Consumer Behavior Research

Gerald Zaltman is the Joseph C. Wilson Professor Emeritus at the Harvard Business School and a founding partner in Olson Zaltman Associates, a market research and marketing consulting firm with clients around the globe. Professor Zaltman received his AB degree from Bates College, his MBA degree from the University of Chicago, and his PhD degree in sociology from Johns Hopkins University. He has taught at the University of Alaska, Northwestern University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Harvard University. At Harvard University, he was a member of Harvard's Interdisciplinary Mind Brain Behavior Interfaculty Initiative, which seeks to integrate advances in scientific thinking across the university. He also served on its steering committee. Additionally, he was Co-director, with Professor Stephen M. Kosslyn, of the Harvard Business School's Mind of the Market Laboratory where pioneering work was done on the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique and on the application of cognitive neuroscience in marketing, including brain imaging and implicit association testing. Professor Zaltman is the author or editor of over 20 books, many published in several languages. He is a frequent contributor to scholarly and professional journals. He has received numerous professional awards and honors. He is a past President of the Association for Consumer Research and has served on several editorial boards in marketing and the social sciences. Professor Zaltman has three US patents involving market research tools, including the first patent ever granted for a research tool in marketing. He is actively sought after as a consultant and speaker around the globe.