Researcher to discuss neuroeconomics on Oct. 29

A nationally recognized researcher in consumer behavior will discuss “The Ethics of Neuroeconomics” at 6:30 p.m., Oct. 29, in York College’s DeMeester Recital Hall, Wolf Hall. The talk by Stacy Wood, director of the Center for Neuroeconomic Research at the University of South Carolina, is open to the public free of charge and sponsored by the Department of Business.

Neuroeconomics is an emerging specialty that combines elements of neuroscience, economics and psychology to study how people make decisions. “There has often been debate on just how far marketers should go in not only understanding what we think or feel, but why we do so,” said Gerry Patnode, professor of marketing and Marketing Program Coordinator at York College. “The new science of Neuroeconomics even suggests we can predict or even manipulate that process. That prospect is both scary and exciting.”

Wood is the Moore Research Fellow and an associate professor of marketing at the Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina. Her research focuses primarily on how consumers respond and adapt to change or innovation, such as technology innovations or medical innovations. She is at the forefront of the latest tool for investigating consumer responses to new things as head of the Center for Neuroeconomic Research, a Web forum and research lab that encourages interdisciplinary collaboration to study the brain science of decision making and consumption.

Wood’s work has appeared in the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Psychology and Journal of Retailing. She has been a visiting professor of marketing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Duke University and is an affiliated faculty member of MIT's Convergence Culture Consortium. Wood earned a doctorate in marketing at the University of Florida.