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Zakary Tormala
Zakary Tormala
Professor, Marketing
Contact Info
+1 (650) 723-1892
Email
ZakaryTormala
Professor of Marketing
Academic Area: 
Marketing

Research Statement

Professor Tormala is a social and consumer psychologist who works in the areas of attitudes, persuasion, and social influence. At a general level, his research on these topics seeks to shed light on the factors that open and close attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to change.

Research Interests

  • Attitudes
  • Persuasion
  • Social influence
  • Psychological certainty

Teaching Statement

Professor Tormala teaches courses in the areas of attitudes, persuasion, and consumer behavior.

Bio

Professor Tormala received a B.A. in psychology from Arizona State University in the fall of 1996 and went on to earn his Ph.D. in social psychology from Ohio State University in 2003. From 2003-2007, Professor Tormala served as an assistant professor of social psychology at Indiana University. In 2007 he joined the marketing faculty at Stanford, where he teaches courses on attitudes, persuasion, and consumer behavior.

Professor Tormala has published numerous articles in leading psychology and marketing journals, including Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, and Journal of Consumer Psychology, among others. For his contribution to scholarly research in consumer behavior, he received the Society for Consumer Psychology’s Early Career Award for Distinguished Scientific Contribution in 2008 and was named to the Marketing Science Institute’s list of Young Scholars in 2009.

Academic Degrees

  • PhD in Psychology, The Ohio State University, 2003
  • MA in Psychology, The Ohio State University, 1999
  • BA in Psychology, Arizona State University, 1996

Academic Appointments

  • Professor of Marketing, Stanford GSB, 2015
  • Associate Professor with tenure, Stanford GSB, 2011
  • Associate Professor, Stanford GSB, 2007
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, 2003

Awards and Honors

  • Young Scholar, Marketing Science Institute, 2009
  • Fellow, Society of Experimental Social Psychology, 2009
  • Early Career Award, Society for Consumer Psychology, 2008
  • Society for Experimental Social Psychology Dissertation Award Finalist, 2004

Publications

Journal Articles

Valence Asymmetries in Attitude Ambivalence
Aaron Snyder, Zakary Tormala. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. April 2017, Vol. 112, Issue 4, Pages 555-576.
Group Identification as a Means of Attitude Restoration
Joshua Clarkson, Eliot Smith, Zakary Tormala, Riley Dugan. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. January 2017, Vol. 68, Pages 139-145.
The Curvilinear Relationship Between Attitude Certainty and Attitudinal Advocacy
Lauren Cheatham, Zakary Tormala. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin . January 2017, Vol. 43, Issue 1, Pages 3-16.
The role of certainty (and uncertainty) in attitudes and persuasion
Zakary Tormala. Current Opinion in Psychology. 2016, Vol. 10, Pages 6-11.
How certainty transforms persuasion
Zakary Tormala, Derek Rucker. Harvard Business Review. September 2015, Vol. 93, Pages 96-103.
Attitude certainty and attitudinal advocacy: The unique roles of clarity and correctness
Lauren Cheatham, Zakary Tormala. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 2015, Vol. forthcoming.
Attitude change and persuasion: Past, present, and future directions
Zakary Tormala, Pablo Brinol. Cambridge Handbook of Consumer Psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge Press, 2015, Pages 29-64.
Persuasion, interrupted: The effect of momentary interruptions on message processing and persuasion
Daniella Kupor, Zakary Tormala. Journal of Consumer Research. 2015, Vol. 42, Pages 300-315.
Thought calibration: How thinking just the right amount increases one’s influence and appeal
Daniella M. Kupor, Zakary Tormala, Michael I. Norton, Derek D. Rucker. Social Psychological and Personality Science. April 2014, Vol. 5, Issue 3, Pages 263-270.
Consumer conviction and commitment: An appraisal-based framework for attitude certainty
Derek D. Rucker, Zakary Tormala, Richard E. Petty, Pablo Briñol. Journal of Consumer Psychology. January 2014, Vol. 24, Issue 1, Pages 119-136.
Elaboration and attitude strength: The new meta-cognitive perspective
Jamie Barden, Zakary Tormala. Social and Personality Psychology Compass. 2014, Vol. 8, Pages 17-29.
The allure of unknown outcomes: Exploring the role of uncertainty in the preference for potential
Daniella Kupor, Zakary Tormala, Michael Norton. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2014, Vol. 5, Pages 263-270.
Weak > strong: The ironic effect of argument strength on supportive advocacy
Omair Akhtar, David Paunesku, Zakary Tormala. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. September 2013, Vol. 39, Issue 9, Pages 1214-26.
Motivated reflection on attitude-inconsistent information: An exploration of the role of fear of invalidity in self-persuasion
Joshua Clarkson, Matthew Valente, Christopher Leone, Zakary Tormala. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 2013, Vol. 29, Pages 1559-1570.
The malleable influence of social consensus on attitude certainty
Joshua Clarkson, Zakary Tormala, Derek Rucker, Riley Dugan. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2013, Vol. 49, Pages 1019-1022.
When contradictions foster persuasion: An attributional perspective
Taly Reich, Zakary Tormala. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2013, Vol. 9, Issue 3, Pages 426–439.
The Preference for Potential
Zakary Tormala, J.S. Jia, M.I. Norton. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. October 2012, Vol. 103, Issue 4, Pages 567-583.
Inviting Questions
Uzma Khan, Zakary Tormala. Journal of Consumer Psychology. July 2012, Vol. 22, Issue 3, Pages 408-417.
When Blemishing Leads to Blossoming: The Positive Effect of Negative Information
Baba Shiv, Zakary Tormala. Journal of Consumer Research. 2012, Vol. 38, Issue 5, Pages 846-859.
A self-validation perspective on the mere thought effect
Joshua Clarkson, Zakary Tormala, Christopher Leone. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2011, Vol. 47, Pages 449-454.
Cognitive and affective matching effects in persuasion: An amplification perspective
Joshua Clarkson, Zakary Tormala, Derek Rucker. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 2011, Vol. 37, Pages 1415-1427.
Counterfactual potency
John V. Petrocelli, Elise J. Percy, Steven J. Sherman, Zakary Tormala. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 2011, Vol. 100, Issue 1, Pages 30-46.
From rumors to facts, and facts to rumors: The role of certainty decay in consumer communications
David Dubois, Derek Rucker, Zakary Tormala. Journal of Marketing Research. 2011, Vol. 48, Pages 1020-1032.
Mediation analysis in social psychology: Current practices and new recommendations
Derek Rucker, Kris Preacher, Zakary Tormala, Richard Petty. Social and Personality Psychology Compass. 2011, Vol. 5, Pages 359-371.
"Think" versus "feel" framing effects in persuasion
Nicole D. Mayer, Zakary Tormala. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. April 2010, Vol. 36, Issue 4, Pages 443-454.
Believe me, I have no idea what I'm talking about: The effects of source certainty on consumer involvement and persuasion
Uma R. Karmarkar, Zakary Tormala. Journal of Consumer Research. April 2010, Vol. 36, Issue 6, Pages 1033-1049.
Doubting one’s doubt: A formula for confidence?
Aaron Wichman, Pablo Brinol, Richard Petty, Derek Rucker, Zakary Tormala, Gifford Waery. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2010, Vol. 46, Pages 350-355.
Fragile enhancement of attitudes and intentions following difficult decisions
Ab Litt, Zakary Tormala. Journal of Consumer Research. 2010, Vol. 37, Issue 4, Pages 584-598.
Perceiving stability as a means to attitude certainty: The role of implicit theories of attitudes
John Petrocelli, Joshua Clarkson, Zakary Tormala, Kristin Hendrix. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2010, Vol. 46, Pages 874-883.
Tell me more: The effects of expressed interest on receptiveness during dialog
Frances Chen, Julia Minson, Zakary Tormala. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2010, Vol. 46, Pages 850-853.
The effects of regulatory depletion on attitude certainty
Echo Wen Wan, Derek D. Rucker, Zakary Tormala, Joshua J. Clarkson. Journal of Marketing Research. 2010, Vol. 47, Issue 3, Pages 531-541.

Teaching

Degree Courses

2017-18

MKTG 532: Persuasion

The aim of this course is to provide insight into the psychology of persuasion. We will explore research and theory in this domain and discuss potentially powerful techniques for changing people's attitudes and behaviors. We will apply our...

MKTG 661: Attitudes and Persuasion

The goal of this course — geared toward graduate students in marketing, psychology, and related disciplines — is to explore some of the issues and controversies that currently engage researchers in the domain of attitudes and persuasion. We...

2016-17

MKTG 532: Persuasion

The aim of this course is to provide insight into the psychology of persuasion. We will explore research and theory in this domain and discuss potentially powerful techniques for changing people's attitudes and behaviors. We will apply our...

MKTG 661: Attitudes and Persuasion

The goal of this course — geared toward graduate students in marketing, psychology, and related disciplines — is to explore some of the issues and controversies that currently engage researchers in the domain of attitudes and persuasion. We...

2015-16

MKTG 532: Persuasion

The aim of this course is to provide insight into the psychology of persuasion. We will explore research and theory in this domain and discuss potentially powerful techniques for changing people's attitudes and behaviors. We will apply our...

MKTG 661: Attitudes and Persuasion

The goal of this course - geared toward graduate students in marketing, psychology, and related disciplines -€” is to explore some of the issues and controversies that currently engage researchers in the domain of attitudes and persuasion. We...

Executive Education & Other Non-Degree Programs

  • Strategic Marketing Management
    Learn to make marketing theory actionable and innovation possible in this comprehensive real-world, hands-on learning experience.

Service to the Profession

  • Associate Editor, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2013-present
  • Associate Editor, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2011-2012
  • Editorial Board Member, Journal of Consumer Research, 2011-2014
  • Editorial Board Member, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2009-2012
  • Editorial Board Member, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2008-2011

Insights by Stanford Business

writtenWant to Feel More at Peace About a Decision? Stop Dwelling on the Negatives
August 29, 2017
You may think you’re weighing the pros and cons equally, but you’re probably not.
writtenWhere Do Advocates Come From?
January 9, 2017
A strong sense of conviction can both encourage and discourage people from speaking out.
writtenThe Recommended List by Stanford GSB Professors
April 30, 2015
Those in the know share where to go to learn more about reward and related topics.
writtenWhat Does Reward Mean to You?
April 30, 2015
Five Stanford scholars share their insights on the topic of reward.
writtenZakary Tormala: Why Certainty Matters in Business
January 14, 2015
A psychologist explores what makes our attitudes change over time.
writtenCan Overthinking Reduce a Leader’s Influence?
August 20, 2014
Stanford GSB researchers find that sometimes it is better not to sweat the small stuff.
writtenZakary Tormala: Mere Potential Can Be More Important Than Achievement
March 31, 2014
It's not always what you’ve done that matters, but what you just might do.
writtenZakary Tormala: The Power of Potential
June 21, 2012
A series of studies shows that mere promise impresses more than actual achievement.
writtenThe Positive Effect of Negative Information
June 1, 2011
Researchers say news about a company or product blemish may actually strengthen consumers’ positive impressions.
writtenBelieve Me, I Have No Idea What I'm Talking About
April 1, 2010
Experts can be more persuasive by expressing uncertainty, argues Stanford Graduate School of Business marketing professor Zakary Tormala.
writtenZakary Tormala: Is "Thinking" or "Feeling" More Persuasive?
April 1, 2010
Research shows that identical messages can have different impacts depending on whether they are couched as "I think" or "I feel."
writtenWant Your Product to Look Good? Follow Something Bad
June 1, 2008
Persuasion research shows that context can matter as much as content.

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