Amit Kumar
Assistant Professor of Marketing University of Delaware
Media
Biography
Professor Kumar’s research focuses on the scientific study of happiness and has been featured in popular media outlets such as The Atlantic, Bloomberg, Business Insider, CNBC, CNN, Forbes, Fortune Magazine, Harvard Business Review, Hidden Brain, The Huffington Post, National Geographic, The New York Times, NPR, Oprah Daily, Scientific American, Time Magazine, U.S. News and World Report, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, among others.
His scholarly work has been published in Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Current Directions in Psychological Science, Current Opinion in Psychology, Emotion, The Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, The Journal of Consumer Psychology, The Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, The Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin and Psychological Science.
He has been recognized as a prestigious MSI Young Scholar, an honor awarded to a select few scholars the Marketing Science Institute views as future leaders in marketing academia. He has also been honored as a fellow of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology. His teaching resulted in him being named one of the best undergraduate business professors by Poets & Quants. His service to the field has included serving as co-chair of forums and roundtables for the Association for Consumer Research conference and as a member of the editorial review board for The Journal of Consumer Research. For more information about Professor Kumar, visit his personal webpage (www.kumar-amit.com).
Industry Expertise
Areas of Expertise
Media Appearances
The cost of loneliness can be death. Here’s how to find good friends
CNN online
2025-06-30
“Human beings just are a fundamentally social species. We have a fundamental need to belong,” said Dr. Amit Kumar, associate professor of marketing and psychology at the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business.
Here’s why planning a trip can help your mental health
National Geographic online
2024-10-07
Amit Kumar, one of the co-authors of the Cornell study and an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin, explains that the benefits are less about obsessing over the finer points of an itinerary than they are about connecting with other people. One reason? Travelers “end up talking to people more about their experiences than they talk about material purchases,” he says. “Compared to possessions, experiences make for better story material.”
The Best Way to Split the Check at Group Dinners—and Not Leave Grumpy
The Wall Street Journal online
2024-05-15
Using peer-to-peer payment apps while dining out can make relationships feel transactional, says Amit Kumar, an assistant professor of marketing and psychology at the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business. Kumar studies happiness, including how money and payment apps impact it.
'It hasn't delivered': The spectacular failure of self-checkout technology
BBC online
2024-01-15
"It's not that self-checkout technology is good or bad, per se… [but] if we try self-checkout and realise we're not benefitting from it, we might switch back to not using it," says Amit Kumar, an assistant professor of marketing and psychology at the University of Texas, who studies consumer behaviour and decision-making.
Let’s All Start Leaving Voicemails Again!
The Wall Street Journal online
2023-07-19
“The voice carries what are referred to as paralinguistic cues, like intonation, pitch variance, that can convey emotion in a way that text can’t,” said Amit Kumar, an assistant professor of marketing and psychology at University of Texas at Austin, who has studied voice versus text communications.
Random acts of kindness more impactful than people realize, study finds
The Hill online
2022-08-22
“People aren’t way off base,” study author Amit Kumar, a professor of Marketing at UT Austin McCombs School of Business said in a media release. “They get that being kind to people makes them feel good. What we don’t get is how good it really makes others feel.”
Acts of kindness have a bigger impact on well-being than you think, according to new research
Fortune Magazine online
2022-08-30
“It was clear that the performers underestimated the value of their kindness,” Amit Kumar, author on the study and assistant professor of marketing at the University of Texas Austin McCombs School of Business, tells Fortune. “The result on recipients is perhaps the most novel finding here.”
Deep Conversations Make Us Happier, Lead to Stronger Bonds
Discover Magazine online
2021-12-29
So, what’s stopping us from talking about what really matters? DiscoverMagazine.com spoke with research psychologist Amit Kumar about the psychological barriers that stop us from having intimate conversations and how to overcome them.
Let’s Dare to Have Deeper Conversations, Even With Strangers
Bloomberg online
2021-10-16
Not at all, according to a new study with the perfect title: “Overly Shallow?: Miscalibrated Expectations Create a Barrier to Deeper Conversation.” Its authors — Michael Kardas, Amit Kumar and Nicholas Epley — conducted a series of experiments. In some, their subjects were financial executives at a conference; in others, employees at a financial services company or international MBA students.
How to spend your money for maximum happiness
Popular Science online
2020-12-01
But though the things we buy might make us happy in the moment, that feeling atrophies over time. It’s what psychologists call the “hedonic treadmill,” says Amit Kumar, an assistant professor of marketing and psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, whose research focuses on the science of happiness. “We get used to things that we have, and when new, shiny things are advertised, we feel like we need to keep getting more stuff to maintain those feelings.”
The Unexpected Power of Random Acts of Kindness
New York Times
2022-09-02
Amit Kumar, assistant professor of marketing and psychology at the University of Texas, Austin, said that "not knowing one’s positive impact can stand in the way of people engaging in these sorts of acts of kindness in daily life.”
Buy Experiences, Not Things
The Atlantic online
2014-10-07
Professor Amit Kumar comments on new research that builds on the vogue mantra of behavioral economics: "Live in anticipation, gathering stories and memories."
Texting all day? You’ll feel happier if you pick up the phone and chat.
The Washington Post online
2020-11-06
“We think it’s going to be awkward to talk to somebody, but that just turns out not to be the case,” said Amit Kumar, lead author of the study. “Instead … people form significantly stronger bonds when they’re talking on the phone than when communicating over email.”
Why You Should Write More Thank You Notes
Time Magazine
2018-08-31
“Saying thanks can improve somebody’s own happiness, and it can improve the well-being of another person as well — even more than we anticipate, in fact,” says study co-author Amit Kumar, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business. “If both parties are benefitting from this, I think that’s the type of action we should be pursuing more often in our everyday lives.”
A Secret Source of Connection
NPR online
2023-04-26
Psychologist Amit Kumar talks to NPR's "The Hidden Brain" to understand what keeps us from taking a moment to be kind, and how to overcome these barriers to create stronger, happier connections.
Articles
Let it go: How exaggerating the reputational costs of revealing negative information encourages secrecy in relationships
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology2024-06-01
Keeping negative interpersonal secrets can diminish well-being, yet people nevertheless keep negative information secret from friends, family, and loved ones to protect their own reputations. Twelve experiments suggest these reputational concerns are systematically miscalibrated, creating a misplaced barrier to honesty in relationships. In hypothetical scenarios (Experiments 1, S1, and S2), laboratory experiments (Experiments 2 and 6), and field settings (Experiments 3 and 4), those who imagined revealing, or who actually revealed, negative information they were keeping secret expected to be judged significantly more harshly than recipients expected to judge, or actually judged, them.
The aptly buried “I” in experience: Experiential purchases promote more social connection than material purchases
Journal of Behavioral Decision Making2024-03-26
Experiential purchases (focused on doing rather than having) provide more satisfaction than material goods. Here, we examine a different downstream consequence of spending money on experiences: fostering social connection. Consumers reported feeling more kinship with someone who had made a similar experiential purchase than someone who had made a similar material purchase—a result tied to the greater centrality of experiences to one's identity. This greater sense of connection that experiences provide applied even when someone else had made a similar, but superior purchase.
A prosociality paradox: How miscalibrated social cognition creates a misplaced barrier to prosocial action
Current Directions in Psychological Science2023-02-02
Behaving prosocially can increase wellbeing among both those performing a prosocial act as well as those receiving it, and yet people may experience some reluctance to engage in direct prosocial actions. We review emerging evidence suggesting that miscalibrated social cognition may create a psychological barrier that keeps people from behaving as prosocially as would be optimal for both their own and others’ wellbeing. Across a variety of interpersonal behaviors, those performing prosocial actions tend to underestimate how positively their recipients will respond.
A little good goes an unexpectedly long way: Underestimating the positive impact of kindness on recipients
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General2023-01-01
2023
Performing random acts of kindness increases happiness in both givers and receivers, but we find that givers systematically undervalue their positive impact on recipients. In both field and laboratory settings (Experiments 1a-2b), those performing an act of kindness reported how positive they expected recipients would feel and recipients reported how they actually felt. From giving away a cup of hot chocolate in a park to giving away a gift in the lab, those performing a random act of kindness consistently underestimated how positive their recipients would feel, thinking their act was of less value than recipients perceived it to be.
Undersociality is unwise
Journal of Consumer Psychology2022-11-15
Wise decisions are often guided by an accurate understanding of the expected values of different possible choices. In social contexts, wisdom comes from understanding how others are likely to respond to one's actions, enabling people to make choices that maximize both their own and others' outcomes. Our research suggests that miscalibrated social cognition may create a systematic barrier to wiser decisions in social life. From expressing appreciation to offering support to performing acts of kindness, this program of research indicates that decisions to engage with others are driven by how people expect a recipient to respond, but that people consistently underestimate how positively others will respond to their other‐oriented actions.
Research Grants
Research Excellence Grant
University of Texas at Austin McCombs
2022
Research Excellence Grant
University of Texas at Austin McCombs
2019
Accomplishments
Best Undergraduate Business Professor, Poets & Quants
2024
Research Reboot Award for Accelerating Research and Scholarship, UT Austin Provost’s Office
2023
American Marketing Association Sheth Faculty Fellow
2022
Fellow, Society of Experimental Social Psychology
2021
Marketing Science Institute Young Scholar
2021
Education
Cornell University
Ph.D.
Social and Personality Psychology
2015
Harvard University
A.B.
Psychology and Economics
2008
Affiliations
- American Marketing Association (AMA)
- American Psychological Association (APA)
- Association for Consumer Research (ACR)
- Association for Psychological Science (APS)
- European Association of Social Psychology (EASP)
- Phi Beta Kappa
- Psi Chi
- Marketing Science Institute (MSI)
- Society for Consumer Psychology (SCP)
- Society for Judgment and Decision-Making (SJDM)
- Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP)
- Society of Experimental Social Psychology (SESP)
Event Appearances
Hello, Neighbor: Interactions with Weak Ties in One’s Community Can Increase Prosocial Behavior
(2023) Association for Consumer Research Annual Meeting Seattle, WA
Overly Shallow? Miscalibrated Expectations Create a Barrier to Deeper Conversation
(2023) Association for Psychological Science Annual Convention Washington, DC
A Little Good Goes an Unexpectedly Long Way: Underestimating the Positive Impact of Kindness on Recipients
(2022) Society for Consumer Psychology Annual Meeting Virtual
A Venmo Effect on Relationships: Electronic Payment Makes Social Relations More Transactional and Experiences Less Enjoyable
(2022) Society for Consumer Psychology Annual Meeting Virtual
A Little Good Goes an Unexpectedly Long Way: Underestimating the Positive Impact of Kindness on Recipients
(2021) Association for Psychological Science Annual Convention Virtual
