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I am an Associate Professor of Management and Organizations and of Behavioral Decision Making at Anderson School of Management, and the co-director of the UCLA Health Nudge Unit. 

I primarily use field experiments and observational data to study self-control and motivation. 

From an intrapersonal perspective, I seek to understand how individuals make decisions when choosing between options that will yield long-term benefits and those that will produce short-term gratification. In particular, I have focused on how fresh starts—moments that actually or psychologically separate people from the past—affect self-control and goal motivation. 

From an interpersonal perspective, I examine how others’ behaviors and judgments shape people’s motivation. From a policy perspective, I devise interventions based on behavioral science theories and test their efficacy in the field. I also seek to more comprehensively understand the effects of managerial interventions beyond their immediate impact by uncovering unintended negative consequences they may have as well as how they shape behavior in the long term.

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