Adam Waytz
Adam Waytz

MANAGEMENT & ORGANIZATIONS
Assistant Professor of Management & Organizations

Print Overview
Adam Waytz is an Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations. His research uses methods from social psychology and cognitive neuroscience to study the causes and consequences of perceiving mental states in other agents and to investigate processes related to social influence, social connection, meaning-making, and ethics. Professor Waytz’s research has been published in leading journals such as Psychological Science, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and Psychological Review. In recognition of his work, Professor Waytz received the 2008 Theoretical Innovation Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Professor Waytz received his BA in Psychology from Columbia University, his PhD in social psychology from the University of Chicago, and received a National Service Research Award from the National Institute of Health to complete a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard University.

Areas of Expertise
Ethics
Intergroup Behavior
Psychology
Print Vita
Education
Ph.D., 2009, Psychology, University of Chicago
M.A., 2006, Psychology, University of Chicago
B.A., 2003, Psychology, Columbia University, Summa Cum Laude

Academic Positions
Assistant Professor, Management and Organizations, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2011-present
NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Fellow, Psychology, Harvard University-2011

 
Print Research
Research Interests
Ethics and morality, Mind perception, Dehumanization, Social connection, Meaning-making, Social influence, Self-control

Articles
Waytz, Adam and N. Epley. 2012. Social connection enables dehumanization. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 48: 70-76.
Caruso, E., K. Vohs, B. Baxter and Adam Waytz. 2012. Mere Exposure to money increases endorsement of free market systems and social inequality. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 10.1037/a0029288
AbstractLink
Waytz, Adam and L. Young. 2012. The group member mind tradeoff: Attributing minds to groups versus group members. Psychological Science. 23: 77-85.
Gray, K., L. Young and Adam Waytz. 2012. Mind perception is the essence of morality. Psychological Inquiry. 23: 101-124. [Target Article].
Phelan, Mark and Adam Waytz. 2012. The moral cognition consciousness connection. Review of Philosophy and Psychology. 3: 293-301.
Link
Trawalter, Sophie, Kelly Hoffman and Adam Waytz. 2012. Racial bias in perceptions of others pain. PLoS ONE. 7(e48546)
AbstractLink
Haque, O.S. and Adam Waytz. 2012. Dehumanization in medicine: Causes, solutions, and functions. Perspectives on Psychological Science. 7: 176-186. *equal authorship.
Waytz, Adam, J. Zaki and J. P. Mitchell. 2012. Response of dorsomedial prefrontal cortex predicts altruistic behavior. Journal of Neuroscience. 32: 7646-7650.
AbstractLink
Waytz, Adam and J. P. Mitchell. 2011. Two mechanisms for simulating other minds: Dissociations between mirroring and self-projection. Current Directions in Psychological Science. 20: 197-200.
Waytz, Adam, C.K. Morewedge, N. Epley, G. Monteleone, J-H. Gao and J. T. Cacioppo. 2010. Making sense by making sentient: Unpredictability increases anthropomorphism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 99: 410-435.
Waytz, Adam, K. Gray, N. Epley and D.M. Wegner. 2010. Causes and consequences of mind perception. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 14: 383-388.
Waytz, Adam, J. T. Cacioppo and N. Epley. 2010. Who sees human? The stability and importance of individual differences in anthropomorphism. Perspectives on Psychological Science. 5: 219-232.
Caruso, E., Adam Waytz and N. Epley. 2010. The intentional mind and the hot hand: Perceiving intentions makes streaks seem likely to continue. Cognition. 116: 149-153.
Waytz, Adam, N. Epley and J. T. Cacioppo. 2010. Social cognition unbound: Psychological insights into anthropomorphism and dehumanization. Current Directions in Psychological Science. 19: 58-62.
Epley, N., Adam Waytz, S. Akalis and J. T. Cacioppo. 2008. When we need a human: Motivational determinants of anthropomorphism. Social Cognition. 26: 143-155.
Epley, N., S. Akalis and Adam Waytz. 2008. Creating social connection through inferential reproduction. Psychological Science. 19: 114-120.
Epley, N., Adam Waytz and J. T. Cacioppo. 2007. On seeing human: A three-factor theory of anthropomorphism. Psychological Review. 114: 864-886.
Book Chapters
Young, L. and Adam Waytz. Forthcoming. "Mind and morality." In Understanding Other Minds, edited by H. B. Tager-Flusberg.
Waytz, Adam, N. Klein and N. Epley. Forthcoming. "Imagining other minds: Hair triggered but not hare brained." In The development of imagination, edited by Marjorie Taylor.
Waytz, Adam. Forthcoming. "Social connection and seeing human." In The handbook of social exclusion, edited by C. N. DeWall.
Waytz, Adam. Forthcoming. "Anthropomorphism: Understanding what it means to be human." In The psychology of meaning, edited by K. Markman, T. Proulx, & M. Lindberg.

 
Print Teaching
Teaching Interests
Values-based leadership
Doctoral
The Individual and the Organization (MORS-424-1)
This course focuses on individual behavior in organizational settings. Topics for analysis include social cognition, decision making, negotiation groups, social influence, norms, fairness and equity theory. Recent empirical research will be evaluated in each of these areas, and implications will be studied in terms of theoretical advancement, empirical study and practical applications.

Full-Time / Part-Time MBA
Values-Based Leadership (SEEK-460-0)

This course counts toward the following majors: Management & Organizations, Social Enterprise.

The first issue a leader in the role of manager, entrepreneur, investor or stakeholder must address about an organization concerns its "value proposition," whether deciding to enter an industry or to begin an undertaking. However, this analysis is incomplete if leaders fail to consider the wider impact of the organization's actions on its own employees and on society. This course focuses on the problem of incorporating a wide variety of value perspectives into decision-making. Values-based leadership involves the ability to take the disparate value propositions of various stakeholders and integrate them into a coherent vision. We explore how recognizing and incorporating competing values claims throughout the organization is often facilitated and hindered by a number of psychological, organizational and cultural processes. Students will come to understand the variety of underlying mechanisms managers of organizations typically have at their disposal to successfully implement values objectives and select among different approaches, while anticipating the constraints placed on choice by the organization's market and non-market environments.