Associate Professor

Ph.D. (Ohio State), M.A. (Ohio State), B.A. (U of Arizona)

I received my bachelor's degree (2001) in psychology from University of Arizona, and my M.A. (2003) and Ph.D. (2007) in social psychology from Ohio State University. Currently, I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at National University of Singapore.

Much of my research attempts to address the following questions: How do properties of attitudes influence persuasion? How does tailoring a persuasive message to the audience promote attitude change? What individual characteristics of an audience are relevant for message tailoring? To answer these questions, I investigate various structural properties of attitudes as well as subjective perceptions about such properties. People might have little knowledge about a policy but perceive themselves to be very knowledgeable; they might have many conflicting reactions toward an in-law but not be aware of their ambivalence; they might give to charities because doing so makes them feel happy but think that their giving is based on their beliefs about civic duty. My research suggests that understanding the differences between structural properties of attitudes and subjective perceptions of such properties helps us predict when and how message tailoring promotes attitude change.

I am also interested in examining intergroup attitudes under conditions of threat and anxiety. For instance, how do people react to an ingroup member who behaves poorly or an outgroup member who behaves well? This research has implications for how people judge others when they feel anxious or threatened.