Hal Hershfield: People Treat Their Future Self as if It’s Another Person

<p>Our guest on the podcast today is Professor Hal Hershfield. Dr. Hershfield is Professor of Marketing, Behavioral Decision Making, and Psychology at UCLA's Anderson School of Management. His research concentrates on the psychology of long-term decision-making and how people's perceptions of the passage of time affect the decisions that they make. He has consulted with numerous organizations including Prudential, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Merrill Lynch, and the Principal Financial Group. He received his B.A. at Tufts University and his Ph.D. at Stanford.</p><p><strong>Background</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.halhershfield.com/about" target="_blank">Bio</a></p><p><strong>The Pandemic</strong></p><p>“<a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-elvis-got-americans-to-accept-the-polio-vaccine/" target="_blank">How Elvis Got Americans to Accept the Polio Vaccine</a>,” by Hal Hershfield and Ilana Brody, scientificamerican.com, Jan. 18, 2021.</p><p>“<a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/should-you-immerse-yourself-in-bad-news-these-days-or-ignore-it-completely/" target="_blank">Should You Immerse Yourself in Bad News These Days or Ignore It Completely?</a>” by Hal Hershfield, scientificamerican.com, May 5, 2020.</p><p>“<a href="https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/how-to-craft-the-vaccine-message-for-the-undecided" target="_blank">How to Craft the Vaccine Message for the Undecided</a>,” by Bill Kisliuk, ucla.edu, May 4, 2021.</p><p>“<a href="https://hbr.org/2021/07/your-messaging-to-older-audiences-is-outdated" target="_blank">Your Messaging to Older Audiences Is Outdated</a>,” by Hal Hershfield and Laura Carstensen, harvardbusinessreview.org, July 2, 2021.</p><p>“<a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7qyev/time-is-meaningless-now" target="_blank">Time Is Meaningless Now</a>,” by Shayla Love, vice.com, April 10, 2020.</p><p><strong>Saving for the Future</strong></p><p><a href="https://scholar.princeton.edu/kahneman/bio" target="_blank">Daniel Kahneman</a></p><p>“<