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Leonard N. Stern School of Business New York University 40 West Fourth Street Tisch Hall 825 New York, NY 10012-1126 |
Mobile: (646) 244-4892 |
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| EDUCATION |
Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University
Dissertation: Reconstructing the Past and Constructing the Future: Time Perception and Consumer Judgments
B.A., Cum Laude, Economics, International Studies, 1998
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| PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE | Monitor Group, New York, NY (1997-2005)
Co-Director of Applied Interface Research Lab, Marketspace (2002-2005)
Federal Trade Commission, Atlanta, GA (Summer 1996, Intern)
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| RESEARCH INTERESTS |
Role of Time Perception in Consumer Judgments
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| JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS |
Kyung, Ellie J., Geeta Menon, and Yaacov Trope (Forthcoming), "Reconstruction of Things Past: Why Do Some Memories Feel So Close And Others So Far Away?"Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. (Dissertation paper 2)
The vast majority of work in construal level theory focuses prospectively on the future. Through a series of studies controlling for knowledge about an event, we look retrospectively at the past and demonstrate that construal mindsets can materially influence how a past event is reconstructed in memory. Specifically, an event recalled in a more concrete mindset feels subjectively closer than when recalled in an abstract mindset (Studies 1-3). We present evidence suggesting this is because a concrete mindset actually makes people feel as though they know more, even if they were initially exposed to the same set of information—perceived information accessibility mediates the effect of construal level on temporal distance (Study 2). The effect of construal level on memory reconstruction extends to judgments of blame, where judgments of greater temporal distance drive a greater propensity to blame parties for negative events and temporal distance mediates these judgments (Study 3). Together, these studies are the first to demonstrate that the mindset employed when recalling an event shapes its remembrance.
Menon, Geeta, Ellie J. Kyung, and Nidhi Agrawal (2009), "Biases in Social Comparison: Optimism or Pessimism?" Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 108 (1), 39-52. [PDF] 
Social comparisons typically lead to two kinds of biases: A comparative optimism bias (i.e., a tendency for people to view themselves as more likely than others to be the beneficiaries of positive outcomes) or a comparative pessimism bias (i.e., a tendency for people to view themselves as less likely than others to be such beneficiaries); rarely are people fully calibrated in terms of how they compare to others. However, there is little systematic research on the factors that determine when a comparative optimism versus pessimism bias will occur, how they can be attenuated and whether such attenuation is always desirable. In this paper, we report four studies which demonstrate the following key results: First, we show that perceived level of control over the outcome drives whether a comparative optimism or pessimism bias will occur (Study 1). Second, an increase in perceived similarity between self and a comparison target person attenuates the comparative optimism bias in domains that people view as highly controllable (Study 2a) and attenuates the comparative pessimism bias in domains that people view as less controllable (Study 2b). Finally, we show that people are willing to work harder when they experience more comparative optimism in higher control scenarios and when they experience less comparative pessimism in lower control scenarios, illustrating that motivating people to strive harder for positive outcomes can result from exacerbated or attenuated bias, depending on the context (Study 3).
Rayport, Jeffrey F., Bernard J. Jaworski, and Ellie J. Kyung (2005), "Best Face Forward: Improving Companies’ Service Interfaces with Customers," Journal of Interactive Marketing, 19 (4), 67-80. [PDF]
In the face of increasingly demanding customers and a shortage of skilled workers to serve them, companies are facing a crisis in customer interaction and relationship management. At the same time, networked technologies - from Web sites to kiosks to interactive voice response units - are enabling managers to recruit machines into front-office roles that drive down the costs of consumer interactions and deliver satisfying customer experiences. Successfully integrating technology into the work force requires a wholesale reengineering of the front-office to determine the appropriate division of labor between humans and machines. Here we examine the origins of what we call the front-office revolution and the need for businesses to manage coordinated interface systems. We suggest that companies do an audit of their interfaces and optimize them over three phases, which we call separate, relate, and integrate phases. We argue that these interface systems, and the more efficient and effective customer relationship management they enable, represent the next frontier of competitive advantage for many businesses.
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PAPERS UNDER REVIEW |
Kyung, Ellie J., Geeta Menon, and Yaacov Trope, "Malleable Memories: The Role of Mindsets in Reconstructing History," Being revised for second review at Journal of Marketing Research. (Dissertation paper 1) [PDF]
Companies are frequently perceived as culpable for negative events, especially when also perceived as recent, with far-reaching implications. We develop a model for reconstruction of such past events in memory, wherein which such perceptions of temporal distance and culpability are affected by construal mindsets (i.e., thinking abstractly vs. concretely) influencing the reconstruction of past events in memory. Prior knowledge is a critical moderator of these relationships. Through four studies involving real events, we show that while consumers with less prior knowledge about a negative event feel greater temporal distance from it and find parties more culpable when recalling it in an abstract (vs. concrete) mindset, those with greater prior knowledge feel greater temporal distance and find parties more culpable when recalling it in a concrete (vs. abstract) mindset. We demonstrate that this reversal of the traditional relationship between construal level and distance is due to the underlying structure of information in memory, partially mediated by retrieval effort. Our research has implications for the literature on memory and, temporal judgments, as well as for managing public relations for companies that suffer from negative publicity.
Yang, Sha, Ellie J. Kyung and Geeta Menon, "Excessive Alcohol Consumption on College Campuses: Influences, Consequences, and Policy Implications," Being revised for re-submission to Journal of Marketing.
Companies are frequently perceived as culpable for negative events, especially when also perceived as recent, with far-reaching implications. We develop a model for reconstruction of such past events in memory, wherein which such perceptions of temporal distance and culpability are affected by construal mindsets (i.e., thinking abstractly vs. concretely) influencing the reconstruction of past events in memory. Prior knowledge is a critical moderator of these relationships. Through four studies involving real events, we show that while consumers with less prior knowledge about a negative event feel greater temporal distance from it and find parties more culpable when recalling it in an abstract (vs. concrete) mindset, those with greater prior knowledge feel greater temporal distance and find parties more culpable when recalling it in a concrete (vs. abstract) mindset. We demonstrate that this reversal of the traditional relationship between construal level and distance is due to the underlying structure of information in memory, partially mediated by retrieval effort. Our research has implications for the literature on memory and, temporal judgments, as well as for managing public relations for companies that suffer from negative publicity.
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SELECTED RESEARCH IN PROGRESS |
Kyung, Ellie J., "Constructing Future Plans: Mental Accounting and the Opportunity Cost of Time"
Gollwitzer, Peter, Gabriele Oettingen, and Ellie J. Kyung, "Reconciling Horizontal and Vertical Models of Action"
Kyung, Ellie J., "Revising the Impact Bias: Implicit Anchoring and Adjustment in Affective Forecasts"
Kyung, Ellie J., "Misforecasting and Misremembering Regret"
Sellier, Anne-Laure, Amitava Chattopadhyay, and Ellie J. Kyung, "Regulatory Focus and the Effect of Inserting Ads during Download Waits Online"
Kyung, Ellie J., Patti Williams, Eric Bradlow, and Geeta Menon, "Unconscious Conjoint: Does Unconscious Thought Improve Accuracy of Attribute Weights?"
Kyung, Ellie J., "You Don’t Know What You’re Missing: Implied Categories, Choice, and Satisfaction"
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| TEACHING INTERESTS | Marketing Core Marketing Strategy Consumer Behavior Marketing Research
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| TEACHING EXPERIENCE |
Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University (Summer 2008)
Instructor Evaluation: 6.6 / 7.0 Course Evaluation: 6.3 / 7.0
Letter of Commendation for PhD Teaching Excellence, 2008 (Awarded based on outstanding teaching ratings)
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Geeta Menon
The Wharton School |
Associate Professor of Marketing
Leonard N. Stern School of Business
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Tom Meyvis
Leonard N. Stern School of Business
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Vicki Morwitz
Leonard N. Stern School of Business |
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Yaacov Trope
Department of Psychology
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Russ Winer
Leonard N. Stern School of Business |
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