Suresh Ramanathan

Suresh Ramanathan studies the dynamics of affective and motivational processes and non-conscious processes in judgments and choice. His research is motivated by the realization that consumers do not typically make judgments or engage in behaviors at just a single point in time - rather, they make repeated judgments and choices that are a function of their changing emotions and goals. Suresh studies such processes in two different contexts. First, he looks at the goals and emotions that come into play during and after self-control dilemmas, reflecting intra-personal dynamics. Second, he looks at the dynamics of emotions and judgments in jointly consumed experiences, reflecting inter-personal dynamics.

His papers have been widely published. Selected titles include: "Immediate and Delayed Emotional Consequences of Indulgence: The Moderating Influence of Personality Type on Mixed Emotions," co-authored with Patti Williams and published in the Journal of Consumer Research; "Consuming with Others: Social Influences on Moment-to-Moment and Retrospective Evaluations of Experiences," co-authored with fellow Chicago Booth faculty member Ann McGill and published in the Journal of Consumer Research; "The Influence of Experience and Sequence of Conflicting Emotions on Ad Attitudes," with fellow Chicago Booth faculty member Aparna Labroo published in the Journal of Consumer Research; and "Time-Varying Effects of Chronic Hedonic Goals on Impulsive Behavior," with Geeta Menon published in the Journal of Marketing Research.

In 2007, Ramanathan was selected as a Young Scholar by the Marketing Science Institute in recognition of his work and potential. He is currently a Kilts Center Fellow at the Chicago Booth. He has also previously been named as a Beatrice Foods Fellow. Ramanathan is also an ad hoc reviewer for several journals and an active member of the Association for Consumer Research and the Society for Consumer Psychology.

Ramanathan began his career in marketing as an area sales manager in Bangalore, India, where he worked for Brooke Bond Lipton, a division of Unilever. He then became an associate media director at J. Walter Thompson in Bangalore/Madras and media director at Lowe Lintas before moving to Delhi to work as national media research director for McCann-Erickson. He also had a short stint as regional director (sales and marketing) with MTV India, helping launch the channel in the country. By bringing this practical experience into the classroom, Ramanathan is able to make discussions enriching for his students.

He attended the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, where he received a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering in 1985. He earned an MBA in marketing from the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta in 1987. He received a PhD in marketing in 2002 from New York University, where he was the winner of the school-wide Herman E. Krooss Award for Best Dissertation and the school-wide Milton Reynolds Fellowship. He is also the recipient of the SCP-Sheth Foundation national award for best doctoral dissertation proposal in marketing. He joined the Chicago Booth faculty in 2002.

Outside of the classroom, his interests include travel, photography, wine, and politics.

Selected Publications

With Geeta Menon, "Time-Varying Effects of Chronic Hedonic Goals on Impulsive Behavior," Journal of Marketing Research (November 2006).

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With Aparna Labroo, "The Influence of Experience and Sequence of Conflicting Emotions on Ad Attitudes," Journal of Consumer Research (March 2007).

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With Patti Williams, "Immediate and Delayed Emotional Consequences of Indulgence: The Moderating Influence of Personality Type on Mixed Emotions," Journal of Consumer Research (August 2007).

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With Ann McGill, "Consuming with Others: Social Influences on Moment-to-Moment and Retrospective Evaluations of Experiences," Journal of Consumer Research (December 2007).

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With Anirban Mukhopadhyay and Jaideep Sengupta, "Recalling Past Temptations: An Information-Processing View of the Dynamics of Self-Control," Journal of Consumer Research (forthcoming).

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