Past Projects

Heterogeneity in Persuasion

Collaborators: Christine Madurski
While the average effects of influence strategies on behavior have been studied extensively (Cialdini, 2001), how particular individuals are influenced by such strategies has barely been examined, with a few exceptions (e.g., Kaptein & Eckles, 2011). The goal of the current project is to learn new insights about persuasion by examining the heterogeneity in how authority and consensus influence strategies influence different individuals differently. We will seek to understand the nature of such heterogeneity by examining whether stable individual differences (i.e., need for cognition, conscientiousness, need for closure) can help explain what discriminates individuals that are positively influenced vs. not influenced vs. negatively influenced.
[OSF Project page] [Working methods protocol]

Cross-Race Effect Heterogeneity

Collaborators: Masahiro Toyama
The tendency for individuals to have better memory for in-group compared to out-group faces -- known as the cross-race effect (CRE) -- is a psychological phenomenon with potentially deleterious consequences for misidentified target individuals in legal contexts (e.g., eyewitness identification). Though the CRE is a well-established psychological phenomenon (citations), there is disagreement regarding theoretical explanations of the effect. The current investigation aims to add resolve to such theoretical disagreements of the CRE by examining the phenomenon at the intra-individual rather than inter-individual level, which is the dominant approach currently used in the field. By examining the phenomenon at the intra-individual level, we will be able to (1) determine the percentage of individuals who show a CRE, (2) identify factors that discriminate between individual who show vs. do not show the CRE, and (3) test competing theoretical models of the CRE at the intra-individual level (e.g., CRE may emerge in different individuals for different reasons), hence contributing a more nuanced theoretical understanding of the CRE.
[OSF Project page] [Working methods protocol]

Influence of emotions on moral judgments

Collaborators: Nathan, Kemper, Brian Earp, & Christine R. Harris
An important unresolved theoretical issue in the area of morality involves understanding the conditions under which emotions influence moral judgments. In one theoretical camp, emotions are expected to influence moral judgments incidentally via a carry-over process (Haidt, 2001) whereas other theorists expect emotions to influence moral judgments only if the experienced emotion is intrinsically related to the target moral act (Pham, 2007). The current project aims to contribute to this unresolved issue by testing the competing incidental versus intrinsic accounts at the within-person level rather than the between-person sample level as has traditionally been done. The intra-individual design will allow us to empirically determine (1) the % of individuals who exhibit an intrinsic effect (within-person interaction effect), (2) the % of individuals who exhibit an incidental effect (within-person main effect), and (3) the % of individuals who show neither effects.

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