Mentor: Dr. Nick Rule
Professor and Department Chair
Project Description
People form impressions of each other in just a fraction of a second. Even cues as minimal as isolated, individual facial features (e.g., a pair of eyes) are enough to allow one to judge a great deal of information about a person. This project explores various phenomena related to how it is that individuals quickly and accurately form impressions about other people. Students will work on computer-based and interpersonal interaction experiments in which we will collaboratively work to understand the cues related to judgments of others’ group membership and life outcomes with a focus on the mechanisms that facilitate and the biases that derail accurately understanding other people.
Mentorship Statement
My goal as a mentor is to empower my students to find their own voices. Working as a team of junior researchers, my students bring their multiple voices into a chorus that I am privileged to direct. I believe that programs like the SROP are critical for amplifying the voices of individuals that might not otherwise be as loud as some of their peers, whose place in society has equipped them with a megaphone. Having had the tremendous fortune to find a path out of poverty by becoming the first person in my family to get an education beyond high school, I would like to help others find their paths too.