Welcome
I currently hold an appointment as a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and as a senior researcher in the Center for the Study of Evaluation at UCLA.
Most of my research revolves around two topical areas: politics and education. I am particularly interested in how implicit understandings of social norms help construct people's experiences in these two domains. For example, people often look to the behavior of important others when they are faced with difficult or ambiguous decisions. When voters are unsure how to evaluate a particular policy or candidante, or when students are unsure whether to study or play video games, the behavior of important others provides implicit information about the correct (or incorrect) way to act. Norms get their power, in part, because they highlight a relatively easy, low risk strategy for people to feel confident and correct in their decisions.
My research illustrates that the power of social norms is not invetible, and that there are specific strategies and tendencies people can and do take to overcome the power of social norms on judgment and behavior.