About

I'm a third year doctoral candidate in Social Psychology at the University of Virginia. I earned my Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and Women's Studies from Allegheny College in 2006 and my Master of Arts degree in Experimental Psychology from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs in 2009 where I worked with Dr. Tom Pyszczynski (co-developer of terror management theory). While there, I studied the existential factors that motivate people to engage in, or endorse, violent (especially terrorist and extreme counterterrorist) acts toward people belonging to threatening groups. Now, I have begun working with my new advisors Dr. Jonathan Haidt (author of the Happiness Hypothesis, moral & political psychology) and Dr. Brian Nosek (Implicit Social Cognition, Project Implicit). Jon Haidt and I have been developing a website that we hope will serve as a hub for all academic research on matters relevant to improving political discussions in the United States (see CivilPolitics.org). Generally, I am interested in the basic social cognitive processes and complex existential motivations underlying group conflict.

Recent Media Coverage

10/14/2010: USA Today -- Obama science plumbs wacky end of people's beliefs
10/5/2010: Psychology Today -- Is Obama the Antichrist?
9/15/2010: Slate -- Is Obama the Antichrist? Why We Believe Propaganda
1/5/2010: Miller-McCune -- Breaking the Link Between Fear and Conservatism
9/14/2009: Miller-McCune -- Notion that Violence is Animalistic Reduces Support for War