Well-Being Research Lab (WiRL)

We are a group of passionate interdisciplinary researchers who use behavioral science to promote positive change. We help solve consequential real-world problems by designing and testing novel interventions that improve personal, societal, and environmental well-being.

Research

Drawing from her training in social psychology and her current role in a business school, Dr. Nicole Mead leads an interdisciplinary research team that is united around the goal of using social science research to improve social equity, particularly among vulnerable populations. The lab's research uncovers new insights about why people engage in behaviors that are detrimental to themselves, others, and the environment, such as a lack of saving, unsustainable consumption, and unhealthy eating. With those insights in hand, they seek to devise simple, effective, and scalable interventions that can improve those behaviors.

The research group uses laboratory, online, experience sampling, and field studies to test their theories and interventions. These studies take them across Australia, North America, Europe, India, Uganda, and beyond.

When Cash Costs You: The Pain of Holding Coins Over Banknotes

*Zenkić, J., Nicole L. Mead, Kobe Millet (forthcoming), “When Cash Costs You: Consumers Spend More When Carrying Coins than Same Denomination Banknotes,” Journal of Consumer Psychology.