Daniel Gilbert: Pioneering Research in Social Psychology and Affective Forecasting

Introduction

Daniel Todd Gilbert, born in 1957 in Ithaca, New York, is a distinguished social psychologist known for his work on emotion, social inference, and affective forecasting. Currently, the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, Gilbert has made significant contributions to our understanding of how people perceive and predict their future emotional states. His research has not only advanced academic psychology but also reached a broad audience through popular books, TED talks, and television series.

Early Life and Education

Childhood and Early Interests

Daniel Gilbert grew up in a family that valued education and intellectual curiosity. His early interest in understanding human behavior and emotions set the stage for his future career in psychology. These formative years in Ithaca, New York, were pivotal in shaping his academic pursuits.

Academic Pursuits

Gilbert completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Colorado Denver, where he developed a strong foundation in psychology. He then pursued a Ph.D. at Princeton University, earning his degree in 1985. His doctoral research focused on social psychology and laid the groundwork for his later studies on affective forecasting and social inference.

Academic and Research Career

Early Career

After completing his Ph.D., Gilbert began his academic career at the University of Texas at Austin, where he honed his research skills and expanded his work on social psychology. His early publications garnered attention for their innovative approaches to understanding human emotion and decision-making.

Harvard University

In the late 1990s, Gilbert joined the faculty at Harvard University, where he has remained since. As the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology, he has continued to conduct groundbreaking research and mentor the next generation of psychologists. His work at Harvard has solidified his reputation as a leading figure in social psychology.

Major Contributions to Psychology

Affective Forecasting

One of Gilbert's most significant contributions is his research on affective forecasting, the study of how people predict their future emotional states. His work has revealed that individuals often misjudge the intensity and duration of their future emotions, leading to inaccurate predictions about how they will feel in response to various events.

Key Findings in Affective Forecasting

Impact Bias: Gilbert discovered that people tend to overestimate the emotional impact of future events, both positive and negative. This phenomenon, known as impact bias, explains why individuals often make decisions based on exaggerated expectations of happiness or distress.
Durability Bias: Another key finding is that people overestimate how long they will feel a particular emotion. This durability bias affects decision-making processes, as individuals may avoid or pursue experiences based on flawed predictions of emotional duration.

Social Inference

Gilbert has also made substantial contributions to the understanding of social inference, the process by which people make judgments about others' intentions, behaviors, and characteristics. His research explores how cognitive biases and heuristics influence these judgments, often leading to systematic errors.

The Role of Heuristics in Social Inference

Fundamental Attribution Error: Gilbert's work has highlighted the tendency of individuals to attribute others' behaviors to dispositional factors while underestimating situational influences. This fundamental attribution error has broad implications for understanding interpersonal interactions and societal judgments.
Halo Effect: Another aspect of his research examines the halo effect, where positive impressions in one area influence perceptions in other areas. Gilbert's studies have shown how this cognitive bias shapes our evaluations of people and situations.

Emotion and Decision-Making

Gilbert's research also delves into how emotions influence decision-making processes. He has explored the interplay between anticipated emotions and actual decisions, providing insights into why people sometimes make choices that do not align with their long-term goals or well-being.

Popular Works and Public Engagement

Stumbling on Happiness

In 2006, Gilbert published "Stumbling on Happiness," a best-selling book that translates his research findings for a general audience. The book explores why people often fail to predict what will make them happy and offers insights into how to make better decisions about future happiness. "Stumbling on Happiness" has been praised for its accessible writing style and profound insights, making it a popular read for both psychologists and the general public.

TED Talks and Media Presence

Gilbert has delivered several popular TED talks, where he discusses topics such as affective forecasting and the science of happiness. His engaging presentations have reached millions of viewers, further establishing his reputation as a prominent science communicator. Additionally, Gilbert has written essays for popular magazines and newspapers, and he co-hosted the NOVA series "This Emotional Life," which explores the science of emotions.

Influence and Legacy

Impact on Social Psychology

Gilbert's research has significantly impacted the field of social psychology, particularly in understanding how emotions and cognitive biases shape human behavior. His findings on affective forecasting have opened new avenues for exploring how people make decisions and anticipate future experiences.

Educational Contributions

As a professor at Harvard University, Gilbert has influenced countless students through his teaching and mentorship. His courses on social psychology and affective forecasting are highly regarded, and many of his students have gone on to make their own contributions to the field.

Awards and Honors

Throughout his career, Gilbert has received numerous awards and honors, including:

American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution to Psychology (1992)
William James Award from the Association for Psychological Science (2018)
Honorary Doctorates from Bates College (2016) and Yale University (2021)
Elected Member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (2008)

These accolades reflect his substantial contributions to psychology and his influence on contemporary research and theory.

Personal Interests

Beyond his academic pursuits, Gilbert is known for his interest in making psychological science accessible to the public. His efforts to communicate complex research findings in an engaging and understandable manner have helped bridge the gap between academia and the general public.

Takeaways

Daniel Gilbert's extensive body of work has significantly advanced our understanding of social psychology, affective forecasting, and human emotion. His research has provided valuable insights into how people perceive and predict their future emotional states, influencing both academic research and public understanding of happiness and decision-making. As a leading figure in psychology, Gilbert's contributions continue to shape the field and inspire future generations of researchers and practitioners.

Essays and Articles by Daniel Gilbert

Scientific Papers & Chapters (By Topic)

Prospection, Affective Forecasting, & Hedonic Psychology

Gilbert, D. T., Pinel, E. C., Wilson, T. D., Blumberg, S. J., & Wheatley, T. (1998). Immune neglect: A source of durability bias in affective forecasting. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 617-638.
Wilson, T. D., Wheatley, T. P., Meyers, J. M., Gilbert, D. T., & Axsom, D. (2000). Focalism: A source of durability bias in affective forecasting. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 821-836.
Gilbert, D. T., Brown, R. P., Pinel, E. C., & Wilson, T. D. (2000). The illusion of external agency. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 690-700.
Gilbert, D. T., & Wilson, T. D. (2000). Miswanting: Some problems in the forecasting of future affective states. In J. Forgas (Ed.), Thinking and feeling: The role of affect in social cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lieberman, M. D., Ochsner, K. N., Gilbert, D. T., & Schacter, D. L. (2001). Do amnesics exhibit cognitive dissonance reduction? The role of explicit memory and attention in attitude change. Psychological Science, 12, 135-140.
Wilson, T. D., Meyers, J., & Gilbert, D. T. (2001). Lessons from the past: Do people learn from experience that emotional reactions are short lived? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 1648-1661.
Gilbert, D. T., & Ebert, J. E. J. (2002). Decisions and revisions: The affective forecasting of changeable outcomes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 503-514.
Gilbert, D. T., Gill, M. J., & Wilson, T. D. (2002). The future is now: Temporal correction in affective forecasting. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 88, 430-444.
Gilbert, D. T., Pinel, E. C., Wilson, T. D., Blumberg, S. J., & Wheatley, T. P. (2002). Durability bias in affective forecasting. In Gilovich, T., Griffin, D., & Kahneman, D. (Eds.), Heuristics and biases: The psychology of intuitive judgment (pp. 292-312). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wilson, T. D., Gilbert, D. T., & Centerbar, D. B. (2002). Making sense: The causes of emotional evanescence. In J. Carillo & I. Brocas (Eds.), Economics and psychology (pp. 209-233). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gilbert, D. T., Driver-Linn, E., & Wilson, T. D. (2002). The trouble with Vronsky: Impact bias in the forecasting of future affective states. In L. F. Barrett & P. Salovey (Eds.), The wisdom in feeling: Psychological processes in emotional intelligence (pp. 114-143). New York: Guilford.
Wilson, T. D., & Gilbert, D. T. (2003). Affective forecasting. In M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology, Vol. 35 (pp. 345-411). New York: Elsevier.
Dunn, E. W., Wilson, T. D., & Gilbert, D. T. (2003). Location, location, location: The misprediction of satisfaction in housing lotteries. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 1421-1432.
Wilson, T. D., Meyers, J., & Gilbert, D. T. (2003). "How happy was I, anyway?" A retrospective impact bias. Social Cognition, 21, 421-446 .
Gilbert, D. T., Lieberman, M. D., Morewedge, C. K., & Wilson, T. D. (2004). The peculiar longevity of things not so bad. Psychological Science, 15, 14-19.
Wilson, T. D., Wheatley, T., Kurtz, J., Dunn, E. W., & Gilbert, D. T. (2004). When to fire: Anticipatory versus post-event reconstrual of uncontrollable events. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 1-12.
Gilbert, D. T., Morewedge, C. K., Risen, J. L., & Wilson, T. D. (2004). Looking forward to looking backward: The misprediction of regret. Psychological Science, 15, 346-350.
Wilson, T. D., Centerbar, D. B., Kermer, D. A., & Gilbert, D. T. (2005). The pleasures of uncertainty: Prolonging positive moods in ways people do not anticipate. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 5-21.
Wilson, T. D. & Gilbert, D. T. (2005). Affective forecasting: Knowing what to want. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 131-134.
Morewedge, C. K., Gilbert, D. T., & Wilson, T. D. (2005).The least likely of times: How remembering the past biases forecasts of the future. Psychological Science, 16, 626-630.
Kermer , D. A., Driver-Linn , E., Wilson , T. D., & Gilbert , D. T. (2006). Loss aversion Is an affective forecasting error. Psychological Science, 17, 649-653.
Gilbert, D. T., & Wilson, T. D. (2007). Prospection: Experiencing the future. Science, 317, 1351-1354.
Kurtz, J. L., Wilson, T. D., & Gilbert. D. T. (2007). Quantity versus uncertainty: When winning one prize is better than winning two. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43, 979-985.
Morewedge, C. K., Gilbert, D. T., Keysar, B., Berokovits, M. J., & Wilson, T. D. (2007). Mispredicting the hedonic benefits of segregated gains. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 136, 700-709.
Mallett, R. K., Wilson, T. D., & Gilbert, D. T. (2008). Expect the unexpected: Failure to anticipate similarities when predicting the quality of an intergroup interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 265-277.
Caruso, E. M., Gilbert, D. T., & Wilson, T. D. (2008). A wrinkle in time: Asymmetric valuation of past and future events. Psychological Science, 19, 796-801.
Wilson, T. D., & Gilbert, D. T. (2008). Explaining away: A model of affective adaptation. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3, 370-386.
Kassam, K. S., Gilbert, D. T., Boston, A., & Wilson, T. D. (2008). Future anhedonia and temporal discounting. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 1533-1537.
Koo, M., Algoe, S. B., Wilson, T. D., & Gilbert, D. T. (2008). It's a wonderful life: Mentally subtracting positive events improves people's affective states, contrary to their affective forecasts. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 1217-1224.
Carlsmith, K. M., Wilson, T. D., & Gilbert, D. T. (2008). The paradoxical consequences of revenge. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 1316-1324.
Bar-Anan, Y., Wilson, T. D., & Gilbert, D. T. (2009). The feeling of uncertainty intensifies affective reactions. Emotion, 9, 123-127.
Gilbert, D. T., Killingsworth, M. A., Eyre, R. N., & Wilson, T. D. (2009). The surprising power of neighborly advice. Science, 323, 1617-1619.
Golub, S. A., Gilbert, D. T., & Wilson, T. D. (2009). Anticipating one's troubles: The costs and benefits of negative expectations. Emotion, 9, 277-281
Gilbert, D. T., & Wilson, T. D. (2009). Why the brain talks to itself: Sources of error in emotional prediction. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B., 364, 1335-1341.
Morewedge, C. M., Shu, L. L., Gilbert, D. T., & Wilson, T. D. (2009). Bad riddance or good rubbish? Ownership and not loss aversion causes the endowment effect. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 947-951.
Ebert, J. E. J., Gilbert, D. T., & Wilson, T. D. (2009). Forecasting and backcasting: Predicting the impact of events on the future. Journal of Consumer Research, 36, 353-366.
Morewedge, C. K., Gilbert, D. T., Myrseth, K. O. R., Kassam, K. S., & Wilson, T. D. (2010). Consuming experience: Why affective forecasters overestimate comparative value. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology,46, 986-992.
Mitchell, J. P., Schirmer, J., Ames, D. L., & Gilbert. D. T. (2010). Medial prefrontal cortex predicts intertemporal choice. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 23, 1-10.
Killingsworth, M. A., & Gilbert, D. T. (2010). A wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Science, 330, 932.
Whitchurch, E. R., Wilson, T. D., & Gilbert, D. T. (2011). He loves me, he loves me not: The effects of uncertainty on romantic attraction. Psychological Science, 22, 172-175.
Kassam, K. S., Morewedge, C. K., Gilbert, D. T., & Wilson, T. D. (2011). Winners love winning but losers love money. Psychological Science, 22, 602-606.
Dunn, E. W., Gilbert, D. T., & Wilson, T. D. (2011). If money doesn't make you happy then you probably aren't spending it right. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 21, 115-125.
Quoidbach, J., Gilbert, D. T., & Wilson, T. D. (2013). The end of history illusion. Science, 339, 96-98.
Wilson, T. D., & Gilbert, D. T. (2013). The impact bias is alive and well. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 105, 740-748.
Hahn, C., Wilson, T. D., McRael, K., & Gilbert, D. T. (2013). "Show me the money": Vulnerability to gambling moderates the attractiveness of money versus suspense. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39, 1259-1267.
Wilson, T. D., Reinhard, D. A., Westgate, E. C., Gilbert, D. T. Ellerbeck, N., Hahn, C., Brown, C. L., & Shaked, A. (2014). Just think: The challenges of the disengaged mind. Science, 345, 75-77.
Cooney, G., Gilbert, D. T., & Wilson, T. D. (2014). The unforeseen costs of extraordinary experience. Psychological Science.
Wilson, T. D., Gilbert, D. T., Reinhard, D. A., Westgate, E. C., & Brown, C. L. (2014). Would you fund this movie? A reply to Fox et al. (2014). Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1428.
Wilson, T. D., Ndiaye, D. G., Hahn, C., & Gilbert, D. T. (2015). Still a thrill: Meaning making and the pleasures of uncertainty. In K. Markman, T. Proulx, & M. Lindberg (Eds.), The psychology of meaning (pp. 421-443). Washington, D.C.: The American Psychological Association.
Lee, M., Wilson, T. D., Eggleston, C. M., Gilbert, D. T., & Ku, X. (2015). "Just because you like it doesn"t mean I will too:' Cross-cultural similarities in ignoring others' opinions. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 18, 192-198.
Eggleston, C. M., Wilson, T. D., Lee, M., & Gilbert, D. T. (2015). Predicting what we will like: Asking a stranger can be as good as asking a friend. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 128, 1–10.
Burum, B. A., Gilbert, D. T., & Wilson, T. D. (2016). Becoming stranger: When future selves join the out-group. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 145, 1132-1140.
Cooney, G., Gilbert, D. T., & Wilson, T. D. (2016). When fairness matters less than we expect. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113, 11168-11171.
Cooney, G., Gilbert, D. T., & Wilson, T. D. (2017). The novelty penalty: Why do people like talking about new experiences but hearing about old ones? Psychological Science, 28, 380-394.
Alahmadi, S., Buttrick, N. R., Gilbert, D. T., Hardin, A. M., Westgate, E. C, & Wilson, T. D.(2017). You can do it if you really try: The effects of motivation on thinking for pleasure. Motivation and Emotion, 41, 545-561.
Buttrick, N. R., Choi, H., Wilson, T. D., Oishi, S., Boker, S. M., Gilbert, D. T., Alper, S., Aveyard, M., Cheong, W., Colic, M. V., Dalgar, I., Dogulu, C., Karabati, S., Kim, E., Knezvic, G., Komiya, A., Lacle, C. O., Lage, C. A., Lazarevic, L. B., Lazarevic, D., Lins, S., Molina, M. B., Neto, F., Orlic, A., Petrovic, B., Sibaja, M. A., Fernandez, D. T., Vanpaemel, W., Voorspoels, W., & Wilks, D. C. (2019). Cross-cultural consistency and relativity in the enjoyment of thinking versus doing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 117, e71-e83.
Wilson, T. D., Westgate, E. C., Buttrick, N. R., & Gilbert, D. T. (2019). The mind is its own place: The difficulties and benefits of thinking for pleasure. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 175–221. New York: Elsevier Academic Press.
Quoidbach, J., Gilbert, D. T., & Wilson, T. D. (2020). Your life satisfaction will change more than you think: A comment on Harris and Busseri (2019). Journal of Research in Personality, 86.
Westgate, E. C., Wilson, T. D., Buttrick, N. R., Furrer, R. A., & Gilbert, D. T. (2021). What makes thinking for pleasure pleasurable? Emotion, 21, 981–989.
Raza, S., Westgate, E. C., Buttrick, N. R., Heintelman, S. J., Furrer, R. A., & Gilbert, D. T., Libby, L. K., & Wilson, T. D. (2022). A trade-off model of intentional thinking for pleasure. Emotion, 22(1), 115–128.
Zebhauser, P. T., Macchia, A., Gold, E., Salcedo, S., Burum, B., Alonso-Alonso, M., Gilbert, D. T., Pascual-Leone, A., Brem, A. K. (2022). Intranasal Oxytocin modulates decision-making depending on outcome predictability: A randomized within-subject controlled trial in healthy males. Biomedicines, 10, 3230.

Social Cognition and Social Interaction

Lord, C. G., & Gilbert, D. T. (1983). The "same-person" heuristic: An attributional procedure based on an assumption about person similarity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43, 751-762.
Jones, E. E., Schwartz, J., & Gilbert, D. T. (1983/1984). The perception of moral expectancy violation: The role of expectancy source. Social Cognition, 2, 273-293.
Darley, J. M., & Gilbert, D. T. (1985). Social psychological aspects of environmental psychology. In G. Lindzey & E. Aronson (Eds.), The Handbook of Social Psychology (3rd edition). Volume II. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley.
Gilbert, D. T., & Cooper. J. (1985). Social psychological strategies of self-deception. In M. Martin (Ed.), Self-deception and self-understanding: New essays in philosophy and psychology. Lawrence, KA: University of Kansas Press.
Gilbert, D. T., & Jones, E. E. (1986). Perceiver-induced constraint: Interpretations of self-generated reality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 269-280.
Gilbert, D. T., & Jones, E. E. (1986). Exemplification: The self-presentation of moral character. Journal of Personality, 54, 101-123.
Gilbert, D. T., Jones, E. E., & Pelham, B. W. (1987). Influence and inference: What the active perceiver overlooks. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 861-870.
Gilbert, D. T., & Krull, D. S. (1988). Seeing less and knowing more: The benefits of perceptual ignorance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 193-202.
Gilbert, D. T., Pelham, B. W., & Krull, D. S. (1988). On cognitive busyness: When person perceivers meet persons perceived. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 733-740.
Gilbert, D. T., Krull, D. S., & Pelham, B. W. (1988). Of thoughts unspoken: Social inference and the self-regulation of behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 685-694.
Gilbert, D. T., & Osborne, R. E. (1989). Thinking backward: Some curable and incurable consequences of cognitive busyness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 940-949.
Swann, W. B. Jr., Hixon, G. J., Stein-Seroussi, A., & Gilbert, D. T. (1990). The fleeting gleam of praise: Psychological processes underlying reactions to self-relevant information. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 17-26.
Gilbert, D. T., & Hixon, J. G. (1991). The trouble of thinking: Activation and application of stereotypic beliefs. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 509-517.
Gilbert, D. T., McNulty, S. E., Giuliano, T. A., & Benson, J. E. (1992). Blurry words and fuzzy deeds: The attribution of obscure behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 18-25.
Osborne, R. E., & Gilbert. D. T. (1992). The preoccupational hazards of social life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 219-228.
Gilbert, D. T. (1994). Attribution and interpersonal perception. In A. Tesser (Ed.), Advanced social psychology. New York: McGraw Hill.
Gilbert, D. T., & Malone, P. S. (1995). The correspondence bias. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 21-38.
Gilbert, D. T., Giesler, R. B., & Morris, K. A. (1995). When comparisons arise. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 227-236.
Gilbert, D. T., & Silvera, D. S. (1996). Overhelping. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 678-690.
Gilbert, D. T. (1998). Ordinary personology. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T., Fiske, & G. Lindzey, (Eds.) The handbook of social psychology (4th edition). New York: McGraw Hill.
Gilbert, D. T. (1998). Speeding with Ned: A personal view of the correspondence bias. In J. M. Darley & J. Cooper (Eds.), Attribution and social interaction: The legacy of E. E. Jones. Washington, DC: APA Press.
Gilbert, D. T. (1999). What the mind's not. In S. Chaiken & Y. Trope (Eds.), Dual process theories in social psychology. New York: Guilford.
Gilbert, D. T. (1999). Social cognition. In R. Wilson & F, Keil (Eds.), The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Gilbert, D. T., & Gill, M. J. (2000). The momentary realist. Psychological Science, 11, 394-398.
Gilbert, D. T. (2002). Inferential correction. In Gilovich, T., Griffin, D., & Kahneman, D. (Eds.), Heuristics and biases: The psychology of intuitive judgment (pp. 167-184). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lieberman, M. D., Gaunt, R., Gilbert, D. T., & Trope, Y. (2002). Reflexion and reflection: A social cognitive neuroscience approach to attributional inference. In M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology, Vol. 34 (pp. 199-249). New York: Elsevier.
Gilbert, D. T., Pelham. B.W., & Krull, D. S. (2003). The psychology of good ideas. Psychological Inquiry, 14, 258-260.
Kassam, K. S., Gilbert, D. T., Swencionis, J. K, & Wilson, T. D. (2009). Misconceptions of memory: The Scooter Libby effect. Psychological Science, 20, 551-552.
Burum, B. A., Gilbert, D. T., & Wilson, T. D. (2016). Caught red-minded: Evidence-induced denial of mental transgressions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 145, 844-852.
Mastroianni, A. M., Gilbert, D. T., Cooney, G., & Wilson, T. D. (2021). Do conversations end when people want them to? Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118, e2011809118.
Levari, D. E., Gilbert, D. T., & Wilson, T. D. (2022). Tips from the top: Do the best performers really give the best advice? Psychological Science, 33, 685-698.
Hirschi, Q., Wilson, T. D., & Gilbert, D. T. (2022). Speak up! Mistaken beliefs about how much to talk in conversations. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
Mastroianni, A. M., & Gilbert, D. T. (2023). The illusion of moral decline. Nature, 618, 782-789.

Belief & Credulity

Gilbert, D. T., Krull, D. S., & Malone, P. S. (1990). Unbelieving the unbelievable: Some problems in the rejection of false information. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 601-613.
Gilbert, D. T. (1991). How mental systems believe. American Psychologist, 46, 107-119.
Gilbert, D. T. (1992). Assent of man: Mental representation and the control of belief. In D. M. Wegner & J. Pennebaker (Eds.), The Handbook of Mental Control. New York: Prentice-Hall.
Gilbert, D. T., Tafarodi, R. W., & Malone, P. S. (1993). You can't not believe everything you read. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 221-233.
Wilson, T. D., Gilbert, D. T., & Wheatley, T. (1998). Protecting our minds: The role of lay beliefs. In V. Yzerbyt, G. Lories, & B. Dardenne (Eds.), Metacognition: Cognitive and social dimensions. New York: Sage.
Levari, D. E., Gilbert, D. T., Wilson, T. D., Sievers, B., Amodio, D. M., & Wheatley, T. (2018). Prevalence-induced concept change in human judgment. Science, 360, 1465-1467.

About Science

Wegner, D. M., & Gilbert, D. T. (2000). Social psychology: The science of human experience. In H. Bless & J. P. Forgas (Eds.), The message within: The role of subjective experience in social cognition and behavior. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press.
Gilbert, D. T. (2002). Are psychology's tribes ready to form a nation? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 6, 3.
Gilbert, D. T. (2016). Talking to humans: Is it a good idea? (Talk given at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, December 30, 2016, San Diego California).
Gilbert, D. T., King, G., Pettigrew, S., & Wilson, T. D. (2016). Comment on "Estimating the reproducibility of psychological science." Science, 351, 1037-a-1038-a.
Gilbert, D. T. (2022). Dear Vera, Chuck, and Dave. In Pillars of Social Psychology (S. Kassin, Ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 395-402.

About Ned Jones

Gilbert, D. T. (1998). Speeding with Ned: A personal view of the correspondence bias. In J. M. Darley & J. Cooper (Eds.), Attribution and social interaction: The legacy of E. E. Jones. Washington, DC: APA Press.
Gilbert, D. T. (1997). Edward Ellsworth Jones. In P. H. Marks (Ed.), Luminaries: Princeton faculty remembered. Lawrenceville, NJ: Princeton Academic Press.
Gilbert, D. T. (2000). Edward Ellsworth Jones. In A. E. Kazdin (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Psychology. Washington, DC: APA Press.
Gilbert, D. T. (Ed.) (2003). The selected works of Edward E. Jones. New York: Wiley.
Gilbert, D. T. (2007). Edward Ellsworth Jones. In International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (2nd Edition).

Books

The Handbook of Social Psychology

Gilbert, D. T., Fiske, S. T., & Lindzey, G. (Eds.) (1998). The Handbook of Social Psychology (4th Edition). New York: McGraw Hill.
Fiske, S. T., Gilbert, D. T., & Lindzey, G. (Eds.) (2010). The Handbook of Social Psychology (5th Edition). New York: Wiley.
Gilbert, D. T., Fiske, S. T., Finkel, E., & Mendes, W. B. (Eds.) (2024). The Handbook of Social Psychology (6th Edition). Cambridge, MA: Situational Press.
Gilbert, D. T. (2006). Stumbling on Happiness. New York: Knopf.
- Published in over 40 languages
- 24 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list
- Winner of the 2007 Royal Society General Book Prize for the best popular science book of the year
- ……

Psychology. New York: Worth.

1st Edition (2009): Schacter, D. L., Gilbert, D. T., & Wegner, D. M.
2nd Edition (2011): Schacter, D. L., Gilbert, D. T., & Wegner, D. M.
3rd Edition (2013): Schacter, D. L., Gilbert, D. T., Wegner, D. M., & Nock. M.
4th Edition (2016): Schacter, D. L., Gilbert, D. T., Nock, M., & Wegner, D. M.
5th Edition (2019): Schacter, D. L., Gilbert, D. T., Nock, M., & Wegner, D. M.
6th Edition (2022): Schacter, D. L., Gilbert, D. T., & Nock, M.

Essays & Book Reviews

Gilbert, D. T. (2005). Four more years of happiness. The New York Times, January 20.
Gilbert, D. T. (2006). I'm okay, you're biased. The New York Times, April 16.
Gilbert, D. T. (2005). The vagaries of religious experience, Edge.org, September 27.
Gilbert, D. T. (2006). Shall I compare thee to a summer's sausage? Forbes.com. February 14.
Gilbert, D. T. (2006). I'm okay, you're biased. The New York Times. April 16.
Gilbert, D. T. (2006). The spice of life. National Public Radio's All Things Considered. May 12.
Gilbert, D. T. (2006). Does fatherhood make you happy? Time. June 19.
Gilbert, D. T. (2006). If only gay sex caused global warming. Los Angeles Times, July 2.
Gilbert, D. T. (2006). He who cast the first stone probably didn't. The New York Times, July 24.
Gilbert, D. T. (2006). The way I see it. Starbucks.
Gilbert, D. T., & Buckner, R. (2007). Time travel in the brain. Time.
Gilbert, D. T. (2007). Compassionate commercialism. The New York Times, March 25.
Gilbert, D. T. (2008). Review of "The Geography of Bliss" by Eric Weiner, The Washington Post.
Gilbert, D. T. (2009). What you don't know makes you nervous, The New York Times, May 21.
Gilbert, D. T. (2009). Times to remember, places to forget, The New York Times, December 31
Gilbert, D. T. (2010). Review of "Being Wrong" by Kathryn Schulz, The New York Times Book Review, July 23.
Gilbert, D. T. (2010). The weight at the plate, The New York Times, August 4.
Gilbert, D. T. (2010). Magic by numbers. The New York Times, October 17.
Gilbert, D. T. (2011). Buried by bad decisions. Nature, 474, 276-277.

Essays, Lectures, & Interviews About Climate Change

ESSAY: If only gay sex caused global warming. Los Angeles Times, 2006.
ESSAY: Buried by bad decisions. Nature, 2011.
LECTURE: It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine (TEDx Academy, 2014, Athens, Greece)
INTERVIEW: Humans wired to respond to short term problems (National Public Radio, 2006)
INTERVIEW: Why climate change threats don't trigger an immediate response from human brains (National Public Radio, 2019)

Early Science Fiction Stories

Gilbert, D. T. (1979). Unfortunately the large number of alternate realities on hand does not permit us time for personal comment. Pandora, 1 (3), p. 24.
Gilbert, D. T. (1980). Visions of Diana. Amazing Stories, 27 (8), p. 44.
Gilbert, D. T. (1980). The Essence of Grunk. Questar, 2 (4), p. 46.
Gilbert, D. T. (1981). Zinsky's Vacation. Questar, 3 (2), p. 25.
Gilbert, D. T. (1982). Kokomu. In F. Saberhagen (Ed.), Pawn to Infinity. New York: Ace.
Gilbert, D. T. (1982). The Meat Box. In A. Ryan (Ed.), Perpetual Light. NewYork: Warner.
Gilbert, D. T. (1982). In the Land of the Unfunny. Oracle, 1 (1), p. 11.
Gilbert, D. T. (1983). Woman in the Designer Genes. In A. Davidson (Ed.), Magic for Sale. New York: Ace Books.
Gilbert, D. T. (1984). In the Specimen Jar. Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, 8 (8), p. 117.