Barbara Mellers is a globally influential scholar of decision-making and the I. George Heyman University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. As the 11th Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK) Professor, her academic appointment is shared between the Department of Psychology in the School of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Marketing in the Wharton School.
Professor Mellers’ research examines the factors that influence judgments and decisions, including emotions, self-interest, past mistakes, sensitivities to risk, and perceptions of fairness. She is an author of almost 100 articles and book chapters, co-editor of two books, and a member of numerous prestigious editorial boards. She served as president of the Society for Judgment and Decision Making, was a five-year National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator, and has received major research support from the NSF.
She has a PhD and an MA in psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a BA in psychology from University of California-Berkeley.