Social Psychology Faculty

Accuracy and error in self judgments, perceptions of bias in the self and others, the influence of self-perceptions on choice, motivated cognition and motivated allocation of attention, predictions of future consequences, social cognition, judgment and decision making.

My research explores the processes that underlie judgments about the self and one's environment. I am particularly fascinated by self-perception and, as such, most of my work is aimed at understanding the sources of accuracy and error in self-judgments. Through my primary line of research, I have systematically explored why individuals often have little insight into how well they have performed on tasks. My interest in self-insight extends to understanding how individuals come to believe that their own judgments are objective but the judgments of others are clouded by their goals and motives.

Beyond self-judgments, I am also fascinated by judgments of one's environment and, in particular, predictions about future consequences. Thus, my secondary line of research explores how a single-minded focus on the consequences one intends can blind individuals to alternative consequences. Many well-meaning acts have backfired, sparking strings of unintended and unwanted consequences. My work reveals a psychological contributor to the failure to foresee unintended consequences and identifies means of guarding against this single-minded focus to bring about better judgment.

Ross, L., Ehrlinger, J., & Gilovich, T.D., (In Press). The Bias Blind Spot and its Implications.In Contemporary Organizational Behavior in Action. K.D. Elsbach, A.B. Kayes, & D.C. (Eds.), Pearson Prentice Hall:

Crescioni, A.W., Ehrlinger, J., Alquist, J.L., Conlon, K.E., Baumeister, R.F., & Dutton, G.R. (In Press). High Trait Self-Control Predicts Positive Health Behaviors and Success in Weight Loss. Journal of Health Psychology. [pdf]

Conlon, K.E., Ehrlinger, J., Crescioni, A.W., Alquist, J.L., Gerend, M.A., & Dutton, G.R. (2011). Keeping one’s eyes on the prize: The longitudinal benefits of accomplishment focus on progress toward a weight loss goal. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 47, 853-855. [pdf]

Eccles, D.W., Ward, P., Woodman, T., Janelle, C.M., Le Scanff, C., Ehrlinger, J., Castanier, C., Coombes, S. A. (2011). Where's the emotion? How sport psychology can inform research on emotion in human factors. Human Factors 53, 180-202. [pdf]

Ehrlinger, J. & Eibach, R.P (2011) How focalism contributes to the failure to anticipate unintended consequences. Basic and Applied Social Psychology 33, 59-68. [pdf]

Ehrlinger, J., Plant, E. A., Eibach, R. P., Goplen, J., Columb, C., Kunstman, J., & Butz, D.A. (2011) How exposure to the Confederate flag affects willingness to vote for Barack Obama. Political Psychology, 32(1), 131-146 [pdf]

Eibach, R. P, & Ehrlinger, J. (2010). How Far We’ve Come versus How Far We Have Left to Go: Reference Points in Men’s and Women’s Judgments of Progress towards Gender Equality. Sex Roles, 63 (11), 882-893.

Ehrlinger, J. & Mitchum, A. (2010) How beliefs in the ability to improve influence accuracy in and use of metacognitive judgments. Advances in Psychology Research, 69, 229-238. [pdf]

Eibach, R. P., Libby, L. K., & Ehrlinger, J. (2009). Priming Family Values: How Being a Parent Affects Moral Evaluations of Harmless but Offensive Acts. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45(5), 1160-1163.

Ehrlinger, J. (2008). Self-views and self theories as sources of error in self-assessment. Compass: Social and Personality Psychology, 2, 382-398 [pdf]

Ehrlinger, J., Johnson, K., Banner, M., Dunning, D., & Kruger, J. (2008). Why the unskilled are unaware: Further explorations of (absent) self-insight among the incompetent. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 105, 98-121.[pdf]

Eibach, R. P. & Ehrlinger, J. (2006). “Keep your eyes on the prize”: Reference points and group differences in assessing progress towards equality. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.[pdf]

Dweck, C.S. & Ehrlinger, J. (2006). Implicit theories and conflict resolution. In The Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice. M. Deutsch & P.T. Coleman (Eds.), San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.[pdf]

Ehrlinger J., Gilovich, T., & Ross, L. (2005). Peering into the bias blind spot: People’s assessments of bias in themselves and others. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.[pdf]

Strasser, R., Ehrlinger, J., Bingman, V.P.. (2004) Transitive behavior in hippocampal-lesioned pigeons. Brain, Behavior and Evolution, 63, 181-188.

Ehrlinger J. & Dunning, D. (2003). How chronic self-views influence (and mislead) estimates of performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 5-17. [pdf]

Dunning, D., Johnson, K. L., Ehrlinger, J., & Kruger, J. (2003) Why people fail to recognize their own incompetence. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12, 83-87. [pdf]