Ming Hsu
William Halford Professor | Haas School of Business & Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute | University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA, UNITED STATES
Leading expert in neuromarketing and the application of biological methods to understand consumer behavior
Areas of Expertise (4)
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 (2)
California Institute of Technology: PhD 2006
University of Arizona: BA 2001
Links (4)
Honors & Awards (6)
Barbara and Gerson Bakar Faculty Fellow
2019-2021
UCSF-UC Berkeley Sabbatical Exchange Program
2016
Society for Neuroeconomics Early Career Award
2015
Hellman Faculty Fund Award
2012
Kavli Fellow
2008
Beckman Fellow
2006-2008
Positions Held (1)
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 (15)
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.
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.
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.
The allure of mysteries
The Psychologist online
2020-11-15
‘Rewards’ traditionally refer to necessities like food, shelter and warmth, or tangible items like money or goods. But researchers have noted that curiosity is a form of reward anticipation. Research co-authored by Assoc. Prof. Ming Hsu, The William Halford Jr. Family Chair in Marketing, found that ‘the reward value of information is processed in the same way as conventional rewards, like food or money.'
Curiosity and Hunger Are Driven by the Same Brain Regions
The Scientist online
2020-10-01
Assoc. Prof. Ming Hsu, The William Halford Jr. Family Chair in Marketing, commented on recent research that compared how the brain processes desires for food and knowledge by asking them to risk receiving a mild electric shock to satisfy their curiosity. "...It really, I think, underscores the point of just how valuable curiosity is that people are not just willing to pay, say, a few cents for it, but [are] also willing to take the risk” of an electric shock.
Information can affect you like drugs, sugar, or money
Welt online
2020-06-26
A study by Assoc. Prof. Ming Hsu, Barbara and Gerson Bakar Faculty Fellow, has shown that our brains get a hit of dopamine when we get information. As far as the brain is concerned, it's not too different to how we react to getting money or sugar.
Working from home? Here's how to be a good boss to yourself
The Telegraph online
2020-03-17
It's hard for people to stay on track when they are working from home, where they have to be their own supervisors. But getting distracted is understandable. A study by Assoc. Prof. Ming Hsu found that the brain can be irrational about information in the same way it's irrational about junk food. That's because information acts on the brain's same dopamine-producing reward system as food or money.
How Addiction to Information Affects You the Same Way as Junk Food
Inc online
2019-12-02
According to a new study by researchers at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, information acquisition shares the very same dopamine-producing reward system pathway as drugs, food, and financial rewards. To put it simply, obtaining new information may be extremely addictive. Explains neuroeconomist and associate professor, Ming Hsu: "To the brain, information is its own reward, above and beyond whether it's useful. And just as our brains like empty calories from junk food, they can overvalue information that makes us feel good but may not be useful--what some may call idle curiosity."
How to get teens off their screens?
Les Echos online
2019-10-28
"On social networks, we spend a lot of time consulting information, sometimes without any interest, because it activates the reward system of our brain, which secretes dopamine, a hormone associated with pleasure, ” adds Ming Hsu, neuroeconomist at the Berkeley Business School.
How dopamine fuels the golden rule of content marketing
Marketing Land online
2019-10-25
In content marketing, you use information to connect with your audience. According to researchers at UC Berkley’s Haas School of Business, “information acts on the brain’s dopamine-producing reward system in the same way as money or food.” In other words, your marketing content, which is a form of information, can be leveraged to tap into your customer’s reward pathways. What does this mean for you?
Our Brains Process Information the Same Way as Junk Food, Money and Drugs
Mother Nature Network online
2019-10-05
"To the brain, information is its own reward, above and beyond whether it’s useful," says study author and neuroeconomist Ming Hsu, in a statement. "And just as our brains like empty calories from junk food, they can overvalue information that makes us feel good but may not be useful — what some may call idle curiosity."
How Much is Too Much? When Curiosity Kills the Cat
Top Of Mind With Julie Rose radio
2019-08-01
"The instant gratification of having the internet at your fingertips is often irresistible, isn’t it? I’ll be watching TV and suddenly need to know right now what else the show’s creator has done, what else the main actor has been in, who that star is married to, how old they are, how tall they are. . . it’s an endless rabbit hole of curiosity for useless information. And meanwhile, I end up missing key plot points because I can’t put the phone down."
The way our brain values information suggests it can be addictive, like food or drugs
Science Alert online
2019-07-29
Understanding the way the brain works when we crave and then receive information may help researchers understand the nature of digital addiction. New research from Assoc. Prof. Ming Hsu, William Halford Jr. Family Chair in Marketing, has demonstrated for the first time that the brain treats information and money in a similar way, "which opens the door to a number of exciting questions about how people consume information," Hsu said.
How our brain makes us addicted to information
Porquoi Docteur? online
2019-06-29
"For the brain, information is its own reward, beyond its utility," says neuroeconomist Ming Hsu. "And just as our brains love the empty calories of junk food, they can overstate information that makes us feel good but may not be useful, which some call idle curiosity."
Are our brains addicted to information?
Medical News Today online
2019-06-28
New research has shown that the search for information accesses the same neural code as the search for money. "To the brain, information is its own reward, above and beyond whether it's useful," Associate Professor, Barbara and Gerson Bakar Faculty Fellow Ming Hsu.
Working Papers (1)
Demand Estimation and Forecasting Using Neuroeconomic Models of Consumer Choice
Nan Chen, John A. Clithero, and Ming Hsu. SSRN Working Paper. 2019
Selected Research Grants (6)
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
Cortical Oscillatory Dynamics and Human Decision-Making
National Institute of Mental Health
2017-2019
CRCNS: Neurocomputational substrates of monetary exchange
National Institute of Drug Abuse
2016-2019
Neurobiological Substrates of Social Behavior: A Neuroeconomic Framework
National Institute of Mental Health
2013-2018
Selected Papers & Publications (9)
Common Neural Code for Reward and Information Value
Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesKobayashi, Kenji, & Ming Hsu
2019
Predicting human behavior toward members of different social groups
Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesJenkins, Adrianna, Pierre Karashchuk, Lusha Zhu, & Ming Hsu
2018
Neuromarketing: Inside the mind of the consumer
California Management ReviewHsu, Ming
2017
From “Where” to “What”: Distributed Representations of Brand Associations in the Human Brain
Journal of Marketing ResearchChen, Yu-Ping, Leif Nelson, and Ming Hsu
2015
The neuroscience of consumer choice
Current Opinions in Behavioral Sciences,Ming Hsu, Carolyn Yoon
2015
Dissociable neural representations of reinforcement and belief prediction errors underlie strategic learning
Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesZhu, Lusha, Kyle Mathewson, and Ming Hsu
2012
The Right and the Good: Distributive Justice and Neural Encoding of Equity and Efficiency
ScienceHsu, Ming, Cédric Anen, and Steven Quartz
2008
Neural Systems Responding to Degrees of Uncertainty In Human Decision Making
ScienceHsu, Ming, Meghana Bhatt, Ralph Adolphs, Daniel Tranel, and Colin Camerer
2005
Teaching (3)
Marketing Research
MBA 261
Marketing Research
UGBA 161
Marketing
UGBA 106
Social