Alia Crum

Alia Crum

Psychologist at Stanford University whose research concerns how mindsets and expectations relate to health, including the 2007 hotel housekeepers study, the 2011 milkshake study and the 2017 analysis of perceived physical activity and mortality.

Who they are

Crum's studies are among the most retold in popular writing on expectation. They range from small experiments, such as the milkshake study with 46 participants, to the large observational analysis of 61,141 adults she published with Octavia Zahrt. The larger study is the one that deserves more attention, and it is observational.

Key papers

Crum, A. J., & Langer, E. J. (2007). "Mind-set matters: exercise and the placebo effect." Psychological Science, 18(2), 165-171.

Crum, A. J., Corbin, W. R., Brownell, K. D., & Salovey, P. (2011). "Mind over milkshakes: mindsets, not just nutrients, determine ghrelin response." Health Psychology, 30(4), 424-429.

Zahrt, O. H., & Crum, A. J. (2017). "Perceived physical activity and mortality." Health Psychology, 36(11), 1017-1025.

Key ideas

How active people think they are is linked to health, separately from what they do. See Perceived Physical Activity.

A label changed ghrelin in one small study; a larger 2022 study did not find the hormonal effect. See Ghrelin.

Sources

  1. Papers above, verified at the published records, 8 October 2026.