Jonah Berger (born c. 1981) is an American

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

and

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

. He serves as a Marketing Professor at the

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...

Biography

Born in

Washington, D.C Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

., Berger was raised in

Chevy Chase, Maryland Chevy Chase () is the colloquial name of an area that includes a town, several incorporated villages, and an unincorporated census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland; and one adjoining neighborhood in northwest Washington, D ...

, and attended the magnet program at

Montgomery Blair High School Montgomery Blair High School (MBHS) is a State school, public Secondary school, high school in the Four Corners, Maryland, Four Corners neighborhood of Silver Spring, Maryland, United States. It is operated by Montgomery County Public Schools (M ...

in Silver Spring. He earned a B.A. in Human Judgment and Decision Making from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 2002, followed by a Ph.D. in Marketing from Stanford's Graduate School of Business in 2007. Berger is known for his research and writings on

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

marketing Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...

, social influence, and virality. He has authored several books, including "Contagious: Why Things Catch On" and "Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces That Shape Behavior."

Publications

Books

* ''Contagious: Why Things Catch On'', Simon & Schuster, 2013 ** Amazon Best book of 2013 ** Audible Best Audiobook of 2013 * ''Invisible Influence: The Hidden Factors that Shape Behavior'',

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

, 2016 * ''The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone's Mind'' (2020) * ''Magic Words: What to Say to Get Your Way'' (2023)

Selected articles

*Berger, Jonah and Grant Packard (2018), “Are Atypical Things More Popular?”, ''

Psychological Science ''Psychological Science'', the flagship journal of the Association for Psychological Science, is a monthly, peer-reviewed scientific journal published by SAGE Publications. The journal publishes research articles, short reports, and research repor ...

'', 29(7), 1178–1184. *Packard, Grant and Jonah Berger (2017), “How Language Shapes Word of Mouth’s Impact”, ''

Journal of Marketing Research ''Journal of Marketing Research'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Marketing Association. It was established in 1964 and covers all aspects of marketing research. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', ...

,'' 54(4), 572–588. *Akpinar, Ezgi and Jonah Berger (2015), “Drivers of Cultural Evolution: The Case of Sensory Metaphors”, ''

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology The ''Journal of Personality and Social Psychology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Psychological Association that was established in 1965. It covers the fields of social and personality psychology. The edi ...

'', 109 (1), 20–34''.'' *Berger, Jonah (2014) “Word-of-Mouth and Interpersonal Communication: A Review and Directions for Future Research”, ''

Journal of Consumer Psychology The ''Journal of Consumer Psychology'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering psychology as it relates to consumer behavior. It was established in 1992 and is published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the Society for Consumer Ps ...

'', 24(4), 586–607. *Berger, Jonah and

Katy Milkman Katherine L. Milkman is an American economist who is the Jamie Dinan, James G. Dinan endowed Professor at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She was previously the President of the Society for Judgment and Decision Making. E ...

(2012), “What Makes Online Content Viral?”, ''

'', 49 (2), 192–205. *Berger, Jonah and Raghuram Iyengar (2013), “Communication Channels and Word of Mouth: How the Medium Shapes the Message”, ''

Journal of Consumer Research The ''Journal of Consumer Research'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering research on the psychological aspects of consumer behavior. It was established in 1974 and originally published by University of Chicago Press. Since 2015 ...

'', October. *Zoey Chen and Jonah Berger (2013), “When, Why, and How Controversy Causes Conversation”, ''

'', October. *Berger, Jonah, Eric Bradlow, Alex Braunstein, and Yao Zhang (2012), “From Karen to Katie: Using Baby names to Study Cultural Evolution”,

, 23 (10), 1067–1073. *Sela, Aner and Jonah Berger (2012), “Decision Quicksand: How Trivial Choice Suck Us In”, ''

'', 39(2), 360–370. *Berger, Jonah and Eric Schwartz (2011), “What Drives Immediate and Ongoing Word of Mouth?”, ''

'', October, 869–880. *Berger, Jonah and Devin Pope (2011), “Can Losing Lead to Winning?”, ''

Management Science Management science (or managerial science) is a wide and interdisciplinary study of solving complex problems and making strategic decisions as it pertains to institutions, corporations, governments and other types of organizational entities. It is ...

'', 57(5), 817–827. *Berger, Jonah, Alan T. Sorensen, and Scott J. Rasmussen (2010)
“Positive Effects of Negative Publicity: When Negative Reviews Increase Sales,”
'' Marketing Science'', 29(5), 815–827. *Berger, Jonah and Gael Le Mens (2009), “How Adoption Speed Affects the Abandonment of Cultural Tastes”, ''

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' (often abbreviated ''PNAS'' or ''PNAS USA'') is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal of the National Academy of Scie ...

'', 106, 8146–8150. *Berger, Jonah, Marc Meredith, and S. Christian Wheeler (2008), “Contextual Priming: Where People Vote Affects How They Vote”, ''

'', 105 (26), 8846–8849. *Berger, Jonah and Gráinne M. Fitzsimons (2008), “Dogs on the Street, Pumas on Your Feet: How Cues in the Environment Influence Product Evaluation and Choice”, ''

'', 45(1), 1–14. *Berger, Jonah and Chip Heath (2007), “Where Consumers Diverge from Others: Identity-Signaling and Product Domains”, ''

'', 34(2), 121–134.

Awards

*The

American Marketing Association The American Marketing Association (AMA) is a professional association for marketing professionals with 30,000 members as of 2012. It has 76 professional chapters and 250 collegiate chapters across the United States. The AMA was formed in from t ...

(AMA) Top 5 Most Productive Researchers in Marketing *The Association for Consumer Research (ACR) Early Career Award for Contribution to Consumer Research *The ''Society for Consumer Psychology'' (SCP) Early Career Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Consumer Psychology *The

Iron Professor Award for Awesome Faculty Research *The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania MBA Teaching Commitment and Curricular Innovation Award, 2011 * ''New York Times'', Year in Ideas

References

External links

Official siteFaculty page at WhartonNPR Interview with Jonah Berger
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berger, Jonah Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania faculty American marketing people American business writers Stanford University alumni Living people Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni Year of birth missing (living people)