Research Director of the RBS Center for Women in Business
Kristina Durante is Professor I of marketing, Marketing Department Acting Chair, and the marketing Ph.D. program coordinator at Rutgers Business School. Kristina is a social psychologist interested in the biology of decision-making.
Her research lies at the intersection of social psychology, evolutionary biology, and consumer decision-making. Kristina’s research program focuses on how our evolved biology (ancestral ecology and internal physiological systems) and our modern social environment interact to influence behavior.
Kristina’s areas of expertise include women’s consumer choice and luxury spending, family consumer decisions, hormones and behavior, and the psychological consequences of ambiguity.
Her work integrates knowledge from biology with diverse areas of psychology and marketing. By considering the deep historic forces that continue to shape modern behaviors, Kristina’s research provides insight into the underlying fundamental motives behind consumer choice that can guide the creation of successful marketing appeals and workarounds for some of society’s most pressing problems.
Kristina’s work has been published in the leading academic journals in marketing, psychology, and biology. Kristina spoke about her research in a recent TEDx talk. Her studies have been featured in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Chicago Tribune, as well as hundreds of other media outlets worldwide. Kristina spent seven years as an entertainment marketing executive at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Loud Records, and Planet Hollywood before entering academe.
Ph.D., University of Texas, Austin; Social Psychology
M.A., University of Chicago; Social Sciences
B.S., Boston University; Mass Communication
Kristina Durante giving a TEDx Talk
Chang, Yuqian, and Kristina M. Durante (2022), “Why Consumers Have Everything But Happiness: An Evolutionary Mismatch Perspective,” Current Opinion in Psychology. View PDF
Parker, Gillian, Kristina M. Durante, Sarah E. Hill, and Martie G. Haselton (2021), “Why Women Choose Divorce: An Evolutionary Perspective,” Current Opinion in Psychology, View PDF
Durante, Kristina M., and Alexis Rittweger (2021), “Outdated Gender Norms Continue to Haunt Women’s Workplace Advancement,” Rutgers Business Review. View PDF
Kim, Aekyoung, Felipe M. Affonso, Juliano Laran, and Kristina M. Durante (2021), “Serendipity: Chance Encounters in the Marketplace Enhance Consumer Satisfaction”, Journal of Marketing, forthcoming. View PDF.
Durante, Kristina M., Vladas Griskevicius, and Sevincgul Ulu (2019), “The Effect of Fertility on Loss Aversion,” Journal of Business Research, forthcoming. View PDF
Kim, Aekyoung, Hannah K. Bradshaw, Kristina M. Durante, and Sarah E. Hill (2018), “Life History, Fertility, and Short-term Mating Motivation,” Evolutionary Psychology, forthcoming. View PDF
Nikiforidis, Lambrianos, Kristina M. Durante, Joseph P. Redden, and Vladas Griskevicius (2018), “Do Mothers Spend More on Daughters While Fathers Spend More on Sons?”, Journal of Consumer Psychology, 28, 149-156. View PDF.
Durante, Kristina M., and Juliano Laran (2016), “The Effect of Stress on Consumer Saving and Spending”, Journal of Marketing Research, 53, 814-828. View PDF.
Durante, Kristina M., and Vladas Griskevicius (2016), “Evolution and Consumer Behavior”, Current Opinion in Psychology, 10, 27-32. View PDF
Durante, Kristina M., Paul W. Eastwick, Eli J. Finkel, Steven W. Gangestad, and Jeffry A. Simpson (2016), “Pair-Bonded Relationships and Romantic Alternatives: Toward an Integration of Evolutionary and Relationship Science Perspectives”, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 53, 1-74. View PDF
Griskevicius, Vladas and Kristina M. Durante (2015) “Evolution and Consumer Behavior”, In M. Norton, D. Rucker, and C. Lamberton (Eds.) The Cambridge Handbook of Consumer Psychology. New York: Cambridge University Press. View PDF
Durante, Kristina M., Vladas Griskevicius, Joseph P. Redden, and Andrew E. White (2015), “Spending on Daughters in Economic Recessions”, Journal of Consumer Research, 42 (3), 435-457. View PDF
Eastwick, Paul W. and Kristina M. Durante (2015), “Adaptive Workarounds”, Current Opinion in Psychology, 1 (1), 92-96. View PDF
Durante, Kristina M. and Ashley Rae Arsena (2015), “Playing the Field: The Effect of Fertility on Women’s Desire for Variety”, Journal of Consumer Research, 41 (2), 1372-1391. View PDF
Durante, Kristina M., Vladas Griskevicius, Stephanie M. Cantu, and Jeffry A. Simpson (2014), “Money, Status, and the Ovulatory Cycle”, Journal of Marketing Research, 51 (1), 27-39. View PDF
Durante, Kristina M., Ashley Rae Arsena, and Vladas Griskevicius (2014), “Fertility Can Have Different Effects for Single and Non-Single Women,” Psychological Science, 25 (5), 1150-1152. View PDF
Cantu, Stephanie M., Jeffry A. Simpson, Vladas Griskevicius, Yanna J. Weisberg, Kristina M. Durante, and Daniel J. Beal (2014), “Fertile and Selectively Flirty: Women’s Behavior Toward Men Changes Across the Ovulatory Cycle”, Psychological Science, 25 (2), 431-438. View PDF
Durante, Kristina M., Ashley Rae, and Vladas Griskevicius (2013), “The Fluctuating Female Vote: Politics, Religion, and the Ovulatory Cycle”, Psychological Science, 24 (6), 1007-1016. View PDF
Durante, Kristina M., Vladas Griskevicius, Jeffry A. Simpson, Stephanie M. Cantu, and Norman P. Li (2012), “Ovulation Leads Women to Perceive Sexy Cads as Good Dads,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103 (2), 292-305. View PDF
Hill, Sarah E., Christopher D. Rodeheffer, Vladas Griskevicius, Kristina M. Durante, and Andrew E. White (2012), “Boosting Beauty in an Economic Decline: Mating, Spending, and the Lipstick Effect,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103 (2), 275-291. View PDF
Durante, Kristina M., Vladas Griskevicius, Jeffry A. Simpson, Stephanie M. Cantu, and Joshua M. Tybur (2012), “Sex Ratio and Women’s Career Choice: Does a Scarcity of Men Lead Women to Choose Briefcase over Baby?,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103 (1), 121-134. View PDF
Durante, Kristina M., Vladas Griskevicius, Sarah E. Hill, Carin Perilloux, and Norman P. Li (2011), “Ovulation, Female Competition, and Product Choice: Hormonal Influences on Consumer Behavior,” Journal of Consumer Research, 37 (6), 921-934. View PDF
Hill, Sarah E. and Kristina M. Durante (2011), "Courtship, Competition, and the Pursuit of Attractiveness: Mating Goals Facilitate Health-Related Risk-Taking and Strategic Risk Suppression in Women,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37 (3), 383-394. View PDF
Durante, Kristina M. and Norman P. Li (2009), “Oestradiol Level and Opportunistic Mating in Women,” Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Biology Letters, 5 (2), 179-182. View PDF
Durante, Kristina M., Norman P. Li, and Martie G. Haselton (2008), “Changes in Women’s Choice of Dress across the Ovulatory Cycle: Naturalistic and Laboratory Task-Based Evidence,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34 (11), 1451-1460. View PDF
Name: Chang, Yuqian
Graduation Date: 2024/May
Name: Albastaki, Omar
Graduation Date: 2024/May
Name: Zhang, Junhou
Graduation Date: 2021/October
Name: Jones, Aziza
Graduation Date: 2021/May
Name: Kim, Aekyoung
Graduation Date: 2018/May
Thesis Title: The Effects of Chance and Romantic Motives on Consumer Preferences
