IMPRESSION FORMATION AND UPDATING
How well and how readily does human cognition respond to changing information? Past work has shown that implicit and explicit evaluations often dissociate from each other in responding to new changing information. For example, implicit evaluations show greater rigidity in revision compared with explicit evaluations. Why is this? What are the behavioral implications of implicit vs. explicit dissociations? Are there situations under when implicit and explicit cognition both adjust efficiently? My research tries to answer these question in the context of explicit (intentional) vs. implicit (unintentional) cognition through the lens of person perception.
General Evaluations and Trait Judgments
In this line of work, I look at evaluations (i.e., positivity and negativity) formed based on facial appearances, such as facial trustworthiness; emotions, such as anger; and identities, especially stigmatized identities, such as ex-convicts; as well as specific trait judgments, such as creativity and competence. I study them in the context of interpersonal perceptions and human-robot interactions. Specifically, I examine how explicit evaluations (i.e., self-report evaluations) and implicit evaluations (i.e., automatic evaluations) respond to different information, whether people are able to go beyond their initial evaluation with new evidence, and how efficient people can adjust their mental model.
BEHAVIORAL PREDICTIONS
Can human behaviors be predicted? What are the best predictors? What is the role of implicit and explicit cognition in predicting behaviors? My work examines these central questions in social psychology by looking at both in-lab and real life behaviors and across domains.
The Predictivity of Impressions
In line with my work looking at impression updating, I also look at the behavioral consequences of updating implicit and explicit evaluations. Can they predict behaviors and when? For example, in one project, I examined whether updated implicit and explicit impressions predict trusting behaviors. In another project, I studied the predictivity of updated impressions toward ex-convicts using a novel interactive website task. Seemingly contradictory findings can arise, and I am continuing to study the basic science of whether and when behaviors can be best predicted by which type of cognitions.
Predicting Health Behaviors
On a more applied level, I study how people's health behaviors, such as getting vaccinated, can be predicted. I am leading a longitudinal panel survey to examine whether the distance of the predicting factor to the behavior determines the predictivity of the predicting factor.