About

Eugene M. Caruso is a professor in UCLA Anderson’s Management and Organizations and Behavioral Decision Making areas, and serves as Faculty Co-Director of the Inclusive Ethics Initiative. His interest in the psychology of judgment and decision making developed during his undergraduate studies at Princeton University, where he studied with Eldar Shafir and Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman. Caruso began his career in customer research at the Boston-based marketing firm Digitas, analyzing consumer decision-making habits. Seeking greater control over research questions, he returned to academia and earned a Ph.D. in social psychology from Harvard University, studying with Max Bazerman, Nick Epley, and Dan Gilbert. His dissertation focused on differences in how people perceive past versus future events, with implications for moral and ethical decision making. Caruso's research explores how individuals interpret and respond to information, often examining why people with access to the same data arrive at different conclusions. He emphasizes the importance of managers testing their intuitions and understanding the conditions under which certain strategies are effective. Prior to UCLA Anderson, he was an associate professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in the Behavioral Science program. His work has significantly contributed to understanding social judgment, resource allocation, fairness, and moral decision making, and he regularly incorporates his research findings into his teaching.

Research topics

• Econometrics
• Computer Science
• Mathematics
• Economics
• Developmental psychology
• Data science
• Geography
• Statistics
• Archaeology
• Psychology

Selected publications

• Welfare group composition estimation study

  Open MIND · 2026-01-01

  otherOpen access

  This study examines the estimated group composition of welfare recipients in the US. Specifically, we examine people’s percentage estimates of SNAP recipients coming from different social demographic groups, including race, immigration status, political affiliation, etc. We hypothesize that people will overestimate the percentage of SNAP recipients who are African Americans and illegal immigrants. In addition, we examine how these demographic estimations correlate with general attitudes and support for welfare programs and their recipients.

  PublisherDOI

• Does Expressive Freedom Facilitate Accuracy? Comment Boxes and the Classification of Misleading Speech.

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2026-01-01

  preprintOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Does Expressive Freedom Facilitate Accuracy?: Comment Boxes and the Classification of Misleading Speech

  Collabra Psychology · 2026-01-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  People are frequently asked to answer legally relevant questions on standardized forms that seek to elicit their judgments, beliefs, and behaviors. When the subject matter is complex, binary questions designed to ease administration or analysis may frustrate respondents, prompting them to second-guess the questions’ purpose and thereby answer inaccurately. We experimentally investigated whether providing respondents an opportunity to comment following a closed-form binary question affects accuracy. We presented a demographically representative sample of U.S. adults on CloudResearch (N = 1,693) with five richly described vignettes depicting different types of false or misleading speech. After each vignette, respondents judged whether or not the speech was a lie. In the primary No Frame treatment, respondents were randomly assigned either to a condition presenting only the closed-form binary question or to a condition presenting that question along with an opportunity to comment. In a secondary Moral Frame treatment, all respondents were first exposed to explicit moral evaluations of the speech acts before classifying them. Providing an opportunity to comment led to a small improvement in the accuracy of binary classifications in the No Frame conditions, but to no improvement in the Moral Frame conditions. These findings suggest that allowing space for elaboration can reduce distortions that arise when nuanced judgments are limited to binary formats. We discuss how even modest improvements in accuracy can have significant consequences where binary responses determine how individuals are treated, such as juror selection, insurance assessments, or eligibility for public or private benefits.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Pluralistic ignorance of stigma impedes take-up of welfare benefits.

  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · 2025-09-15 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author

  For the past decade, the United States spent hundreds of billions of dollars annually on public welfare programs, yet over 30% of eligible individuals do not access benefits distributed through these programs. We propose that a key barrier to program participation is miscalibrated perception of public stigma-individuals' pessimistic impressions of the stigma with which the general public regards welfare-eligible people. First, we examine how people's own attitudes toward a welfare-eligible individual compare to their estimates of parallel attitudes among their peers and among the general public. Study 1 specifically categorizes spontaneous reactions to learning someone is eligible for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits: stigma, negativity about help-seeking, pity, envy, willingness to help, happiness, and admiration. Using these seven dimensions, Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate widespread pluralistic ignorance of welfare stigma: Participants believed that they held more positive, and less negative, attitudes toward SNAP-eligible individuals than did their peers or the American public. Studies 3A and 3B utilize established, incentive-compatible designs from the pluralistic ignorance literature to reveal that participants held less negative personal views about the SNAP-eligible population than they believed others did. Study 4 demonstrates the causal potential of perceived public stigma to reduce individuals' intentions to apply for SNAP and to refer the program to peers. Study 5 tests an intervention with a SNAP-eligible population to demonstrate that perceived public stigma can indeed be decreased, although the observed decreases were not sufficient to increase near-term SNAP application or referral tendencies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

  PublisherDOI

• Good Luck as a Limited Resource

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• P141 Getting to the first 95: introducing recommended best practices in national HIV testing guidelines

  Poster · 2025-06-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Do Time‐Biases Promote or Frustrate Wellbeing?

  Philosophy and Phenomenological Research · 2025-10-31 · 2 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  ABSTRACT Evidence shows that people have multiple time‐biases. One is near‐bias, another is future‐bias, and a third is present‐bias. Philosophers have argued that, in part, the normative status of these biases depends on the extent to which they tend to promote, or frustrate, wellbeing, where “wellbeing” is taken to be of fundamental value. Since near‐bias is thought to be associated with impulsivity, lack of self‐control, and poor long‐term health and financial outcomes, it has often been supposed that it is associated with lower wellbeing and is therefore rationally impermissible. By contrast, philosophical views about the normative status of future‐bias have been mixed, with some arguing that future‐bias is impermissible because it frustrates wellbeing, and others arguing that it is at least permissible (and perhaps obligatory) because it is the product of mechanisms whose functioning can be expected to promote wellbeing. However, to date, there are no studies that directly probe how time‐biases correlate with wellbeing. We empirically investigate which biases promote or frustrate wellbeing. We find no evidence that near‐bias or present‐bias frustrate wellbeing, but future‐bias is associated with higher measures of wellbeing on several measures.

  PublisherDOI

• Nourishing Community: Interdependence Appeals Promote Help Acceptance

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• OC6 Disaggregated data on testing activity for HIV in the context of community based voluntary counselling and testing services in the last years in Italy (2019–2023): towards a national registry

  2025-06-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

• P-140 Promoting sexual health equity: a community engagement model for minor ethnic groups in Italy

  Poster · 2024-06-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  <h3>Background</h3> Minor ethnic groups in Italy face unique challenges in accessing sexual health education and services due to cultural, linguistic, and social barriers contributing to disparities in STI and HIV outcomes. Despite the growing recognition of these disparities, there remains a gap in research exploring effective strategies to engage minor ethnic communities in STI and HIV prevention efforts, especially in Italy. There is evidence that culturally sensitive and community-driven approaches are essential to effectively engage these populations. This abstract presents a community engagement model tailored to address the sexual health needs of minor ethnic groups in Italy, drawing upon principles of cultural competence, partnership building, and empowerment. <h3>Case Presentation</h3> The proposed community engagement model involves a multi-faceted approach to reach and empower minor ethnic communities across Italy. Key components include: Community Collaboration: collaborating with community through religious leaders and cultural mediators to facilitate trust-building and culturally appropriate outreach activity. This involves understanding cultural norms, beliefs, and practices related to sexuality and health. Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR): collaboration between researchers and community members throughout all stages of the research process. This model promotes community ownership, empowerment, and the development of interventions that are responsive to unique needs and priorities Peer Education and Support: training peer educators from within the target communities to serve as trusted sources of information, provide support, and facilitate discussions on STI and HIV prevention. Peer-led initiatives promote dialogue, reduce stigma, and increase access to sexual health resources. Multilingual and Culturally Tailored Resources: development of multilingual and culturally tailored educational materials and resources. . Creative Outreach Strategies: Utilization of creative outreach strategies, such as multimedia campaigns, community events, and social media, to raise awareness and promote participation among minor ethnic groups. Holistic Approach: Adoption of a holistic approach to sexual health education, addressing not only physical health but also emotional, social, and cultural aspects of sexuality. <h3>Conclusion</h3> The proposed community engagement model offers a promising approach to promote sexual health equity among minor ethnic groups in Italy. By prioritizing cultural competence, community participation, and empowerment, this model aims to reduce barriers to sexual health education and services, improve STI and HIV outcomes, and foster greater inclusivity within Italy’s diverse society. Future research and implementation efforts should further explore the effectiveness and scalability of this model, with a focus on sustainability and long-term impact.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Nicholas Epley

  University of Chicago

  22 shared

• Leaf Van Boven

  University of Colorado Boulder

  14 shared

• Max H. Bazerman

  12 shared

• Alex Shaw

  University of Chicago

  11 shared

• Shoham Choshen‐Hillel

  Hebrew University of Jerusalem

  10 shared

• Zachary C. Burns

  University of San Francisco

  10 shared

• Daniel M. Bartels

  University of Chicago

  7 shared

• Agnieszka Jaroslawska

  6 shared