CURRENT POSITION: Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center at the University of Pennsylvania (since August 2016).
EDUCATION: In July 2016, I received my Ph.D. in Behavioral Decision Research from the Department of Social and Decision Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University. Before that, I earned a B.S. in Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT and a Master of Health Administration at Cornell University.
RESEARCH SUMMARY
The central focus of my work is communication about credit and blame. I have developed a theory that links four communications previously considered unrelated—thanking, apologizing, bragging, and blaming—and provides an explanation for why these forms of supposed “cheap talk” carry so much meaning for people and why people are sometimes reluctant to send them. With a background in Behavioral Decision Research, I combine experimental, qualitative, and observational techniques to test the theory’s predictions. This work not only contributes to psychological theory but also has abundant practical applications. My goal is to pursue the theory’s insights for behavior within organizations, particularly conflict management (incivility) and negotiation.
