Ryan Bruno

Ryan Bruno

Ph.D. Student in Marketing · USC Marshall School of Business

I am a second-year Ph.D. student in Marketing at USC Marshall, advised primarily by Ike Silver, though I collaborate with several faculty. I am broadly interested in moral psychology and consumer decision-making. Currently, I am looking at how consumers think about bias and fairness, how that influences their choices, and the downstream consequences of these choices. Before USC, I was a Research Professional at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, working with Emma Levine and Jane Risen.

Research

Moral Judgment & Harm Perception

Working Paper

The Proportional Harm Hypothesis: Subjective harm judgments of economic transgressions track proportional over absolute losses

Ryan Bruno, Emma Levine, & Ike Silver

Working Paper

They’ll Be Fine: Resources are seen as protection against unrelated harms

Ryan Bruno, Fiona Kazarovytska, & Emma Levine

Media Fairness & Consumer Perceptions

Data Collection

Concealing the Consensus: People see equal viewpoint representation as fairer than representation in line with public or expert opinion

Ryan Bruno, Ike Silver, & Corey Cusimano

Curriculum Vitae

Education

2025–
Ph.D. in Marketing
USC Marshall School of Business
Advisor: Ike Silver
2020
B.S., Neuroscience
DePaul University
Cum Laude

Research Interests

  • Moral psychology & harm judgment
  • Judgment & decision-making
  • Media fairness & consumer trust
  • Norms & social influence

Presentations

2026
SJDM
On the appeal of "both-sides" news coverage: People prefer equal viewpoint representation over representation in line with public or expert opinion
2026
ACR
On the appeal of "both-sides" news coverage: People prefer equal viewpoint representation over representation in line with public or expert opinion
2025
SJDM
Proportion Dominance in Perceptions of Harm
2024
MPA
Mood regulation in anticipation of decision-making

Contact

Email

Ryan.bruno@marshall.usc.edu

USC Marshall School of Business
Los Angeles, CA 90089

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