Dr. Laura King is a Curators' Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia and the director of the Personality Dynamics Lab. 

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Hope Rose, MA joined the Personality Dynamics Lab as a PhD student in Fall 2019. She received her MA in Psychological Sciences from New York University in 2019 and her BA in Psychology at the College of New Jersey in 2014. 

She is interested in how individual differences are related to well-being. She studies this, particularly in the context of prejudiced attitudes, childhood trauma, and gender affirmation. She is also interested in studying how emotions influence moral judgments. She is specifically interested in examining this in the context of moral transgressors, such as prejudiced people. 

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Contact: hercny@mail.missouri.edu     Twitter: @Hope_Rose_ 

Megan Edwards joined the Personality Dynamics Lab as a PhD student in Fall 2020. She received her BA in Psychology at Hope College in 2017. 

She is interested in studying complex emotions, particularly hope and awe, in terms of how they have important existential implications and make one's life feel meaningful.

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Erica A. Holberg joined the Personality Dynamics Lab as a PhD student in Spring 2023. She received her PhD in Philosophy from the University of Chicago in 2011, and her BA in English and Philosophy from Pennsylvania State University in 2001. 

Erica is interested to study moral psychology in its broadest, richest sense.  Having already sunk her teeth into questions about pleasure, virtue, and happiness in the ethical theories of Aristotle and Kant, she decided to see how psychological science can productively illuminate these fundamental questions about the good life.

Contact: erica.holberg@mail.missouri.edu 

Marcus A. Antu joined the Personality Dynamics Lab as a PhD student in Fall 2024. He received his BA in Psychology from Our Lady of the Lake University in 2023.

Marcus is interested in studying how people paradoxically find meaning in meaninglessness (i.e., Existentialism). Specifically, he is interested in researching how Existentialists/Nihilists construct values, maintain relationships, and create meaning in an otherwise meaningless world.

Contact: maakcz@missouri.edu