Written by Angela Xiao, Ph.D.
Hi! My name is Angela Ziyan Xiao. I joined Vanderbilt in August 2025 as a postdoc in marketing at Owen. I appreciate this opportunity to share some of my story with you.
I am generally interested in human judgment and decision making and consumer psychology. Since I was a teenager, I have been both interested and puzzled by the human mind. Why do people (including myself) act so weirdly? Why are we so smart, yet so fallible; so hopeful, yet so weak-minded? I studied psychology in undergrad hoping to get some answers. Instead, I got even more confused, but fascinated at the same time, by the complex and bizarre ways humans act. Still, the elegant and robust findings from classic social psychology and behavioral economics studies gave me hope that there is some order to the madness, and maybe we are fallible in predictable ways. I set my path to do my Ph.D. in judgment and decision making, which led me to the fascinating world of consumer behavior in marketing.
My Ph.D. years started a little bumpy. I began grad school with a remote year because of visa issues during the pandemic, then I moved to the U.S. in year 2, having to adjust to living in a new country and doing everything in my second language. With a lot of my early projects not working out, I found myself having to power through dark times with only determination and curiosity for the problems at hand. I am deeply indebted to my mentors, Professors George Loewenstein, Russell Golman, and Joy Lu, who taught me to always be resilient and curious, to have faith that we will eventually find the right answer, and to keep showing up and chipping away every day. I wrote my dissertation focusing on the consumer journey of goal planning and goal pursuit, some of it resembling my own struggles with goals, and it also reflects the observation that much of consumers’ goal pursuit journeys turn out to be not as glorious as imagined, and may actually be predictably suboptimal.
Now, my research continues to focus on consumer goals and motivation, such as goal setting, planning, goal-related purchases, sustaining motivation, and exercising self-control. I’m fascinated by situations where people mispredict themselves: signing up for things they couldn’t finish, buying things they don’t use, setting goals they can’t complete, etc. So many interesting things can happen in this process: inner conflicts, procrastination, self-control failures, regret, remaining hopeful or getting discouraged, and learning (or not) from their experience. I am also curious about how consumers and businesses relate to the social world around them, and I’m interested in topics such as impression management, information disclosure, and social norms.
My time at Vanderbilt has been incredibly heartwarming. The marketing department at Owen is supportive, collaborative, and just a lovely group of people. I am extremely fortunate to be working with Professors Eric VanEpps, Kelly Haws, Jackie Silverman, and Eric Park. Being surrounded by curious and hard-working people is beyond inspiring, and motivates me to learn and grow as a researcher. I am also excited to connect more with the broader Vanderbilt community. I had the opportunity to represent Vanderbilt in the National Postdoc Appreciation Week Lightning Talks Competition, and I love walking around on the beautiful campus, where I can free my mind to think and ponder about anything at all.
Outside of academia, I enjoy spending time with my boyfriend and our puppy. I am also an avid rock climber and a new but aspirational board gamer. I’m excited to continue my journey here with the energetic and supportive environment that Vanderbilt provides!