I am an associate professor of marketing at the University of Arizona with affiliations in psychology, cognitive science, and veterinary medicine; the director of the Arizona Think Tank for Behavioral Decision Making; and an external faculty affiliate at Stanford University's Institute for Research in the Social Sciences (IRiSS).

My research program builds an account of how consumers decide whom and what to rely on—and how markets can earn (or lose) that reliance—when decisions are shaped by trust, affect, and memory-based value. A central pillar of my ongoing work explains trust and legitimacy in AI-mediated relationships: as generative systems become embedded in marketing and knowledge work, I study the psychological and institutional conditions under which AI involvement changes perceived agency, appropriateness, and accountability. My recent research shows that well-intended transparency can backfire. For example, disclosing AI use can reduce trust because it lowers perceived legitimacy, revealing a new “hidden cost” of digital transparency with direct implications for firms, platforms, consumers, and regulators.

A second pillar advances affect as information in judgment and choice. I treat affect not as noise, but as diagnostic input that shapes inference, risk perception, and downstream behavior. This lens connects to my work on experience theory, which argues that many decisions that matter most can reverse classic monetary predictions: consumers value experiences through autobiographical memory and memory-based reference points.

These theory-forward agendas also support two applied streams. In aesthetic intelligence, I examine how form and design fluency shape perceived value, trust, and attachment. In choice architecture for consumer well-being, I design light-touch interventions—presentation order, small incentives, and playful cues—that shift consumption toward more advantageous outcomes for consumers without restricting choice.

Important to me is to study consumers through the lens of different methods, including asking them about their opinions, attitudes, and feelings, measuring their neurophysiological responses, and observing their behavior. I utilize surveys, fMRI, and behavioral experiments to do so. Check out some tools for designing surveys as well as conducting and interpreting functional neuroimaging studies in marketing, as well as materials and data on OSF. Read more about me and my work on my faculty webpage. Prospective students feel free to e-mail me.