Sydney Scott

Associate Professor of Marketing

Sydney Scott

Sydney Scott

Area of Expertise

Consumer Behavior and Decision Making

Education

  • Ph D 2017, University of Pennsylvania
  • MA 2013, University of Pennsylvania
  • BA 2012, University of Pennsylvania

Awards/Honors

  • MSI 2023 Young Scholar , Marketing Science Institute, 2023
  • The Cornell Saroj & Vithala Rao Young Scholar Award , SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University, 2022
  • Judith & William Bollinger Fellowship, The Wharton School, 2016

Research Interests

I’m an Associate Professor of Marketing at Washington University in St. Louis. I study consumer behavior, and I’m especially interested in morality and consumer decisions, health and wellness, and natural and sustainable products. For example, I am interested in questions like: When and why do consumers want natural products? How do consumers think about health and well-being?

My research has been published in top journals like Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Psychological Science, and Nature Human Behaviour. My work has also been featured in popular press outlets such as The New York Times, The Guardian, and NPR.

I received my Ph.D. in Marketing and Psychology from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania in 2017.

Selected Publications

  • "In Goal Pursuit, I Think Flexibility is the Best Choice for Me, But Not for You ", Journal of Marketing Research, Issue 5, 1008-26, with Elanor Williams, 2023
  • "“Good People Don’t Need Medication”: How Moral Character Beliefs Affect Medical Decision Making", Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Article 104225, with Justin Landy, 2023
  • "Consumers Prefer "Natural" More for Preventatives than for Curatives", Journal of Consumer Research, Issue 3, 454–471, with Paul Rozin, Deborah Small, 2020
  • "Actually, Natural is Neutral", Nature Human Behaviour, 989-990, with P. Rozin, 2020
  • "Extreme Opponents of Genetically Modified Foods Know the Least, but Think They Know the Most", Nature Human Behaviour, 251-256, with Philip Fernbach, Nicolas Light, Yoel Inbar, Paul Rozin, 2019
  • "An Overview of Attitudes Toward Genetically Engineered Food", Annual Review of Nutrition, 459-479, with Y. Inbar, C. Wirz, D. Brossard, P. Rozin, 2018
  • "Evidence for Absolute Moral Opposition to Genetically Modified Food in the United States", Perspectives on Psychological Science, Issue 3, 315-324, with Yoel Inbar, Paul Rozin, 2016
  • "Asymmetrical Social Mach Bands: Exaggeration of Social Identities on the More Esteemed Side of Group Borders", Psychological Science, Issue 10, 1955-1959, with Paul Rozin, Hana Zickgraf, Flora Ahn, Hong Jiang, 2014
  • "Psychological Strategies for Winning Geopolitical Forecasting Tournaments", Psychological Science, Issue 5, 1106-1115, with Barbara Mellers, Lyle Ungar, Jonathan Baron, Jaime Ramos, Burcu Gurcay, Katrina Fincher, Don Moore, Pavel Atanasov, Samuel Swift, Terry Murray, Eric Stone, Philip Tetlock, 2014

Contact

Sydney Scott