Dr. Lucas Carden holds a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Southern California and has 15+ years of experience conducting mixed methods research examining human behavior, decision-making, and perception.
Dr. Carden has held teaching and research positions at the USC Marshall School of Business and Occidental College and currently provides expert witness services for trademark, patent, and false advertising litigation.
Current:
- Vice President Research
MMR Strategy Group
Dr. Carden designs and evaluates survey research for use in market research and trademark, patent, and false advertising litigation. He manages research projects, leads client communications, and serves as an expert regarding surveys conducted for litigation.
Past:
- Behavioral Scientist and Consultant
Catalyst Behavioral Sciences
Dr. Carden designed and executed consumer insights projects for Fortune 500 companies (e.g., P&G, J&J, Intel) to address, e.g., brand positioning, segmentation, new product development, and pricing optimization challenges using methods from cognitive and behavioral science.
Dr. Carden also supported expert witness, Dr. David Neal, in conducting consumer behavior and perception research for 20+ trademark and patent infringement and deceptive advertising disputes. He has advanced the field of trademark and false advertising survey research, contributing research assistance to a paper in a leading treatise in the field, see David Neal, “Psychological Considerations in Designing Trademark and False Advertising Survey Questionnaires” in Trademark and Deceptive Advertising Surveys: Law, Science, and Design, 273-290 (Shari S. Diamond & Jerre B. Swann, eds. 2022).
- Assistant Professor (Teaching), Psychology
Occidental College
- Postdoctoral Scholar and Researcher Associate
Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California - Invited Visiting Researcher
INSEAD Marketing Department, Fontainebleau, FR Sorbonne Université Behavioural Lab, Paris, FR - Ph.D., Psychology
University of Southern California
Concentration: Cognitive, Social, and Consumer Psychology
Dissertation on measuring human habit formation using reaction time methodology and interventions to improve habit formation. Lucas was mentored by world leading behavioral scientists on habit formation and change (see Dr. Wendy Wood Google Scholar) and human judgment & decision making/human survey measurement (see Dr. Norbert Schwarz Google Scholar). See Dr. Schwarz’s research referenced in Shari Diamond’s Reference Guide on Survey Research in the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence: Third).
Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications:
Carden, L., & Wood, W. (2018). Habit formation and change. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences. This review highlights emerging findings and new directions in research on habit formation and change. This research is cited by, e.g., Dr. Angela Duckworth (U. of Pennsylvania), Dr. David Laibson (Harvard), Dr. James Gross (Stanford), Dr. Katherine Milkman (Wharton).
Carden, L., Wood, W., Neal, D. T., & Pascoe, A. (2017). Incentives activate a control mind-set: good for deliberate behaviors, bad for habit performance. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2(3), 279-290. This research shows that incentives have different effects on purchase choices depending on whether consumer actions have been learned using conscious rules versus in a more habitual way. Implications for understanding brand attidunal vs habit loyalty, new product adoption, and segmenting based on habitual consumers is discussed. Cited by Uri Gneezy (Rady UCSD). - M.S., Human Behavior
University of Southern California
(Now known as M.S., Applied Psychology)
- B.A., Psychology (Minor: Philosophy)
University of Kentucky
Men’s Soccer Scholarship Athlete
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