Areas of Interest

My students and I work on research that applies the principles and methods of social cognition to questions with direct real-world relevance. We have three broad areas of interest with this overarching theme.

First, we study social perception, with a focus on the perception of groups. We examine both basic questions (e.g., examining the antecedents of categorization and social essentialism) and applied issues (e.g., examining the implications of social identity for prejudice reduction interventions and political bipartisanship).

Second, we study judgment and decision making, particularly biases in prospection and retrospection. From this perspective, we examine questions in politics, health, and consumer processes.

Third, we have an interest in emerging technology – both as a tool to study cognition and behavior (e.g., with smartphones and other recording devices) and as a topic in its own right (e.g., questions of morality, agency, and trust in a changing technological landscape).