Barbara Mellers, Ph.D.

Globally Influential Scholar of Decision-making, and Award-winning Psychology Professor at the University of Pennsylvania

"Decision-making is hard, and even smart people with good intentions can make very poor decisions if they slip into natural tendencies that result in biases."

Affiliations:  

  • University of Pennsylvania: I. George Heyman University Professor of Psychology 
  • University of California, Berkeley: Former Professor of Marketing and Organizational Behavior 
  • Ohio State University: Former Professor of Psychology 
  • The Society for Judgment and Decision Making: Former President and Executive Board Member 
  • Good Judgment Project: Co-Founder, Co-Principal Investigator 
  • Max Planck Institute for Human Development: Scientific Advisory Board Member 
  • A member of numerous editorial boards 

Awards: 

  • Thomas C. Schelling Award, Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government 
  • Presidential Young Investigator, National Science Foundation (five-time winner)   

Publications: 

  • Psychological Perspectives on Justice: Theory and Applications, co-edited with Jonathan Baron 
  • Decision Science and Technology: Reflections on the Contributions of Ward Edwards, co-edited with James Shanteau and David A. Schum  
  • Author of nearly 100 articles and book chapters 

Education: 

  • University of Illinois, Ph.D. and Master’s Degree

Psychology Professor Barbara Mellers studies how and why people form beliefs, judgments, and preferences. 

Barbara is the I. George Heyman University Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, teaching in both the Marketing Department at Wharton School and the Psychology Department in the School of Arts and Sciences. She previously spent a decade as Professor of Marketing and Organizational Behavior at the University of California, Berkeley, and six years as Professor of Psychology at The Ohio State University.  

She is the Former President and Executive Board Member of The Society for Judgment and Decision Making, and co-founded the Good Judgment Project with colleagues Philip Tetlock and Don Moore.