Reseach Projects
Reseach Projects
Embedded Files
Broadly speaking, I study how we connect with others and what gets in the way.
My work investigates social connection across three levels: environmental structures, behavioral dynamics, and the internal mental maps we use to perceive others. By looking at these layers together, I explore how loneliness disrupts our social lives from the outside in.
Broadly speaking, I study how we connect with others and what gets in the way.
My work investigates social connection across three levels: environmental structures, behavioral dynamics, and the internal mental maps we use to perceive others. By looking at these layers together, I explore how loneliness disrupts our social lives from the outside in.
The Architecture of Connection
Our social world is more than a mere sum of relationships—it has structure. What does this structure tell us? This project investigates how the architecture of our immediate social networks influences how we perceive our friends and the social decisions we make.
Key questions:
How does a friend’s position in your social "map" change how you see them and whether you seek their support?
Does loneliness change how we "read" these structural maps? Why?
Related publications:
[Manuscript in preparation]
Visual created with Gemini.
Loneliness in Conversation
Conversations are our primary vehicles for connection, but they don't always lead to it. Why? This project investigates the "hidden mechanics" of dialogue—the specific features and dynamics that foster connection—and explores how loneliness might disrupt these processes.
Key questions:
Do lonely individuals have a distinct "behavioral fingerprint" in conversation?
How does loneliness shape real-time conversation dynamics?
How does loneliness shape conversation outcomes such as conversation experiences, impression updating, and self-view alignment?
Related publications:
[Manuscript in preparation]
Visual created with Gemini.
Mapping Others
Having a coherent understanding of others helps us navigate our everyday social lives. But how do we organize a wide range of information about a person into a single, consistent image? This project investigates how we use internal "trait maps"—causal beliefs about how personality traits go together—to guide our social judgments and explores what "blurs" those maps.
Key questions:
Do we use the same "trait map" to perceive others as we do to perceive ourselves?
How do factors like loneliness or self-relevance change how effectively we apply this map to the people in our lives?
Are lonely individuals' "maps" different from general beliefs?
Related publications:
[Manuscript in preparation]
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