Patricia Williams Faculty Profile

Patricia Williams
Associate Professor of Marketing

PhD, University of California, 1999; MBA, University of California, 1993; BA, Stanford University, 1989

Research Areas
Emotions, consumer memory, persuasion, and cross-cultural comparisons

Current Projects
“Reflections of Reality: Mixed Emotions and Perceptions of Verisimilitude,” (with Jennifer Aaker); “Layered Not Stirred: Negative Mixing for Emotional Intensity,” (with Kirsten Grasshoff); “The Moderating Influence of Product Category Type and Time Horizons on Responses to Emotional Advertising Appeals,” (with Aimee Drolet)

Academic Positions Held
Wharton: 2000-present. Previous appointment: New York University

Career and Recent Professional Awards; Teaching Awards
Wharton Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award 2006; Runner-up Journal of Consumer Research Best Article (for Williams and Aaker, JCR 2002) Marketing Science Institute Research Grant (with Aimee Drolet), 1999; Procter and Gamble Market Innovation Research Fund Recipient, 1997

Representative Publications
(with S. Ramanathan)
“Immediate and Delayed Emotional Consequences of Indulgence: The Moderating Influence of Personality Type on Mixed Emotions.” Journal of Consumer Research (Forthcoming).

(with G. J. Fitzsimons and J. Nunes)
“License to Sin: The Liberating Role of Reporting Expectations.” Journal of Consumer Research (Forthcoming June 2007).

(with D.E. Sprott, E. R. Spangenberg, L. G. Block, G. J. Fitzsimons, and V. G. Morwitz)
“The Question Behavior Effect: What We Know and Where We Go From Here.” Social Influence (Forthcoming).

(with L. G. Block and G. J. Fitzsimons)
“Simply Asking Questions About Health Behaviors Increases Both Healthy and Unhealthy Behaviors.” Social Influence (Forthcoming).

(with D. Schweidel, David and E. T. Bradlow)
“A Feature-Based Similarity Metric for Advertisements.” Journal of Marketing Research 43.2, 237-243 (May 2006).

(with A. Drolet)
“Age-Related Differences in Responses to Emotional Advertisements.” Lead Article, Journal of Consumer Research 32 (December 2005).

(with G. J. Fitzsimons and L. G. Block)
“When Consumers Don’t Recognize ‘Benign’ Intentions Questions as Persuasive Attempts.” Journal of Consumer Research 31, pp. 540-551 (December 2004)

(with L.G. Block)
Undoing The Effects of Seizing and Freezing: Decreasing Defensive Processing of Personally Relevant Messages." Journal of Applied Social Psychology 32.4, pp. 803-833 (2002).

(with J.L. Aaker)
“Can Mixed Emotions Peacefully Co-Exist?” Journal of Consumer Research 28, 636-649 (March 2002). Runner-up for Best Paper of 2002 Award (given October 2005), Journal of Consumer Research

(with G.J. Fitzsimons)
“Asking Questions Can Change Choice Behavior: Does It Do So Automatically or Effortfully?” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied Vol. 6, No. 3, 195-206 (2000).

(with J.L. Aaker)
“Empathy versus Pride: The Influence of Emotional Appeals Across Cultures.” Journal of Consumer Research 25, 241-261 (December 1998).