Navigating apologies when blame is mutual with Shereen Chaudhry

We will host Shereen Chaudhry.

Shereen Chaudhry is currently an Assistant Professor of Behavioral Science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Shereen Chaudhry is a scholar of human judgment and decision-making (JDM), with education and research training at the intersection of psychology, economics, and neuroscience. Her research explores the dynamics of social communication—including thanking, apologizing, bragging, and blaming—by applying game theory to better understand how people subtly coordinate (or fail to coordinate) in conversations. 

Her research strives to examine how these conversational dynamics can impact organizations through key channels like conflict management, negotiations, teamwork, and customer satisfaction. Chaudhry's research has been published in Psychological Review and the Journal of Risk & Uncertainty.  Prior to joining Booth, Chaudhry was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center. 

In her work at the Center, she focused on identifying risk communication strategies that are informed by the psychological processes behind the perception of risk, and that can help people make better decisions about protecting themselves against rare, but catastrophic events.  

Chaudhry received a PhD in Behavioral Decision Research from the Department of Social and Decision Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University. Additionally, she earned a BS in Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT and a Master of Health Administration at Cornell University.

Imagine being in a conflict with a partner, friend, or family member where you each wronged the other person in some way. Would it be easier to be the first or second one to apologize? If you apologized first, would it matter to you if the other person returned the apology or not? 

These questions illustrate how the cognitive processes that underlie the decision to apologize are different when blame is mutual compared to when it is one-sided. 

During this talk, Shereen will discuss the dynamics of apologizing in mutual blame conflicts, and illuminate the psychology underlying these patterns. 

You will have the opportunity to take a survey on this topic, and see your data analyzed in real time.

Click the link below to take the survey: http://chicagobooth.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1WYRXOxrgBEHGyq

RB 19-1620: Interpersonal Communication Study Principle Investigator: Dr. Shereen Chaudhry Contribute to behavioral science! We are recruiting people to take a 5-7 minute survey on interpersonal communication. This is completely voluntary—you can choose whether or not you want to participate. If you take the study, you’ll get a chance to win a raffle prize ($25 Amazon gift card)! Professor Chaudhry will display the results from the survey during her talk to the Generation Female audience on May 12, 2021. She will spend a few minutes showing and discussing the anonymized results. Click the link below to take the survey: http://chicagobooth.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1WYRXOxrgBEHGyq If there are any questions, please reach out to the researcher at shereen.chaudhry@chicagobooth.edu.