Faculty Profiles

Duke University, Fuqua School of Business
Ph.D. in Marketing

Syracuse University
B.A. in Psychology with Honors, Summa Cum Laude

• Psychological processes underlying consumer behavior
• social connections
• consumer-brand connections
• joint consumption
• gift giving
• brand personality, brand perception

Reminder Avoidance: Why People Hesitate to Disclose Their Insecurities to Friends with Soo Kim and Peggy J. Liu, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (forthcoming).

Where Do You Want to Go for Dinner? A Preference Expression Asymmetry in Joint Consumption with Peggy J. Liu*, Journal of Marketing Research, 2020, 57(6), 1037-1054.

The Gift of Psychological Closeness: How Feasible Versus Desirable Gifts Reduce Psychological Distance to the Giver with SoYon Rim, Peggy J. Liu, Tanya L. Chartrand, and Yaacov Trope, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2019, 45(3), 360-371.

Sharing Extraordinary Experiences Fosters Feelings of Closeness with Soo Kim* and Peggy J. Liu*, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2018, 44(1), 107-121.

Seeing Others through Rose-Colored Glasses: An Affiliation Goal and Positivity Bias in Implicit Trait Impressions with SoYon Rim*, James S. Uleman, Tanya L. Chartrand, and Donal E. Carlston, Journal of Experimental and Social Psychology, 2013, 49(6), 1204-1209.

Food Attitudes, Eating Behavior, and the Information Underlying Food Attitudes with Aikman, Shelley N. and Dan Graham, Appetite, 2006, 47(1), 111-114.

*equal authorship

The Surprise of Reaching Out: Appreciated More than We Think (Under Review)
with SoYon Rim, Lauren Min, and Peggy J. Liu

People are fundamentally social beings and enjoy connecting with others. Yet despite the importance and enjoyment of social connection, do people accurately understand how much other people value being reached out to by someone in their social circle? Across six pre-registered experiments, we document a robust underestimation of how much other people appreciate being reached out to. We find evidence compatible with an account wherein one reason this underestimation of appreciation occurs is because responders (vs. initiators) are more focused on their feelings of surprise at being reached out to; such feelings of surprise in turn predict greater appreciation. We further identify process-consistent moderators of the underestimation of reach-out appreciation, finding that it is magnified when the reach-out context is more surprising: when it is done with a physical gift (vs. verbally) and when it occurs between more socially distant (vs. socially close) others. Altogether, this research thus identifies when and why we underestimate how much other people appreciate us reaching out to them, implicating the role of heightened focus on feelings of surprise as one underlying explanation.

The Unwillingness to Pay for Simplicity in Product Design
with Lauren Min, Cary Anderson, and Peggy J. Liu

The desire for minimalism in consumers’ lives is increasingly evident, including in the area of product aesthetics. Reflecting the popularity of minimalist design, products with very simple visual design have proliferated in the marketplace, alongside products with more complex visual design. This research examines consumer preferences for simple (vs. complex) product design using two common assessments of consumer preferences in market research and academic research: liking and willingness to pay (WTP) for products. Classic economic theory assumes that preference should converge across these assessments. However, we find that preference for simple (vs. complex) design is systematically higher when assessed by liking as opposed to WTP. Experiments demonstrate that although consumers often indicate a preference for simple over complex designs when preference is assessed through liking, their WTP for the simple design is often lower than their WTP for the complex design. Mediation and moderation approaches indicate that one reason this preference reversal occurs is because WTP reflects consumers’ perception that simple designs have lower production costs than complex designs, whereas liking is more reflective of consumers’ individual aesthetic tastes.

Mispredicting Consumption Aesthetic Preferences
with Lauren Min, Cary Anderson, and Peggy J. Liu

Social life abounds with occasions to form impressions of others during first encounters. Often times, these first impressions are based on little initial information besides visuals of other people’s appearance, including of their consumption aesthetics. This research examines the preference for visual design simplicity/complexity in consumption aesthetics as a function of whether a consumer is in a social actor (vs. observer) role. We document that across a wide range of social settings, observers indicate a lower preference for approaching others when they display relatively simple (vs. complex) aesthetics, compared to actors indicating what they prefer to display aesthetically. We further propose a warmth-competence theoretical framework underlying these findings. We show that this actor- observer gap occurs because relative to actors, observers are more focused on social warmth signals (which they infer are better conveyed by products with more complex design) and less focused on competence signals (which they infer are better conveyed by products with simpler design). This research thus offers theoretical contributions to the literatures on signaling and consumption aesthetics.

Min, Lauren*, Cary Anderson, Peggy J. Liu, and Kate E. Min, “The Unwillingness to Pay for Minimalist Product Aesthetics,” Paper to be presented at the Association for Consumer Research. Virtual Conference: October 2021.

Min, Lauren*, Cary Anderson, Peggy J. Liu, and Kate E. Min, “The Unwillingness to Pay for Minimalist Product Aesthetics,” Paper to be presented at the Society for Consumer Psychology Conference. Virtual Conference: March 2021.

Liu, Peggy J.* and Kate E. Min, “Asynchronous Joint Consumption: How Initiator-Responder Roles Affect Preference Communication,” Paper presented at the Society for Consumer Psychology Conference. Huntington Beach, CA: March 2020.

Soo Kim*, Peggy J. Liu, ad Kate E. Min, “Some Things, You Can Only Tell a Stranger: Avoidance of Friends as an Audience for One’s Insecurities and the Role of Rumination,” Paper to be presented at the Society for Consumer Psychology Conference. Huntington Beach, CA: March 2020.

Rim, SoYon, Kate E. Min, Peggy J. Liu*, Tanya L. Chartrand, and Yaacov Trope, “Gift-Giving and Relational Scope: Feasible versus Desirable Gifts Reduce Psychological Distance to the Giver,” Paper presented at the Society for Consumer Psychology Conference. St. Pete Beach, FL: February 2016.

Min, Kate E.*, and Soo Kim, “When You Shop for Black Toilet Paper with a New Friend: Extraordinary Experiences Foster Intimacy via Perceived Interpersonal Knowledge,” Paper presented at the Society for Consumer Psychology Conference. St. Pete Beach, FL: February 2016.

Min, Kate E.*, and Soo Kim, “Fostering Relational Closeness via Shared Extraordinary Experiences.” Paper presented at the Association for Consumer Research North America Conference. New Orleans, LA: October 2015.

Min, Kate E.*, SoYon Rim, Robin J. Tanner, and Tanya L. Chartrand, “Think Outside the Frame: Creativity Reduces Framing Effects.” Paper presented at the BBCRST (Binghamton, Buffalo, Cornell, Rochester, Syracuse, Toronto) Conference. Binghamton, NY: May 2013.

Min, Kate E.*, SoYon Rim, Robin J. Tanner, and Tanya L. Chartrand, “Think Outside the Frame: Creativity Reduces Framing Effects.” Poster presented at the Association for Psychological Science Conference. Chicago, IL: May 2012.

Min, Kate E.*, James R. Bettman, Tanya L. Chartrand, and Gavan Fitzsimons, “When a Brand is a Sincere Friend: Social Exclusion Leads People to Seek Sincere Brands,” Paper presented at Cornell University, School of Hotel Administration, April 2013.

Min, Kate E.*, James R. Bettman, Tanya L. Chartrand, and Gavan Fitzsimons, “When a Brand is a Sincere Friend: Social Exclusion Leads People to Seek Sincere Brands,” Paper presented at Syracuse University, Department of Psychology, March 2013

Min, Kate E.*, SoYon Rim, Robin J. Tanner, and Tanya L. Chartrand, “Think Outside the Frame: Creativity Reduces Framing Effects,” Paper presented at the Association for Consumer Research North American Conference. St. Louis, MO: October 2011.

Liu, Peggy J., Kate E. Min*, Tanya L. Chartrand, and Gavan J. Fitzsimons, “How a Single Question about the Past versus the Future Affects Subsequent Consumption,” Poster presented at the Association for Consumer Research Conference.

St Louis, MO: October 2011; at the Society for Consumer Psychology Conference. Atlanta, GA: 2011; and at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference. Las Vegas, NV: 2010.

Rim, SoYon*, Kate E. Min, James S. Uleman, Tanya L. Chartrand, and Donal E. Carlston,
“Seeing Others through Rose-Colored Glasses: An Affiliation Goal and Positivity Bias in Implicit Trait Impressions,” Paper presented at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference. San Diego, CA: January 2011.

Min, Kate E.* and Shelley N. Aikman, “What’s in this Anyway? Relationships between Healthiness Perceptions of Pictures of Foods and Food Nutrition Labels,” Poster presented at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference. Palm Springs, CA: January 2006.

*presenter

Soo Kim, Peggy J. Liu, and Kate E. Min (co-chairs). The Value of What’s Hidden: Understanding the Process and Consequences of Hiding and Discovering Information About the Self and Others. Symposium presented at the Association for Consumer Research (October 2020), Virtual Conference.

Soo Kim, Peggy J. Liu, and Kate E. Min (co-chairs). The Value of What’s Hidden: Understanding the Process and Consequences of Hiding and Discovering Information About the Self and Others. Symposium presented at the Society for Consumer Psychology, Huntington Beach, CA: March 2020.

Min, Kate E. and Peggy J. Liu (co-chairs). Conversation Pieces, Shared Experiences, and Gifts: The Impact of Different Types of Social Consumption on Social Connection. Symposium presented at the Society for Consumer Psychology Conference, St. Pete Beach, FL: February 2016.

Johnson, Heather M. and Kate E. Min (co-chairs). When Opposites (May Not) Attract: Insights from Next-Generation Priming Influences on Consumer Behavior. Symposium presented at the Association for Consumer Research North America Conference. St. Louis, MO: October 2011.

 

 

• American Marketing Association CBSIG Small Research Grant Funding, 2020
• Qualtrics Behavioral Research Grant, 2015 – 2016
• Cornell University Institute for the Social Sciences Small Grant Award, 2015 – 2016
• Duke-Ipsos Research Grant, 2012
• Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, Nominee, 2011
• Duke University Graduate Fellowship, 2008 – 2012
• Outstanding Research Achievement Senior Award, Syracuse University, 2007
• Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, Syracuse University and NYU, 2005 – 2007
• Summer Research Opportunity Program, University of Michigan, 2006
• Phi Beta Kappa, National Honor Society, 2006
• Psi Chi, 2005
• Undergraduate Scholarship, The Leopold Schepp Foundation, 2005