Nicholas Epley is the John Templeton Keller Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science, and Director of the Roman Family Center for Decision Research, at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He studies social cognition—how thinking people think about other thinking people—to understand why smart people so routinely misunderstand each other. He teaches an ethics and happiness course to MBA students called Designing a Good Life. His research has appeared in more than two dozen empirical journals, been featured by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Wired, and National Public Radio, among many others, and has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Templeton Foundation. He has been awarded the 2008 Theoretical Innovation Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, the 2011 Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology from the American Psychological Association, the 2015 Book Prize for the Promotion of Social and Personality Science, and the 2018 Career Trajectory Award from the Society for Experimental Social Psychology. Epley was named a “professor to watch” by the Financial Times, one of the “World’s Best 40 under 40 Business School Professors” by Poets and Quants, and one of the 100 Most Influential in Business Ethics in 2015 by Ethisphere. He is the author of Mindwise: How We Understand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want.
Education
Academic Positions
- Neubauer Family Faculty Fellow, University of Chicago, 2015 - Present
- John Templeton Keller Professor of Behavioral Science, University of Chicago, July 2010 - Present
- Professor of Behavioral Science, University of Chicago, July 2008 - June 2010
- Assistant Professor, University of Chicago, January 2005 - June 2008
- Assistant Professor, Harvard University, July 2001 - December 2004
Honors and Awards
- Alumni Achievement Award, St. Olaf College, 2021
- Career Trajectory Award, Society for Experimental Social Psychology, 2018
- Top 100 Most Influential in Business Ethics, Ethisphere, 2015
- Media Book Prize for Mindwise, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, 2015
- Convocation Speaker, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, 2015
- Fellow, American Psychological Association, 2014
- The World’s Best 40 Business School Professors Under the Age of 40, Poets & Quants, 2014
- Fellow, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, 2014
- American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology (Social Psychology), 2011
- Neubauer Family Faculty Fellow, 2008-2010, 2011-2012, 2015-present
- John E. Jeuck Faculty Fellow, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, 2010-present
- Fellow, Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, 2009-2010
- Fellow, Association for Psychological Science, 2009
- Charter Fellow, Midwestern Psychological Association, 2009
- Theoretical Innovation Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (with co-authors Adam Waytz & John Cacioppo), 2008
- Voted one of Harvard’s “Favorite Professors” by the Harvard Classes of 2003, 2004, and 2005
- Junior Scholar, Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, University of British Columbia, July 2002
- Finalist, Society for Experimental Social Psychology Dissertation Award, 2002
- Dallenbach Research Fellowship, Cornell University, 2001
- Graduate Teaching Award, Department of Psychology, Cornell University, 1999
- Cornell University Teaching Fellowship, 1996-2000
- Donald G. Patterson Undergraduate Award in Psychology, Minnesota Psychological Association, 1996
- Phi Beta Kappa, 1996
