Kaitlin Woolley is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. She studies the psychological processes underlying consumer motivation and decision making to help people better achieve their goals. Her research addresses three broad sets of questions: 1) When and why intrinsic (vs. extrinsic) motivation facilitates persistence, 2) What biases affect consumers’ assessment and use of health related information, and 3) What factors and misconceptions influence consumers’ goal pursuit in interpersonal contexts. By uncovering new insights into the processes affecting goal pursuit, she develops and demonstrates the efficacy of interventions to increase consumers’ motivation.

Woolley’s research is published in top journals in marketing and psychology, including Psychological Review, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and Psychological Science. She also publishes popular press articles, including in the Harvard Business Review and The Conversation. Her research is regularly covered by outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and NPR. Woolley has won several awards and honors for her research, including the Rising Star award from the Association for Psychological Science, the Young Scholar Award from the Marketing Science Institute, and the Early Career Award from the Society for Consumer Psychology.

At Johnson, Woolley connects with MBA students in teaching the core marketing course and an elective on customer insights. She earned a bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in psychology from Cornell University. Her MBA and PhD are from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.