Current Research Questions

 ⇒ In what ways is our capacity for social cognition zero-sum?

⇒ When do people consider whistleblowing to be an act of heroism versus an act of betrayal?

⇒ Why do people inherently see their own mental states as less intense, causal, and precise than the mental states of others?

⇒ Are people’s morals more like facts, preferences, or beliefs?

⇒ How do misunderstandings about motivation fuel intergroup conflict?

⇒ Why do people condemn up-close-and-personal violence but strongly oppose drone warfare that occurs remotely?

⇒ What factors increase or decrease people’s comfort with outsourcing jobs to robots?

⇒ Does the psychological experience of power increase or decrease loneliness?

⇒ How does our limited ability to distribute empathy contribute to ideological disagreement?

⇒ Why are people who moralize social issues and people who consider social issues completely amoral equally prone to conflict?

⇒ Do different motivations guide people to see different aspects of others’ minds?

⇒ What are the ethical implications of driving using an autonomous car?

⇒ When do meaningless gestures of generosity seem to substitute for consequential ones?