Kathleen D. Vohs, Assistant Professor of Marketing and McKnight Land-Grant Professor, has an extensive background in psychology, and she applies her understanding of psychological science to business issues in order to advance new areas of marketing research.  Vohs's research specialties include self-regulation (particularly in terms of predicting impulsive spending, overeating among dieters, and making a bad impression); self-processes (such as self-esteem); the effects of making choices on self-regulatory ability; the effects of the mere presence of money (and the psychology of money); and heterosexual sexual relations as predicted by economic principles.  She has authored more than 70 scholarly publications and served as the editor of three books, and she has written extensively on self-regulation, intrapersonal and interpersonal processes, the objective consequences of self-esteem, bulimic symptoms, and consequences of self-control failure on impulsive behavior.  From 2003-2005, Vohs served as the Canada Research Chair in Marketing Science and Consumer Psychology at the University of British Columbia, and she was recently named a 2007 McKnight Land-Grant Professor at the University of Minnesota.

Self-regulation
Problems with spending
Dieting and disordered eating
Heterosexual sexual relations as predicted by economic principles
Self-processes such as self-esteem

Full List of Publications

Selected Recent Publications

• "Refining the Relationships of Perfectionism, Self-Efficacy, and Stress to Dieting and Binge Eating: Examining the Appearance, Interpersonal, and Academic Domains," Angela S. Cain, Anna M. Bardone-Cone, Lyn Y. Abramson, Kathleen D. Vohs, and Thomas E. Joiner, Jr., International Journal of Eating Disorders (forthcoming).
  
  
• "Making Choices Impairs Subsequent Self-Control: A Limited-Resource Account of Decision Making, Self-Regulation, and Active Initiative," Kathleen D. Vohs, Roy F. Baumeister, Brandon J. Schmeichel, Jean M. Twenge, Noelle M. Nelson, and Dianne M. Tice, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (forthcoming May 2008).
  
  
• "Satiated with Belongingness? Effects of Acceptance, Rejection, and Task Framing on Self-Regulatory Performance," C. Nathan DeWall, Roy F. Baumeister, and Kathleen D. Vohs, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (forthcoming).
  
  
• "The Value of Believing in Free Will: Encouraging a Belief in Determinism Increases Cheating," Kathleen D. Vohs and Jonathan W. Schooler, Psychological Science (2008).
  
  
• "Merely Activating the Concept of Money Changes Personal and Interpersonal Behavior," Kathleen D. Vohs, Nicole L. Mead, and Miranda G. Goode, Current Directions in Psychological Science (forthcoming 2008).
  
  
• Vohs, Kathleen D., Roy F. Baumeister, and G. Loewenstein. Do Emotions Help or Hurt Decision Making? A Hedgefoxian Perspective.  New York:  Russell Sage Foundation Press (2007).
  
  
• Baumeister, Roy F. and Kathleen D. Vohs, eds.  Encyclopedia of Social Psychology.  New York: Sage.  2007.
  

Kathleen D. Vohs CV

Full List of Publications

Selected Media

Recent Presentations

• January 21, 2008 presentations of "Self-Regulation and Selfishness" and "A Resource Depletion Account of Social Influence Techniques" (with Bob Fennis and Loes Janssen) at the Kurt Lewin Institute Workshop, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.  The second presentation was also given in January 2008 at the Winter Conference in Social Psychology.
  
  
• January 11, 2008 presentation of "Making Choices Depletes the Self," to the Department of Marketing at the University of California, San Diego.
  
  
• October 26 and 27, 2007, made four presentations to the Association for Consumer Research 2007 conference:  "Money Changes the Self," at the Money Makes the World Go 'Round - and Other Interesting Effects on Affect, Consumption, Goal Pursuit, and Generosity session (which Vohs also chaired); "Self-Regulation Over Long Periods of Time: Practicing a Controlled Activity Reduces Depletion of Self-Regulatory Resources;" "Sexual Behavior as Predicted by a Social Exchange Model: Three Tests of Sexual Economics;" and "Reconnection through Consumption: Socially Excluded People Adapt Consumption Patterns to Serve Affiliation Needs" (presented by co-author Nicole Mead).
  
  
• October 12, 2007 presented "How Money Transforms Social Relations," to the Society for Experimental Social Psychology in Chicago, IL.
  

Selected Professional Activities & Honors

• December 2007, selected as a finalist for the International Society for Self and Identity's annual Early Career Contribution Award.
  
  
• Named to the editorial boards of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology's Personality Processes and Individual Differences and Interpersonal Relations and Group Processes sections, October 2007.
  
  
• September 2007 grant from the National Institutes of Drug Abuse for research on "The Neuroanatomical Basis of Anti-Drug Media Messages: The Impact of Effectiveness and Risk Factors," with PIs Angus W. MacDonald and Marco Yzer.  $1.2m in funding provided for Sept. 2007-Aug. 2010.
  
  
• Named to the Institute of Law and Rationality's Advisory Board at the University of Minnesota, Oct. 2007.
  
  
• Named Associate Editor for the Competitive Paper Track, Association for Consumer Research Conference 2008 (May 2007).
  
  
• Recipient of the 2007-2009 McKnight Land-Grant Professorship award at the University of Minnesota.  The grant is designed to nurture the careers of the U of M's most promising junior faculty members and includes financial support of up to $30,000 per year for two years to be used toward their research and scholarly activities.
  
  

Kathleen D. Vohs, Assistant Professor of Marketing

Carlson School of Management

University of Minnesota

321 Nineteenth Avenue South, Suite 3-150

Minneapolis, MN  55455-0438  USA

(612) 625-8331, fax (612) 624-8804   

vohsx005@umn.edu

Instructional Profile