T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston. She received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Arizona State University and an M.A. in Economics from the University of Southern California. She studies motivations for consumer behavior and decision-making from an evolutionary psychological perspective, with particular focus in the areas of social influence, conspicuous consumption and negative consumption emotions such as envy and schadenfreude. Her work has been published in the Journal of Personality & Social Psychology and other outlets. Prior to completing her doctorate, she worked for several years at an investment management firm, The Vanguard Group.