Why vacations seem so short

A beach with sun loungers and palms on Saona Island in the Dominican Republic. (Nikolay Antonov/Dreamstime/TNS)
For many people, summer vacation can’t come soon enough – especially for the half of Americans who canceled their summer plans last year due to the pandemic. But when a vacation approaches, do you ever get the feeling that it’s almost over before it starts? If so, you’re not alone.
In some recent studies, Gabriela Tonietto, Sam Maglio, Eric VanEpps and I conducted, we found that about half of the people we surveyed indicated that their upcoming weekend trip felt like it would end as soon as it started….full article here.

Why a vacation seems like it will end as soon as it begins

Vacation...it seems like it takes forever to get here, and then it is over before you know it.Time not only flies when you’re having fun – sometimes anticipating a fun event makes it feel like it will be over as soon as it begins, a new study suggests. Researchers found that people judge future positive events as being both farther away as well as shorter in duration than negative or neutral events. Combining those two elements has a strange effect when people look forward to a positive event like a vacation, said Selin Malkoc, co-author of the study and associate professor of marketing at The Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business.

“The seemingly endless wait for the vacation to start combined with the feeling that the vacation will fly by leads people to feel like the beginning and the end of their time off as similarly far from the present,” Malkoc said. “In other words, in their mind’s eye, the vacation is over as soon as it begins. It has no duration.”

The study was published online recently in the Journal of Consumer Psychology …and on MSN and Daily Mail.

Material & Experiential Purchases: Meta-analysis and Podcast

We talk with JCR editor Andrew Stephen about our recent research, a meta-analysis on the experiential advantage, and the journey to publication, including what we learned about publishing meta-analyses.

True Hobbies

Selin Malkoc on The Lisa Show. “When we say the word “hobby”, we often think of leisure time Image result for hobbydevoted to casually doing something we love in our spare time. …but when it comes to time spent relaxing (and nothing else), how can we truly maximize our relaxation and not feel the need to be in a busy mindset? Joining us is Dr. Selin Malkoc, a behavioral scientist and marketing professor at The Ohio State University. She’s here to talk with us about how to really maximize our leisure time.”

Listen to the show here.

Santa Claus Business Helping Brick and Mortar Stores

…Ohio State University’s Chair of the Marketing and Logistics Department Joe Goodman says this is the way to win at retail. “The retailers that are providing an experience for their consumers areImage result for santa coca cola the ones that are driving in traffic and getting consumers in the door. Once they can get you in the door, chances are, you’re probably going to buy something,” said Goodman. Goodman says the key is offering experiences that you can’t buy online….

https://spectrumnews1.com/oh/columbus/news/2019/12/20/santa-claus-business-helping-brick-and-mortar-stores

How Losing Can be a Winning Strategy

‘“The authors use a creative analysis to isolate the effect they are after — which they do really well.” Malkoc, who wasn’t involved in the research, said the findings are consistent with her own research showing that “the mistakes that hurt the most are the ones that are most likely to increase effort later on.” But, her research shows, emotional reflection and perseverance are critical.

In one study, Malkoc and colleagues found that people who merely cogitate intellectually on a flub tend to focus on their egos and make excuses, while those who ponder the failure emotionally end up trying harder the next time. “If your thoughts are all about how to distance yourself from the failure, you’re not going to learn from your mistakes,” she says…’

Read the full article here: https://medium.com/swlh/how-losing-can-be-a-winning-strategy-1fa6d6b81731

“How to Find a Hobby” from the New York Times

“Let’s start with some science. A large body of research suggests that Image result for hobbyhow you spend leisure time matters to your health, and that your hobbies are good for you in many ways….

While it’s important to make time for your hobbies, you don’t want to be too rigid in how you schedule them. Research suggests that too much scheduling of leisure time makes it feel more like work and less like fun. In a series of studies reported by Ohio State University…”

Read the full article here.