Michael Liersch

Atkinson/Epstein Chair in Management Leadership

Michael Liersch is a postdoctoral fellow and lecturer at Rady. He received his Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from the University of California, San Diego in 2007, and his undergraduate degree in Economics at Harvard University in 1998. Between earning his degrees at Harvard and UCSD, Dr. Liersch worked in industry as a management consultant (Deloitte Consulting), strategy and development analyst (for Buy.com, a SoftBank venture), and senior corporate and business development manager (for BroadBand Office, a Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield, and Byers venture).

Dr. Liersch's research interests include decision making, risk perception, and hedonic experience, especially as they apply to organizational and management contexts. He has published work in Psychological Science, and has work under review at journals such as Organizational Behavior & Human Decision Processes and Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. Dr. Liersch has also presented papers at both national and international business and decision making conferences, and has been awarded numerous travel and research grants. He currently teaches Organizational Leadership, and has assisted teaching courses in Negotiation, Organizational Strategy & Human Resources Management, and Cognitive Psychology at both Rady and UCSD’s Psychology Department.

Publications

McKenzie, C. R. M., Liersch, M. J., & Finkelstein, S. R. (2006). Recommendations implicit in policy defaults. Psychological Science, 17, 414-420.

Papers under review

McKenzie, C. R. M., Liersch, M. J., & Yaniv, I. (conditionally accepted). Overconfidence in interval estimates: What does expertise buy you? Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.

Roy, M. M., & Liersch, M. J. (submitted). I am better than you think: Self-awareness of the better-than-average effect. Psychological Science.

Liersch, M.J., & McKenzie, C. R. M. (submitted). When do implausible anchors influence judgment? A 2-stage model of anchoring effects. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

Wardlow Lane, L., & Liersch, M. J. (submitted). Be wary of paying people to keep secrets: Examining monetary incentives to secure confidential information. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.

Liersch, M. J., & McKenzie, C. R. M (submitted). Duration neglect by numbers—And its elimination by graphs. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.

Papers in preparation

Liersch, M. J. Adjustment in theories of anchoring: Evaluating a relevance-based anchoring model.

Liersch, M. J., Harris, C. R., & Coburn N. (submitted). When are losers more risky than winners? Examining a ‘gain-loss affective bias’.

Projects in progress

Mental models of retirement savings and compound interest (with McKenzie, C. R. M.)

The effects of embarrassment on cervical cancer screening intentions (with Coffaro, F., & Harris, C. R.)

Default effects and trust (with McKenzie, C. R. M.)

Expressed belief in adaptation to life changes depends on experience and how you ask (with Schkade, D. A.)