Robert H. Ashton

Who they are

The work of Robert H. Ashton reaches this site through the papers listed below. On this site the name is tied to Marketing Placebo Effect, Placebo Effect, The Recency Effect, Belief-Adjustment Model.

Key papers

Ashton, R. H., & Kennedy, J. (2002). Eliminating recency with self-review: The case of auditors' going concern judgments. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 15(3), 221-231. What it reports: Recency appeared in staff auditors' going-concern judgments, and a simple self-review technique eliminated it. Auditors who reviewed their own reasoning were also less likely to choose report options that conflicted with their judgment.

Ashton, R. H. (2014). Wine as an experience good: Price versus enjoyment in blind tastings of expensive and inexpensive wines. Journal of Wine Economics, 9(2), 171-182.

Key ideas

Marketing Placebo Effect: a price or label changing how much a product is enjoyed or how well it works

Placebo Effect: An improvement that follows a treatment because of what the patient expects from it rather than because of what the treatment does.

The Recency Effect: the advantage of whatever comes last, seen in long sequences and expert judges

Belief-Adjustment Model: A model of how people revise a judgment as evidence arrives in sequence, which predicts recency effects in complex judgments.

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