My primary area of specialty is in social and socioecological psychology, the study of how our world view is shaped by social, cultural, and historical events. My work is focused on the roots of and remedies for societal issues, especially issues in American social life such as the psychology of gun ownership and the ways that we think about effort and meritocracy. In all of my research, I bring a multidisciplinary approach, using tools that include big data analytics applied to information obtained from social media, governmental records, and other similar trace data; lab and field experiments; and the old-fashioned approach of simple observation and asking people what they think about the world.

My favorite sort of tree is the tulip tree, which gave me something to look forward to in the early spring of 2020. Thanks tulip tree!