About

Academic Biography

I am a behavioral scientist and marketing professor who studies how people think about themselves and others, and how these perceptions shape judgment, motivation, and behavior.

Much of my research focuses on the self and how identity and self-concept influence goal pursuit, self-control, moral behavior, and responses to threats. I am particularly interested in understanding when people’s perceptions of who they are or who they want to be shape the choices they make.

“I study how the way people see or want to see themselves and the world around them shapes what they think, choose, and do.”

My research also examines how people perceive others, broadly construed, from other people to brands, objects, and technologies. This includes work on humanization and dehumanization, as well as research on how consumers draw inferences from limited or imperfect information.

Across these streams, I seek to uncover fundamental psychological processes that help explain consumer behavior, with implications for topics ranging from charitable giving and health behavior to personalized advertising and generative AI.