After studying at Leiden, he finished his doctorate at the University of Amsterdam in 1996. He shortly worked at TU Eindhoven before settling at Tilburg University in 1998. He is co-founder and director of the Tilburg Institute for Behavioral Economics Research (TIBER). He is a member of the advisory council of NTR, a public broadcaster. Professor Zeelenberg studies how emotions affect economic behaviour. Among others, he has done research on guilt, shame, pride and jealousy. He puts a special focus on regret and disappointment.