Jill Sundie
Consumer researcher whose work concerns status, display and conspicuous consumption. Third author of the 2007 study showing that romantic motives raised conspicuous spending in men and public helping in women.
Who they are
Sundie's research sits where consumer behaviour meets status: why people buy and give in ways others can see. That is the territory of the 2007 paper this site relies on, one of the better-known tests of costly signalling in everyday spending and helping.
It is a six-author paper and does not record who did what, so this page credits the first author, Vladas Griskevicius, and does not guess at a division of labour.
Key papers
Griskevicius, V., Tybur, J. M., Sundie, J. M., Cialdini, R. B., Miller, G. F., & Kenrick, D. T. (2007). "Blatant benevolence and conspicuous consumption: when romantic motives elicit strategic costly signals." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93(1), 85-102. Third author.
Key ideas
Generosity and spending can work as signals, and a signal needs somebody to see it. See Costly Signalling.
In the 2007 experiments, women's helping rose in public and stayed flat in private, which is the contrast that makes the result informative. See Conspicuous Caring.
Our notes record no other publication of hers that this site relies on, and this page lists none.
Sources
- Griskevicius and colleagues (2007), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93(1), 85-102, verified at the published record 6 October 2026.