Erica Boothby

Erica Boothby
  • Lecturer

Contact Information

  • office Address:

    3730 Walnut Street
    551 Jon M. Huntsman Hall
    Philadelphia, PA 19104

Research Interests: social influence, interpersonal interaction, conversation, metaperception, judgment and decision making, shared experience

Links: Personal Website, CV, Google Scholar

Overview

Erica Boothby is a Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where she teaches a course on Negotiations. Her research examines decision-making and social influence. She explores the psychological processes underlying people’s (often misguided) beliefs about the impact they have on others in the course of everyday social interactions, including conversations, shared experiences, and acts of kindness. Erica’s work has been published in top-tier academic journals, such as Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and Psychological Science, and covered by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and Scientific American.

Prior to arriving at The Wharton School, Erica completed her PhD in Social Psychology at Yale University and was a Fellow at Cornell University’s Behavioral Economics and Decision Research Center. She has a degree in Philosophy and Italian from Boston University.

 

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Research

  • Erica Boothby (2018), The liking gap in conversations: do people like us more than we think?, Psychological Science.

    Abstract: Having conversations with new people is an important and rewarding part of social life. Yet conversations can also be intimidating and anxiety provoking, and this makes people wonder and worry about what their conversation partners really think of them. Are people accurate in their estimates? We found that following interactions, people systematically underestimated how much their conversation partners liked them and enjoyed their company, an illusion we call the liking gap. We observed the liking gap as strangers got acquainted in the laboratory, as first-year college students got to know their dorm mates, and as formerly unacquainted members of the general public got to know each other during a personal development workshop. The liking gap persisted in conversations of varying lengths and even lasted for several months, as college dorm mates developed new relationships. Our studies suggest that after people have conversations, they are liked more than they know.

Teaching

All Courses

  • LGST2910 - Negotiations

    This course examines the art and science of negotiation, with additional emphasis on conflict resolution. Students will engage in a number of simulated negotiations ranging from simple one-issue transactions to multi-party joint ventures. Through these exercises and associated readings, students explore the basic theoretical models of bargaining and have an opportunity to test and improve their negotiation skills.

  • MGMT2910 - Negotiations

    This course examines the art and science of negotiation, with additional emphasis on conflict resolution. Students will engage in a number of simulated negotiations ranging from simple one-issue transactions to multi-party joint ventures. Through these exercises and associated readings, students explore the basic theoretical models of bargaining and have an opportunity to test and improve their negotiation skills.

  • OIDD2910 - Negotiations

    This course examines the art and science of negotiation, with additional emphasis on conflict resolution. Students will engage in a number of simulated negotiations ranging from simple one-issue transactions to multi-party joint ventures. Through these exercises and associated readings, students explore the basic theoretical models of bargaining and have an opportunity to test and improve their negotiation skills.

Awards and Honors

  • , 1970

In the News

Activity

Latest Research

Erica Boothby (2018), The liking gap in conversations: do people like us more than we think?, Psychological Science.
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In the News

Want to Seem More Likable? Try This
New York Times - 09/23/2018
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