I am a social psychologist who studies the ways that groups, organizations, and societies are divided by conflicting political and moral views. I am currently a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the Department of Psychology at the University of Kent. I am also a Research Director at the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), the UK’s leading social science research institute. Prior to this, I completed my PhD at Cornell University and was a postdoctoral fellow at both the Ohio State University and Leiden University.
In my research, I seek to understand the major dividing lines of modern society, such as political polarization, intergroup prejudices, and conspiracy theories. I examine how these divides undercut the health and efficacy of our social systems, including democratic functioning, public health initiatives, organizational performance, and social cohesion.
In my work, I seek to balance both theoretical and practical import, providing theoretical insights while also making a meaningful impact on society. Some examples of my ongoing research include:
- examining how belief in conspiracy theories shapes real-world violence and contact with the criminal justice system
- understanding how “ideological enclaves”—contexts in which people hold similar political views—can shape both political and organizational behavior.
- uncovering the contexts under which the differing decision-making styles of liberals and conservatives can either help—or hinder—team performance
- conducting large-scale nudging experiments with a regional UK police force to understand how choice architecture can be (re)shaped to increase mandatory training uptake
- analyzing data from X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit to examine differences in argumentation and negotiation styles between the political right and left
My research has been published in outlets including Nature Human Behaviour, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, and Political Psychology. My work has been funded by the European Commission, the U.S. National Science Foundation, The Society for Personality and Social Psychology, The American Psychology-Law Society, the United States-Indonesia Society, and Cornell University’s Institute for the Social Sciences, Einaudi Center for International Studies, and Center for the Study of Inequality.
On this site, you can find links to my published papers, manuscripts under review, and some current working papers. You can also find more information about the other ongoing projects that I am working on. Links to the OSF sites for these projects are also available, which contain all of the data, syntax, and materials for these studies.
P.S. Don’t forget to check out our upcoming special issue of Political Psychology: “Crowdsourcing the Next Generation of Ideas in Political Psychology.” You can find more info – and see how you can help shape the future of the field – here: https://www.next-gen-ideas.com/