Faculty and Research

Assistant Professor Alison Xu
alisonxu@umn.edu
612-625-1635
3-137 CarlSMgmt

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Alison Jing Xu

Assistant Professor, Mary and Jim Lawrence Fellow
Marketing

Education

  • Ph.D. 2010
    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • B.A. 2003
    Beijing Foreign Studies University, China

Expertise

  • Judgment and Decision-Making Processes
  • Behavioral Mind-sets
  • Generalized Motivation
  • Sensory Experience and Decision Making
  • Risk Perceptions
  • Persuasion

Alison Jing Xu holds a PHD in business administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research takes the information processing approach to examine how mind-sets, goals, and sensory inputs influence consumer and manager decision making. Her articles have been published in leading academic journals, including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Journal of Consumer Research, Psychological Science, Management Science, the Journal of Consumer Psychology, the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, and the Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. Her research won The Franco Nicosia Association of Consumer Research Best Competitive Paper Award in 2008 and was a finalist of the Journal of Consumer Psychology Park Outstanding Contributor Award in 2013. She was named 2015 Marketing Science Institute Young Scholar and won the Society for Consumer Psychology Early Career Award in 2018. Before joining Carlson, she was an assistant professor in Marketing at University of Toronto.

Selected Works

Cai, Fengyan, Yang Zhiyong, Robert S. Wyer, Jr., and Alison Jing Xu (2017), “The Interactive Effects of Bitter Flavor and Mood on the Decision to Spend or Save Money,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 70, 48-58.
Journal Articles
PDF icon _cai_yang_wyer_and_xu_2017.pdf
Xu, Alison Jing and Dolores Albarracín (2016), “Constrained Physical Space Constrains Hedonism,” Journal of Association for Consumer Research, 1(4), 557-568.
Journal Articles
PDF icon xu_and_albarracin_2016_constrained_physical_space_constrains_hedonism.pdf
Xu, Alison Jing, Norbert Schwarz, and Robert S. Wyer (2015), “Hunger Promotes Acquisition of Nonfood Objects,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112 (9), 2688-2692.
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1417712112
Journal Articles
PDF icon PNAS-2015-Xu et al-2688-92.pdf
Xu, Alison Jing and Aparna A. Labroo (2014), “Incandescent Affect: Turning on the Hot Emotional System with Bright Light,” Journal of Consumer Psychology, 24 (2), 207–216.
Journal Articles
PDF icon Incandescent Affect_Xu and Labroo_JCP.pdf
Uskul, Ayse K., Daphna Oyserman, Norbert Schwarz, Spike W. Lee, and Alison Jing Xu (2013), “How Successful You Have Been in Life Depends on the Response Scale Used: The Role of Cultural Mind-sets in Pragmatic Inferences Drawn From Question Format,” Social Cognition, 31 (2), 222-236.
Journal Articles
PDF icon Usku_et_al_How_successful_&_culture.pdf
Xu, Alison Jing and Robert S. Wyer (2012), “The Role of Bolstering and Counterarguing Mind-sets in Persuasion,” Journal of Consumer Research, 38 (February), 920-932.
Journal Articles
PDF icon Xu & Wyer 2012_Bolstering and Counterarguing Mind-sets.pdf
Xu, Alison Jing, Rami Zwick, and Norbert Schwarz (2012), “Washing Away Your (Good or Bad) Luck: Physical Cleansing Affect Risk Taking Behavior,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 141 (1), 26-30.
Journal Articles
PDF icon Xu_Zwick_Schwarz_Washing_away_luck_JEPG.pdf
Wyer, Robert S., Alison Jing Xu, and Hao Shen (2012), “The Effects of Past Behavior on Future Goal-Directed Activity,” Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, in James M. Olson and Mark P. Zanna (ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 46, Burlington: Academic Press, 2012, 237-283.
Journal Articles
PDF icon AESPmindset.PDF
Xu, Alison Jing and Robert S. Wyer (2010), “Puffery in Advertisements: The Effects of Media Context, Communication Norms, and Consumer Knowledge,” Journal of Consumer Research, 37 (August), 329-343.
Journal Articles
PDF icon JCR_Xu and Wyer 2010_Puffery in Ads.pdf
Muthukrishnan, A.V., Luc Wathieu, and Alison Jing Xu (2009), “Ambiguity Aversion and the Power of Established Brand,” Management Science, 55 (December), 1933-1941.
Journal Articles
PDF icon Ambiguity Aversion and the Preference for Established Brands.pdf
Xu, Alison Jing and Robert S. Wyer (2008), “The Comparative Mind-set: From Animal Comparisons to Increased Purchase Intentions,” Psychological Science, 19 (September), 859-864.
Journal Articles
PDF icon Psych Sci_Xu and Wyer 2008_Comparative Mind-set.pdf
Xu, Alison Jing and Robert S. Wyer (2007), “The Effect of Mind-sets on Consumer Decision Strategies,” Journal of Consumer Research, 34 (December), 556-566.
Journal Articles
PDF icon Xu and Wyer 2007 Mindset.pdf
Xu, Alison Jing and Norbert Schwarz (2018), “How One Thing Leads to Another: Spillover Effects of Behavioral Mind-sets”, Current Directions in Psychological Science, 27(1), 51-55.
Journal Articles
PDF icon xu_and_schwarz_2018_spillover_effects_of_behavioral_mind-sets.pdf

Current Activities

Current Research

  • "Generosity without Borders: The Interactive Effect of Spatial Distance and Donation Goals on Charitable Giving", with Maria Rodas, Carlos Torelli, working paper.

Honors and Awards

  • Winner, Society for Consumer Psychology Early Career Award, 2018

  • Mary and Jim Lawrence Fellowship, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, 2018

  • Marketing Science Institute Young Scholar, 2015

  • Finalist, JCP Park Outstanding Contributor Award, 2013

  • Sheth-Sudman Award for Excellence in Research, UIUC, 2009

  • Richard D. and Anne Marie Irwin Fellowship, UIUC, 2009-2010

  • Haring Symposium Representative (Presenter), Indiana University, March 2009

  • John M. Jones Fellowship, UIUC, 2008-2010

  • Winner, The Franco Nicosia ACR Best Competitive Paper Award, Association for Consumer Research, October 2008