Professor of Psychology
About
Additional Research Interests: Hormones/Endocrinology
My research explores the role that adaptive psychological mechanisms play in behavioral and decision-making contexts. Much of what we think about (or don’t think about), the decisions we make (or not), and the (dis)satisfaction we have with those decisions is driven by a fundamental set of evolved predispositions interacting with subtle features of our current environments. In approaching psychology from this perspective, my research has concentrated primarily on interpersonal cognition — how and why people think, prefer, choose, and act with or because of each other. Currently, my focus involves how people respond to and cope with ecological threats, primarily those related to infectious disease, but including resource availability and social rejection, as well as ecological opportunities, including ones related to romantic relationships and friendships. I also occasionally work on topics less connected with an evolutionary perspective in the domains of marketing, sensation, and social cognition.
