Tanya L. Chartrand is a social psychologist known for her research on

consumer behavior Consumer behavior is the study of individuals, groups, or organizations and all the activities associated with the purchase, use and disposal of goods and services. Consumer behaviour consists of how the consumer's emotions, attitudes, and pr ...

and on non-conscious processes influencing emotions, cognition, and behavior. Chartrand is the Roy J. Bostock Marketing Professor and Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

. She and her doctoral advisor,

John Bargh John A. Bargh (; born 1955) is a social psychologist currently working at Yale University, where he has formed the Automaticity in Cognition, Motivation, and Evaluation (ACME) Laboratory. Bargh's work focuses on automaticity and unconscious proce ...

, are widely cited for their groundbreaking research on social

mimicry In evolutionary biology, mimicry is an evolved resemblance between an organism and another object, often an organism of another species. Mimicry may evolve between different species, or between individuals of the same species. Often, mimicry f ...

, which they referred to as the chameleon effect.

Biography

Chartrand completed her B.S. degree in Psychology and Spanish at

Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university's campus surrounds the historic Mis ...

in 1994. She attended graduate school at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

where she obtained a M.A. in 1996 and a Ph.D in

Social Psychology Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the r ...

with a concentration in

Quantitative Psychology Quantitative psychology is a field of scientific study that focuses on the mathematical modeling, research design and methodology, and statistical analysis of psychological processes. It includes tests and other devices for measuring cognitive ab ...

in 1999. Her dissertation was titled "Consequences of success and failure at automatic goal pursuit for mood, self-efficacy, and subsequent performance." Chartrand was Assistant Professor of Psychology at

The Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

from 1999-2003 before joining the Faculty of the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and the Department of Business Administration at Duke University in 2003. She became a Professor of Business Administration from 2008-2011. Chartrand's research has been funded by National Institute for Mental Health.

Research

One of the major topics that Chartrand and her colleagues has researched is

. This may include studies of how individuals pay for good and services and how it impacts their thoughts, feelings, and emotional attachment to the product as well as their future purchasing behavior. Chartrand has also studied nonverbal behavior and how we communicate with others through

body language Body language is a type of communication in which physical behaviors, as opposed to words, are used to express or convey information. Such behavior includes facial expressions, body posture, gestures, eye movement, touch and the use of space. Th ...

. This ties into her work on non-conscious processing because we act without thinking, which can give off a message to others that can be either intended or unintentional depending on our emotions. Chartrand's field of study revolves heavily around the idea of automatic, non-conscious thinking. One of her most cited articles focused on automatic processing with three main ideas: automatic effects on perception, automatic goal pursuit, and automatic evaluation of one's experiences. Chartrand and her fellow colleagues concluded that non-conscious mental systems play a critical role in human mental functioning and well being. If these systems were not playing in our heads, we would fail to keep our feet on the ground, and lose track of our current environment.

References

External links

Faculty Homepage
* * Serbian Wikipedia biography {{DEFAULTSORT:Chartrand, Tanya American women psychologists American psychologists Social psychologists Living people New York University alumni Duke University faculty Santa Clara University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) American women academics 21st-century American women