University of Pennsylvania Names Two New PIK Professors: Barbara Mellers and Philip Tetlock

PHILADELPHIA -- Barbara Mellers and Philip Tetlock have been appointed Penn Integrates Knowledge professors at the University of Pennsylvania.

The announcement was made today by Penn President Amy Gutmann and Provost Vincent Price.  Both PIK appointments are effective January 1. 

The Penn Integrates Knowledge program was launched by Gutmann in 2005 as a University-wide initiative to recruit exceptional faculty members whose research and teaching exemplify the integration of knowledge across disciplines and who are jointly appointed between two schools at Penn.

Mellers is the 11th PIK professor, Tetlock the 12th.

Mellers, a globally influential scholar of decision making, will be the I. George Heyman University Professor.  Her appointment will be shared between the Department of Psychology in the School of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Marketing in The Wharton School.

“Our judgments are influenced as much by perceptions as reality,” Gutmann said.  “Barbara Mellers’s path-breaking research examines how complex dynamics of decision making affect consumer choice, cooperative behavior and personal preference. By helping to reveal how we have knowledge about ourselves and how that knowledge, or lack thereof, influences our relationships with others, her scholarship provides invaluable insights and societal benefits. Penn is the perfect environment for Dr. Mellers not only to continue her innovative and integrative research but also to strengthen the University’s ever-increasing contributions to global knowledge and understanding.”

Mellers’ research examines the factors that influence judgments and decisions, including emotions, self-interest, past mistakes, sensitivities to risk and perceptions of fairness.  She is an author of almost 100 articles and book chapters, co-editor of two books and a member of numerous prestigious editorial boards. 

Philip Tetlock, an award-winning scholar of political psychology and organizational behavior, will be the Leonore Annenberg University Professor.   His appointment will be shared between the Department of Psychology in the School of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Management in The Wharton School.

“Determining what goes into sound human decision making has critically important implications for the future progress of our society and the world,” Gutmann said.  “Phil Tetlock’s seminal work is advancing our understanding of human behavior by rigorously exploring key psychological, cognitive and social elements of success and failure in human prediction and judgment.  His scholarship demonstrates the importance of transparency, collaboration and accountability and also of being open-minded even about open-mindedness.”

Tetlock’s best-known work, “Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know?” (Princeton University Press, 2005), argued that “expert” predictions of political and economic trends are no more reliable than those of non-experts, based on a 20-year study of more than 82,000 predictions by 284 experts.  This widely influential book received from the American Political Science Association both the Robert E. Lane Award for Best Book in Political Psychology and the Woodrow Wilson Award for Best Book on Government, Politics or International Affairs.