Ariel's research explores a range of topics related to consumer judgment and decision making, including how the context of a decision affects choices, the drivers of pro-social behavior, and the impact of group identity on decision making. He is passionate about multi-method approaches to research, often combining experiments with econometric analysis of real-world field data. His work has been published in leading marketing and multidisciplinary journals, including the Journal of Consumer Research and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. His findings have been featured in popular media outlets, including The Washington Post, The Times, and Forbes.

Ariel completed his Ph.D. at the Rady School of Management at UC San Diego in 2023. Before that, he worked as a pricing analyst at HP Inc after completing a B.A. in Economics at UC Berkeley.