Ming Hsu

William Halford Professor | Haas School of Business & Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute University of California, Berkeley

  • Berkeley CA

Leading expert in neuromarketing and the application of biological methods to understand consumer behavior

Contact

Social

Areas of Expertise

Consumer Neuroscience
Neuroeconomics
Behavioral Economics
Neuromarketing

About

Ming Hsu is William Halford Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, with appointments in the Haas School of Business and the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute. Hsu’s research involves using neuroscientific and computational tools to understand the biological basis of economic and consumer decision-making, as well as how brain-based methods can be used to generate and validate insights into customers’ thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Prior to joining Berkeley, he was assistant professor of economics and neuroscience at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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Education

California Institute of Technology

PhD

2006

University of Arizona

BA

2001

Honors & Awards

Barbara and Gerson Bakar Faculty Fellow

2019-2021

UCSF-UC Berkeley Sabbatical Exchange Program

2016

Society for Neuroeconomics Early Career Award

2015

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Positions Held

At Haas since 2009

2023 - present, Professor, Haas School of Business and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute
2016 - 2023, Associate Professor, Haas School of Business and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute
2009 – 2016, Assistant Professor, Haas School of Business and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute
2008 – 2009, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics and Neuroscience Program, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2006 – 2008, Beckman Fellow, Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Media Appearances

How Researchers Can Cultivate Patience

University of Houston - The Big Idea  online

2021-09-15

A study co-authored by Assoc. Prof. Ming Hsu, the William Halford Jr. Family Chair in Marketing, found that delayed gratification has something to do with imagination and not just willpower. Imagining an outcome before acting upon an impulse may help increase patience without relying on increased willpower, the study found. The research was co-authored by former Haas postdoctoral researcher Adrianna Jenkins, now at the University of Pennsylvania.

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What dishonesty does to your brain and why it’s bad for business

The HR Director  online

2021-08-04

White lies, moral lapses, and shortcuts jeopardize the reputation of a business. But humans are also not programmed to tell the truth if lying is advantageous to the individual, according to research by Assoc. Prof. Ming Hsu, the William Halford Jr. Family Chair in Marketing.

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How our imperfect memories may affect the choices we make

The Hill - Changing America  online

2021-05-21

Research co-authored by Assoc. Prof. Ming Hsu, the William Halford Jr. Family Chair in Marketing, and postdoctoral scholar Zhihao Zhang, has found that people fail to choose their preferred options because of imperfect human memory. "Life is not a multiple choice test," said Hsu. The researchers think that this work offers insights on consumer choice and advertising, public policy, and neurological illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease.

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Working Papers

Demand Estimation and Forecasting Using Neuroeconomic Models of Consumer Choice

Nan Chen, John A. Clithero, and Ming Hsu. SSRN Working Paper. 2019

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Selected Research Grants

Collaborative Research: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Predicting Unequal Treatment

National Science Foundation

2019-2022

Dopaminergic Mechanisms Underlying Human Social Behavior: A Multimodal Approach

National Institute of Mental Health

2019-2024

2018 CRCNS Principal Investigators Meeting

National Science Foundation

2018

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Selected Papers & Publications

Common Neural Code for Reward and Information Value

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Kobayashi, Kenji, & Ming Hsu

2019

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Predicting human behavior toward members of different social groups

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Jenkins, Adrianna, Pierre Karashchuk, Lusha Zhu, & Ming Hsu

2018

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Neuromarketing: Inside the mind of the consumer

California Management Review

Hsu, Ming

2017

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Teaching

Marketing Research

MBA 261

Marketing Research

UGBA 161

Marketing

UGBA 106