Ovul Sezer studies misguided social heuristics – that is, habitual behaviors that people think are effective in social interactions, but backfire. For example, people humblebrag, give backhanded compliments, namedrop, share an inside joke or mansplain. They think these behaviors are effective in social interactions, but the consequences are often different from what they expect. Dr. Sezer investigates when and why people’s social intuitions are misguided and how they can fix these suboptimal behaviors.

As a behavioral scientist, she uses a multi-method approach, including lab experiments and field data, to document these behaviors in real life and examine both the social and organizational consequences of misguided social heuristics.

Dr. Sezer is an award-winning teacher and researcher. Her work has been published in leading academic journals including the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes and Journal of Association of Consumer Researchand has been featured in media outlets such as The Washington Post, Forbes, Financial Times, Harvard Business Review and Scientific American.

She holds a PhD in organizational behavior from the Harvard Business School. She graduated with honors from Harvard University with an AB in applied mathematics.