Penn State Smeal College of Business
Business Building
475 Shortlidge Rd
University Park, PA 16802

Associate Professor in Marketing
Sensory Marketing, Aesthetics & Design, Retailing, Food Marketing, Store Atmospherics, Managerially Relevant Consumer Behavior
PhD in Marketing, University of South Florida, Tampa, Tampa, FL, USA, 2014-12-01 MBA in Marketing, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH, USA, 2010-01-01 BS in Apparel Merchandising, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA, 2006-01-01
MKTG 330 – Consumer Behavior
MKTG 437 – Adv Ret and Mer Mgmt
Analyzing planning and controlling the retail merchandising effort, including procurement, resource selection, vendor relations, product presentation, inventory control.
MKTG 590 – Colloquium
Continuing seminars that consist of a series of individual lectures by faculty, students, or outside speakers.
Kim Y., Biswas D., Szocs C., Jenkins K. "EXPRESS: Human or AI? Identity Salience Enhances Historically Marginalized (But Not Privileged) Consumers’ Choice of Algorithmic Service Providers" Journal of Marketing, 2026-04-01
Szocs C., Abell A., Ruzevicute R., Kim Y., Biswas D. "Contextual effects of color on food choices: Red ambient color induces indulgence" Journal of Consumer Psychology, vol. 35, 2025-10-01
Patil R. K., Szocs C. "Effects of Bitten Food Images in Marketing Communications" Appetite, vol. 200, 2024-09-01
Lim M., Abell A., Szocs C., Biswas D. "Mathematics is Good for the Mind and Body: Children Make Better Food Choices After Solving Math Problems" Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, vol. 9, 2024-04-01
Szocs C., Kim Y., Lim M., Arroyo Mera C., Biswas D. "The store of the future: Engaging customers through sensory elements, personalized atmospherics, and interpersonal interaction" Journal of Retailing, vol. 99, 2023-12-01
Biswas D., Hartmann P., Eisend M., Szocs C., Jochims B., Apaolaza V., Hermann E., López C. M., Borges A. "Caffeine's Effects on Consumer Spending" Journal of Marketing, vol. 87, 2023-03-01
Szocs C., Williamson S., Mills A. "Contained: why it's better to display some products without a package" Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 50, 2022-01-01
Williamson S., Szocs C. "Smiling faces on food packages can increase adults' purchase likelihood for children" Appetite, vol. 165, 2021-10-01
Suher J., Szocs C., van Ittersum K. "When imperfect is preferred: the differential effect of aesthetic imperfections on choice of processed and unprocessed foods" Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 49, 2021-09-01
Houghtaling B., Holston D., Szocs C., Penn J., Qi D., Hedrick V. "A rapid review of stocking and marketing practices used to sell sugar-sweetened beverages in U.S. food stores" Obesity Reviews, vol. 22, 2021-04-01
Biswas D., Szocs C., Abell A. "Extending the Boundaries of Sensory Marketing and Examining the Sixth Sensory System: Effects of Vestibular Sensations for Sitting versus Standing Postures on Food Taste Perception" Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 46, 2019-12-01
Biswas D., Szocs C. "The Smell of Healthy Choices: Cross-Modal Sensory Compensation Effects of Ambient Scent on Food Purchases" Journal of Marketing Research, vol. 56, 2019-02-01
Biswas D., Lund K., Szocs C. "Sounds like a healthy retail atmospheric strategy: Effects of ambient music and background noise on food sales" Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 47, 2019-01-15
Szocs C., Lefebvre S. "Spread or stacked? Vertical versus horizontal food presentation, portion size perceptions, and consumption" Journal of Business Research, vol. 75, 2017-06-01
Biswas D., Szocs C., Chacko R., Wansink B. "Shining light on atmospherics: How ambient light influences food choices" Journal of Marketing Research, vol. 54, 2017-02-01
Szocs C., Biswas D. "Tasting in 2D: implications of food shape, visual cues, and oral haptic sensory inputs" Marketing Letters, vol. 27, 2016-12-01
Szocs C., Lefebvre S. "The blender effect: Physical state of food influences healthiness perceptions and consumption decisions" Food Quality and Preference, vol. 54, 2016-12-01
Szocs C., Biswas D., Borges A. "Cheers to haptic sensations and alcohol consumption: How glassware weight impacts perceived intoxication and positive emotions" Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, vol. 1, 2016-10-01
Szocs C., Biswas D. "Forks over spoons: The impact of cutlery on calorie estimates" Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, vol. 1, 2016-01-01
Szocs C., Biswas D. "Aesthetics" Wiley Encyclopedia of Management, 2015-01-01
Biswas D., Szocs C. "Sensory Marketing" Wiley Encyclopedia of Management, 2015-01-01
Biswas D., Szocs C., Krishna A., Lehmann D. R. "Something to chew on: The effects of oral haptics on mastication, orosensory perception, and calorie estimation" Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 41, 2014-01-01