Below you can find a sampling of my published and ongoing research. Links to all published papers can be found on my Publications page.

My research examines how individual minds and large-scale social systems shape one another. I study how shared beliefs form, how bias becomes embedded in institutions, and how societal threats influence the way people perceive and evaluate social groups.

1. How collective representations form and spread

One area of my work investigates how collective sentiments emerge and spread through the information environments we rely on. For example, I’ve shown that Google Image results for “climate change” reflect a country’s level of public concern, and that viewing these images can shift people’s own attitudes and behaviors. In related work using large-scale news data, my collaborators and I track how descriptions of marginalized groups change during periods of instability, revealing subtle forms of dehumanization under societal stress. I also study how people think about progress toward equality, finding that many default to a zero-sum view even when fair outcomes don’t require losses.

2. How systemic bias propagates

A second line of research focuses on how systemic institutional bias takes root. My theoretical work argues that biased outcomes arise not only from prejudiced individuals, but from interactions between people, practices, and technologies. These interactions can make bias part of an organization’s routine functioning, allowing it to persist even without overtly biased actors.

3. How system-level threats shape perceptions and behaviors

I also study how large-scale threats—such as economic scarcity or societal instability—shape intergroup cognition. My research shows that scarcity cues can heighten negative stereotypes and reinforce existing hierarchies. In global experimental work, I examine how people respond to collective challenges, highlighting when personal beliefs align (or fail to align) with system-level goals.