Eli J. Finkel
Professor of Psychology, Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences
Professor of Management & Organizations
Eli Finkel—author of the bestselling book The All-Or-Nothing Marriage: How the Best Marriages Work—is a professor at Northwestern University, where he has appointments in the psychology department and the Kellogg School of Management. He also serves as the Morton O. Schapiro Fellow at the Institute for Policy Research and founding founding co-director of the Center for Enlightened Disagreement. He studies romantic relationships and American politics. In his role as director of Northwestern’s Relationships and Motivation Lab (RAMLAB), he has published ~170 scientific papers and is a Guest Essayist for The New York Times. The Economist declared him “one of the leading lights in the realm of relationship psychology.”
- 1. Interpersonal Attraction: What predicts interpersonal attraction? Do people really know what characteristics they desire in a relationship partner? How do dating innovations like speed-dating and online dating influence the romantic initiation process?2. Interpersonal Conflict: When do people forgive transgressions? What are the consequences of forgiving? When does conflict escalate to the point of aggression? Can we intervene to ameliorate the adverse effects of conflict?3. Self-Control: When and how do relationship partners bring out the best vs. the worst in us? What types of social interaction cause us to feel energized versus exhausted? How do self-control processes influence relationship functioning?For a full list of publications
- see Finkel's website. Here's a sampling of recent publications.
- I teach several sections of Negotiation Fundamentals (MORS 472-5) every year. After ~15 years of teaching Introduction to Psychology (Psych 110)
- I have put that course on my back burner to resurrect my undergraduate-level Relationship Science course (Psych 384)
- which I taught this quarter to ~150 students. I continue to teach
- in alternating years
- my two PhD courses to Weinberg and Kellogg students -- one on Attraction and Relationships (Psych 430) and one on Self-Regulation (Psych 440). (Although these are listed as "Psych" courses
- they are unofficially cross-listed at the approval of the deans' offices.) I'm intrigued by the prospect of creating a relationships course for the MBAs ("Managing Relationships" or something like that)
- although it would be an entirely new course for the b-school world
- which is intimidating.
-
-
-
PhD, 2001, Social & Quant. Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
M.A., 1999, Social & Quant. Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
B.A., 1997, Psychology, Northwestern University, Magna Cum Laude -
Professor of Management and Organizations (MORS), Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2013-present
Professor of Psychology, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Northwestern University, 2012-present
Associate Professor of Psychology, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Northwestern University, 2008-2012
Assistant Professor of Psychology, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Northwestern University, 2003-2008
NIH NRSA Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, 2001-2003 -
JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH "Editors' Choice" recognition for our 2023 paper: "Common Cents"
Short-listed finalist for 2022's "HBR Prize" (for the best paper published in HBR in 2022): Kteily, N., & Finkel, E. J. (2022). Leadership in a politically charged age: What social psychology and relationship science can teach us about conflict in the workplace—and how to manage it. Harvard Business Review, 100, 108-117.
Northwestern Undergraduate Students, “Faculty Honor Roll” (“for professors who have been extremely effective in positively impacting [students’] lives or ways of thinking”)
New York Magazine: One of the "6 Best Books for a Healthy Relationship" (The All-Or-Nothing Marriage")
Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences' “Distinguished Teaching Award”
Martin J. and Patricia Koldyke Outstanding Teaching Professorship, Two years
George A. Miller Award for an Outstanding Recent Article on General Psychology, Society for General Psychology/American Psychological Association
One of the "Top 10 Professors at Northwestern", College Magazine
Daniel M. Wegner Theoretical Innovation Prize from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology for the 2015 Psychological Review article titled "Transactive Goal Dynamics.", 2016
National Science Foundation Grant (co-PI), Motivations for Promotion and Prevention in Relationship Initiation, 2010-2013
Gerald R. Miller Award for Early Career Achievement from the International Association for Relational Research, International Association for Relationship Research (IARR), 2010
Early Career Award, Relationship Researchers Interest Group of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), 2008
SAGE Young Scholars Award, 2008
National Science Foundation Grant (PI), Advancing Understanding About One Form of Interpersonal Violence, 2007-2012
Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) Summer Institute: Emotion and Decision, 2004
Dissertation Award, International Association for Relationships Research (IARR), 2002 -
Editor, Handbook of Social Psychology, 2019
Editorial Board, Annual Review of Psychology, 2018-2028
Editor, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2014-2020
Editorial Board, Psychological Review, 2015
Guest Editor, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2015
The Individual and the Organization (MORS-524-1)
Individual behavior in organizational settings. Topics include recent theory and research on social cognition, decision making, negotiation, groups, norms, fairness, and equity theory.
Negotiation Strategies (MORSX-470-0)
Negotiation Strategies teaches the art and science of achieving objectives in interdependent relationships, both inside and outside the company. Students practice cross-cultural negotiation, dispute resolution, coalition formation and multiparty negotiations, extremely competitive negotiations, and negotiating via information technology.
Negotiations Fundamentals (MORS-472-5)
This course is designed to provide the fundamentals of negotiation strategy and to improve students' skills in all phases of negotiation. The course provides an understanding of prescriptive and descriptive negotiation theory as it applies to two party negotiations, team negotiations, resolution of disputes, agents and ethics, and management of the negotiation process. The course is based on a series of simulated negotiations in a variety of contexts. Attendance at every class meeting is mandatory.
MORS offers three unique courses in the area of negotiation and conflict resolution: Negotiation Fundamentals, Negotiating in a Virtual World, and Advanced Negotiations. Students ideally begin the negotiation coursework by taking Negotiation Fundamentals and then taking the advanced courses: Negotiating in a Virtual World and/or Advanced Negotiations. Please note that students are required to take Negotiation Fundamentals prior to taking Advanced Negotiations. Students are allowed to take Negotiating in a Virtual World without having taken Negotiation Fundamentals but will be expected to catch up on core concepts asynchronously through the course's virtual format. Once a student has taken Negotiating in a Virtual World, they are no longer eligible to take Negotiation Fundamentals but may go on to take Advanced Negotiations.
