psychology Today
USA Today
CBS Radio News
Men’s Health

Budgeting is generally a good way to save money. But Jeff Larson and I identified one way in which budgets can backfire and cause people to spend more. It turns out that when people set a price restraint on themselves before they see the options available, they subsequently focus on non-price, quality attributes. This focus on quality often leads these consumers to choose a more expensive option than they would have if they hadn’t set a budget.

Larson, Jeffrey & Ryan Hamilton, (2012) “When Budgeting Backfires: How Self-imposed Price Restraints Can Increase Spending,” Journal of Marketing Research, 49 (April)

Press coverage:
The New York Times
Wall Street Journal
Time
Fox 5 Atlanta