Social psychology and marketing with top expert

Research by Regents' Professor Emeritus Robert Cialdini has led to a new way of thinking about consumer behavior and a best-selling book — and now the marketing research lab has been named after him.

Regents' Professor of Psychology and Marketing Robert Cialdini is known as one of the top experts in fusing social psychology and marketing that led to a new way of thinking about consumer behavior. He’s also a best-selling author — and now the marketing research lab at the W. P. Carey School has been named after him. The Robert B. Cialdini Behavioral Research Lab currently conducts 200 research experiments a year and is expected to expand with field research through pop-up labs.

On March 28, 2019, Dr. Cialdini was interviewed for a segment on Arizona Horizon to discuss theories of psychology and marketing and the lab's work:

My research is about the persuasion process. What are the factors that incline people to say yes? If you include one or another of these triggers of human behavior into a message you significantly increase the likelihood of ascent to that message.

The thing about this lab that is so appealing to me is that there are mobile features to it, the ability to take out experiments into the field, into shopping centers, into street corners where people are approached and asked to participate in a marketing survey.

– Robert Cialdini, Regents' Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Marketing