Ph.D., Stanford University
Much of my research concerns natural asymmetries in the way we perceive ourselves versus the way we perceive others. It further concerns the different processes involved in self and social perception, and how these processes can lead us to misperceive and misunderstand ourselves and others in ways that can produce conflict between individuals and groups. For example, I investigate the causes and consequences of people's tendency to perceive insight in their own judgments -- but bias and other forms of irrationality in others' judgments. These attributions are particularly harmful in our era of heightened political polarization. Another area of research concerns the surprising consequences of thought speed. In everyday life, our thoughts sometimes move slowly and at other times seem to race. By experimentally manipulating the pace of people's thoughts, I have found that fast thinking leads to positive mood, heightened energy, increased self-esteem, more risk-taking, and lower depressive symptoms. Current work in the lab is focused in these two major areas.