SMU Assistant Professor of Marketing Hannah Chang studies the science behind how consumers make decisions, particularly the underlying psychological and contextual mechanisms. Assistant Prof Chang’s interest in the field emerged during her undergraduate years as a research assistant at the University of California, Irvine. The research, which spanned disciplines in medicine, economics, psychology, and sociology, found that patients made less than optimal decisions regarding their choice of medical treatment. She has several ongoing projects that look at when consumers are more likely to rely on feelings for decision making than to rely on logical assessments.