1. science
2. medicine
3. psychology and psychiatry

February 2015
CURRICULUM VITAE
JENNY G. OLSON
Stephen M. Ross School of Business
University of Michigan
701 Tappan Street, R5323
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Cell Phone: (920) 420-9280
Office Phone: (734) 763-0057
Email: jennygin@umich.edu
Web: www.jennyginolson.com
EDUCATION
2015
Ph.D., Marketing (expected)
Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan
2009
M.A., Social Psychology
Teachers College, Ball State University
Certificate in Institutional Research
2007
B.S., Psychology and Human Development (Double Major)
University of Wisconsin – Green Bay
Summa Cum Laude with Honors in Psychology (GPA: 4.0/4.0)
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Consumption in Interpersonal Contexts
Consumer Financial Decision Making
Social Influence
Moral Psychology
MANUSCRIPTS IN THE REVIEW PROCESS
Olson, Jenny, Brent McFerran, Andrea Morales, and Darren Dahl, “Earning the Right to Eat Organic:
How Moral Judgments Depend on the Nature of the Target’s Income,” Revising for invited 2nd round
review at the Journal of Consumer Research.
Mourey, James, Jenny Olson, and Carolyn Yoon, “The Product-as-Person-Proxy Effect: Satisfying Social
Needs via Consumer Products at the Expense of Interpersonal Interaction and Prosocial Behavior,”
Revising for invited 2nd round review at the Journal of Consumer Research.

Winner of the Best Working Paper Award at the 2011 ACR Annual Meeting
SELECTED WORK IN PROGRESS
Olson, Jenny and Scott Rick, “A Penny Saved is a Partner Earned: The Romantic Appeal of Savers,”
Working paper.

Winner of the Best Student Poster Award at the 2013 SJDM Annual Meeting
Olson CV – Page 2

Selected Media Coverage: CNN, The Globe and Mail, HLN, The Huffington Post, Israel National
Radio, The Los Angeles Times, MarketWatch, Men’s Health Magazine, Money Magazine, The
Motley Fool, MSN Money, Psychology Today, Reuters, Time Magazine, The Today Show, The
Washington Post, and Women’s Health Magazine
Olson, Jenny and Scott Rick, “Managing Debt and Managing Each Other: Debt Management Decisions in
Interpersonal Contexts,” Data collection in progress.
Olson, Jenny, Brent McFerran, and Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks, “The Unintended Psychological Effects of
Behavioral Tracking,” Data collection in progress.
Do Joint Accounts Improve Marital Quality? (with Scott Rick, Deborah Small, and Eli Finkel;
longitudinal data collection in progress)
DISSERTATION
“An Examination of Consumer Financial Decision-Making in Interpersonal Contexts”
Chair: Scott Rick
Committee: Katherine Burson, Brent McFerran, Leigh Tost, Robin Edelstein
Proposal defended on March 20, 2014
The past five years have witnessed a surge of interdisciplinary research aimed at understanding and
improving consumer financial decision-making. Most of this work has focused on how individuals
approach financial decisions, but financial decisions are often subject to social influence and are made
within the context of relationships (e.g., between spouses). Moreover, the outcomes of such decisions can
be important determinants of relationship satisfaction. My dissertation provides a more complete
understanding of consumer financial decision-making by examining how financial decisions influence
interpersonal relationship dynamics, and how relationship dynamics influence financial decisions.
My first essay examines how saving versus spending tendencies influence romantic attraction. The central
hypothesis is that “savers” (people who, in economic terms, have a low marginal propensity to consume)
would be assumed to possess broad self-regulatory resources, and this potential misperception would bias
the extent to which savers are viewed as romantically and physically attractive. I first demonstrate, in a
face-to-face, incentive-compatible study, that people can accurately distinguish between savers and
spenders simply by glancing at them. Then, in several experiments, I find that savers are viewed as
possessing greater general self-control than spenders, and perceived self-control increases savers’
romantic appeal (above and beyond potential alternative sources of savers’ appeal such as financial
viability and reduced materialism). In addition, savers are expected to take better care of themselves, and
this expectation favorably biases perceptions of savers’ physical attractiveness. However, because selfcontrol favors prudence over fun, dispositional and situational factors that increase the need for
stimulation reduce the allure of savers. This essay elucidates how a fundamental consumption behavior
(one’s tendency to spend or save) is perceived and is influential in romantic relationship formation.
Spending habits influence not only initial attraction, but also relationship quality, particularly if a couple’s
habits differ. How established couples structure their financial accounts (e.g., purely joint or purely
separate) may ameliorate or exacerbate the financial and psychological effects of differences in partners’
natural spending habits. While a number of theoretical perspectives suggest that merging finances may
foster a sense of closeness and investment in the relationship, merging finances may also bring about
difficult conversations that strain relationships. My second essay examines whether couples benefit more
Olson CV – Page 3
from joint or separate accounts in a longitudinal field experiment. I have recruited engaged and newlywed
couples and randomly assigned them to maintain separate (checking and savings) accounts or to merge
accounts. Couples in a control condition received no guidance on how to manage their money. I have
begun to survey all couples to assess their marital and economic well-being and will continue to do so
periodically. This is the first experiment that has the potential to shed light on how financial account
structure influences relationships and thus may offer guidance to couples who face this important and
difficult decision.
Couples must not only decide how to manage their income and savings, but also their debt. Recent work
has investigated how individuals navigate debt repayment decisions, but when debt is jointly held, such
decisions often invite input from all indebted parties. Whether individual-level biases (e.g., focusing on
debt size rather than interest rates) persist when decisions are jointly made is unclear. On the one hand,
interpersonal deliberation may help to clarify the costs of suboptimal repayment strategies. On the other
hand, deliberation among like-minded individuals can intensify pre-existing biases. My third essay
assesses these conflicting hypotheses by examining the influence of interpersonal deliberation on debt
management decisions. In an incentive-compatible experiment, I find that dyads behave less optimally
than individuals, showing an enhanced tendency to focus on small debts even when larger debts have
larger interest rates. Follow-up analyses and a simulation suggest that the dyad partner with the least
financially optimal preferences has greater influence over joint outcomes. I find a similar pattern among
groups of three people, suggesting that any type of interpersonal deliberation intensifies individuals’
costly tendency to underweight interest rates and focus on paying off small debts.
HONORS AND AWARDS
Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship, University of Michigan, 2014-2015 ($29,280 plus one year of tuition)

“The most prestigious and substantial award the Rackham Graduate School offers,” this fellowship seeks to
“support students working on dissertations that are unusually creative, ambitious and risk-taking.”
Best Student Poster Award, Society for Judgment and Decision Making Annual Meeting, 2013
AMA Sheth Foundation Doctoral Consortium Fellow, 2013
Stark Graduate Scholarship and Fellowship, University of Michigan, 2012, 2013 ($16,000)
Leo Burnett Scholarship, University of Michigan, 2012 ($4,000)
Marketing and Public Policy Workshop and Doctoral Seminar Fellow, 2012
Best Working Paper Award, Association for Consumer Research North American Conference, 2011
Milton G. Kendrick and Josephine H. Kendrick Fellowship, University of Michigan, 2011 ($3,000)
Dean’s Citation for Academic Excellence, Ball State University’s Graduate School, 2009
Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society Fellowship Award, 2007-2008 ($5,000)
Chancellor’s Leadership Medallion, University of Wisconsin – Green Bay, 2007

A university-wide award honoring “academic achievement and leadership as demonstrated through campus
and community involvement during the student’s UW-Green Bay career.”
Olson CV – Page 4
RESEARCH GRANTS
Rackham Graduate Student Research Grant, University of Michigan, 2014 ($3,000)
Russell Sage Foundation, Small Grants Program in Behavioral Economics, 2012 ($7,500)
Transformative Consumer Research Grant, Association for Consumer Research, 2012 ($1,750)
CONFERENCE PAPER PRESENTATIONS AND INVITED TALKS (*Presenter)
*Mourey, J., Olson, J., and Yoon, C. (2015, February), “The Product-as-Person-Proxy Effect: Satisfying
Social Needs via Consumer Products at the Expense of Interpersonal Interaction and Prosocial Behavior,”
Society for Consumer Psychology Winter Conference; Phoenix Arizona.
*Olson, J. and Rick, S. (2014, October), “Managing Debt and Managing Each Other: Debt Management
Decisions in Interpersonal Contexts,” Association for Consumer Research North American Conference;
Baltimore, Maryland.

Special Session Co-chair (with Chiraag Mittal): “It's All Green to Me: How Intrapersonal and
Interpersonal Factors Shape Consumers' Financial Decisions”
Olson, J. and *Rick, S. (2014, October), “A Penny Saved is a Partner Earned: The Romantic Appeal of
Savers,” Association for Consumer Research North American Conference; Baltimore, Maryland.
*Olson, J. and Rick, S. (2014, August), “Managing Debt and Managing Each Other: Debt Management
Decisions in Interpersonal Contexts,” Society for Consumer Psychology Summer Conference at the
Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association; Washington, DC.
Olson, J. and *Rick, S. (2014, July), “Managing Debt and Managing Each Other: Debt Management
Decisions in Interpersonal Contexts,” Behavioral Decision Research in Management Conference;
London, England.
*Olson, J. and Rick, S. (2014, April), “A Penny Saved is a Partner Earned: The Romantic Appeal of
Savers,” Haring Symposium, Indiana University; Bloomington, Indiana.
*Olson, J. and Rick, S. (2014, March), “Managing Debt and Managing Each Other: Debt Management
Decisions in Interpersonal Contexts,” Society for Consumer Psychology Winter Conference; Miami,
Florida.
*Olson, J. and Rick, S. (2013, November), “Managing Debt and Managing Each Other: Debt
Management Decisions in Interpersonal Contexts,” Invited Talk at the Decision Consortium, University
of Michigan; Ann Arbor, Michigan.
*Olson, J., McFerran, B., Morales, A., and Dahl, D. (2013, February), “Are You Rich Enough to Eat
Organic? Moral Judgments Depend on the Income of the Target,” Society for Consumer Psychology
Winter Conference; San Antonio, Texas.
*Olson, J. and Rick, S. (2013, February), “Savers are Sexier than Spenders, Unless You’re Craving
Excitement,” Society for Consumer Psychology Winter Conference; San Antonio, Texas.
Olson CV – Page 5
Olson, J., McFerran, B., Morales, A., and *Dahl, D. (2013, January), “Are You Rich Enough to Eat
Organic? Moral Judgments Depend on the Income of the Target,” Invited Talk at the Judgment and
Decision-Making Winter Symposium; Snowbird, Utah.
*Olson, J. and Rick, S. (2012, November), “Savers are Sexier than Spenders, Unless You’re Craving
Excitement,” Invited Talk at the Decision Consortium, University of Michigan; Ann Arbor, Michigan.
*Mourey, J., Olson, J., and Yoon, C. (2012, October), “It’s Smiling at Me: Satisfying Social Needs
Through Consumer Products…At the Expense of Genuine Relationships,” Association for Consumer
Research North American Conference; Vancouver, British Columbia.
*Olson, J., McFerran, B., Morales, A., and Dahl, D. (2012, October), “Created Equal? The Morality of
Food and the People Who Eat It,” Association for Consumer Research North American Conference;
Vancouver, British Columbia.
*Olson, J. and Rick, S. (2012, October), “When is Saving Sexy? The Role of Construal Level in Shaping
the Appeal of Savers and Spenders as Romantic Relationship Partners,” Association for Consumer
Research North American Conference; Vancouver, British Columbia.
*Olson, J. and Rick, S. (2012, April), “When is Saving Sexy? The Role of Construal in Shaping the
Appeal of Savers and Spenders,” Interdisciplinary Science of Consumption Conference; Ann Arbor,
Michigan.
CONFERENCE POSTER PRESENTATIONS (*Presenter)
*Olson, J. and Rick, S. (2014, May), “Managing Debt and Managing Each Other: Debt Management
Decisions in Interpersonal Contexts,” Boulder Summer Conference on Consumer Financial Decision
Making; Boulder, Colorado.
*Olson, J. and Rick, S. (2013, November), “A Penny Saved is a Partner Earned: The Romantic Appeal of
Savers,” Society for Judgment and Decision Making Conference; Toronto, Canada.
*Olson, J. and Rick, S. (2013, January), “Savers are Sexier than Spenders, Unless You’re Craving
Excitement,” Judgment and Decision Making Pre-Conference at the Society for Personality and Social
Psychology Conference; New Orleans, Louisiana.
*Mourey, J., *Olson, J., and Yoon, C. (2011, October), “It's Smiling at Me: Satisfying Social Needs
Through Consumer Products,” Association for Consumer Research North American Conference; St.
Louis, Missouri.
*Olson, J. (2009, June), “The Effect of Young Women’s Sexual Self-Schemas on Emotional Responses
to Sexualized Female Imagery in Magazine Advertising,” Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality’s
Eastern and Midcontinent Regions Conference; St. Petersburg, Florida.
*Olson, J. (2008, November), “Exposure to the Explicit: Understanding the Impact of Sexualized
Advertising on Females’ Romantic Relationships,” Indiana Psychological Association’s Annual Fall
Conference; Indianapolis, Indiana.
Olson CV – Page 6
*Olson, J. and Wilson-Doenges, G. (2007, August), “The Effects of Sexualized Magazine Advertising on
Females’ Romantic Relationships,” Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association; San
Francisco, California.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Instructor, Marketing Management (BBA), University of Michigan, Winter 2012

Instructor Evaluation: 4.9 on a 1-5 scale
Teaching Assistant, Consumer Behavior (MBA), University of Michigan, Winter 2015
Teaching Assistant, Brand Management (MBA), University of Michigan, Fall 2010, Fall 2012
Teaching Assistant, Advertising Management (MBA and BBA), University of Michigan, Fall 2011,
Winter 2013, Winter 2014
SERVICE ACTIVITIES
Service to the Field:
 Student Representative: Executive Board of the Society for Judgment and Decision Making, 2014
 Trainee Reviewer: Journal of Consumer Research, 2013 – Current
 Conference Reviewer for ACR: 2013 – Current (working papers)
 Conference Reviewer for SCP: 2014 – Current (competitive papers)
Service to the Department and University:
 Consumer Behavior Reading Group Co-organizer, University of Michigan, 2013
 Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program Sponsor, University of Michigan, 2011 – Current
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Association for Consumer Research
Society for Consumer Psychology
Society for Judgment and Decision Making
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
Association for Psychological Science
DOCTORAL COURSEWORK (GPA: 4.0/4.0)
Marketing
Social Influences in Consumption
Consumer Judgment and Decision Making
Behavioral Research in Advertising
Learning and Memory
Applied Sensation and Perception
Choice Theory and Modeling
Structural Models
Quantitative Methods
Empirical Modeling Using Bayesian Methods
David Wooten
Katherine Burson and Scott Rick
Rajeev Batra
Carolyn Yoon
Aradhna Krishna
Fred Feinberg
S. Sriram
Puneet Manchanda
Anocha Aribarg
Olson CV – Page 7
Psychology
Decision Processes
Close Relationships
Self-Control and Emotion Regulation
Emotion and Motivation
Sociology of Gender
Stephanie Preston
Robin Edelstein
Ethan Kross
Phoebe Ellsworth
PJ McGann
Methodology
Research Design and Procedures
Statistical Methods I, II
Generalized Linear Models
Structural Equation Modeling
Dyadic Data Analysis
Phoebe Ellsworth
Richard Gonzalez
Richard Gonzalez
Rick Bagozzi
Deborah Kashy and Rob Ackerman
ABSTRACTS FROM OTHER RESEARCH PROJECTS
Olson, Jenny, Brent McFerran, Andrea Morales, and Darren Dahl, “Earning the Right to Eat
Organic: How Moral Judgments Depend on the Nature of the Target’s Income,” Revising for
invited 2nd round review at the Journal of Consumer Research.
This paper takes a behavioral ethics approach to examine how individuals are evaluated differently for
engaging in the same prosocial activity—namely, purchasing organic food. We propose that because
organic food is a moral choice associated with both health and wealth, the moral judgments people form
of consumers and organizations who buy organic versus conventional food will differ based on the nature
of the target’s income. Across six studies we demonstrate that organic food choices polarize moral
judgments: whereas high-income individuals choosing organic (vs. conventional) food are perceived as
more moral, those in the lowest income bracket receiving government assistance are perceived as less
moral. This effect is driven by the belief that earning one’s income creates the right to make (costlier)
prosocial choices. Our work makes an important contribution by showing that the same prosocial action
leads to opposing moral judgments, and identifying the mechanism underlying this attribution reversal.
Mourey, James, Jenny Olson, and Carolyn Yoon, “The Product-as-Person-Proxy Effect:
Satisfying Social Needs via Consumer Products at the Expense of Interpersonal Interaction and
Prosocial Behavior,” Revising for invited 2nd round review at the Journal of Consumer Research.
Can consumer products replace the role of people when it comes to fulfilling social needs? Five
experiments provide evidence for the “product-as-person-proxy” hypothesis that humanized (vs. nonhumanized) versions of consumer products can fulfill social needs that are customarily fulfilled by
interpersonal interaction. Whereas prior research has explored social exclusion and anthropomorphism
separately, the current work explores the interaction of these two constructs to test for the unique
consequences of the product-as-person-proxy hypothesis for social engagement. Specifically, the results
reveal that interacting with humanized (vs. non-humanized) products following social exclusion (1)
produces positive mood effects comparable to actually interacting with people, (2) mitigates the need to
exaggerate the size of one’s social network, (3) reduces the anticipated need to engage with close others
in the future, and (4) decreases one’s willingness to engage in prosocial behavior (i.e., individuals are less
likely to volunteer or donate money, presumably because they no longer suffer from the absence of social
connections). Thus, examining the interplay between social exclusion and anthropomorphism offers novel
insights regarding the potential social costs of consumption.
Olson, Jenny, Brent McFerran, and Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks, “The Unintended Psychological
Effects of Behavioral Tracking,” Data collection in progress.
Olson CV – Page 8
Technological advances have enabled organizations to track, measure, and analyze consumers’ behavioral
patterns in unprecedented ways. While some forms of tracking are perceived as beneficial to the common
good (e.g., anti-terrorism programs), other forms can be construed as more invasive. For example, the
collection of “Big Data” online means advertising networks are able to monitor consumers across
multiple websites and build detailed profiles of their behavior and interests, often without active consent.
Despite recent concerns about tracking, relatively little research is able to speak to how consumers
respond to the psychological feeling of being watched. Thus, we developed a controlled but ecologically
rich environment to examine the effects of feeling tracked across a variety of cognitive, emotional, and
behavioral outcomes. Specifically, individuals experienced a mock retail environment—complete with
promotional materials, consumer goods, and, in a Tracking condition, surveillance equipment—for five
minutes. The results from a follow-up survey indicate that tracking shifts individuals’ cognitive focus,
impairs memory, and leads to anxiety. Thus, the increased ease of collecting data may have unintended
consequences, and ultimately be less beneficial to organizations than initially thought.
REFERENCES
Scott Rick
Assistant Professor of Marketing
University of Michigan
Ross School of Business
701 Tappan Street, R5486
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Ph: (713) 252-5654
srick@umich.edu
Brent McFerran
Assistant Professor of Marketing
Simon Fraser University
Beedie School of Business
8888 University Way
Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6
Ph: (778) 782-9729
brent.mcferran@sfu.ca
Darren Dahl
Senior Associate Dean, Faculty/Research
Professor of Marketing
University of British Columbia
Sauder School of Business
2053 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC, V5T 1Z2
Ph: (604) 822-1890
darren.dahl@sauder.ubc.ca
Andrea Morales
Professor of Marketing
Arizona State University
W. P. Carey School of Business
300 E. Lemon Street
Tempe, AZ 85287
Ph: (480) 965-6122
acmorales@asu.edu
Deborah Small
Associate Professor of Marketing and Psychology
University of Pennsylvania
The Wharton School
760 Jon M. Huntsman Hall
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Ph: (215) 898-6494
deborahs@wharton.upenn.edu
Eli Finkel
Professor of Psychology and
Management and Organizations
Northwestern University
Kellogg School of Management
2001 Sheridan Road, Room 386
Evanston, IL 60208
Ph: (847) 491-3212
finkel@kellogg.northwestern.edu