Kathleen Vohs

Kathleen Vohs

Distinguished McKnight University Professor; Land O'Lakes Professor in Marketing
Marketing

Education:

  • BA 1996
    Psychology Gustavus Adolphus College
  • PhD 2000
    Psychological and Brain Sciences Dartmouth College
  • Post-Doctoral Research
    Research fellow (funded by NIMH) 2000-2003 Case Western Reserve University and University of Utah

Expertise:

  • Self-regulation
  • Meaning and happiness
  • Sexual economics
  • Self and identity
  • The psychology of money
  • Free will beliefs

Biography

Kathleen Vohs, Distinguished McKnight University Professor and Land O'Lakes Chair in Marketing, works to understand and communicate the basics of how people think, feel, and behave in order to make sense of marketplace and organizational outcomes. Vohs' research specialties include self-control, the hidden costs of decision making, the psychology of money, the difference between a meaningful and happy life, and heterosexual sexual negotiations.  She has authored more than 250 scholarly publications and has been the editor of 9 books.

Vohs has received several awards and honors. Vohs won a SAGE Young Scholar Award in the field of social and personality psychology (2008) and was named the International Society for Self and Identity Outstanding Early Career Award winner (2009). At the University of British Columbia, she received the Canada Research Chair in Marketing Science and Consumer Psychology. At the University of Minnesota, she was named a McKnight Land-Grant Professor (2007-2009) as well as a McKnight Presidential Fellow (2008-2010). The Carlson School appointed Vohs the Land O'Lakes Professor of Excellence in Marketing in 2011. In 2012, she became the Honorary Chair in Experimental Consumer Research in the Faculty of Economics and Business, Groningen University, the Netherlands. In 2014, she won the Anneliese Maier Research Award by the Humboldt Foundation (part of the German Ministry of Research and Education), which is a competition across all sciences, humanities, law, and economics. In 2014, she was named a 'Best Business School Professors Under 40' by Poets and Quants and 'Breakthrough Business Thinker to Watch' by Inc.com. In 2015, she was named a Highly Cited Researcher by Thomson Reuter's ISI Web of Science, a distinction given to the top 1% of all scholars worldwide based on citations. In 2015, she was awarded the Land O' Lakes Chair in Marketing and in 2016 she was named a University of Minnesota's Distinguished McKnight University Professor. In 2018, she was awarded the Society for Consumer Psychology Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award, an honor bestowed upon scholars who make significant contributions to the field of consumer psychology. In 2018, the graduating class of 2018 Part-Time MBA students voted her Faculty of the Year, and she was named as one of the Top 25 Behavioral Economists by thebestschools.org, a member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling. 

Selected Works & Activities

  • Editorial Board Memberships

    • Associate Editor Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Attitudes and Social Cognition, 2014 to 2016
    • Editorial Board member Journal of Consumer Research, 2008 to present
    • Outstanding reviewer award from Journal of Consumer Research, 2010
    • Editorial Board member Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Personality Processes and Individual Differences, 2003 to 2009
    • Editorial Board member, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Attitudes and Social Cognition, 2011 to present
    • Editorial Board member, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Intergroup Relations and Group Processes, 2007 to present
    • Editorial Review Board member, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2011-present
    • Editorial Review Board member, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2009-present
    • Editorial Review Board member, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2009-present
    • Editorial Review Board member, Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Economics, 2009-present
    • Editorial Review Board member, Psychological Science, 2009-present
  • Honors and Awards

    • DISTINGUISHED MCKNIGHT UNIVERSITY PROFESSORSHIP
      The Distinguished McKnight University Professorship program recognizes outstanding faculty members who have recently achieved full professor status. Recipients hold the title “Distinguished McKnight University Professor” for as long as they remain employed at the University of Minnesota.

    Honorary Chairs And Professorships

    • Distinguished McKnight University Professorship, 2016 • Land O' Lakes Chair in Marketing, 2015 
    • Honorary Chair in Experimental Consumer Research, Faculty of Economics and Business, Groningen University, January 2012 – present
    • Land O’ Lakes Professor of Excellence in Marketing, 2011-2016
    • McKnight Presidential Fellowship, University of Minnesota, 2008-2011
    • McKnight Land-Grant Professorship, University of Minnesota, 2007-2009
    • Canada Research Chair in Marketing Science and Consumer Psychology, 2003-2005.

    Research Awards and Commendations

    • Distinguished Scientist Award, Society for Consumer Psychology (SCP), 2018 
    • Highly Cited Researcher, Thomson Reuters ISI Web of Science, 2015-2017. This honor is bestowed to the top 1% of scholars worldwide in terms of citations 
    • Anneliese Maier Research Award, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, 2014-2019 
    • Top productive author in premier marketing journals 2010-2014, American Marketing Association, (AMA), 2014   
    • 10th most cited researcher according to the Journal of Marketing Education, 2014
    • American Marketing Association DocSig Top Author Productivity for 2009-2013 
    • Early Career Award, International Society for Self and Identity, 2009 • Faculty researcher award; Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, 2009
    • SAGE Young Scholars Award, in conjunction with the Foundation for Social and Personality Psychology, 2008
    • Early Career Award Finalist, International Society for Self and Identity, part of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), 2008
    • Honorable mention, Theoretical Innovation Prize, Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), with Baumeister, Dewall, and Zhang, 2008
    • First Decade Award Finalist, Gustavus Adolphus College, 2006
    • MENSA Award for Research in Excellence, 2004 • Hannah T. Croasdale Graduate Scholar Award, Dartmouth College, 2000

    Media and Speaking Awards

    • Best Presentation of the Year, Marketing Science Institute (MSI), 2015 
    • National Public Radio's Best of 2009: "Study: Your Brain Thinks Money is a Drug" 
    • University of Minnesota, Carlson School Faculty Media Star Award, 2007

    Teaching Awards 

    • Part-Time MBA Faculty of the Year, as voted by the graduating class of part-time MBA students, 2018 
    • Faculty of the Year, as voted by the graduating class of part-time MBA students, 2016 
    • One of the 40 Best Business School Professors Under 40, Poets and Quants, 2014

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