phd in marketing psychology

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Curriculum & Coursework

Our programs are full-time degree programs which officially begin in August. Students are expected to complete their program in five years. Typically, the first two years are spent on coursework, at the end of which students take a field exam, and then another three years on dissertation research and writing.

The Marketing program draws on computer science, economics, behavioral science, and psychological methods to focus on marketing problems faced by the firm and its management. Through a combination of discipline- and field-based methods, the curriculum enables students to master concepts and research skills directly relevant to business problems. Candidates must come to understand the point of view of practicing managers and be able to bring theory and careful research to bear in illuminating important business problems.

The program requires a minimum of 13 semester-long doctoral courses. Students in the Marketing program are required to complete a year-long discipline sequence typically in microeconomics or psychology. They also complete courses in the areas of machine learning, computer science, statistics, research methods, academic field seminars, and two MBA elective curriculum courses. In addition to HBS courses, students often take courses at other Harvard Schools and MIT.

Research & Dissertation

Students in Marketing begin research in their first year typically by working with a faculty member. By their third and fourth years, most students are launched on a solid research and publication stream. The dissertation may take the form of three publishable papers or one longer dissertation.

Recent examples of doctoral thesis research include: The effects of brand extensions on the value of parent brands; Multi-method examination of the consumption of “knockoffs” of high status brands, and the counter-intuitive positive outcomes for consumer-brand relationships; Competitive analysis of pricing and quality decisions in industries with strictly complimentary products; The psychological effects of pricing, and how these affect consumers and firms; and "Choice amnesia," the motivated forgetting of difficult decisions.

Mengjie "Magie" Cheng

Ta-Wei "David" Huang

“ Finding an advisor who you really click with and who is willing to support your research interests is absolutely key. ”

Current HBS Faculty

• Tomomichi Amano
• Eva Ascarza
• Max H. Bazerman
• David E. Bell
• Alison Wood Brooks
• Julian De Freitas
• Rohit Deshpande
• Anita Elberse
• Sunil Gupta
• Ayelet Israeli
• Leslie K. John
• Elizabeth A. Keenan
• Edward McFowland III
• Navid Mojir
• Das Narayandas
• Michael I. Norton
• V. Kasturi Rangan
• Isamar Troncoso
• Jeremy Yang
• Shunyuan Zhang

Current Marketing Students

• Stuti Agarwal
• Mengjie (Magie) Cheng
• Jingpeng Hong
• Ta-Wei (David) Huang
• Jimin Nam
• Lucy Shen
• Sihan Zhai

Current HBS Faculty & Students by Interest

Recent placement, emily prinsloo, 2023, ximena garcia-rada, 2021, serena hagerty, 2022, dafna goor, 2020, byungyeon kim, 2022, grant donnelly, 2018.

PhD Program

The marketing program offers two broad areas of research:  consumer behavior and quantitative marketing.

In the consumer behavior track, students are exposed to the fundamentals of psychology (cognitive psychology, social psychology, and behavioral decision theory) and experimental research and on how to use them to address marketing problems, such as consumer judgment and decision making and the role of the multiple variables influencing this process (e.g., attitudes, emotions, motivation, individual differences, perception, social influence, etc).

In the quantitative marketing track, students are exposed to the fundamentals of economics (microeconomics, industrial organization, econometrics, etc.) and how to use them to address marketing problems such as mathematical modeling of buyer-seller interactions, consumer choice processes, the allocation of marketing resources into components of the marketing mix, and product development.

Alternatively, students may focus on the interplay between these two broad areas (consumer behavior and quantitative marketing) and how the economics and psychology interface can help researchers better understand and predict marketing phenomena.

Program Overview

In order to cope with these expanding horizons, the program is designed to provide broad exposure to the advanced literature in each field. The program includes a series of marketing PhD seminars, the development of expertise in a particular social science discipline (economics and/or psychology), and technical skills appropriate to the analysis of the problems to be studied. Students select an area for intensive study and develop a program that trains them to comprehend and perform cutting-edge research in that field.

Consumer Behavior Curriculum

Quantitative Marketing Curriculum

Current student profiles

Dissertations & Placements

Next: Real Estate

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The marketing faculty embrace research traditions grounded in psychology and behavioral decision-making, economics and industrial organization, and statistics and management science.

These traditions support research inquiries into consumer behavior, firm behavior, the development of methods for improving the allocation of marketing resources, and understanding of how marketing works in a market setting.

A small number of students are accepted into the PhD Program in marketing each year, with a total of about 18 marketing students in residence. Student-faculty relationships are close, both professionally and socially. This permits the tailoring of the program of study to fit the background and career goals of the individual.

A marketing student’s program of study usually includes several doctoral seminars taught by marketing faculty, some doctoral seminars taught by other Stanford GSB faculty, and a considerable number of graduate-level courses in related departments outside the business school, depending on a student’s particular area of investigation.

The field is often broken down into two broad subareas: behavioral marketing and quantitative marketing.

Behavioral Marketing

Behavioral marketing is the study of how individuals behave in consumer-relevant domains. This area of marketing draws from social psychology and behavioral decision theory and includes a wide variety of topics such as:

• Decision making
• Attitudes and persuasion
• Social influence
• Motivation and goals
• New technologies
• Consumer neuroscience
• Misinformation

Students in this track take classes in behaviorally oriented subjects within Stanford GSB and also in the Psychology Department . All students have the opportunity to interact with Stanford GSB faculty in every group and, indeed, across the Stanford campus.

Behavioral Interest Group

There is also a formal institutional link between the behavioral side of marketing and the micro side of organizational behavior , which is called the Behavioral Interest Group. The Stanford GSB Behavioral Lab links members of this group. This lab fosters collaborative work across field boundaries among those with behavioral interests.

The Behavioral Lab is an interdisciplinary social research laboratory open to all Stanford GSB faculty and PhD students. The lab’s research primarily spans the fields of organizational behavior and behavioral marketing, and covers a rich and diverse array of topics, including attitudes and preferences, consumer decision-making, group dynamics, leadership, morality, power, and prosocial behavior.

Preparation and Qualifications

A background in psychology and experience with experimental methods and data analysis provide optimal preparation for students pursuing the behavioral track, though students from a variety of backgrounds have performed well in the program.

Quantitative Marketing

The quantitative marketing faculty at Stanford emphasize theoretically grounded empirical analysis of applied marketing problems. This line of inquiry draws primarily on fundamentals in applied microeconomic theory, industrial organization, and econometrics and statistics.

Questions of interest include:

Investigating consumer choices and purchase behavior

Examining product, pricing, advertising, and promotion strategies of firms

Analyzing competition in a wide range of domains

Development and application of large-scale experimentation, high-dimensional statistics, applied econometrics and big-data methods to solve marketing problems

A common theme of research is the use of rigorous quantitative methods to study important, managerially relevant marketing questions.

Cross-Campus Collaboration

Students in this track take common classes in quantitatively oriented subjects with others at Stanford GSB, as well as the Economics and Statistics Departments. All Stanford GSB students have the opportunity to interact with Stanford GSB faculty in every group and, indeed, across the Stanford campus.

Solid training in economics and statistical methods, as well as programming skills, offers a distinct advantage for quantitative marketing students, but students from various backgrounds such as engineering, computer science, and physics have thrived in the program.

Faculty in Behavioral Marketing

Jennifer aaker, szu-chi huang, jonathan levav, zakary tormala, s. christian wheeler, faculty in quantitative marketing, kwabena baah donkor, wesley r. hartmann, sridhar narayanan, navdeep s. sahni, emeriti faculty, james m. lattin, david bruce montgomery, michael l. ray, itamar simonson, v. “seenu” srinivasan, recent publications in marketing, express: using price promotions to drive children’s healthy choices in a developing economy, the allure of consensus: people (over)seek consensus in selecting group persuasion strategies., between brand attacks and broader narratives: how direct and indirect misinformation erode consumer trust, recent insights by stanford business, what people really think about search engine ads. (you might be surprised.), zoom in... or out why face-to-face meetings matter, 10 of our favorite stories about careers and success of 2023.

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PhD | Marketing

The Ph.D. in Marketing

Stern’s Ph.D. program in marketing trains students to perform research in a broad array of behavioral areas such as consumer psychology, information processing, and judgment and decision making. The program also teaches students how to conduct research that develops econometric and statistical models to investigate consumer, firm, and market phenomena. The behavioral work in the department emphasizes experimental methodologies while the marketing science research focuses on structural models and Bayesian analyses. Applications of theory focus on current topics such as branding, social networks and media, word of mouth, and the use of digital media. The department is proud of a long tradition of close collaboration between doctoral students and faculty members.

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Joint Doctoral Degree in Marketing and Psychology

The Joint Doctoral Degree in Marketing and Psychology is offered to students engaging in study between the two departments. This program adds to the interdisciplinary nature of education at Penn and provides students a unique opportunity to get rigorous training in both disciplines along with a competitive advantage on the job market. For Marketing students, the joint degree will offer systematic exposure to the basic discipline. For Psychology students, the joint degree will offer training in consumer behavior research.

Requirements to enter the program are as follows:

(1) Apply and be accepted to a primary “home” department, and (2) Once accepted, apply to the joint program. Submit the following materials to the Director of the Joint Program, currently Barbara Mellers ( [email protected] ): a) CV; b) Letter of application expressing interest in the program, what you would like to study, how the degree will help you; c) Transcripts; d) Letter of good standing from home department. For new students (first year) from either program, this is not necessary. For students who have been in a program for one year or more, get a letter from the Director of Graduate Studies from your home department.

* Note : After students have been admitted into the Joint PhD program, they will receive the Degree Requirements Checklist. Students will meet with their advisor annually to go over the Degree Requirement Checklist. A student who wishes to pursue the joint degree will have more requirements than a student in either department, but greater flexibility in the timing of courses and exams to manage those requirements.

Academic Requirements are 15 CUs-Marketing Students, 20 CUs-Psychology Students

§ 4 CUs of Marketing Courses

MKTG 9400/9410 (1 CU) – Measurement and Data Analysis in Marketing

MKTG 9420/9430 (1 CU) – Research Methods in Marketing

MKTG 9500 (.5 CU) – JDM Perspectives on Consumer Behavior – Part A

MKTG 9520 (.5 CU) – Information Processing Perspectives on Consumer Behavior – Part

MKTG 9540 (.5 CU) – Economic/OR Models of Marketing – Part A

MKTG 9560 (.5 CU) – Empirical Models in Marketing – Part A

§ 3 CUs Supervised Research (Psychology 6990) —in 2 consecutive semesters (1 CU in one semester and 2 in the other)

§ 3 CUs Psychology Proseminars (.5 CU each) – distributed equally from Mind, Brain, and Individual/Groups areas

§ 2 CUs Statistics courses , including Psychology 6120 (cross-listed with STAT 5010)

§ 1 CU Economics Course – Students are required to take one of the following Economics Sequences:

ECON 7010 (1.0 CU) and ECON 7110 (1.0 CU) - Microeconomic Theory I & II OR

ECON 6100 (1.0 CU) - Microeconomic Theory and ECON 6110 (1.0 CU) – Game Theory and Applications , OR

BEPP 9500 (1.0 CU) - Managerial Economics 

§ Marketing Qualifying Exam done in the year when most marketing courses are taken--typically Year 1 or Year 2

§ Psychology 6990 Research Paper – to be completed during the period that a student takes 3 Psych 6990s.

§ Psychology Qualifying Exam consisting of two research papers and an oral defense

§ 2 Research Papers for Marketing * * Note : The two Marketing research papers can also be used to fulfill the PSYC 6990 and 1 of the Psychology Qualifying exam papers.

§ TA duties in accordance with the home department expectations

§ Dissertation with two committee members from each department and Advisor from Home Department. As a Joint Degree student approaches dissertation status, please be sure to review all dissertation formatting policies between both programs.

§ 7 CUs Electives or Independent Studies (Psych 9990) for Psychology Students only

§ 2 CUs Electives – for Marketing Students only

* Note : The University does not allow students to triple count courses for multiple degrees (i.e. you cannot count a course toward your Masters course of study, PhD and Joint course of study PhD) Any questions can be sent to Gidget Murray, Wharton Doctoral Director w( [email protected] )

Marketing PhD Program

Marketing is an interdisciplinary field that examines the interactions of consumers and businesses in the marketplace. Academic research in marketing draws upon theories and methodology from a wide variety of fields, including psychology, sociology, mathematics, statistics, and economics. Faculty members in Marshall’s marketing department represent numerous theoretical backgrounds and substantive interests. As mentors, they encourage students to identify their own interests and develop the analytic and methodological skills to pursue their own research questions.

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• ADMISSIONS EVENTS

CONCENTRATIONS

Quantitative marketing.

This area of marketing shares theories and methodologies with economics, mathematics, and statistics. Faculty advising students in this area are experts in a variety of topics such as

• Applications of artificial intelligence in marketing
• Understanding how businesses manage social interactions
• The impact of digital platforms on different industries
• Social networks and network structures in markets
• Strategic pricing decisions
• Distribution-channel strategies
• Innovation and product growth
• Global markets

Consumer Psychology

This area of marketing shares theories and methodologies with social and cognitive psychology and behavioral economics. Faculty advising students in this area are experts in a variety of topics such as

• Status and luxury goods
• Branding and consumers’ attachments to brands
• Consumers’ strategies to maintain a positive self-evaluations
• Emotions and their effects on consumers’ valuations of products
• How the use of technology affects consumers’ enjoyment and memories of experiences
• Consumers' responses to service and product failure
• Budgeting and saving decisions
• Consumer Creativity

Developing Marketing Scholars

The aim of the PhD program in marketing at USC is to develop outstanding researchers and prepare them for productive careers in academia. During their studies, students will transition from consumers of knowledge to producers and disseminators of knowledge.

Marshall’s PhD program in marketing is highly selective. The small size of the program allows for close collaborations between students and faculty and for students to tailor their program of study to fit their background and research interests.

From the beginning of the program, students have the opportunity to engage in different research projects and receive guidance and mentorship from faculty experts. Students are strongly encouraged to develop their own research program and have the freedom to pursue their own ideas.

Faculty members are experts in their areas and are highly committed to the training and guidance of PhD students.

Faculty Coordinator: Gülden Ülkümen, Professor of Marketing

REQUIREMENTS

During their first two years in the program, students are required to complete a series of classes in marketing as well as in other departments in Marshall and USC at large.

Within marketing, PhD students complete four marketing seminars (two in quantitative marketing and strategy, two in consumer behavior). These seminars cover the key areas of academic marketing research and provide students a broad perspective of the field of marketing.

Fall Semester — Even Years

MKT 613: Marketing Models in Consumer and Business-to-Business Markets

Spring Semester - Odd Years

MKT 616: Consumer Behavior Theory and Research

Fall Semester - Odd Years

MKT 615 Strategic and Marketing Mix Models

Spring Semester - Even Years

MKT 618: Consumer Behavior and Decision Making

In addition, students take classes in other departments in the business school (e.g., Management and Organizational Behavior, Data Science), as well as in departments across campus (e.g., economics, psychology, statistics, computer science).

First Year Summer Research Paper

The first year paper allows students to develop their own research interest and to demonstrate their research potential. Students develop an original research question and provide initial tests of their predictions. A faculty mentor and other marketing faculty form the first year research paper committee that guides the student’s process.

Qualifying Exam

Following the spring semester of their second year, students will take part in a qualifying exam that leads to the assessment of whether the student is ready for ascension to candidacy. The topics pursued in the qualifying exam often evolve into a substantial portion of the student’s dissertation. A faculty mentor and other faculty members from marketing and from outside the department form the qualifying exam committee that guides the student’s process.

After passing the qualifying exam, students are admitted to PhD candidacy and pursue their research, culminating in their dissertation.

Research Mentorship

Students work with different research mentors over the course of the program. In the first two years, students work with different faculty member each semester, in order to expose students to different researchers and research approaches. By the end of year two, students should have identified a primary research mentor who will guide them until completion of the dissertation, i.e., their faculty advisor.

Year 1: In year 1, the research mentor aims to advise the student with their courses, studies, and overall strategies in the program. Students may assist with a faculty research project if it offers a good learning experience and does not interfere with classes and other program requirements. In some cases, the relationship may involve the student working on their own research project, in which case the research mentor serves as an advisor. Further, the research mentor may be involved in guiding the development of the first-year paper.

Year 2: In year 2, the student should gain further research skills by assisting the faculty mentor with a research project that offers a good learning experience. Activities may include data collection, data cleaning, data organizing, coding, and estimation for empirical projects, and checking models and proofs for theoretical projects. In some cases, the relationship may involve the student working on their own research project, in which case the research mentor serves as an advisor. Further, the research mentor advises the student in developing the second-year paper.

Year 3: In year 3, the student will continue to gain research skills by working on research projects from previous years that should involve different faculty. If not yet done, the student will start developing their own research projects and agenda. The research mentor will primarily serve as an advisor.

Year 4: In year 4, the student will continue to improve their research skills, advancing research projects from previous years, and start new ones. The research mentor will continue to serve as an advisor.

Year 5: In year 5, the research mentor serves to advise the student on completion of the dissertation. In most cases, the advisor will serve as the student’s dissertation chair.

You will work hands-on in a thriving research culture with constant exposure to new and important ideas. Marshall is ranked 5th in the world in research for the years 2018–2022 by the UT-Dallas Research Rankings.

Our faculty regularly publish in the field’s top journals, such as:

• Journal of Marketing
• Journal of Marketing Research
• Journal of Consumer Research
• Marketing Science
• Management Science

Our faculty also continuously publish in the premiere journals of related disciplines

• American Economic Review
• Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
• Journal of experimental Psychology: General
• Psychological Science
• The Rand Journal of Economics

Selective List of Journal Publications With Students

From the very beginning of the program, students collaborate with faculty on research projects with the goal of producing research that will be published in the top journals. Below, please find a selection of recent articles that resulted from these collaborations. * denote current or former PhD students.

Ceylan*, Gizem, Kristin Diehl, and Wendy Wood (forthcoming), “To Imagine or Not to Imagine: A Meta-Analysis Investigating the Effectiveness of Mental Simulation of Positive Experiences on Behavior,” Journal of Marketing .

Ceylan*, Gizem, Kristin Diehl, and Davide Proserpio (forthcoming), “Words Meet Photos: When and Why Visual Content Increases Review Helpfulness,” Journal of Marketing Research .

Chandrasekaran*, Deepa, Gerard J. Tellis and Gareth James (2022), “Leapfrogging, Cannibalization, and Survival during Disruptive Technological Change: The Critical Role of Rate of Disengagement,” Journal of Marketing.

D’Angelo*, Jennifer K., Kristin Diehl, and Lisa A. Cavanaugh. "Lead by Example? Custom-Made Examples Created by Close Others Lead Consumers to Make Dissimilar Choices." Journal of Consumer Research 46, no. 4 (2019): 750-773.

Donovan*, Leigh Anne and Priester, Joseph (2020). Exploring the psychological processes that underlie interpersonal forgiveness: Replication and extension of the model of motivated interpersonal forgiveness. Frontiers in Psychology.

Donovan*, Leigh Anne Novak, and Joseph R. Priester. "Exploring the psychological processes underlying interpersonal forgiveness: The superiority of motivated reasoning over empathy." Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 71 (2017): 16-30.

Dukes, Anthony and Yi Zhu* (2019) “Why Customer Service Frustrates Consumers: Exploiting Hassel Costs by a Tiered Customer Service Organization,” Marketing Science, 38(3): 500-515.

Hong*, Jihoon, Max Wei and Gerard J. Tellis (2022), “Machine Learning for Creativity: How Similarity Networks Can Identify Successful Projects in Crowdfunding,” Journal of Marketing .

Jayarajan*, Dinakar, S. Siddarth, and Jorge Silva-Risso. "Cannibalization vs. competition: An empirical study of the impact of product durability on automobile demand." International Journal of Research in Marketing 35, no. 4 (2018): 641-660.

Paulson*, Courtney, Lan Luo, and Gareth M. James. "Efficient large-scale internet media selection optimization for online display advertising." Journal of Marketing Research 55, no. 4 (2018): 489-506.

Pei*, Amy, and Dina Mayzlin (2021), "Influencing the Influencers." Marketing Science, forthcoming.

Proserpio, Davide, Isamar Troncoso*, and Francesca Valsesia* (2021) "Does gender matter? The effect of management responses on reviewing behavior." Marketing Science, Forthcoming.

Gerard J. Tellis, Ashish Sood, Nitish Sood, Sajeev Nair* (2023), “Lockdown Without Loss? A Natural Experiment of Net Payoffs from to Covid COVID-19,” Journal of Public Policy and Marketing .

Troncoso*, Isamar and Lan Luo (2023), “Look the Part? The Role of Profile Pictures in Online Labor Marketplace,” Marketing Science .

Valsesia*, Francesca and Kristin Diehl (2022), “Let Me Show You What I Did Versus What I Have: Sharing Experiential Versus Material Purchases Alters Authenticity and Liking of Social Media Users,” Journal of Consumer Research¸ Volume 49, October, p. 430-449.

Tellis, Gerard J., Deborah J. MacInnis, Seshadri Tirunillai*, and Yanwei Zhang*. "What drives virality (sharing) of online digital content? The critical role of information, emotion, and brand prominence." Journal of Marketing 83, no. 4 (2019): 1-20.

Valsesia*, Francesca, Kristin Diehl, and Joseph C. Nunes (2017), “Based on a True Story: Making People Believe the Unbelievable,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 71, 105-110

Valsesia*, Francesca, Joseph C. Nunes, and Andrea Ordanini (2021), “I Am Not Talking to You: Partitioning an Audience in an Attempt to Solve the Self-Promotion Dilemma,” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 165, 76-89.

Valsesia*, Francesca, Davide Proserpio, and Joseph C. Nunes. "The Positive Effect of Not Following Others on Social Media." Journal of Marketing Research (2020): 0022243720915467.

Xu*, Zibin, Yi Zhu and Shantanu Dutta (Forthcoming), “Platform Screening Strategies And The Role of Niche Sellers on Service Provision”, International Journal of Research in Marketing

Xu*, Zibin and Anthony Dukes, (2021) “Personalization, Customer Data Aggregation, and the Role of List Price,” Management Science, forthcoming.

Xu*, Zibin, and Anthony Dukes. "Product line design under preference uncertainty using aggregate consumer data." Marketing Science 38, no. 4 (2019): 669-689.

Zhang*, Mengxia and Lan Luo (2023), “Can Consumer Posted Photos Serve as a Leading Indicator of Restaurant Survival? Evidence from Yelp,” Management Science , Vol. 69, No. 1, 25–50

Zhu*, Yi and Anthony Dukes (2017), “Prominent Attributes under Limited Attention,” Marketing Science, 36(5): 683-698.

Faculty Honors

The research of our faculty has been recognized repeatedly as innovative and highly impactful. Faculty members have been named fellows in the field’s leading professional organizations.

• American Marketing Association IO Lifetime Achievement Award
• Vijay Mahajan Lifetime Contribution to Marketing Strategy Award
• Alpha Kappa Psi Award
• Harold H. Maynard Award
• William F. O’Dell Award
• Donald R. Lehmann Award
• John D.C. Little Award
• INFORMS Society for Marketing Science Long-term Impact Award
• Fellow of INFORMS Society for Marketing Science
• Fellow of American Marketing Association
• Fellow of Association of Consumer Research
• Fellow of Society of Consumer Psychology

Proven Thought Leaders

Our faculty have a substantial role in shaping the discipline through their positions as editors, associate editors and editorial board members of:

• Journal of Consumer Psychology

Our faculty also include former presidents of major professional organizations, such as the Association for Consumer Research, the Association for Consumer Psychology, and INFORMS Society of Marketing Science (ISMS).

Program Culture

The culture of the program is research focused, collegial, supportive, and highly interactive. PhD students are “junior colleagues” encouraged to participate in academic research with faculty from the very beginning. The low PhD student/faculty ratio coupled with the marketing faculty’s “open door” policy promotes frequent and meaningful interactions between faculty and students about research, careers and teaching. Students also serve as colleagues and mentors to each other and often develop papers together.

Research Environment Faculty and students attend weekly scholarly presentations from invited faculty from around the world. In addition internal brown bag seminars and reading groups allow students and faculty to exchange ideas and receive feedback on research topics.

Student Background Our students come from all of over the world. They have strong academic backgrounds and bring with them a variety of experiences prior to joining the program.

Awards Marketing Ph.D. students have contributed to the field by publishing in leading journals and winning numerous prestigious research awards, including the SCP Sheth Award and the William O’Dell Award for long term contributions to marketing for articles published in the Journal of Marketing Research. Students have been recipients of INFORMS Society for Marketing Science (ISMS) Doctoral Dissertation Competition Award, finalists for the John D. Little Award for best paper in Marketing Science, and early career achievement award in marketing. Student research proposals have been funded by the Marketing Science Institute (MSI) and the Institute for The Study of Business Markets (ISBM).

PHD STUDENTS

Stephan (steve) carney.

• PhD Student in Marketing

Maansi Dalmia

Aparna jayaram, soohyun kim.

Our PhD graduates contribute to marketing research and practice throughout the world. We have a long history of mentoring PhD students who are on the faculty of top universities around the world.

Recent Placements (2023-2019)

Elisa Solinas (2023) Assistant Professor, IE, Spain

Wensi Zhang (2023) Assistant Professor, University of Texas at Dallas, USA

Gizem Ceylan (2022) Postdoctoral Researcher, Yale University

Ilya Lukibanov (2022) Data Scientist, AXS, USA

Sajeev Nair (2022) Assistant Professor, University of Kansas, USA

Isamar Troncoso (2022) Assistant Professor, Harvard Business School, USA

Chaumanix Dutton (2021) Assistant Professor, Arizona State University, USA

Jihoon Hong (2021) Assistant Professor, Arizona State University, USA

Mengxia Zhang (2021) Assistant Professor, Ivey Business School, Western University, Canada

Jennifer D'Angelo (2020) Assistant Professor, TCU, USA

Amy Pei (2020) Assistant Professor, Northeastern University, USA

Yao Yao (2019) Assistant Professor, San Diego State University, USA

APPLYING TO THE PhD PROGRAM

Dates + deadlines.

December 15, 2023: Application Deadline - Accounting, Data Sciences & Operations, and Management & Organization* 

January 15, 2024: Application Deadline - Finance & Business Economics and Marketing 

The link to the PhD Program application is available on the Admissions page and the next opportunity to apply is for Fall 2024 admission. Late applications may or may not be considered at the discretion of the admissions committee. 

Admissions decisions are made from mid-February to mid-April. You will be notified by email when a decision has been made.

ADMISSIONS CONTACT

Ph.D. Program USC Marshall School of Business 3670 Trousdale Parkway, BRI 306 Los Angeles, California 90089-0809 EMAIL

• INFO SESSIONS

Stay Informed + Stay Connected

MARKETING PH.D.

VIBRANT, SMART, AND CURIOUS

Over the last ten years, 100 percent of marketing Ph.D. students have accepted academic positions upon graduating, thanks in large part to faculty mentors at the top of their game.

Quick Links

• Ph.D. Program
• Why McCombs
• Marketing Department

RESEARCH BREADTH

The world is your laboratory.

ACADEMIC LIFE AT McCOMBS

Mentorship and practice.

CAREER PLACEMENT

The world needs you, application deadline.

The application deadline for the Marketing Doctoral Program is December 15th.

Extraordinary business and economic growth have ushered in exciting times in our Marketing Department, with many graduates starting their careers at the world's leading research institutions. The program's primary goal is to develop students into skilled researchers and future leaders in academia by creating and disseminating marketing knowledge that reshapes the marketplace.

Consumer Behavior

Research focuses on issues related to the acquisition and retention of consumers and consumers' consumption of goods, services, ideas, and experiences. The research both relies on and contributes to theory in marketing, psychology, sociology, and economics and has practical relevance, answering questions that inform and improve marketing and public policy decisions and individual-level consumer well-being.

Marketing Strategy

Research focuses on issues related to firms' strategies and behaviors, including topics such as innovation management, sales force management, distribution channels, market entry strategy, technology strategy, new venture marketing, customer relationship management, and marketing metrics. The research spotlights substantive real-world problems, and generally, the insights from marketing strategy research have direct and actionable implications for marketing practice.

Quantitative Marketing

Research focuses on developing theoretical models and empirical methods for applied marketing problems, drawing from economic theory, statistics, econometrics, and computer science to uncover novel insights, challenge existing theory, and advance marketing practice. The research, combining computational advances, fruitful collaborations with industry, and explosive growth in data availability, along with strong student demand for analytical training, portends a fulfilling academic career for those interested in quantitative marketing.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES

A wide variety of research designs is used, and mastery of quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques is essential.

PREPARATION AND QUALIFICATIONS

The Texas McCombs Marketing doctoral program assumes that students have taken advanced courses to establish a reasonable mathematical, statistics, and economics background. Adequate computer programming skills are necessary for coursework.

Prospective applicants are required to hold a four-year bachelor's degree (does not require a formal degree in the area of study) or equivalent before starting the program. There are no additional prerequisites or requirements for the Marketing department.

See Admissions for further information.

CAREER DESTINATIONS

The primary goal of the Texas McCombs Ph.D. program is to prepare students for exceptional academic careers. Over the last five years, McCombs Marketing Ph.D. alumni have excelled at top institutions globally.

Recent Graduate Placements

Current students and *job market candidates.

Abbott, Paige

Alam, Meher

Basak, Somdatta,

Chavez Montes, Marcelino

Gautam, Aprajita

Ghosh, Robina

Niknejad Moghadam, Mahdi*

Nivsarkar, Anima

Shu, Runyang

Sridhar, Sachin

Urdaneta Romano, Constanza

Winer, Sarah

Wu, Xiaohan Jessica

Yu, Lingzhi

Zhang, Zhengwei (Harrison)

Paige Abbott

Somdatta Basak

Marcelino Chavez

Aprajita Gautam

Robina Ghosh

Mahdi niknejad moghadam*.

Anima Nivsarkar

Runyang Shu

Sachin Sridhar

Constanza Urdaneta Romano

Sarah Wiener

Xiaohan (Jessica) Wu

Zhengwei (Harrison) Zhang

ARE YOU READY TO CHANGE THE WORLD?

The Texas McCombs Doctoral Program is seeking individuals who are interested in transforming the global marketplace. Are you one of these future thought leaders?

Quantitative Marketing

The PhD degree in Marketing is a research degree that is focused on developing cutting-edge skills that are needed to do research on the frontiers of marketing.

Behavioral Marketing

The PhD program in Behavioral Marketing at Yale focuses on how individuals think and behave in consumer-relevant domains. The program of study is inter-disciplinary, drawing from the fields of consumer behavior, social psychology, cognitive psychology, decision research, and behavioral economics.

Yale Marketing Seminar

The Yale Marketing Seminar Series presents recent research papers in marketing. The goal is to bring researchers from other universities to the Yale campus to stimulate exchange of ideas and deepen understanding of marketing trends.

PhD in Marketing

Preferred deadline: January 20

• Terry Dean’s Advisory Council Distinguished Professor and Associate Professor , Department of Marketing

Program Overview

The PhD in Business Administration with a focus in Marketing provides students with both strong empirical skills in econometrics, psychometrics and statistics and strong theory development in consumer behavior, psychology and strategy.

The department and its faculty consistently rank high in terms of research productivity. The department is ranked 15th worldwide based on publications in the premier American Marketing Association (AMA) journals in 2010 – 2019. The department is also ranked 11th among all U.S. public schools in the UT-Dallas Business School Research Rankings 2019-2022. Faculty have won multiple research awards and serve on the editorial boards of prestigious academic journals.

Doctoral students work with faculty at all phases of the research process—from research question formulation, research design and data analysis to writing up the study. The culture is collegial and informal, with students viewed as colleagues and coauthors. Moreover, students are encouraged to work with multiple faculty, not just their chosen advisor or dissertation chair.

Student Profile

What kind of students are we looking for.

Consequently, the department looks for the following traits in PhD students:

• Motivated, excited and intellectually curious about problems and issues
• Disciplined and committed to think deeply about research problems and solutions
• A willingness to learn econometric, psychometric and statistical skills
• A willingness to learn about theoretical and conceptual issues in the field
• Creative problem solvers
• Business experience useful, but not a requirement.

Concentrations

Consumer behavior.

Consumer behavior research focuses on how consumers decide what and how much to consume and how consumers integrate different pieces of information (both consciously and unconsciously) to make predictions and judgments about their environment and target stimuli to inform their consumption decisions. Consumer behavior students take additional courses in psychology and sociology.

Consumer behavior students typically work with:

• Marcus Cunha
• Tari Dagogo-Jack
• John Hulland
• Charlotte Mason
• Julio Sevilla
• Jinjie Chen
• Sarah Whitley

Marketing Strategy

Marketing strategy research focuses on the components of marketing capabilities and resources such as brands, consumer relationships, innovation, sales force management and their impact on brand, business unit, customer, firm and sales force and salesperson performance. Marketing strategy students typically take additional courses in economics, econometrics and statistical methods as well courses in corporate finance, management strategy, sociology and social psychology.

Marketing strategy students typically work with:

• Neil Bendle
• Sundar Bharadwaj
• Anindita Chakravarty
• Tatiana Dyachenko
• Pengyuan Wang
• Elham Yazdani

Typical Course Sequence

• Consumer Behavior Track
• Marketing Strategy Track
• Marketing Department Seminar ( MARK 9550  Consumer Behavior I or  MARK 9450  Marketing Strategy I)
• PSYC 6100  Cognitive Psychology
• PSYC 6200  Advanced Social Psychology
• POLS 7012  Introduction to Political Methodology
• PSYC 6420  Advanced Experimental Psychology
• Marketing Department Course ( MARK 9650  Multivariate Methods)
• PSYC 6160  Sensory Psychology
• PSYC 6430  Applied Regression Methods in Psychology
• First Year Paper
• Marketing Department Seminar ( MARK 9560  Consumer Behavior II or  MARK 9480  Marketing Strategy II)
• PSYC 6250  Psychometrics
• PSYC 8240  Judgment and Decision Making
• POLS 8501  Advanced Quantitative Methods I – Discrete Choice
• Marketing Department Course ( MARK 9700  Marketing Models)
• SOCI 6220  Development of Sociological Theory
• PSYC 8000  Advanced Topics in Psychology
• Comprehensive Examination
• Second Year Paper
• Oral Marketing Candidacy Exam
• Assuming the passing of comprehensive exams, students in Year 3 focus on making progress on existing research projects, beginning lead-authored work, and framing their dissertations.
• Dissertation Research
• Individual Research Interest
• Prepare for AMA job interviews (AMA Summer Educators’ Conference)
• Final Dissertation Defense
• Marketing Department Seminar ( MARK 9450  Marketing Strategy I or  MARK 9550  Consumer Behavior I)
• ECON 8010  Microeconomics
• ECON 8110  Econometrics I
• POLS 7014  Intermediate Political Methodology
• Marketing Department Seminar ( MARK 9650  Multivariate Methods)
• ECON 8120  Econometrics II
• POLS 8501  Advanced Quantitative Methods OR  ECON 8020 Microeconomics II
• Marketing Department Seminar ( MARK 9480  Marketing Strategy II or  MARK 9560  Consumer Behavior II)
• ECON 8130  Econometrics III
• Marketing Department seminar ( MARK 9700  Marketing Models)

All the marketing departmental courses are required courses. Electives chosen will need the approval of the Graduate Coordinator. 

PhD Student Academic Placements

Our PhD students have been successfully placed at research active universities. Some illustrative placements are as follows.

• Ashish Sharma , University of North Carolina (Charlotte) (graduated 2018)
• Kevin Sample , University of Rhode Island (graduated 2019)
• Jessica Babin , Ohio University (graduated 2019
• Vincent Zhang , University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong) (graduated 2020)
• Youngtak Kim , University of Tennessee (Knoxville) (graduated 2022)
• Lana Waschka , Elon University (graduated 2022)
• Seoyoung Kim , Fordham University (graduated 2022)
• Lan Anh Ton , Texas Christian University (graduated 2023)
• Rachel Ramey , Colorado State University (graduated 2023)

Departments and Program Offices

• PhD Program Office
• Department of Marketing

UGA Resources

• Graduate School
• Financial Aid

Additional Information

• Current PhDs
• Faculty Research
• Marketing Department PhD Handbook

• Psychology Programs

How to Become a Marketing Psychologist – Schooling and Degree Guide [2024]

What is a marketing psychologist.

A marketing psychologist is someone who studies what attracts people to a product or service. A marketing psychologist is an important person to those companies, government agencies and businesses whose roles depends a lot on product purchase.

This particular branch of psychology is classified as industrial-organizational psychology . One focus here is usually those parameters that spur productivity; ranging from employee morale to efficiency in production.

Another feature that cannot be ignored by the marketing psychologist is the decision making process as undertaken by the consumer. Here, the factors that influence the customer to make a given kind of purchase at a particular place all have to be well looked into.

Of course the influences that marketing campaigns as well as culture have on consumer trends all have to be looked at. If the professional knows the factors that come at play in making purchase choices, he can be better placed to know how best to target a specific group of consumers.

What is the Psychologist’s Perception of Marketing?

Marketing is a distinct field from psychology, yet much of what marketers attempt to do to promote their products relies on basic psychological principles, among them, perception.

By examining the way in which consumers perceive a product or service, marketers are better equipped to devise their marketing strategies in order to encourage consumers to purchase the product or service in question.

Perception in marketing is much more than what people think about a product; it involves how someone feels about it as well. Psychologists examine a variety of factors that influence consumers’ thoughts and feelings – the packaging of the product, the design of the product itself, the marketing strategies used to promote the product, and even the environment in which marketing occurs.

For example, psychologists that work in marketing understand that it’s natural for people to crave a snack in the late afternoon when they’re hungry. Using this information, they devise marketing campaigns for snack foods that air on TV, radio, and other mediums during that time of day in order to capitalize on human nature.

Seeing an advertisement for food when one is hungry alters one’s perception of the product being marketing. Thus, the chances of purchasing that item are far greater. So while perception is a psychological topic of study, is utilized to drive marketing campaigns.

There are some issues concerning the way in which marketing is perceived , however. Some psychologists, for example, are concerned about the negative messages that girls receive from advertisements about what it means to be pretty.

Other psychologists worry that the psychological power of marketing, on some level, exerts too much control and influence over human behavior as well.

What Does a Marketing Psychologist Do?

Marketing psychologists study consumers and how various factors such as age, education, and personal habits lead them to purchase certain items.

In addition to people, they study how various products are viewed by consumers such as the packaging, color, and pricing, all of which can affect someone’s decision to make a purchase. They are then able to determine the best way to present a specific product or service to that consumer in order to increase the chances of conversion (the consumer making a purchase).

Various factors affect consumers and what they purchase. Location for instance is a big factor. People who live in warmer climates are less likely to buy sweaters while people in colder climates are less likely to buy sandals.

This is an obvious factor, but what about others? Things such as age, gender, education, and personal habits can all contribute to a person’s buying decision. A marketing psychologist is able to figure out all these factors when evaluating a product or service.

How a product is presented to a consumer can have a big effect on sales, which is why merchandising is an important part of marketing psychology. For instance, running advertisements for supermarkets is more likely to convert if done in local newspapers.

Running commercials for a supermarket when the place is closed will be a waste of marketing dollars. Inside of a store, a marketing psychologist can recommend the best way to display a product such as the location of a display and how the display is organized. Targeting customers in specific areas of a store can be key to conversion.

Once a marketing psychologist has all the information needed, they can recommend the best type of marketing campaigns that will likely lead to conversion. For instance, they may recommend marketing a product through an infomercial as opposed to running billboard ads or even recommend re-branding of a product in order to grab the attention of people looking for such a product.

In the end, a marketing psychologist is able to use information they obtain about a product/service and consumer in order to develop a plan to best marketing that product or service to the consumer.

What are the Important Factors that a Marketing Psychologist Considers?

• Socio-economic status
• Level of education
• Geographical location
• Tastes and preferences

These are some of the core areas that a marketing psychologist looks at to come up with a comprehensive marketing strategy.

What are the Education Requirements to Become a Marketing Psychologist?

Usually, a bachelor’s degree is enough to start working in marketing departments and agencies. This of course is with a bachelor’s degree in psychology . However for a serious career in marketing psychology, it is really important to have a graduate degree.

To gain entry into a graduate school, a psychology degree would be of immense benefit. In some institutions, it is possible to get a marketing psychology minor, which may include coursework in probability and statistical studies.

For those who wish to go ahead for master’s study, they might find great opportunities in industrial-organizational settings. In some of the post-graduate programs, focus is laid on the disciplines of social psychology and even industrial psychology. Of course the emphasis is also laid on marketing psychology.

Other schools on the other hand offer social and marketing psychology specifically. Some people also go for the option of an MBA degree. This of course would mean that the person learns a great deal about human behavior.

The factor to bear in mind is that when one takes more psychology courses, the person benefits from a larger knowledge. Also, the person might wish to choose specializations that come with graduate programs that will further the goals in terms of a career as a marketing psychologist. There are several specializations that are offered with such graduate programs.

The courses that one needs not ignore include branding, market research, customer awareness creation and public policy as may affect the goals of marketing psychology.

Depending on the aspirations of the marketing psychologist, one might wish to go ahead to do Ph.D. studies. Usually, the person interested in the research angle of marketing psychology and consultancy practice will find that they will handle their careers better when they have a PhD.

A Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) is another option. Due to the intensive research carried out in this line of education, one needs to have completed a dissertation report and supervised internship plus an examination.

The PsyD is more demanding and needs one to have done lots of exams and to have clinical experience.

What Do You Learn in a Marketing Psychology Degree Program?

As one might guess, the coursework and learning experiences in a marketing psychology degree program center on marketing and psychology.

During a marketing psychology program students participate in classroom learning activities that focus on topics like market analysis, public relations, and business management, as well as industrial-organizational psychology, psychology of learning, behavioral psychology, and other topics related to the application of psychology to the business and marketing world.

For example, students in a master’s degree program in this field might take a course in public relations to learn how to help companies develop effective promotions for their products and services. To do so, they would lean on their understanding of how we communicate from coursework in interpersonal communications.

Furthermore, coursework in social psychology would help students derive a better understanding of how verbal and nonverbal messages are sent, received, and decoded by consumers such that the marketing message from a business is most effective.

Graduate studies don’t just take place in the context of a textbook and a classroom lecture. Instead, students at this level are generally required to complete an internship experience during which they get real-world experience applying the knowledge and skills they’ve acquired in their studies.

For example, a graduate student in marketing psychology might be placed in an internship with an advertising agency. There, they would learn how to apply their understanding of marketing psychology to help the agency create a campaign to encourage young people to eat healthier foods.

Additionally, students are supervised by experts in the field, so they not only have a chance to put their learning into practice, but they also have a mentor that can provide invaluable feedback on their work.

Where Does a Marketing Psychologist Work?

A marketing psychologist generally work in the following settings:

• Marketing consultancy firms
• Advertising agencies
• In colleges and universities
• In companies and industries that are consumer driven
• Independent practice

What is the Job Outlook for Marketing Psychologists?

As with the professions concerned with other psychologists, this field is set to be highly in demanding in the coming years. With realization of the business potential posed by such strategies in business as marketing research, there will be need for their expertise in several consumer driven ventures

What is the Salary of a Marketing Psychologist?

As of February 2024, according to Glassdoor, the average annual salary for a marketing psychologist is $101,000 . Of course the higher the education level reached the more one earns. Factors like state worked in and experience in the field are also influential in the income earned.

Related Reading

• How to Become a Business Psychologist
• How to Become a Consumer Psychologist
• MBA Vs. Master’s in Industrial Organizational Psychology
• Career Options With a Degree in Media Psychology
• Market Research Analyst: Duties, Skills and Education Requirements
• What Can You Do With An Industrial-Organizational Psychology Degree

Useful Resources

• Society for Consumer Psychology
• Association for Consumer Research
• Consumer Behavior: The Psychology of Marketing
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The Science of Selling

PhD in Marketing Science or Consumer Behavior

At Olin, the marketing discipline is distinguished by a demand for innovative ideas, critical thinking and an emphasis on quantitative abilities.

PhD students in marketing typically choose one of the two areas of study: Marketing Science and Consumer Behavior. Some choose to analyze the intersection of the two areas seeking to improve understanding and predict marketing phenomena.

• Marketing Science

Marketing Science focuses on the quantitative—economic fundamentals that include microeconomic theory and econometrics. Using this methodology, you examine mathematical modeling of buyer-seller interactions, consumer choices, purchase behavior, resource allocation, components of the marketing mix and new product development.

The methods below help you determine the best way to allocate marketing resources.

• Conduct empirical tests on the implications of these models
• Quantify the effectiveness of different strategies
• Explore the profit implications of using alternative strategies

In Marketing Science, we conduct empirical tests on the implications of these models, quantify the effectiveness of different strategies and explore the profit implications of using alternative strategies. We identify important drivers that should govern strategic decisions and, consequently, the allocation of marketing resources.

Consumer Behavior

Consumer Behavior concentrates on psychology fundamentals and understanding how people make decisions, including cognitive psychology, social psychology and behavioral decision theory. These areas provide a strong foundation as you study and research consumer judgment and decision-making, cognition, culture, emotions, motivation, individual differences, perception and social influence.

Faculty members work on a variety of topics related to judgment and decision-making. Current and recent research topics include biases in judgment and choice, choice assortments, prosocial behavior, financial decision making, branding, intertemporal choice, morality and consumption, preferences for natural products, gift giving and metacognition.

Marketing Faculty and Research

Olin’s marketing faculty pursue research focused on building frameworks and models to understand and evaluate marketing strategies and their impact on customers, consumers and competitors. This research provides decision makers the ability to think beyond current practices and offers answers to significant "what if" questions.

Research papers by faculty members have recently been published in well-respected journals such as:

• Journal of Consumer Research
• Journal of Marketing Research
• Journal of Marketing
• Marketing Letters

Read about collaborative research by Marketing faculty and PhD students.

Olin Doctoral Series | PhD Marketing

At WashU Olin, marketing is distinguished by a demand for innovative ideas, critical thinking and a strong emphasis on quantitative abilities.

Center for Analytics and Business Insights

The Center for Analytics and Business Insights is a hub for research and ideas, with opportunities for faculty, students and companies to collaborate.

Consumer Behavior Curriculum

Begin research collaborations with faculty

First-year summer paper

• Focuses on research completed in year 1
• Brief publication-style research paper with data/results
• In August after the first year, students must attend an RA/TA training offered by the Center for Teaching and Learning

First Semester Classes

• Tools Course: Quantitative Methods I (Psych 5066, 3 credits)
• Seminar in Consumer Behavior I (MKT 601, mini course, 1.5 credits)
• Social Psychology Seminar or other social science elective (e.g., Social Cognition, 3 credits)
• Social Science Elective (e.g., seminar in psychology, OB, social work or experimental economics)  
• Tools Course: Quantitative Methods II (Psych 5067, 3 credits)
• Behavioral and Experimental Research Methods I (MKT 600A, mini course, 1.5 credits)
• Judgment and Decision Making I (MKT 674, mini course, 1.5 credits)
• Organizational Research Methods (OB 630, 3 credits)

The order of classes may change due to availability, and classes may be substituted with approval. A communications course that focuses on oral communication is also recommended during the first two years. When the student takes the course is determined by the student and their advisor.

• Research—developing toward publication

Paper from 1st year presented in fall or spring semester (ideally fall)

Comprehensive Exams due summer after 2nd year

• Breadth—Open book essays based on extensive reading list
• Depth—Original research proposal
• Review—Write a journal article review

Third Semester

• Tools Course: Quantitative Methods (e.g., Research Designs and Methods, Psych 5011, 3 credits)
• Seminar in Marketing Management (MKT 670, 1.5-3 credits)
• Seminar in Consumer Behavior II (MKT 601, mini course, 1.5 credits)

Fourth Semester

• Tools Course: Quantitative Methods (e.g., Applied Multivariate Analysis, Psych 516, 3 credits)
• Behavioral and Experimental Research Methods II (MKT 600B, mini course, 1.5 credits)
• Social Science Elective (e.g., seminar in psychology, OB, social work or experimental economics)

Second year paper due and presented at the end of fall semester

• Paper should focus on research completed in year 2
• Publication-style research paper with data/results
• extension of 1st year paper, if substantially different
• extension of depth exam
• new project
• B53 660 Seminar in Presentation Skills (fall semester, required)
• Improvisation Course
• Research—developing toward publication, academic job market and dissertation

Dissertation Proposal—Students must assemble a Research Advisory Committee for the proposal of their dissertation and submit a Title, Scope and Procedure Form at the committee’s approval of the proposed dissertation by September 30 after the fourth year.

• Ideally, the dissertation proposal will be submitted and presented by end of spring semester of the fourth year. September 30 after the fourth year is the final deadline.
• The dissertation proposal and dissertation must propose/describe a substantial and novel body of research that is significantly different from previous milestone submissions.
• The dissertation may incorporate previous milestone research, but must go well beyond it.

Research—Developing toward publication, job market and dissertation

• Intent to Graduate (complete form online)
• Job market and placement
• Oral defense of dissertation
• Submission of Examination Approval form which signifies committee’s approval
• Upload of final, approved Dissertation to Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
• Submission of Documented Teaching Requirements to PhD office
• Attend all marketing department research seminars, lab meetings, journal club meetings, proseminar meetings and speaker meetings.
• Be collegial.
• All milestones will be evaluated by ≥ 2 faculty who will grade and provide comments.
• A Passing grade (or higher) must be received on each milestone.
• Grading scale: High Pass, Pass, Low Pass, Fail
• By August 1 each year, review progress annually with Faculty/PhD Program Staff. 

Download Marketing Consumer Behavior PhD course descriptions

Marketing Science Curriculum

Prior to the first year—mandatory attendance at math camp (offered through the Economics department)

Recommended Course Sequence

First semester.

• MEC 610 Microeconomics I (3 credits)
• Econometrics Course* (3 credits)
• MKT680 or 681 Machine Learning for Business Applications (3 credits)
• B53 620 Empirical Methods in Business** (3 credits)
• Olin PhD Marketing courses (variable)  

Second Semester

• MEC 611 Microeconomics II (3 credits)
• L11 Quantitative Methods II (3 credits)
• Olin PhD Marketing Courses (variable)
• L11 5161 Applied Econometrics
• B54 670 Seminar in Econometrics

The order of classes may change due to availability, and classes may be substituted with approval. A communications course that focuses on oral communication is also recommended during the first two year. When the student takes the course is determined by the student and his/her advisor.

• Attend Marketing seminars
• Begin research collaborations
• In the summer after the first year, students must meet with the faculty coordinator to discuss progress and complete a progress report to be submitted to the PhD Office by August 1 after the first year.
• Micro Prelim Exam is offered in June. Students must receive a “Distinction/Honors” or “PhD pass” to continue in the PhD program. One retake of the exam is permitted. Exemptions: Students do not need to take the exam if they obtain an average A- grade or above for the two Microeconomics courses in the first year, or obtain an average A- grade or above for all courses taken in the first year.
• In August after the first year, students must attend an RA/TA orientation offered by The Teaching Center.
• First-year research paper: Students are required to finish the paper and present to the marketing faculty before the end of the fall semester in the second year.
• Olin PhD Marketing Courses
• Electives (directed readings, independent studies)  
• Qualifying field exam: Students are required to pass the exam by the end of September. One retake of the exam is permitted.
• Second-year research paper: Students are required to finish the paper and present to the marketing faculty before the end of the fall semester in the second year.
• In the summer, students must meet with the faculty coordinator to discuss progress and complete a progress report to be submitted to the PhD Office by August 1.

B53 660 Seminar in Presentation Skills (fall semester, required) Improvisation Course

• Paper presentations (brown bag seminars and conferences)
• Dissertation research
• Dissertation Proposal – students must be able to assemble a Research Advisory Committee for the proposal of their dissertation and must submit a Title, Scope and Procedure form as the committee’s approval of the proposed dissertation by September 30 after the fourth year.
• Paper presentations (job market paper presentations with faculty and at conferences)

Download Marketing Science PhD course descriptions

Full-Time Marketing Faculty Members

Meet the professors who will be your mentors and research collaborators. See more in our faculty directory.

Baojun Jiang

Full Professor

• [email protected]
• 314.935.3315

Seethu Seetharaman

• [email protected]
• 314.935.3574

Doctoral Programs

Campus Box 1133-124-05 One Brookings Drive St. Louis, MO 63130-4899

• [email protected]
• 314-935-6340

Office Hours: Monday–Friday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

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NEXT START DATE

May 6, 2024

Program Director

Brian Cutler, PhD

PhD in Psychology with an emphasis in Media & Technology

The Fielding PhD in Psychology with an emphasis in Media & Technology prepares students to work at the intersection of psychology theories and media technologies. The curriculum blends the study of social behaviors, cognition, perception, and emotion with the research skills you need to be a specialist in psychology applied to media and technology. How people interact with, use, and respond to media affects every aspect of life, from relationships, education, entertainment, and marketing to addressing the pressing social and ethical issues of a digital world. Media psychology is not an end goal, it is a powerful set of skills that make you better able to tackle your passion and change the world, to harness and leverage the power of media technologies to do what matters most to you.

You will join students come from a variety of professional experiences and academic backgrounds with a common goal. You will join a community of scholar-practitioners—changemakers—who recognize that media psychology gives you the ability to see through the noise and focus on the drivers of human behavior to get to the heart of the issue, whether it’s technology development, communications strategies or expanding the field of academic knowledge.

APPLY NOW for Summer 2024

Media Psychology News

The latest news, announcements, and special events from Fielding’s Media Psychology program.

Beyond Bans: How Can Teachers Tackle Social Media at School?

By Pam Rutledge | 2024-02-29T06:08:36-08:00 February 29th, 2024 |

The Super Bowl Ad Game: What Makes a Brand Fumble?

By Pam Rutledge | 2024-02-21T06:34:11-08:00 February 21st, 2024 |

Media Psychology Student Uses VR to Transport Viewers Back to 1955 and the Famous Rosa Parks Bus Ride

By Fielding News | 2024-02-16T07:50:25-08:00 February 15th, 2024 |

What is Media Psychology?

Application requirements.

Media psychology starts with psychology.  Where traditional communication, media studies, sociology, or psychology programs focus on process or isolate media from human experience, media psychology looks for answer to the ‘why.’  Why do people react to media the way they do?  Why do people use some technologies more than others?  Why does technology use impact wellbeing?  Why does social representation matter? Why does social media influence how people feel about themselves? Why do people connect with stories?

In the media psychology program, you will gain an expertise of psychology to apply to media and technology. You can explore the ways in which cognition, emotion, and instinct can influence human responses to different media stimuli and alter technological impact. You can use these skills to anticipate consumption and use patterns, look for leverageable solutions to global problems, promote technology design that promotes economic, social, and environmental progress.  We give you the theoretical foundation and the skills to put your passion and commitment to work.

• Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree
• Minimum GPA of 3.0
• Online Application Form
• Curriculum Vitae (CV)
• Statement of Purpose
• Critical Thinking Writing Sample
• Official Transcript
• No GRE Required

Start your application NOW!  

What we do..

Media psychologists are finding new roles across multiple domains. Fortune 100 companies, for example, increasingly recognize the need for applying media psychology to organizational communications, structure, products and strategy. Our graduates have innovated new roles working with companies like Mozilla, Fox Films, AT&T, Deutsche Telekom and Disney among others, as well as crafting new business and consulting opportunities and developing successful advocacy campaigns. Special projects within the program give students the opportunity to have real-life experience during the course of their education. Recent projects include partnering with the Department of Defense deconstructing the narrative, cognitive and neuroscience triggers of terrorism in the social space and developing brand-aligned corporate social responsibility programs for companies like Grub Hub.

WHAT’S DIFFERENT ABOUT FIELDING?

• Customize Your Learning Experience

Tailor your degree to follow your passions and achieve your goals.

Partner with faculty to create a customized plan of study and research.

Study current trends and topics that have social impact , such as immersive media and augmented reality, media literacy, neuromarketing, psychology-based user experience research skills, and brand storytelling.

Use what you already know to inform your research.

Take charge  of your educational journey.

Your goals come first.  Every faculty member is committed to helping you build a program that will achieve your goals, from individual coursework to your dissertation.

Create media content

Develop communication strategies, educate the public, advise technology developers, speak at conferences globally, consult for media companies, publish academic research.

Why Choose Fielding’s Media Psychology program?

Follow Your Passion

From documentary filmmakers and educators to brand marketers and social advocates, students find their intellectual home in media psychology and leave equipped to achieve their goals and make a difference.

Qualifying Exam Presentation: Digital Emotion Regulation of Positive Emotions

The Fielding Qualifying Exam (QE) is the final step in the doctoral program preceding the dissertation. In media psychology, is an opportunity for students to demonstrate their breadth and depth of knowledge of the theory and research in their chosen area of specialization and it establishes the direction they wish to pursue in their dissertation.

As a media psychology doctoral student, Jay Grant’s QE and subsequent research, focus on the use of digital technologies for emotional regulation with an interest in positive media psychology.  Jay explores how the range of technologies from immersive technology and gaming to social media enable people to manage their emotional experiences.  This is increasingly important as people have on-demand access to social environments nearly anytime and anywhere. In considering the current landscape, Jay’s review encompasses emotion theories and self-determination theory to explain the phenomenon of digital emotion regulation with an emphasis on positive emotions, the components of emotional intelligence and social contexts.

Join Over 7,500 Fielding Alumni Located Around The World!

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Lindner College of Business » Academics » PhD Programs » Marketing

PhD in Marketing

Faculty in the Department of Marketing are considered some of the foremost scholars in consumer behavior, specializing in information processing, and judgment and decision making. Their research spans a wide range of theoretical sub-areas, including emotions and affect, self-regulation, imagery, branding, numerical cognition, morality and ethics, contextual / environmental effects, and more.

The faculty are well published in the top marketing and psychology journals, such as Journal of Consumer Research , Journal of Marketing , Journal of Consumer Psychology , Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , and Psychological Science . Several faculty members also serve on the editorial boards of top journals. In addition, they have extensive consulting experience with such companies as Procter & Gamble, A.C. Nielsen Corporation, Kraft USA, and the Kroger Company.

We are interested in students who are motivated to become scholars in consumer behavior, and aspire to a career as marketing faculty members in leading business schools. We boast a collaborative and supportive research environment to develop your ideas, and an active behavioral laboratory to test them.

School of Business

A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management

UCR Business Professor Recognized for Consumer Psychology Scholarship

Margaret “Meg” C. Campbell, an associate dean, professor of marketing and Anderson Presidential Chair in Business Administration at UC Riverside’s School of Business, has received the Fellows Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Consumer Psychology. 

The  Society for Consumer Psychology , or SCP, a top professional organization of academics and practitioners focused on consumer psychology, presented  Campbell  with the honor at the group’s annual conference on Saturday, March 9, in Nashville, Tenn.

The award recognized Campbell for her years of scholarship, research impact, and her work with the field, SCP, and the Journal of Consumer Psychology. She has been a co-editor of a special issue of the Journal of Consumer Psychology on Marketplace Morality, a co-editor of the Journal of Consumer Research, or JCR, and has served in leadership roles for both SCP and the Association for Consumer Research.

Campbell has made groundbreaking contributions to the literature about persuasion knowledge and price fairness, and her work has received more than 10,000 Google Scholar citations.

Previous awards include the JCP 2019 Park Award Honorable Mention; the 2017 JCR Best Article Honorable Mention, and the JCR 40th Anniversary Most Impactful Paper of 2000.

Campbell joined UCR in 2021 and serves as the faculty chair of the School of Business and the A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management. She previously was the provost professor of marketing at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado Boulder, and has served in several other academic positions.

She received a doctoral degree in business from Stanford University in 1992. 

• Graduate Study
• Program Areas
• Doctoral Admissions
• Computational Cognitive Neuroscience
• Developmental
• Integrative Neuroscience
• Social Psychology
• Courses 2023-24
• Joint Degrees

Doctoral Curriculum

The doctoral curriculum includes courses taken to fulfill the common graduate curriculum, research requirements, pedagogical training, and other requirements set by the student's area of specialization.

Common Graduate Course Curriculum

Proseminar : One-quarter course in which faculty members in the Department of Psychology give a summary of their ongoing research and students write a research proposal, to be submitted for an NSF graduate fellowship if the student is eligible for this funding. Professional development topics are also covered.

Statistics Requirement : Three courses (these courses must be passed with a grade of B or better):

• Statistics 22000 or Business 41000 or equivalent approved by the Graduate Curriculum Committee. More advanced courses, for which these courses are prerequisites also fulfill this requirement.
• Psychology 37300: Experimental Design and Statistical Modeling I.
• Psychology 37900 Experimental Design and Statistical Modeling II.

Trial Research Seminar : All graduate students are required to take the trial research seminar in the spring quarter of the first year. The purpose of this seminar is to help students formulate and complete their trial research projects.

Breadth Requirement : Students are required to take a minimum of three doctoral level courses in Psychology, extending across different areas of psychological science. Statistics courses and laboratory meetings may not be used to fulfill this requirement. These courses should be chosen in consultation with the student’s advisor and program area. These courses must be passed with a grade of B or better.

Research Requirements

I. Trial Research Each student will complete a trial research project under the guidance of a faculty advisor or advisors by the end of Spring quarter of the second year.

• At the start of the project, each student must form a trial research committee, composed of three faculty members. Typically, the chair of the committee is the student's primary research advisor. The chair of the committee must be a faculty or emeritus faculty member in the Psychology Department. At least one other member of the committee must be a faculty, emeritus faculty or affiliated faculty member in the Psychology Department. The third member of the committee may be from outside of the Psychology Department, provided that the chair of the trial research committee gives his or her approval.
• The student should initiate discussion of their trial research project with members of their trial research committee as soon as possible, but preferably no later than the end of the second week of Autumn quarter of their second year.  By the end of the Autumn quarter in Year 2, the student’s trial research committee should meet to approve the student’s trial research project proposal. At a minimum, this meeting consists of a student presentation of the proposed work and discussion of the plan with the committee.  
• The student will submit the trial research paper prior to the end of the Spring quarter of the second year and defend the trial research paper at a hearing with his or her committee prior to the end of the Spring quarter of the second year. At the hearing, the committee will also assess the student’s breadth and depth of knowledge of his or her research problem.
• Successful completion of the trial research project is a prerequisite for PhD candidacy.

II. Dissertation

• To begin the dissertation process, a student must form a three-member dissertation committee consisting of a chairperson and two other faculty members. Typically, the chair is the student's primary research advisor. The chair of the dissertation committee must be a faculty or emeritus faculty member in the Psychology Department. At least one other member of the committee must be a faculty, emeritus faculty or affiliated faculty member in the Psychology Department. The third member of the committee may be a University of Chicago faculty member from outside of the Psychology Department, provided that the chair of the dissertation committee gives his or her approval.
• Once a dissertation committee exists, the student must formulate an independent research project to be carried out under the committee's guidance. The student will then prepare a written dissertation proposal and submit it to his or her committee. In addition to specifying the research question(s) and situating them in the appropriate literature, the proposal should include a concrete plan for conducting the dissertation research, including the proposed methodology and analyses, possible outcomes, and time-line for completion. Feasibility also should be addressed, which may require preliminary data. When the student's advisor agrees, the student may schedule an oral defense of the proposal.
• To be admitted to PhD candidacy, a student must have successfully completed: (1) the Common Graduate Curriculum (including the statistics, and breadth); (2) the course requirements specified by a program or an individual course of study approved by the Curriculum Committee; (3) a trial research project; (4) approval of the dissertation proposal by all members of the student's dissertation committee following the oral defense. The deadline for entering candidacy is the end of Spring quarter of the fourth year.
• The completed thesis must be submitted to all three committee members. When the student's advisor agrees, the student may schedule an oral defense of the dissertation. The oral exam is administered by four members of the University community: the three members of the dissertation committee and an outside reader. The outside reader may be a faculty member at the University of Chicago, or a scientist at another institution. The outside reader must be approved by the thesis advisor. If, after the oral defense, all committee members approve the thesis, the student has met the Psychology Department's requirements for the PhD degree.
• The completed dissertation must be formatted and submitted to the dissertation office by the published deadlines for the quarter in which the student plans to graduate. It is recommended that the oral defense be held no later than fifth week of the quarter in order to ensure meeting the dissertation office deadline. Though not mandatory, it is helpful to submit a draft of the dissertation by the draft deadline in order to receive feedback on formatting issues. For information about formatting the dissertation and submission deadlines, please visit the dissertation office's website .

Doctoral Program Mentored Teaching Requirements

Practical pedagogical experience is a program requirement in the doctoral programs in the Division of the Social Science. In Spring of each year, graduate students apply for departmental teaching opportunities for the upcoming academic year.

Mentoring Plan

The department’s mentoring plan outlines the timing of the expected milestones of students in the program, and the roles of the faculty advisors, the director of graduate studies, the area chairs, and the department chair.  Students who do not meet the expected milestones by the deadlines listed above and fully described in the mentoring plan may petition the appropriate faculty leader (director of graduate studies for general curriculum and research requirements; area heads for area requirements) for an extension to a deadline.  Students who do not complete the requirements by the approved deadlines may be placed on probation. A notice of probation will include the necessary steps and timeline to return to good academic standing.  Students who do not complete the steps to return to good academic standing will be withdrawn from the program. 

Students with questions about the requirements may contact Kristi Schonwald (Sr. Student Affairs Administrator) in the Department of Psychology. Students may also contact Brett Baker (Associate Dean of Students) in the Social Sciences Division or Amanda Young (Associate Director, Graduate Student Affairs) in UChicagoGRAD.

Department of Psychology Mentoring Framework

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Tara Ceranic Salinas, Ph.D., and Ed Love Ph.D.

Tara Ceranic Salinas, Ph.D. , is a professor of business ethics and department chair of management at the Knauss School of Business at the University of San Diego. Ed Love, Ph.D. , is a professor of marketing and department chair at Western Washington University.

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MKTG9400 - Meas Data Analys Mktg A (Course Syllabus)

MKTG 9400 and MKTG 9410 provide an understanding and working knowledge of statistical data analysis for assessing how one variable is predicted (and possibly caused) by other variables. The courses focus on "funny Y's and messy X's" and extend the students' tool kit beyond classic linear regression and ANOVA in two directions. (1) Analyzing binary data, ordered response data, choice data, count data, truncated or censored data, and duration data; (2) Identifying and tackling causal identification challenges when analyzing non-experimental data. All assignments can be completed using R, SAS, or Stata.

MKTG9410 - Meas Data Analys Mktg B (Course Syllabus)

Mktg9420 - research methods mktg a (course syllabus).

This course provides an introduction to the fundamental methodological issues that arise in experimental and quasi-experimental research. Illustrative examples are drawn from the behavioral sciences with a focus on the behavior of consumers and managers. Topics that are covered include: the development of research ideas; data collection and reliable measurement procedures; threats to validity; control procedures and experimental designs; and data analysis. Emphasis is placed on attaining a working knowledge of the use of regression methods for non-experimental and quasi-experimental data and analysis of variance methods for experimental data. The primary deliverable for this course is a meta-analysis of a research problem of the students choosing that investigates the effects of research methods on empirical results.

MKTG9430 - Research Methods Mktg B (Course Syllabus)

Mktg9500 - jdgmnt & dec making cb a (course syllabus).

The purpose of this course is to provide a solid foundation for critical thinking and research on the judgment, decision-making and choice aspects of consumer behavior. There is a focus on how people process information when making judgments and choices and how the processes of judgment and choice might be improved. Topics of discussion include rationality, judgment under uncertainty, judgment heuristics and biases, risk taking, dealing with conflicting values, framing effects, prospect theory, inter-temporal choice, preference formation, and the psychology of utility. The focus will be on the individual decision-maker, although the topics will also have some applicability to group and organizational decision-making and behavioral research methodologies.

MKTG9510 - Judmnt & Dec Making Cb B (Course Syllabus)

The purpose of this course is to build off MKTG 950, "Judgment and Decision Making Perspectives on Consumer Behavior - Part A" with a more specialized focus that will vary from year to year. This course is intended for those interested in deepening their study of Judgment and Decision Making beyond the basics.

MKTG9520 - Consumer Research Topics - A (Course Syllabus)

The purpose of this seminar is to provide graduate students with an overview of contemporary topics in consumer research. Depending on faculty, areas addressed may include basic research on consumer knowledge (learning and memory), goals, persuasion, and emotions, with applications to branding. consumer finance, human-technology interaction, and social influence. The course draws from the literature in marketing, psychology and economics. The course will enable students to conceptualize, operationalize, and develop research ideas. Therefore, the focus is on understanding theoretical and methodological approaches to various aspects of consumer behavior, as well as advancing this knowledge by developing testable hypotheses and theoretical perspectives that build on the current knowledge base.

MKTG9530 - Consumer Research Topics - B (Course Syllabus)

Mktg9540 - econ/or models in mktg a (course syllabus).

This doctoral seminar reviews analytical models relevant to improving various aspects of marketing decisions such as new product launch, product line design, pricing strategy, advertising decisions, sales force organization and compensation, distribution channel design and promotion decisions. The primary focus will be on analytical models. The seminar will introduce the students to various types of analytical models used in research in marketing, including game theory models for competitive analysis, agency theory models for improving organization design and incentives within organizations, and optimization methods to improve decision making and resource allocation. The course will enable students to become familiar with applications of these techniques in the marketing literature and prepare the students to apply these and other analytical approaches to research problems that are of interest to the students.

MKTG9550 - Econ/Or Models in Mktg B (Course Syllabus)

This is a continuation of MKTG 954. This doctoral seminar reviews analytical models relevant to improving various aspects of marketing decisions such as new product launch, product line design, pricing strategy, advertising decisions, sales force organization and compensation, distribution channel design and promotion decisions. The primary focus will be on analytical models. The seminar will introduce the students to various types of analytical models used in research in marketing, including game theory models for competitive analysis, agency theory models for improving organization design and incentives within organizations, and optimization methods to improve decision making and resource allocation. The course will enable students to become familiar with applications of these techniques in the marketing literature and prepare the students to apply these and other analytical approaches to research problems that are of interest to the students.

MKTG9560 - Empirical Models Mktg A (Course Syllabus)

This course is designed to generate knowledge of the use of quantitative statistical, econometric, and Machine Learning methods and their application to Marketing problems. A strong emphasis is also placed on the applied nature of applying these methods in terms of data requirements, exogenous versus endogenous variation, and computational challenges when using complex models. Students outside of Marketing are welcome, and we discuss how these models can be applied to other disciplines. By the end of the course, students should be familiar with the key issues and approaches in empirical marketing modeling.

MKTG9570 - Empirical Models Mktg B (Course Syllabus)

This course is designed to generate awareness and appreciation of the way several substantive topics in marketing have been studied empirically using quantitative models. This seminar reviews empirical models of marketing phenomena including consumer choice, adoption of new products, sales response to marketing mix elements, and competitive interaction. Applies methods and concepts developed in econometrics and statistics but focuses on substantive issues of model structure and interpretation, rather than on estimation techniques. Ultimately, the goals are a) to prepare students to read and understand the literature and b) to stimulate new research interests. By the end of the course, students should be familiar with the key issues and approaches in empirical marketing modeling.

MKTG9710 - Adv Topics Mktg Part A (Course Syllabus)

Taught collectively by the faculty members from the Marketing Department, this course investigates advanced topics in marketing. It is organized in a way that allows students to 1) gain depth in important areas of research identified by faculty; 2) gain exposure to various faculty in marketing and their research values and styles; and 3) develop and advance their own research interests.

MKTG9720 - Adv Topics Mktg Part B (Course Syllabus)

Mktg9730 - research sem mktg part a (course syllabus).

This course is taught collectively by the faculty members from the Marketing Department. It is designed to expose Doctoral students to the cutting-edge research in marketing models in order to help them to define and advance their research interests. This course will offer: in-depth discussions on some important topics in marketing by experts in respective areas; tools, and methodologies required for conducting research in those areas; broad exposure to our faculty members and their proven research styles.

MKTG9740 - Research Sem Mktg Part B (Course Syllabus)

Mktg9950 - dissertation (course syllabus), mktg9990 - independent study (course syllabus).

Requires written permission of instructor and the department graduate adviser.

Descriptions of all active courses are listed. To see a summary of the active titles, as well as discontinued or renumbered courses, see the Ph.D. Course List.

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