Research in the Media
- Science Magazine Plays Well with Others
- Science Magazine Why Creepy People Give Us the Chills
- Huffington Post Fear of Crime, Danger Drives American Handgun Ownership
- Huffington Post Creepy People Try To Seem Normal But Fail, Scientists Say
- Psychology Today Why do we lash out? It may be more than a bad mood
- Psychology Today The Surprising Power of Apathy
- Psychology Today Mimicry and mirroring can be good… or bad
- Psychology Today How we decide who’s creepy
- Scientific American Creepy People Leave You Cold
- The Atlantic Why We Compete
- Smithsonian On the science of creepiness: A look at what’s really going on
- NBC News Creepy people literally give us chills, study finds
- Wall Street Journal Chilly Interactions: When Conversations Feel ‘Off’
- Daily Mail UK Why Americans buy handguns
- Breitbart Study: Fear of crime, general sense of danger drives gun ownership
- Pacific Standard Why Americans will never give up their guns
- Microsoft News What drives gun ownership?
- Jezebel Creeps actually give us the creeps
Research Interests
Unconscious motivation is one of the most longstanding mysteries in psychology. More than a century of research and theory has yet to fully explain what it is, how it works, and whether it is something human beings can ever control. If anything, the role of unconscious motivation seems to be getting bigger—shaping our thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and behavior in ways not previously imagined. Yet there are many theoretical – and empirical – challenges ahead. In my research, I try to understand the extent to which nonconscious motivational processes can explain the human experience, particularly those phenomena that may otherwise be written off as unexplainable or too profound for words.