My research examines how social influence shapes judgment and behavior, what conclusions psychological evidence can and cannot support, and how scientific findings influence public discourse, policy, and practice once they leave the laboratory.

Trained as a social psychologist, I have pursued these questions through theoretical, methodological, experimental, and applied research spanning social psychology, health communication, media psychology, and science communication.

1. Science Communication and Public Influence

A central focus of my scholarship is how scientific findings influence society once they enter public discourse. With Elif Ikizer, I have argued that science communication should be evaluated not only by whether it informs audiences accurately and engages their interest, but also by how it influences their judgments, decisions, and behavior and, through them, public discourse, policy, and institutional practice.

Even accurate, well-intentioned communications can have unintended consequences. Compelling narratives can simplify complex social problems, encourage unwarranted interpretations, and shift public attitudes in ways that undercut the goals scientists hope to advance.

We have examined these possibilities in two case studies: public communications about implicit bias, and about brief psychological interventions presented as remedies for social disadvantage. In our experiments on the second, news coverage of such interventions could increase, for some audiences, the tendency to attribute disadvantage to individuals rather than to structural conditions.

This work calls for a more systematic science of science communication: critical research on the societal consequences of existing narratives, and strategic research on communication practices that better serve their intended goals.

2. Psychological Measurement and Scientific Inference

A related line of work concerns the step from data to conclusion. Psychological measures can be valuable for testing theories, yet their scores do not necessarily support claims about an individual's absolute standing or the practical importance of an effect. With James Jaccard and other collaborators, I have studied these questions for more than two decades, in settings ranging from the metrics used in clinical research to the Implicit Association Test (IAT), asking what scores can establish about individuals, how well they predict behavior, and how scoring procedures shape interpretation.

The IAT is a widely communicated measure whose interpretation has had public and institutional consequences, which connects this work directly to the science communication research above. More broadly, these projects reflect a concern with the standards required to move from statistical relationships to meaningful conclusions, particularly when findings are used to characterize individuals or inform policy.

3. Social Influence, Norms, and Identity

A substantial part of my research has examined how social norms, group memberships, and social comparisons influence individual judgments, identities, and behavior.

One central contribution is deviance regulation theory, developed with students and colleagues to explain how people respond to the social meanings associated with conforming to or departing from behavioral norms. The theory examines how the perceived social consequences of standing out from others can shape behavioral decisions and how persuasive messages can be framed to influence those decisions.

This work has been applied to health behavior, adolescent peer influence, alcohol consumption, and other settings in which social norms shape choices. Related research has examined social comparison, self-evaluation, stereotyping, identity, and the motivational consequences of how individuals perceive themselves in relation to others.

4. Health Communication, Persuasion, and Digital Media

My applied research examines how communication strategies influence health-related judgments and behaviors, particularly when audiences are resistant to conventional persuasive appeals.

This work includes research on tobacco prevention, sexual health, graphic health warnings, and the unintended effects of health-risk communications. It has also explored how immersive virtual environments and entertainment video games can be used to deliver persuasive messages and influence real-world behavior.

Supported in part by the National Cancer Institute, this program has investigated how communication environments can be designed to increase engagement, reduce resistance, and improve the effectiveness of health messages. A recurring concern across these studies is that effective communication requires more than transmitting accurate information. It requires understanding how audiences interpret messages and whether communication produces the intended behavioral outcomes.

5. Connecting These Research Programs

Although these areas address different questions, they share a concern with the relationship between evidence, interpretation, and influence.

Research on science communication considers what happens when scientific claims themselves become influential social messages. Research on measurement asks what the evidence supports. Research on social influence and persuasion examines how judgments and behaviors are shaped. Together, these programs reflect a commitment to understanding both the foundations of scientific knowledge and the consequences of putting it into practice.